Worship for September 20, 2026

Thank you for joining us for this live stream (or recording, as the case may be) of Sunday worship. May it bless you! You may need to click “Play” to launch the stream, which will be live around 9:50 AM.

Welcome to the live stream of worship from Church of the Holy Cross for Sunday, September 20, 2026. You will find the service outline below, and you may download and print the PDF to follow more easily. 

Prelude: Pastorale          Kayleen Yuda

Lighting of the Candles

Ringing of the Bell

Welcome:                           Rev. Eric S. Anderson

* I’d like to invite those who are able, to please stand and join me in the Call to Worship (based on Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45)                Nina Buchanan

Leader:   Give thanks to the LORD, tell of God’s works among the peoples,
People:  Sing to God, sing God’s praises, tell everyone what the LORD has done.

Leader:   God led the people of Israel from slavery to freedom. Egypt was glad to see them go.
People:  God spread a cloud for covering and fire to light the night.

Leader:   When they hungered, God sent food from heaven.
People:  When they thirsted, the LORD opened the rock and water flowed like a river.

All:           Let us worship God!

* Hymn #485: O Love That Will Not Let Me Go (v. 1 – 4)

* Please join me in the Invocation (based on Psalm 145:1-8) Nina Buchanan

We praise you, O God, and bless your name forever. You are great and greatly to be praised; your greatness is beyond our imagination. We celebrate the might of your deeds; we sing aloud of your righteousness. We thank you, God, that you are slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and we ask you to hear our worship today. Amen.

Please be seated

WE SHARE THE WORD OF GOD

Anthem: Embrace My Way and Cross                  Holy Cross Singers

Time with the Children                      Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Scripture:                           Nina Buchanan

Jonah 3:10-4:11

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.

But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning, for I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.

The Lord God appointed a bush and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort, so Jonah was very happy about the bush. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” Then the Lord said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also many animals?”

Matthew 20:1-16

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received a denarius. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Sermon: Love Isn’t Fair Rev. Eric S. Anderson

WE RESPOND IN WORD AND DEED

Pastoral Prayer              Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer                     
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.

* Hymn #23: There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy (v. 1-2)

Call to Offering                Nina Buchanan

God’s gifts to us are beyond any of our means to give, except as in a mirror dimly. Let us do the best we can to love fully and extravagantly those in our families, our neighbors, and the stranger we may meet tomorrow. This offering is a part of that generous life. Whether you share your gift here in the church today, through a gift online, or via an envelope in the mail, let the offering now be received.

Offertory: Berceuse       Kayleen Yuda

* Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost – Amen

* Please join me in the Offertory Prayer            Nina Buchanan

Accept these gifts, O God, and see in them the generous spirits of our hearts. Accept these gifts, O God, and may they be signs of your far greater love shared with those around us, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

* Hymn #475: God’s Eye Is on the Sparrow (v. 1 – 3)

Please be seated

Announcements             Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Benediction                      Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Postlude: Festival Postlude                Kayleen Yuda

* Please stand if you are able.

PERMISSIONS

 

IMPORTANT DATES

Today, September 20 – Board of Deacons meeting after Worship, in the Lounge
Thursday, September 24, 7:00 PM – First concert in the Kamaaina Concert Series will take place in this sanctuary. Visit KamaainaConcertSeries.com for more info.
Wednesdays, 11:00 a.m. – One Song from Church of the Holy Cross streamed live (see our church’s website, or the link in our e-newsletter, The Weekly Chime)
Wednesdays, 5:00 p.m. – Bible Study in person, in Pastor’s Study or via Zoom (see the link in The Weekly Chime)
Interested in pickleball? Contact Connie at 808-936-7534 or Ruth at rnduponte07@gmail.com

Other Faith Groups that meet at Church of the Holy Cross

We welcome you to worship this day. Church of the Holy Cross seeks to help its members, friends, and visitors follow the guidance of God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, encouraging all people to love one another according to the teachings of Jesus. We live and teach the faith, speak good news, minister to people near and far, and work with other households of faith and helping agencies to improve our community and our world. To support our ministries, please visit our Donate Page.