Click play below to join in our our live stream...
If you experience any issue with livestream on the day, please email livestream@stcolumbas.org.uk (please note that this address will only be monitored on Sundays).
Our live streaming system is designed to be as reliable as possible and work across a wide range of devices. However, live streaming relies on a lot of things outside of our control. Although we’ll do our best to help you get this working, we cannot accept liability if this service is unavailable.
SUNDAY 18TH OCTOBER 2026 11.00 a.m.
MORNING WORSHIP AND SUNDAY SCHOOL
(TWENTY FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST)
Welcome
Call to Worship
Hymn 111 Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty! (Nicea)
1 Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty!
early in the morning our song shall rise to thee;
holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessèd Trinity!
2 Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore thee,
casting down their golden crowns around the glassy
sea;
cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
God ever living through eternity.
3 Holy, holy, holy! though the darkness hide thee,
though the sinful human eye thy glory may not see,
only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
perfect in power, in love, and purity.
4 Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty!
all thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea;
holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
Call to Prayer
Prayers of Approach and 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 for ever, Amen.
Theme for the day
Hymn 742 Rejoice in God’s saints, today and all days!
(Laudate Dominum)
1 Rejoice in God’s saints, today and all days!
A world without saints forgets how to praise.
Their faith in acquiring the habit of prayer,
their depth of adoring, Lord, help us to share.
2 Some march with events to turn them God’s way;
some need to withdraw, the better to pray;
some carry the gospel through fire and through flood:
our world is their parish: their purpose is God.
3 Rejoice in those saints, unpraised and unknown,
who bear someone’s cross, or shoulder their own:
they share our complaining, our comfort, our cares:
what patience in caring, what courage, is theirs!
4 Rejoice in God’s saints, today and all days!
A world without saints forgets how to praise.
In loving, in living, they prove it is true:
their way of self-giving, Lord, leads us to you.
Old Testament Reading: Exodus 33:12-23
Moses said to the Lord, ‘See, you have said to me, “Bring up this people”; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, “I know you by name, and you have also found favour in my sight.” Now if I have found favour in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favour in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.’ He said, ‘My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ And he said to him, ‘If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favour in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth.’
The Lord said to Moses, ‘I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favour in my sight, and I know you by name.’ Moses said, ‘Show me your glory, I pray.’ And he said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, “The Lord”; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But’, he said, ‘you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.’ And the Lord continued, ‘See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.’
New Testament Reading: I Thessalonians 1-10
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy,
To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
Grace to you and peace.
We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of people we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place where your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.
Anthem: O almighty God (Barcroft c.1600)
O almighty God, mercifully hear the supplication of thy people, and grant us thy peace all the days of our life.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 22:15-22
Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.
Hymn 133 Source and Sovereign, Rock and Cloud (Aberystwyth)
1 Source and Sovereign, Rock and Cloud,
Fortress, Fountain, Shelter, Light,
Judge, Defender, Mercy, Might,
Life whose life all life endowed:
May the Church at prayer recall
that no single holy name
but the truth that feeds them all
is the God whom we proclaim.
2 Word and Wisdom, Root and Vine,
Shepherd, Saviour, Servant, Lamb,
Well and Water, Bread and Wine,
Way who leads us to I AM:
3 Storm and Stillness, Breath and Dove,
Thunder, Tempest, Whirlwind, Fire,
Comfort, Counsellor, Presence, Love,
Energies that never tire:
Sermon
Anthem: O come, ye servants of the Lord (Tye 1500-1573)
O come, ye servants of the Lord,
and praise His holy name
From early morn to setting sun,
His might on earth proclaim.
His laws are just, and glad the heart:
He makes His mercies known.
Ye princes come, ye people too,
and bow before His throne.
Dedication of our Offerings
{If able, please stand as the offering is brought forward and the congregation sings}
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. (CH4 807, Old 100th)
Prayer of Dedication:
Minister: Father, Son, and Spirit Holy,
we give you thanks and praise:
Congregation: We dedicate to you
our thoughts, our words,
our gifts, our deeds,
the working of our hands,
the thinking of our minds,
the loving of our hearts. Amen.
Prayers of Thanksgiving & Intercession
Intimations
Hymn 457 All hail the power of Jesus’ name (Miles Lane)
1 All hail the power of Jesus’ Name!
Let angels prostrate fall;
bring forth the royal diadem,
* and crown him Lord of all.
2 Crown him, you martyrs of your God,
who from his altar call;
praise him whose path of pain you trod,
and crown him Lord of all.
3 Let every tongue and every tribe,
responsive to the call,
to him all majesty ascribe,
and crown him Lord of all.
4 Oh, that with yonder sacred throng,
we at his feet may fall;
join in the everlasting song,
and crown him Lord of all!
* When using MILES LANE the words ‘crown him’ are sung four times in each verse.
Organ Postlude: Prelude in E Flat BWV 552 JS Bach
Retiring Offering
