october 18,2026
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: Richard Harper
Chalice Lighting: When Times are Dark by Fred LaMotte
When times are dark
the way becomes clear.
Trust in your breath.
Rest in your heart.
Bow to the stranger.
This is the gospel of astonishment.
If we are completely lost
we come home
to each other.
Opening Hymn: This is the Day NCH 84
Welcome & Announcements
Call to Worship:
Give thanks to God, who is good,
Whose faithful love lasts forever!
When we are hungry and thirsty, lost in the wilderness,
God satisfies our thirst, and fills the hungry with good things.
God turns deserts into pools of water, and thirsty ground into springs.
So let us worship God.
Prayer of Invocation:
First Sacred Reading: Isaiah 56: 1-8
Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will comeand my deliverance be revealed. 2 Happy is the mortal who does this, the one who holds it fast,who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and refrains from doing any evil.3 Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people,” and do not let the eunuch say, “I am just a dry tree.” 4 For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, 5 I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. 6 And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants,all who keep the Sabbath and do not profane it and hold fast my covenant— 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. 8 Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel: I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.
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: Vasala Sutta 1:21
Not by birth is one an outcast; not by birth is one a brahman. By deed one becomes an outcast, by deed one becomes a brahman.
Hymn of Reflection: When Peace, Like a River NCH 438
Sermon: Who Are We as a Faith Community?
Closing Hymn: I Love to Tell the Story NCH 522
Benediction: Rev. Dr. Boon Lin Ngeo
Postlude: Richard Harper
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
First Time Visitor?
Please sign our red Guest Book (located near the entrance)
and be our guest at the gathering following the service!
Interested in “Official” Church Membership?
Please speak with Council President Raquel Irizarry about our next New Member gathering!
An All-inclusive, Welcoming Community of Faith
born from the traditions of the:
Disciples of Christ - www.Disciples.org
United Church of Christ - www.UCC.org
Unitarian Universalist Association - www.UUA.org
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