Traditional Services

WESLEY METHODIST CHURCH

TRADITIONAL SERVICES

Wesley Sanctuary 7.30am | 9.30am (Live-streamed) | 11.30am | 5.00pm

23 November 2025 | REIGN OF CHRIST SUNDAY

Liturgical Colour: White 

Lectionary (Year C): Jeremiah 23:1–6, Psalm 46,
Colossians 1:11–20, Luke 23:33–43

Songs: The Church’s One Foundation (UMH 545)
Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us (UMH 381)
Resurrection Hymn Victory in Jesus (UMH 370)

Sermon: Lamenting in Trust (Psalm 13)

I.  GATHERING

We gather in the Lord’s name weekly to be renewed in our hearts and minds. Our worship of God is a response to his revelation as he reveals his truth to us through Scripture, sermon, prayers and songs 

MEDITATION VERSES

“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying
and scattering the sheep of my pasture!”
declares the LORD... 

I“The days are coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,
a King who will reign wisely
and do what is just and right in the land.
Jeremiah 23:1, 5 

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1 

PREPARATION PRAYER

In Christ, God, you have made your home on earth.
Christ dwells among us and is one with us.
Highest of all creation, he lives among the least.
He journeys with the rejected and welcomes the weary. 

All: We gather, alive to the Word of God through songs and Scripture, ready to listen and respond with heart, soul, strength, and mind.
Amen. 

PRELUDE  

GREETING

PRAYER TO CONFESSION based on Jeremiah 23, Colossians 1, Ephesians 5

All: Imagining your reign can be difficult, eternal God.
It is difficult to picture a world governed by your justice
and righteousness alone. 

When we suffer because of injustice done toward us,
and we took justice into our own hands, forgive us, Lord. 

When we see injustice around us, but turn away,
and fail to protect the weak or to speak up for the voiceless
when we have the authority to do so,
forgive us, Lord. 

When we allow gossips, quarrels, and unwholesome talk
to continue in our group chats, yet we keep silent,
emboldening the wicked to continue hurting the meek,
forgive us, Lord. 

Called to live as children of light,
God, give us the courage and wisdom to speak the truth in love,
exposing the shameful deeds of those who are arrogant in heart,
bringing light and healing to those who are suffering in silence and in darkness. 

May we live up to your calling to be that alternative community
where holy love reigns.
Amen.

CALL TO WORSHIP *Isaiah 12:1–6

God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging.
Come and see what the LORD has done,
    the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
    to the ends of the earth.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”
The LORD Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress. 

Let us give joyful thanks to the Father,
who has qualified us to share in the inheritance
of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 

For God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
For in him all things have been created through him and for him.
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
And he is the head of the body, the church;
he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead,
so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to
reconcile to himself all things,
by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. 

All: Praise the LORD! 

OPENING HYMN *
The Church’s One FoundationUMH  545, St. 1, 2, 4, 5

GOSPEL READINGLuke 23:33–43

PRAYER HYMN
Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead UsUMH 381, St. 1 to 3

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

All: God, source of all light,
by your Word give light to our lives. Amen. 

MUSICAL INTERLUDE

II.   SERMON

III.   WE RESPOND IN PRAYER, SHARING AND GIVING

We respond to God’s Word through (a) praying for the church and the world, (b) sharing of God’s peace with one another (2 Cor 13:11, Gal 5:13) after having received the peace of Christ, and after made peace with one another, (c) offer to God our tithes and gifts (Matt 5:24), as a response to Christ’s sacrificial offering (Eph 5:2, 1 Pet 2:5). 

PRAYER

Prayers of the People

UNISON PRAYER
Prayer for Leaders
Adapted from Tony Peterson, The Africana Worship Book for Year C (Discipleship Resources, 2008), 164. 

Lord, we believe you when you say you will lead us.
But we have suffered at the hands of those who would destroy and scatter your sheep.
You promised that you would raise up shepherds who will gather us together so that no one will have to live in fear. So, we look for those shepherds, Lord. 

We pray for those who will do good and do right, for those who will protect the children, the weak, the poor, and the elderly. 

We pray for leaders who will pursue peace, who will walk humbly, who will reconcile nations. 

We pray for shepherds who will fight injustice, who stand on the side of justice. 
We pray for shepherds who will feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and set at liberty the captives. 

We pray for shepherds who will spread love, show mercy, and practice hospitality. 

Lord, we pray the above for all who serve in leadership positions, leaders in all churches, the leaders in our country, and leaders of all nations.
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer (WESLEY TULUS) 

PEACE 

Welcome

Sharing of God’s Peace * 
Shalom to YouUMH 666 

Family News

GIVING

Offertory Prayer

Tithes and Gifts to God
Resurrection Hymn Congregation
Words and Music: Stuart Townend and Keith Getty © 2003 Thankyou Music 

1. 1. See, what a morning gloriously bright,
      with the dawning of hope in Jerusalem;
      folded the grave-clothes, tomb filled with light,
      as the angels announce Christ is risen!
      See God's salvation plan, wrought in love.
      borne in pain, paid in sacrifice,
      fulfilled in Christ, the Man,
      for he lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

   2. See Mary weeping, “Where is he laid?”
      As in sorrow she turns from the empty tomb;
      hears a voice speaking, calling her name;
      it's the Master, the Lord raised to life again!
      The voice that spans the years,
      speaking life, stirring hope, bringing peace to us,
      will sound till he appears,
      for he lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

   3. One with the Father, Ancient of Days,
      through the Spirit who clothes faith with certainty,
      honour and blessing, glory and praise
      to the King crowned with pow’r and authority!
      And we are raised with him,
      death is dead, love has won, Christ has conquered;
      and we shall reign with him,
      for he lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

Doxology * 
Holy, Holy, Holy UMH 64, St. 4

IV.   SENDING FORTH

Having encountered God through worship, we are to (a) serve one another through acts of service, (b) participate in the programs of the church to continue growing in our Christian discipleship, and (c) to go forth into the world as Christ’s hands and feet in the ministry of reconciliation. 

CLOSING HYMN *
Victory in JesusUMH 370

BENEDICTION *

POSTLUDE

Prayer Ministry at the Altar
If you need someone to pray with you, please proceed to the inner rails of the altar area. If you wish to pray alone, please use the outer rails.

* Congregation may stand.