Service of Worship October 11, 2026
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Access Sunday; Disabilities Awareness Week
Please note that audio and video of this service are being live streamed on the Internet and will be recorded. The right rear section of the sanctuary will not be captured by any cameras. Please be aware that in other sections you may be visible at times.
Prelude: La Tromba Kayleen Yuda
Lighting of the Candles
Ringing of the Bell
Welcome: Rev. Eric S. Anderson
* Call to Worship (by Pastor Greg Tre Harris) Peter Braun
Leader: The Divine is our Shepherd. We want not. Not missing anything. Nothing holy, forgotten, or left out.
People: Created in love, we are one!
Leader: The world names us by what it believes we lack. The Divine always calls us whole. Our bodies, our minds, our spirits, created without hesitation, held without condition, beloved without exception.
People: Created differently, we are one!
Leader: One Band. One Body. Many members. One Sound. One Song. Many voices. One Truth. One Spirit. Many stories. No life stands alone. No gift exists apart from another.
People: Created creatively, we are one!
Leader: We are seen through the eyes of our neighbors. We are strengthened by one another’s veracity. We are healed through interconnected compassion. What the world calls weakness, the Divine transforms into common union.
People: Our reality does not diminish. It binds us together, reveals Christ among us, and becomes the very place where grace is made known. Our collective vulnerability saves us all! Created in oneness, we are one!
All: Let us worship God!
* Hymn #605: As Moses Raised the Serpent Up (v. 1 – 3)
* Invocation (by Pastor Greg Tre Harris) Peter Braun
Holy Divine, as we gather in worship, help us recognize one another’s abilities and disabilities, honor one each other’s truths and identities, and discover your presence within our shared humanity. May we remember that what the world often overlooks, you have always called beloved. May our worship reveal Christ among us, your grace be made known through us, and our collective vulnerability become a testimony to your abiding love. Amen.
Please be seated
WE SHARE THE WORD OF GOD
Anthem: Upwe Mwareituk (I will praise you) IYAA
Time with the Children Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Scripture: Peter Braun
Exodus 32:1-14
When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took these from them, formed them in a mold, and cast an image of a calf, and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.” They rose early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being, and the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to revel.
The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ” The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, and of you I will make a great nation.”
But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.
Matthew 22:1-14
Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad, so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Sermon: How to Argue with God 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 #423: Great Is Your Faithfulness (v. 1-3)
Call to Offering Peter Braun
We worship a God who is faithful to us even when our faith falters. We worship a God who has created us with different abilities and different disabilities, a God who loves us all. Let us celebrate what God has given us by sharing it with those around us. 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: Air 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
* Offertory Prayer Peter Braun
God who loves as exactly as we are, thank you for this opportunity to celebrate the gifts of our disabled siblings. With these gifts of time, talent, treasure, and prayer, help us work with you to create a world where all your people can belong, and find peace in your presence. We pray this in the name of Jesus, who offers hope and liberation for all. Amen.
* Hymn #21: God Reigns o’er All the Earth (v. 1 – 4)
Please be seated
Announcements Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Benediction Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Postlude: Festival March Kayleen Yuda
* Please stand if you are able.
PERMISSIONS
La Tromba
by Francois Couperin
Arr. by E Power Biggs
© 1959 Associated Music Publishers
As Moses Raised the Serpent Up
Text versification by The New Century Hymnal, 1993
Tune MORNING SONG, from Sixteen Tune Settings, 1812
Harm. by C. Winfred Douglas, 1940
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Upwe Mwareituk (I will praise you)
Composer unknown
Public Domain
Great Is Your Faithfulness
Text by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1923
Tune FAITHFULNESS by William M. Runyan, 1923
© 1923, renewed 1951 by Hope Publishing Company
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Air
by Johann Ernst Galliard
Arr. by Glenn Medlock
© Lorenz Music Publishing
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
God Reigns o’er All the Earth
Text by Jane Parker Huber, 1981
© 1981 Jane Parker Huber
Admin. by Westminster John Knox Press
Tune TERRA BEATA Trad. English melody
Adapt. Franklin L. Sheppard, 1915
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
Festival March
by William Stickles
© 1949 Ethel Smith Music Corp.
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890
The Call to Worship and the Invocation by Pastor Greg Tre Harris and the Prayer of Dedication by the Rev. Jacob Nault are used by permission: UCC Disabilities Ministries resources for Access Sunday
IMPORTANT DATES
Today, October 11 – Church Council meeting in the lounge after Worship Service
Friday, October 16, 7:00 p.m. – Shakespeare Ere Modern, Voci Waimea Concert, CHC Sanctuary. Visit KamaainaConcertSeries.com for more info.
Sunday, October 25 – All Saints Sunday. Please notify the church office of names of loved ones you’d like included in the service.
Sundays, 8:30 a.m. – Our choir, Holy Cross Singers, meets for rehearsal in the lounge
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)
Fridays, 9:00 a.m. – Bell choir meets for rehearsal in the Building of Faith meeting room
Interested in pickleball? Contact Connie at 808-936-7534 or Ruth at rnduponte07@gmail.com
Leading Worship this Morning
Pastor Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Moderator Lorraine Davis
Vice Moderator Elwood Kita
Lay Reader Peter Braun
Chapel Decorations Felina & Mark Sakumoto
in memory of Aiko & Giso Sakumoto
Organist/Pianist Kayleen Yuda
Music Director-Accompanist Bob Grove
Na Kani O Kalani (Bells) Director Evan Montemayor
IYAA Choir Director Stuart Mori
Sunday School Teacher Gloria Kobayashi
Sunday School Aide Johanna Narruhn
Image Artist Sue Smith
Live Stream Director Ruth Niino-DuPonte
Sound Engineer & Assistant Director Ben Yamaki
Videographers Eric Tanouye, Mace Peng, Bob
Smith, Cindy Debus, Woody Kita
Office Manager Kahealani Mahone-Brooks
Other Faith Groups that meet at Church of the Holy Cross
- The United Church of Christ, Pohnpei – Sanctuary, 12 noon
- Rev. Bensis Henry
- Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa – Sanctuary, 2:00 p.m.
- Rev. Sitau Ofoia, Jr.
- The Bedesta Church – Sanctuary, 4 p.m.
- Rev. Edmes Edwin
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.
