november 16, 2025

asbcsite
Nov 10
4 min read

Preacher: Rev. Dr. Boon Lin Ngeo

Please use this Order of Service to easily follow the service online.

CLICK HERE FOR HYMNS (or scroll to the bottom)

Prelude: Debbie Deane

Chalice Lighting:

May this flame, symbol of transformation since time began, fire our curiosity, strengthen our wills, and sustain our courage as we seek what is good within and around us.

Opening Hymn: Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross NCH 197

Welcome & Announcement

Call to Worship:

In love and joy God calls us together.

And so we meet this day, as friends, as neighbors, as sisters and brothers.

Called together by God, we bring our offerings to God:

Our songs, our hearts, our prayers, our lives.

Grateful for this opportunity to give and receive, let us worship God.

Prayer of Invocation:

First Sacred Reading: Matthew 13: 1-23

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on a path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 If you have ears, hear!”10 Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance, but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 13 The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’ 14 With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says: ‘You will indeed listen but never understand, and you will indeed look but never perceive.15 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, so that they might not look with their eyes, and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn— and I would heal them.’

16 “But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.17 Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.18 “Hear, then, the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21 yet such a person has no root but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

Passing of the Peace

Sharing of Our Joys & Concerns

Prayers of the People/Pastoral Prayer

Offering & Doxology: We Give You But Your Own – NCH 785 We give you but your own, what e'er the gift may be; All that we have is yours alone, we give it gratefully

Second Sacred Reading: Dhammapada 4.7 Do not look at the faults of others, or what others have done or not done; observe what you yourself have done and have not done.

Hymn of Reflection: Ubi Caritas

Sermon: Change Your Attitude, Change Your Life!

Closing Hymn: I Am the Light of the World NCH 584

Benediction: Rev. Dr. Boon Lin Ngeo

Postlude: Debbie Deane

All Souls Bethlehem Church

An Open and Affirming Congregation

Pastor: Rev. Dr. Boon Lin Ngeo

Ministers: All Members of ASBC

Minister Emeritus: Rev. Bill Nye

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