First Presbyterian Church of Weedsport
November 16, 2025
Twenty-third Sunday After Pentecost
Rev. Brian Copeland
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS Liturgist
PRELUDE
OPENING SENTENCES (Responsive) Liturgist
I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating.
O sing to the Lord a new song, for God has done marvelous things. God has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness.
I will rejoice and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard.
O sing to the Lord a new song, for God has done marvelous things. God has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness.
No more shall there be an infant that lives but a few days or an old person who does not live out a lifetime.
O sing to the Lord a new song, for God has done marvelous things. God has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness.
They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity; for they and their descendants shall be offspring blessed by the Lord. Before they call, I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear.
O sing to the Lord a new song, for God has done marvelous things. God has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness.
HYMN #485 The Church’s One Foundation
CONFESSION AND PARDON (Responsive) Liturgist
Before we call, God answers us. While we are still speaking, God hears us. Let us confess our sin to God, who even now is waiting to say, “I forgive you.”
Majestic Creator, we fail to believe we carry your image and we fail to behave as those
who belong to you. Mighty Savior, we turn from your path of sacrificial love and we turn toward our personal preferences. Merciful Spirit, we forget your call to righteousness
and we forget our need of you. In our sinfulness, triune God, we seek now your forgiveness, praying that you will relieve the burden of our regrets by the power of your patient love.
SILENT PRAYERS OF CONFESSION MAY BE OFFERED
God is creating new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered.
They shall not even cross God’s mind. Be glad and rejoice forever in what God is creating: newness of life.
In Jesus Christ, we are reconciled to God and to one another. Alleluia!
SPECIAL MUSIC
CHILDREN’S TIME (Children may leave to go to Sunday School after Children’s Time.)
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION (Unison) Liturgist
Faithful God, how blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Sanctify us by your Word and Spirit so that we may glorify you in the company of the faithful; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
FIRST SCRIPTURE READING: Isaiah 12 Liturgist
1 You will say in that day: I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, and you comforted me. 2Surely God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the LORD GOD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4And you will say in that day: Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known his deeds among the nations; proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth. 6Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
SECOND SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 21:5-19 Rev. Brian Copeland
5When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said,6"As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down."
7They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" 8And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and, 'The time is near!' Do not go after them.
9"When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately." 10Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; 11there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
12"But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. 13This will give you an opportunity to testify. 14So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; 15for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. 16You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. 17You will be hated by all because of my name. 18But not a hair of your head will perish. 19By your endurance you will gain your souls.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
SERMON Rev. Brian Copeland
HYMN #391 We All Are One in Mission
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH (Unison) Adapted from the Confession of 1967, 9.32–33
The life, death, resurrection, and promised coming of Jesus Christ has set the pattern for the church’s mission. His human life involves the church in the common life of all people. His service to men and women commits the church to work for every form of human well-being. His suffering makes the church sensitive to all human suffering
so that it sees the face of Christ in the faces of persons in every kind of need. His crucifixion discloses to the church God’s judgment on the inhumanity that marks human relations, and the awful consequences of the church’s own complicity in injustice. In the power of the risen Christ and the hope of his coming, the church sees the promise of God’s renewal of human life in society and of God’s victory over all wrong. The church follows this pattern in the form of its life and in the method of its action. So, to live and serve is to confess Christ as Lord.
JOYS AND CONCERNS
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION AND THE LORD’S PRAYER
Trusting in the power of God to deliver us, let us make our prayers of intercession for all,
saying: God our Savior, hear our prayer.
INVITATION TO THE OFFERING (Offering plates are not passed. Offering plates are on the front and back tables.)
PRAYER OF DEDICATION (Unison)
To you, O God, we offer our lives— our abundance, our poverty, all that we have, all that we are— a sign of our great thanksgiving for the treasure of your grace.
Take and use us for good in the world that you so love; we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
HYMN #438 Blest Be The Tie That Binds
BLESSING AND CHARGE
POSTLUDE
Loose change from the 4th quarter (Oct.-Dec.) will benefit the Honor Flight
Large print bulletins are available. Please ask the greeter.
Reminders:
Nov. 23 – Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes due. Thank you!
Nov. 23 – Hanging of the Greens following worship
Nov. 23 – Stewardship Sunday
Dec. 4 – Advent study starts, 5:50-6:30 pm. Held in upstairs Koinonia Room.
Dec. 21 – Longest Night service at MFPC at 7 pm
**Loose change offering from the 4th quarter (Oct.-Dec.) will benefit the Honor Flight
