Sunday Morning Worship Service | September 20, 2026

This Week’s Order of Service Sunday, September 20, 2026 Order of Service Welcome and Mission Statement Dr. Tracy Simpson, Trustee Together, we transform lives through love, service, and our welcoming faith. Prelude MLUC Band; David Brown, violin; Carr Everbach, bass trombone; Jodie Brown, piano Jay Wiley, drums Tanz, Tanz, Yidelekh (“Dance, Dance, Dear Jews”) Traditional Chalice Lighting Deborah McKnight Worship Associate Toward Repair of Relationship by Joanna Lubkin Opening Hymn MLUC Band and the Congregation #400 Shalom Havayreem Time for All Ages Dawn Star Sarahs-Borchelt The Drummer’s Call A West African (Yoruba/Ghanaian) Oral Tradition Wisdom Tale adapted by April Rosario Song Children & Youth to their classes! #413 Go Now in Peace Offering Outreach Deborah McKnight Rock to the Future Offertory MLUC Band Gedank fun Kishinev (“Memory of Kishinev”) Traditional Candles of Community Deborah McKnight Litany of Atonement (See Below) Rev. John Morehouse Interlude David Brown, violin Nign by Lorin Sklamberg Sermon Rev. John Morehouse Atonement Ritual Music MLUC Band Dybbuk Shers (“Demon Dance”) Traditional Closing Hymn MLUC Band and the Congregation #146 Soon the Day Will Arrive Benediction and Chalice Extinguishing Rev. John Morehouse Postlude MLUC Band Der Heyser Bulgar (“The Hot Bulgar”) Traditional Litany of Atonement Rev. John: Open the gates of Righteousness, enter them and give thanks. The sacred gate is in our minds and in our hearts. We have sometimes left the gate closed, forgetting what is most dear, neglecting what is most important. The Congregation: WE HAVE, ALL OF US, FAILED FROM TIME TO TIME. WE HAVE, ALL OF US, REVEALED OUR HUMAN WEAKNESS AND FALLIBILITY. WE ARE NOT PERFECT. WE WRESTLE WITH THE FORCES OF GOOD AND EVIL WHICH ARE IN US ALL. Sing (repeat after David): YITGADAL V’YITKADASH B’RUAKH HAADAM (“Let us enhance and exalt ourselves in the spirit of humanity.”) Rev. John: We are brothers and sisters, children of one family. We have known the sting of remorse, inadequacy and guilt. Our minds have sometimes grown weary. We have known days of anguish and nights of despair. The Congregation: MAY WE OPEN THE GATES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS BY OPENING OUR MINDS AND HEARTS TO NEW INSIGHTS INTO OURSELVES AND ONE ANOTHER. WHEN THAT GATE IS OPEN IN US MAY WE USHER OUR OLD HATREDS AND BITTER RESENTMENTS AND ALLOW FRESH, COOL BREEZES OF ATONEMENT TO COME TO US. Sing: YITGADAL V’YITKADASH B’RUAKH HAADAM Rev. John: We have sometimes committed the sin of idolatry, thinking we know more than it is ours to know. We have sometimes put too much value on material possessions and worldly wealth. The Congregation: WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT IS NEAR AT HAND – SIMPLE ACTS OF KINDNESS, EXPRESSIONS OF HUMAN COMPASSION, AND OUR OWN DEEP, SINCERE DESIRE FOR WHOLENESS, AUTHENTICITY AND INTEGRITY. Sing: YITGADAL V’YITKADASH B’RUAKH HAADAM Rev. John: We are children of the Universe. We have a right to be here. May our faults, failures and limitations remind us of our need for humility, even as we reject the humiliation of calling ourselves unworthy sinners in the hands of an angry god. The Congregation: LET PEACE COME INTO OUR HEARTS AND REFRESH OUR SPIRITS. Sing: YITGADAL V’YITKADASH B’RUAKH HAADAM Rev. John: The Kingdom of Heaven is within. May we enter it and know peace, and may we rededicate ourselves to the tasks which remain before us, helping to make our world anew. Sing: KEN YEHI (“May it be so”)