Worship · Order of Worship
The Cost of the Way
June 21, 2026
Opening Prayer
Note to leader: invite the congregation to settle into stillness before beginning this prayer.
God of the journey,
we come to you from many roads—
some of us weary, some of us restless,
some carrying burdens we don’t yet have words for.
You meet us here,
not demanding arrival,
but offering presence.
You call us by name.
We gather in this hour
to hear what following might cost,
to consider what we fear,
and what, in your mercy, we might become.
Still the noise of our week.
Settle us into this moment.
Open us to your word
and to one another.
Through Jesus Christ, who walks ahead
and walks beside us.
Amen.
Call to Worship
Based on Psalm 69
selected verses
We cry out from the depths,
and the waters rise around us.
Save us, O God, for the floods have reached our necks.
We sink in the mire where there is no foothold.
We are weary with our calling out.
Answer us, O Lord, in the steadfast love that never fails.
The world scorns those who trust in you.
Zeal for your house consumes us.
Let not the flood sweep over us, nor the deep swallow us whole.
Do not hide your face from those who call.
Turn to us in your abundant mercy.
Draw near to us and redeem us; set us free from all that threatens.
Let the heavens and the earth praise you.
Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad.
For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah.
Come, let us worship the God who hears our cry.
Hymn of Praise
Will You Come and Follow Me, GTG #726
Grace Spoken
Hear the good news:
Before we confess,
God has already named us beloved.
Before we turn,
Christ has already claimed us as his own.
In baptism, we died with Christ.
In baptism, we rise with him to new life.
The old fears no longer define us.
The old powers no longer control us.
Christ has broken sin’s hold.
Christ has set us free.
God’s grace goes before us.
God’s love will never let us go.
Trusting in God’s grace and mercy, let us confess our sins and brokenness together.
Responding to God’s Grace
Unison Prayer of Confession
God who calls us to follow,
we confess we have counted the cost
and chosen comfort instead.
We have spoken courage in worship
but lived fear in the world.
We have clung to security,
hoarded what we could lose,
and turned away from Your way
when it threatened what we valued most.
We have feared rejection more than we loved truth.
We have been silent when You commanded speech,
cautious when You demanded boldness,
and lukewarm when You asked for fire.
Forgive us for picking up crosses we could carry easily
and leaving the real ones behind.
(A time of silent prayer)
Through Jesus Christ, who held nothing back,
forgive and free us.
Amen.
The Written Word
A Reading from the Hebrew Scriptures
Jeremiah’s Complaint
7You enticed me, O LORD, and I was enticed;
you overpowered me and prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all the day;
everyone mocks me.
8For whenever I speak, I cry out;
I proclaim, “Violence and destruction!”
For the word of the LORD has become for me
a reproach and derision all the day.
9If I say, “I will not mention him
or speak any more in his name,”
then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire
shut up in my bones;
I am weary of holding it in,
and I cannot.
10For I hear the whispering of many:
“Terror on every side!
Denounce him! Let us denounce him!”
All my close friends
watch for my stumbling:
“Perhaps he will be enticed,
and we can prevail against him
and take our revenge on him.”
The LORD Is with Me
11But the LORD is with me like a mighty warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble,
and they will not prevail.
They will be greatly put to shame,
for they will not succeed;
their everlasting disgrace
will not be forgotten.
12O LORD of Hosts, who tests the righteous,
who sees the kidneys and the heart,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.
13Sing to the LORD;
praise the LORD!
For he has delivered the life of the needy
from the hand of evildoers.
Notes
Jeremiah’s complaint is unusually direct. The language of being enticed and overpowered preserves the violence Jeremiah feels in his prophetic calling.
Jeremiah cannot speak the LORD’s word without announcing disaster, and that word isolates him.
Silence is impossible. The word becomes internal fire—painful to contain and impossible to suppress.
The phrase “Terror on every side” returns mockingly. The judgment-name attached to Pashhur becomes the atmosphere around Jeremiah.
Confidence interrupts lament. The LORD is not gentle consolation here but a “mighty warrior” against persecutors.
“Kidneys and heart” names the inner person—desire, conscience, and intention.
Praise appears before the final lament, creating unresolved movement rather than simple emotional progression.
Vocabulary
פָּתָה (pathah)
“To entice.” To persuade, deceive, or draw in.
חָזַק (chazaq)
“To overpower.” To be strong or prevail.
חָמָס (chamas)
“Violence.” Destructive force or injustice.
שֹׁד (shod)
“Destruction.” Devastation or ruin.
אֵשׁ (esh)
“Fire.” Here an inward burning image for the prophetic word.
עֶצֶם (‘etsem)
“Bone.” The inner frame of the body, used for deep embodied pressure.
דִּבָּה (dibbah)
“Whispering” or “evil report.” Hostile rumor or slander.
גִּבּוֹר עָרִיץ (gibbor arits)
“Mighty warrior.” A terrifying champion or powerful fighter.
כִּלְיָה (kilyah)
“Kidney.” In Hebrew anthropology, an inner seat of emotion and desire.
לֵב (lev)
“Heart.” The inner person, including thought, will, and intention.
רִיב (riv)
“Cause” or “case.” A legal dispute or plea committed to God.
אֶבְיוֹן (evyon)
“Needy.” One who lacks power and depends on deliverance.
From the Epistles
Dying and Living with Christ
1What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin so that grace may abound? 2By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7For whoever has died has been freed from sin.
8But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer exercises dominion over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Notes
“united with him” The verb signals participation rather than imitation. Paul describes a shared reality grounded in Christ’s death and resurrection, not a metaphor for moral effort.
“the body of sin” This phrase does not identify the physical body as evil. It names the self as organized under sin’s power, which is rendered powerless through participation in Christ’s death.
“freed from sin” Freedom is stated as an accomplished reality, not a future goal. The logic is declarative before it becomes imperative.
“death no longer exercises dominion” Dominion language continues the thread from Romans 5. Death is personified as a ruling power whose authority has been broken in Christ.
“consider yourselves” The verb calls for alignment of perception with reality, not self-persuasion. The exhortation rests on what God has already done.
Vocabulary
σύμφυτος (symphytos)
“United with.” Conveys organic participation or shared life, not mere association or imitation. The term emphasizes incorporation into Christ’s death and resurrection.
καταργέω (katargeō)
“To render powerless.” Does not mean annihilation. Sin’s authority is broken, though its presence remains contested.
ἐλευθερόω (eleutheroō)
“To free.” Liberation is declared as an accomplished reality, grounding the ethical exhortations that follow.
κυριεύω (kyrieuō)
“To exercise dominion.” Signals ruling authority. Used of death and sin to describe oppressive powers rather than isolated acts.
λογίζομαι (logizomai)
“To consider; to reckon.” Calls for alignment with reality rather than self-deception. The verb echoes earlier chapters while shifting from justification to lived identity.
σύμφυτος (symphytos)
“United with.” Conveys organic participation or shared life, not mere association or imitation.
Gospel Reading
A Disciple Is Not Above His Teacher
24A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. 25It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household.
26So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. 28And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. 29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. 31Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Acknowledging Christ
32So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, 33but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Not Peace, but a Sword
34Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, 36and a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.
37Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Notes
Identification with the teacher includes sharing in accusation.
Hiddenness is temporary; disclosure is assumed, not argued.
Fear is redirected rather than eliminated; proper object is redefined.
Divine attention extends to the insignificant; valuation is reassigned.
Peace is not immediate harmony but conflict arising from allegiance.
The cross is introduced prior to the narrative of crucifixion; meaning precedes event.
Loss and finding are inversely structured; identity is reconfigured through surrender.
Vocabulary
Βεελζεβούλ (*Beelzeboul*)
Derisive title; association with demonic rule.
γέεννα (Gehenna)
“Place of destruction; carries judgment imagery.”
ὁμολογέω (*homologeō*)
“To acknowledge,” confess publicly.
μάχαιρα (*machaira*)
“Sword.” Symbol of division rather than weapon specification.
σταυρός (*stauros*)
“Cross.” Instrument of execution; here symbolic of costly allegiance.
ψυχή (psychē)
“Life,” “soul.” Whole self, not merely inner essence.
A Reading from the Psalms
Psalm 69 — Scripture text will be inserted here via the Scripture plugin.
Save Me from the Deep Waters
1Save me, God,
for the waters have come up to my neck.2I have sunk in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.3I am weary with my crying;
my throat is parched.
My eyes fail
with hoping for my God.
4More than the hairs of my head
are those who hate me without cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me,
those who attack me with lies.
What I did not steal
must I now restore?5God, you know my folly,
and my guilt is not hidden from you.6Do not let those who hope in you
be shamed because of me,
O Lord God of hosts;
do not let those who seek you
be dishonored because of me,
O God of Israel.7For it is for your sake
that I have borne reproach,
that shame has covered my face.
Zeal and Reproach
8I have become a stranger to my brothers,
a foreigner to my mother's sons.9For the zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you
have fallen on me.10When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting,
it became my reproach.11When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became a byword to them.12Those who sit at the gate talk about me,
and I am the song of drunkards.
Answer Me in Your Steadfast Love
13But as for me,
my prayer is to you, O LORD,
at an acceptable time, O God;
in the abundance of your steadfast love,
answer me in your saving faithfulness.14Rescue me from the mire;
do not let me sink;
deliver me from my foes
and from the depths of the waters.15Do not let the flood sweep over me,
or the deep swallow me up,
or the pit close its mouth over me.16Answer me, O LORD,
for your steadfast love is good;
according to your abundant mercy,
turn to me.17Do not hide your face from your servant;
for I am in trouble,
answer me quickly.18Draw near to my soul,
redeem it;
ransom me because of my enemies.
You Know My Reproach
19You know my reproach,
my shame, and my dishonor;
my adversaries are all known to you.20Reproach has broken my heart,
and I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none.21They gave me poison for food,
and for my thirst,
they gave me vinegar to drink.
A Cry for Justice
22Let their table before them become a snare;
when they are at peace,
let it become a trap.23Let their eyes be darkened,
so they cannot see,
and make their loins tremble continually.24Pour out your anger upon them,
and let your burning wrath overtake them.25May their camp be desolate;
let none dwell in their tents.26For they persecute those you have struck down,
and they recount the pain
of those you have wounded.27Add iniquity to their iniquity,
and let them not come into your righteousness.28Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
Praise from the Afflicted
29But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God,
set me on high.30I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.31This will please the LORD more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.32The humble shall see this and be glad;
you who seek God,
let your hearts revive.33For the LORD hears the needy
and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.
Let Heaven and Earth Praise
34Let heaven and earth praise him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.35For God will save Zion
and build the cities of Judah;
they shall dwell there and possess it.36The children of his servants shall inherit it,
and those who love his name shall dwell in it.
Notes
“those who hate me without cause” — The psalmist describes hostility that exceeds any offense claimed against him. The following question concerning what he did not steal intensifies the sense of unjust accusation.
“zeal for your house has consumed me” — Zeal for God’s house becomes a source of suffering for the psalmist. The metaphor is preserved without reducing the “house” to a later theological interpretation.
“at an acceptable time” — The prayer appeals to a time of divine favor without specifying when that time will come.
“mire … depths … flood … deep … pit” — Images of engulfing waters and confinement accumulate as descriptions of danger. The psalm moves between literal-sounding peril and metaphor without distinguishing them.
“Reproach has broken my heart” — The language places the wound of public shame within the inner life of the psalmist. The absence of pity and comfort deepens the isolation.
“They gave me poison for food … vinegar to drink” — Food and drink, normally means of sustaining life, become signs of hostility and abandonment.
These verses contain a sustained imprecation against the psalmist’s enemies. The prayer asks God to judge rather than softening or resolving the psalmist’s anger. The language is retained as part of the psalm’s movement from suffering toward an appeal for divine justice.
“book of the living” — The image portrays the living as enrolled before God. The psalm does not further define the image or describe its relationship to later uses of similar language.
Praise and thanksgiving are presented as more pleasing to the LORD than an animal offering. The comparison does not reject sacrifice but emphasizes the value of grateful praise.
The psalmist’s deliverance widens into encouragement for the humble and those who seek God. Personal lament becomes communal hope.
The conclusion expands beyond the individual psalmist to Zion, Judah, and the descendants of God’s servants. Restoration is described in terms of dwelling, inheritance, and continuing belonging.
Vocabulary
יָוֵן (yaven)
“Mire” or “mud.” Deep, unstable ground in which a person sinks and cannot find secure footing.
קִנְאָה (qin'ah)
“Zeal.” Intense devotion or passion. Here zeal for God’s house becomes associated with the psalmist’s suffering.
חֶסֶד (ḥesed)
“Steadfast love.” Faithful, enduring love expressed within covenant relationship.
נָצַל (natsal)
“To rescue” or “deliver.” To draw someone away from danger or preserve them from destruction.
גָּאַל (ga'al)
“To redeem.” To reclaim, rescue, or act as one responsible for restoring another.
חֶרְפָּה (cherpah)
“Reproach” or “disgrace.” Public shame or contempt directed against a person.
רֹאשׁ (rosh)
“Poison” or “gall.” A bitter or poisonous substance, used here for what the psalmist’s enemies give as food.
מַכְאוֹב (makh'ov)
“Pain” or “suffering.” The anguish associated with injury or affliction.
מָחָה (machah)
“To blot out” or “erase.” To remove from a written record, here used in relation to the book of the living.
יְשׁוּעָה (yeshuah)
“Salvation,” “deliverance,” or “saving help.” Rescue brought by God.
תּוֹדָה (todah)
“Thanksgiving.” Grateful acknowledgment expressed especially in worship and praise.
יָשַׁע (yasha)
“To save” or “deliver.” To bring rescue or preservation, here applied to God’s saving of Zion.
The Cost of the Way
- Jesus says, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” What are you afraid of right now — and what does that fear say about what you most value?
- Jeremiah says, “You have enticed me, and I was enticed.” When have you felt pulled toward something God-sized that you did not ask for — and how did you respond?
- Jesus names the cost: households divided, ordinary relationships tested. Where in your life is following Christ creating tension with people you love?
- Paul writes that we are “dead to sin and alive to God.” What is one specific habit, loyalty, or way of living that you need to let die — and what new life might take its place?
- The sparrow falls, and God knows. What small, overlooked thing in your life or community is God paying attention to — that others might dismiss as insignificant?
- This week, tell one person — someone who knows you well — about a cost you are paying to follow Jesus. Name it plainly. Come back ready to share what happened when you said it out loud.
Hymn of Reflection
Take Up Your Cross, the Savior Said, GTG #718
Affirmation of Faith
Spoken together.
We believe in God,
who knows the cost of creation,
who calls us into a way that leads through death to life.
We believe in Jesus Christ,
who did not fear those who destroy the body,
who trusts us with his mission even when the way is hard.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
who names us beloved before the world names us anything else,
who gives us courage to speak what we have heard in secret.
We believe that nothing—
not fear, not division, not even death—
can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
We trust that what we lose for his sake,
we will find again,
transformed and whole.
Amen.
Prayers of the People
Holy God,
you call us to follow the way of Christ, no matter the cost.
For this world you love so fiercely,
where fear drives nations to build walls instead of bridges,
where the powerful silence the prophets among us,
where profit matters more than people—
give us courage to speak truth,
to choose what is right over what is easy.
In your mercy,
hear our prayer and make us brave.
(pause)
For places torn by violence and greed,
for communities where the hungry are ignored,
for lands where children know only war—
stir up voices that will not be silenced,
raise up leaders who count the cost and follow anyway.
In your mercy,
hear our prayer and make us brave.
(pause)
For teachers and preachers, parents and poets,
for all who shape the minds and hearts of others—
when the work is hard and the opposition fierce,
when speaking your word brings scorn instead of praise,
sustain them with your Spirit’s fire.
In your mercy,
hear our prayer and make us brave.
(pause)
For our own lives, scattered and conflicted,
for the ways we keep one foot in your kingdom
and one foot in the world’s approval—
forgive our hedging, our careful discipleship,
our fear of what following might demand.
In your mercy,
hear our prayer and make us brave.
(pause)
For those who suffer because they have been faithful,
for refugees fleeing persecution,
for whistleblowers and truth-tellers,
for all who have lost family or fortune or freedom
because they would not bow to what is false—
uphold them, honor them, vindicate them.
In your mercy,
hear our prayer and make us brave.
(pause)
For those the world does not see:
the undocumented afraid to speak,
the imprisoned without advocates,
the sick who cannot afford healing—
open our eyes to their witness,
move us to stand beside them.
In your mercy,
hear our prayer and make us brave.
(pause)
For this community gathered in your name,
for the choices we will face this week,
for the moments when following Christ will cost us something—
bind us together in love,
remind us we do not walk alone.
In your mercy,
hear our prayer and make us brave.
(pause)
(A time of silent prayer)
God of the prophets and apostles,
God of all who have walked the narrow way,
receive these prayers
and shape us into people who follow freely,
who fear you more than we fear anything else,
who find our lives by losing them in love.
Amen.
We pray together, saying:
(The Lord’s Prayer is prayed in the words familiar to the community.)
Hymn of Sending
O God in Whom All Life Begins, GTG #308
Sending
Go now into a world
that demands your silence—
and speak the truth you have been given.
Go bearing the weight
of what it costs to follow,
knowing Christ has already paid the price.
Go unafraid of what can harm the body
but cannot touch the soul—
for you are held in hands that will not let you fall.
Go naming what you value:
not comfort, not safety,
but the kingdom breaking in.
Go taking up your cross—
not as burden but as banner,
not as punishment but as purpose.
And may the God who sees each sparrow
and numbers every hair,
the Christ who walked this costly way before you
and calls you still to follow,
and the Spirit who gives you words to speak
when fear would silence you,
go with you now and always.
Amen.
Reflections for Later
Sharing God’s Word Together
For Newcomers
If you’re new here—or if you’ve been coming a while and still feel new—welcome. We’re glad you’re here. Today’s service included some pretty intense language: Jesus talking about families divided, about crosses, about losing your life to find it. That’s a lot. If you came looking for something comforting or easy, you might have gotten more than you bargained for.
Here’s what we want you to know: Jesus isn’t trying to make things harder. He’s naming what’s already true. Following him—really following, not just agreeing with nice ideas—changes things. It changes what you’re willing to risk, what you hold onto, who you listen to. That can feel frightening. But it’s also where real freedom starts. Not the freedom to do whatever you want, but the freedom to become who you actually are, underneath all the expectations and fears and carefully managed versions of yourself.
You don’t have to sign up for all of that today. You don’t have to believe it, or even understand it yet. But you’re allowed to wonder. You’re allowed to sit with the questions that Jesus raises—about what’s worth your life, about what God is asking of you, about whether there’s something truer and deeper calling to you. The gospel claims that God is already near, already at work in you, even before you decide anything about it. Especially before.
So take your time. Keep coming if it helps. Keep wondering. We’ll be here.
For Those Rooted in This Community
You’ve heard these words before. You know the shape of Jesus’ warning about losing one’s life to find it. You’ve sung the hymns, repeated the promises, walked the path long enough to know its turns. And that familiarity is both gift and danger. Because somewhere along the way, it becomes possible to affirm the cost of discipleship in theory while quietly renegotiating it in practice—to speak the language of the cross while arranging our lives to avoid its weight.
The disciples who first heard these words had not yet learned to domesticate them. They didn’t have centuries of commentary to soften the edges or a tradition of faithful interpretation to make the unbearable sayable. They simply heard: following me will cost you what you love most. For those of us rooted in this community, the question is not whether we believe this. We do. The question is whether we still let it unsettle us—whether we still allow Jesus to name what we’re clinging to, what we’re protecting, what we’ve decided is too precious to lose.
Maybe the cost for you isn’t family or safety in the way it was for those first disciples. Maybe it’s reputation. Control. The comfort of being right. The version of your life you spent decades building and now can’t imagine releasing. Jesus doesn’t ask us to lose these things because he’s indifferent to our loves. He asks because he knows what happens when our loves grow smaller than his love—when we begin to fear the wrong things, value the wrong things, protect the wrong things.
What are you still negotiating with Jesus? What have you quietly decided is off-limits, non-negotiable, too costly to place in his hands?
For Churches Without a Pastor
The disciples Jesus sent out in Matthew 10 weren’t credentialed professionals. They were learners who’d been watching and listening, then told to go speak and act in his name. Today’s reading reminds us that following Christ has never been the work of one appointed leader — it’s always been the calling of the whole community. When there’s no single voice at the front, the Spirit doesn’t wait for someone to arrive. The Spirit moves among you, in the questions you ask together, the prayers you speak aloud, the meals you share, the hard conversations you don’t avoid. The cost of discipleship doesn’t decrease when a pastor leaves. If anything, it becomes more visible — because now the work falls to everyone, which is closer to what Jesus intended anyway.
You have what you need: each other, the Word read and wrestled with, two thousand years of saints who also wondered if they were doing it right, and the promise that Christ is present when two or three gather. That doesn’t mean this season isn’t hard. It means you’re not alone in it, and you’re not failing because you feel the weight. The Spirit has always worked best in communities that know they can’t do this on their own. Keep showing up. Keep asking the questions. Keep trusting that God is here, not waiting somewhere else for you to get it together first.
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Rights and Use
© Church Commons. 2026
Written by Rev. Matthew J. Skolnik unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
These materials may be used and adapted for worship and educational purposes within Christian communities. They may not be sold or redistributed for commercial purposes without permission.
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