LOVELY LANE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY, YEAR A
FEBRUARY 1, 2026
† Stand as you are able
Organ Prelude
Welcome and Announcements John Strawbridge, Lay Leader
Choral Introit “Praise the Lord, for He Is Good” Davies
Praise the Lord, for He is good,
For His mercies ever sure
From eternity have stood,
To eternity endure.
Let His ransomed people raise
Songs of their Redeemer’s praise.
Amen.
†Call to Worship
Beloved, what worship does God desire of us?
To do justice, love kindness, and live humbly with God.In our life together as the body of Christ, what worship does God desire of us?
To do justice, love kindness, and live humbly with God.When we share the good news with all creation, what worship does God desire of us?
To do justice, love kindness, and live humbly with God.Come, let us worship God with justice, kindness, and humility!
We come to worship God with our voices and our lives. Thanks be to God! Amen.
†Opening Hymn “Be Thou My Vision” UMH 451
Prayer of Illumination
Holy Spirit, breath of the living God, open our ears to hear what is good, and open our hearts to receive what is true. Where we have made faith a performance, teach us worship that becomes justice. Where we have settled for easy answers, give us the wisdom of the cross. Where we have grown weary or afraid, speak the blessing of your kingdom again: Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the peacemakers. Illuminate your Word within us, that we may do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with you—not only in this sanctuary, but in the world you so love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
A Reading from the Prophets Micah 6:1-8 NRSV
Hear what the LORD says: Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, you mountains, the case of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the LORD has a case against his people, and he will contend with Israel. “O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me! For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised, what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the LORD. With what shall I come before the LORD and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O mortal, what is good, and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?
The word of God, for the people of God. Thanks be to God!
Congregational Prayer
God of Justice and Mercy, you have shown us what is good, and you call us into a life that looks like your Son. We pray for your Church—here and everywhere: make us a people whose worship reaches beyond these walls, whose praise becomes compassion, whose prayer becomes neighbor-love.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.We pray for the world you made and called good: for communities bruised by violence, poverty, addiction, loneliness, and neglect; for those pushed to the margins and those unseen in plain sight; for all who mourn, for all who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.We pray for leaders and nations: where power is used to dominate, turn hearts toward service; where truth is twisted, give courage to those who speak with clarity; where systems crush the vulnerable, raise up repairers of the breach.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.We pray for the suffering and the sick, for the anxious and the grieving, for those facing hard decisions, and those who feel they have no way forward. Let your blessing rest on them; let your presence be their shelter and strength.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.We pray for ourselves: where we have loved comfort more than kindness, forgive us; where we have avoided justice, correct us; where we have walked proudly, humble us—and lead us again in the way of Christ.
Gather these prayers—spoken and silent—into your mercy, and shape us into a people who live what we sing.
In the name of Jesus, who calls us blessed and sends us out, Amen.
Passing of the Peace “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” UMH 334
Sharing Joys and Concerns
Pastoral Prayer
Choral Response “Holy Spirit, Come to Us” TFWS 2118
†A Reading from the Gospel Matthew 5:1-12 NRSV
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he began to speak and taught them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The Gospel of our Lord. Praise be to you, O Christ.
Sermon Reverend. Levon D. Sutton, Pastor
Invitation to Offering
Offertory “Christ, The Solid Rock” Biery
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
When darkness veils His lovely face,
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale,
My ancho holds within the veil.
His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
Offering Prayer
God of Justice and Mercy, you do not ask for thousands of offerings or rivers of oil, only that we live with love, humility, and a hunger for what is right. Accept these gifts we bring—not as bargaining chips, but as signs of our desire to follow you. Use them and us to pour out kindness where the world is aching, to walk alongside the weary, and to bring your healing presence into troubled places. May our giving be our “yes” to your call, our response to your grace, and our witness to your hope. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Holy Communion “Let Us Break Bread Together” UMH 618
The Great Thanksgiving UMH 13
Lord’s Prayer
†Closing Hymn “Blest Be the Tie That Binds” UMH 557
†Benediction
†Benediction Response “Amen” Storer
Amen!
Ringing the Bicentennial Bell
Organ Postlude