EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
September 7, 2025 | 8:30 & 11:00am
GATHERING IN GOD’S NAME
Prelude
Folk Song, from Six Sketches
C. Armstrong Gibbs (1889-1960)
Welcome
Rev. Dr. Jason Hays
Executive Minister
*Call to Worship
Leader: Come, let us go down to the potter’s house,
People: Where God is working at the wheel of creation.
Leader: We are the clay,
People: Ready to be shaped by loving hands.
Leader: The wheel is turning, the work has begun,
People: We place ourselves gladly in God’s care.
Leader: Let us worship God who shapes us with love,
People: Alleluia, Amen!
*Gathering Hymn 409 God Is Here! Verse 1
*Corporate Confession (Unison)
Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry,
too real to hide, and too deep to undo.
Forgive what our lips tremble to name,
what our hearts can no longer bear.
Set us free from a past that we cannot change, and
open to us a future in which we can be transformed.
Through Jesus Christ, the light of the world, we pray. Amen.
*Assurance of God’s Love
*Response Gloria
*Passing of the Peace
*Hymn
1 Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty! (Nicea)
LISTENING FOR GOD’S WORD
Word to the Children
When the music begins, children are invited to gather on the chancel steps as we sing, “This is where children belong, part of our family, part of our song. Be with us, pray with us, help us grow strong: this is where children belong.” Please note that the 11:00am service is livestreamed and your child’s image may appear on the video.
Liturgy for Our Teachers
Leader: Today we honor all who volunteer to teach at Montview Church. We are grateful for their willingness, their talents and their time.
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Leader: We are grateful for their kind spirits, their acceptance, their enthusiasm and dedication.
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Leader: We are grateful for the love they share in words and actions, in sharing the ancient stories, in leading current conversations.
People: We give you thanks, O God.
Leader: We are grateful for our teachers who help us learn the way of God and follow the lessons of Jesus.
People: We are grateful for opportunities to learn and grow in faith with them.
All: We give you thanks, O God. Amen.
Anthem
Domino Deus, from Gloria (8:30am)
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Antiphon, from Five Mystical Songs (11:00am)
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Prayer for Illumination (Unison)
O God, open our hearts by the power
of your Holy Spirit
so that the words of Scripture may
become your Living Word.
Amen.
Scripture Lesson
Jeremiah 18:1-11 (Pew Bible Old Testament Page 679)
Response to Reading
Leader: Listen to the voice of the Spirit speaking to the Church.
People: Thanks be to God.
Sermon
Shaped by the Potter’s Hand
Rev. Clover Reuter Beal, Co-Pastor
Moment for Reflection
Musical Reflection
RESPONDING TO GOD’S GRACE
Offering Ourselves and Our Gifts Rev. Dr. Lorraine Leist, Associate Pastor
Making a financial gift makes Montview’s programs and ministries possible, including this worship service. You are invited to give generously at www.montview.org/giving or by texting a dollar amount to 720.452.6449. Offering boxes are stationed at the exit for cash and checks. We’re grateful for your support.
All are invited to sign and pass the Friendship Pad and greet each other by name.
*Prayer of Dedication (Unison)
God, you have so greatly loved us, long sought us, and mercifully redeemed us. Give us grace that in everything, we may yield ourselves, our wills and our works, a continual thank offering to you. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
*Response
607 Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow (Doxology)
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise Christ, all people here below; Praise Holy Spirit evermore; Praise Triune God, whom we adore. Amen.
THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
Invitation to the Lord’s Table
Great Thanksgiving
Leader: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Leader: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them to the Lord.
Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give God thanks and praise.
Leader: It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Gracious God, creator of heaven and earth. You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life. When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast. You have been faithful to us through all generations and continue to speak to us today. We praise you for this table of love you spread in the world as a sign of your love for all people. And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join in their unending song.
Eucharistic Prayer
The Lord’s Prayer (Unison)
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Words of Institution
Communion of the People
You are invited to come forward, offering your open palms to the communion server. Once you receive a piece of communion bread and juice, please bring them back to your seat in the pews. Bread at every station is gluten-free. The Presbyterian tradition does not include a specific rite for first Communion. Our parents decide when their children are ready to participate. If you’d like to receive communion in your pew, please signal to a server when they come down the aisle at the conclusion of communion.
Communion Music
One Bread, One Body (8:30am)
John Foley (b. 1939)
In Meeting We Are Blessed (11:00am)
Troy Robertson (b. 1978)
*Prayer of Thanksgiving (Unison)
Gracious God, you have made us one with all your people in heaven and earth. You have fed us with the bread of life and renewed us for your service. Help us, who have shared Christ’s body and received his cup, to be faithful disciples, so that our daily living may reflect your presence among us, and our love be your love, reaching out into the world; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
*Closing Hymn
Where Mountains Lift the Eye (Iliff Centennial)
(May be found on the inside of the hymnal back cover.)
SENDING IN GOD’S LOVE
*Charge and Benediction
Benediction Response (11:00am)
Glory to God in the Highest
Randall Thompson (1899-1984)
Postlude
Now Thank We All Our God
Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933)
PARISH NEWS
Prayer Tree
Sears Barrett (husband of Colleen Barrett); Brian and Amy Brown (family of Jim and Irene Brown, and Haley Figueroa); Sylvia Cordy; Jolene Cranston; Mary Gerwin (mourning the death of her mother, Marie Gerwin); Dick Getzinger (brother of Nancy Getzinger); Janine Haugen and family (mourning the death of Janine’s father, Alan Espelien); Mark Haynes; Joe Hickman; Ella Logan; Lynn Merwin and family (mourning the death of Lynn’s mother, Ethel Merwin); Ben Meyerhoff; Eden Murphy; Margaret Pearce (friend of Peggy Gonder); Jim Polsfut; Damara Rice (great niece of The Rev. JeanAnne Swope); Franklin Thompson (brother of Dolores Collins); Constanza Hege de Tobasia (friend of Lisa Padilla); Kathryn Walton (daughter of MaryGrace Wake); Mary Weinzirl (friend of Sharon Craft)
Memorial Services
David Hutchison | September 26 at 1:00pm in the Sanctuary
Pastoral Care Concerns
Please reach out to the church with pastoral care concerns such as illnesses, hospitalizations, deaths, births, or any other change of personal circumstances or condition. Contact: caring@montview.org or (303) 355-1651 (general mailbox voicemail). For pastoral care emergencies, please call (303) 355-1651 and press 4.
Flower Dedication
The flowers in the chancel today are given to the glory of God in loving memory of Sue Norman.
8:00am- 12:30pm
Childcare – Ages Birth-7
Location: Preschool Floor
Enter via the Commons past Heritage Center to the Education wing.
8:30am
Worship Service
Location: Sanctuary
8:45am
Youth Bells (Grades 3-8)
Location: Room 206B
9:30am
Pastors’ Forum
Location: Sanctuary
Bel Canto Choir (Grades K-5)
Location: Room 205
Assembly: Choir Alternative Fellowship (Grades K-5)
Location: Room 204B
Confirmation
Location: Confirmation Room
Sunday School (Preschool)
Location: Room 112
JAM in the AM (Grades 6-8)
Location: Cellar
MOB in the Morning (Grades 9-12)
Location: Cellar Back Room
10:00am
Sunday School (Grades K-5)
Location: Second Floor
11:00am
Worship Service
Location: Sanctuary
12:00pm
Celebration Sunday
Location: South Plaza
5:00pm
YAM Family Dinner (Grades 6-12)
Location: Fellowship Hall
WORSHIP PARTICIPANTS
Preacher: Rev. Clover Reuter Beal
Liturgists: Rev. Dr. Jason Hays, Rev. Dr. Lorraine Leist and Sandy Prouty
Organ/Conductor: Adam Waite
Soprano: Rebecca KoenigBerg (8:30am)
Conductor: Mary Louise Burke (11:00am)
Timpani/Percussion: Dan Gasser (11:00am)
Reader: Robert Mathes (8:30am)
Reader: Mary Medley (11:00am)
Sound: Cate Thieme
Video: John Goerner
Chorus: Westminster Choir (11:00am)
ABOUT THIS SERVICE
Assistive listening devices are available in the sound booth in the back of the sanctuary.
Restrooms are available in the Commons. An all-gender restroom is available on the lower level across from Youth Cellar.
A room for families with children who are not enjoying the service is below the sanctuary with livestream.
Childcare is available for ages Birth-7 on the Preschool floor.
Please note that the 11:00am worship service will be livestreamed to several social media platforms and your image may appear on the livestream video.
MONTVIEW BOULEVARD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
1980 Dahlia Street, Denver, CO 80220
303.355.1651 | www.montview.org