June 28, 2026
Opening Prayer
Note to leader: this prayer invites us to recognize that God meets us in the ordinary moments of our gathered life.
God of welcome,
we come from busy streets and quiet rooms,
from weeks full of small decisions
and moments we barely noticed.
We arrive here carrying what we carry—
the weight of tasks unfinished,
the ache of worry,
the hope that something true might meet us.
Settle us now.
Let our breathing slow,
our shoulders drop,
our attention gather.
You have called us not to extraordinary lives
but to faithful ones—
where a cup of water matters,
where ordinary welcome opens heaven’s door.
Teach us to see what we have missed,
to honor what seems small,
to meet you in the stranger and the neighbor,
in the child and the one in need.
Through Jesus Christ, who knew the holiness of simple gifts.
Amen.
Call to Worship
Based on Psalm 89:1-18
selected verses
I will sing of your steadfast love, O God, forever;
with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations.
The heavens praise your wonders, O Holy One,
your faithfulness in the assembly of the saints.
For who in the skies can be compared to you?
Who among the heavenly beings is like you, O God?
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
Happy are the people who know the festal shout,
who walk, O God, in the light of your countenance.
They exult in your name all day long,
and extol your righteousness.
For you are the glory of their strength;
by your favor our horn is exalted.
Our shield belongs to the Holy One,
our king to the God of Israel.
Your steadfast love is established forever;
your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens.
Come, let us worship the God of steadfast love.
Hymn of Praise
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, GTG #475
Grace Spoken
Hear the good news:
Christ meets us in the stranger at our door.
The Spirit welcomes us before we even knock.
God does not wait for our worthiness—
God sees Christ in us now.
God does not demand perfection—
God offers living water to the thirsty.
Even the smallest act of welcome
becomes holy ground.
Even our faltering steps toward love
are blessed by the One who walks with us.
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 welcomes the stranger,
we confess that we have measured worth
by what people bring to us,
not by the image of Christ they bear.
We have withheld the cup of cold water.
We have passed by the small moments
where your kingdom was near—
the neighbor who needed listening,
the task that seemed too ordinary to matter,
the welcome we were too busy to extend.
We have hoarded our gifts,
waiting for grand gestures,
while you asked only for open hands
and a willingness to see you
in the least and the last.
(A time of silent prayer)
Forgive us, reshape us, and send us back
into the world you love.
Through Jesus Christ, who came as a guest among us.
Amen.
The Written Word
Gospel Reading
Matthew 10:40–42
Rewards
The Twelve Apostles
The Mission of the Twelve
Persecution Will Come
A Disciple Is Not Above His Teacher
Acknowledging Christ
Not Peace, but a Sword
Rewards
Notes
Notes
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
A Reading from the Psalms
Psalm 89:1–18
I Will Sing of Steadfast Love
God’s Covenant with David
Praise of God’s Power and Faithfulness
I Will Sing of Steadfast Love
God’s Covenant with David
Praise of God’s Power and Faithfulness
God’s Promise to David
Lament Over the Broken Crown
Final Appeal
Notes
Notes
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Small Acts, Sacred Welcome
- Jesus says whoever welcomes you welcomes me. When have you been welcomed in a way that felt sacred — like more than politeness?
- The passage names “a prophet” and “a righteous person” — people with titles. But then it names anyone who gives a cup of cold water. What small act of care have you received this week that you almost didn’t notice?
- “Whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones” — who are the “little ones” in your neighborhood or workplace right now?
- Psalm 89 sings of God’s faithfulness enduring forever. Where have you seen faithfulness — in a person, a community, or a habit — that has quietly held something together?
- The reward, Jesus says, is not recognition but connection to God. When have you done something kind without needing credit — and what did that feel like?
- This week, offer one cup of cold water — literally or figuratively — to someone whose name you know but whose story you don’t. Notice what changes in you when you do.
Hymn of Reflection
We Come as Guests Invited, GTG #517
Affirmation of Faith
Spoken together.
We believe in God,
who sees the smallest gesture,
who treasures a cup of cold water
offered in love.
We believe in Jesus Christ,
who dwells in the stranger at our door,
who meets us in the faces we overlook,
who calls ordinary kindness holy.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
who moves through simple acts,
who transforms welcome into blessing,
who whispers: nothing you do is too small.
We believe the kingdom of God
arrives not only in grand moments
but in quiet mercies,
in hands extended,
in thresholds crossed.
We trust that when we welcome the least,
we welcome Christ himself,
and that even our smallest faithfulness
carries the weight of heaven.
Amen.
Prayers of the People
God who welcomes the weary
and never turns away the least among us,
We pray for the world you love so fiercely,
for neighborhoods torn by violence and suspicion,
for communities where doors are locked
and strangers are met with fear instead of kindness.
Open our hearts to see your image in every face.
In your welcome and mercy,
receive our prayer.
(pause)
We pray for places of conflict and division,
for nations at war, for borders where children wait,
for cities where hunger and homelessness
expose our failure to care.
Show us where small acts can build your kingdom.
In your welcome and mercy,
receive our prayer.
(pause)
We pray for leaders and teachers,
for those who shape young minds and old policies,
for people in power who choose
between advantage and justice every day.
Grant them courage to serve the vulnerable first.
In your welcome and mercy,
receive our prayer.
(pause)
We pray for our own lives,
for the ways we overlook the ordinary sacred,
the neighbor we pass without greeting,
the opportunity to give water we let slip by.
Make us attentive to grace in simple gestures.
In your welcome and mercy,
receive our prayer.
(pause)
We pray for those who suffer,
for bodies worn by illness and pain,
for minds burdened by grief or despair,
for all who wait for relief that does not come.
Be near in their loneliness; send someone to notice.
In your welcome and mercy,
receive our prayer.
(pause)
We pray for those who are unseen,
the worker we do not thank,
the refugee whose name we never learn,
the child who offers what little they have.
Train our eyes to see you in the ones we miss.
In your welcome and mercy,
receive our prayer.
(pause)
We pray for this community,
that we would be a place where the smallest kindness matters,
where a cup of cold water is never too small,
where welcome is our first language.
Make us agents of your ordinary grace.
In your welcome and mercy,
receive our prayer.
(pause)
(A time of silent prayer)
Holy God,
gather these prayers like offerings at your table.
Make us who we say we long to be:
a people who notice, who welcome, who give freely.
Through Christ, who taught us that nothing done in love
is ever too small.
Amen.
We pray together, saying:
(The Lord’s Prayer is prayed in the words familiar to the community.)
Hymn of Sending
Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore, GTG #721
Sending
Go now into a world waiting for welcome.
Watch for the thirsty —
the ones others miss,
the ones no one sees.
Go with your eyes open,
noticing the small places
God is already at work:
a cup of water, a listening ear, a place at the table.
Trust that what seems small to you
is never small to God.
Every act of welcome
carries the weight of the kingdom.
Speak blessing over ordinary things:
the meals you share,
the strangers you greet,
the kindness no one applauds.
And may the God who sees every sparrow fall
and counts the hairs on your head,
the Christ who received a cup of cold water
and called it righteousness,
and the Spirit who dwells in the smallest seed
and grows it into shelter,
go with you now and always.
Amen.
Reflections for Later
Sharing God’s Word Together
For Newcomers
If you’re here today wondering whether you belong, you’ve just heard something remarkable: Jesus says that offering even a cup of cold water to someone—the smallest, most ordinary act of care—matters. Not because it earns anything, but because it connects you to something larger than yourself. You don’t have to have it all figured out. You don’t have to be certain. The kingdom of God, it turns out, shows up in the simplest gestures.
Maybe you came today carrying questions, or doubts, or just curiosity. That’s enough. The gospel isn’t asking you to fix yourself before you draw near. It’s telling you that God is already drawing near to you—in the welcome you received when you walked in, in the quiet attention of listening, in the shared peace offered by strangers who are also still learning what it means to follow. Faith isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about showing up, paying attention, and discovering that small acts of kindness are never as small as they seem.
You’re welcome to stay as long as you need to wonder. There’s no timer here, no test to pass. Just an invitation to keep noticing—where you’ve been welcomed, where you might offer welcome, and where the Spirit might already be at work in ways you’re just beginning to see.
For Those Rooted in This Community
You’ve heard this text before. You know about cups of cold water, about welcoming prophets and righteous ones. You may have even given that cup—held the door, signed up for coffee hour, served on a committee. The danger for those of us who have been here a long time is that we start to see hospitality as a task we’ve already completed rather than a posture we’re still learning. We confuse familiarity with faithfulness. We assume that because we know the words about welcome, we’re still practicing the work of it.
But Jesus isn’t talking about hospitality as an event or a program. He’s talking about a way of seeing: recognizing the presence of God in the stranger, the child, the one we didn’t expect. The truth is, the longer we’re part of a community, the harder this becomes. We know who belongs. We know how things work. We’ve developed patterns, preferences, unspoken codes. And without meaning to, we create a culture where only certain people feel seen—where welcome is extended most easily to those who already look like us, talk like us, know the hymns.
The question this week isn’t whether you’ve been hospitable. It’s whether you’re still available to be interrupted. Whether there’s still room in your faith for surprise. Whether the cup of cold water you offer is truly given without condition—or whether it comes with the quiet expectation that the recipient will eventually become like you.
Who in this community still feels like a stranger to you—and what would it mean to see Christ in them?
For Churches Without a Pastor
This week’s reading reminds us that welcome is not reserved for those with credentials or titles. Jesus speaks to disciples sent out without much more than each other and the good news they carry. They depend on the welcome of strangers, on small acts — a cup of cold water, a place to stay, someone willing to listen. The church began this way, and the church continues this way, especially in seasons when leadership looks different than we expected.
You are not missing something essential. You have each other. You have the Spirit moving in your midst. You have water and bread, scripture and song, shared prayers and faithful witness. The ministries that sustained God’s people in every age — hospitality, care, truth-telling, presence — belong to the whole body, not to one voice at the front. These weeks may ask more of you than you thought you could carry, but you are already practicing what the gospel describes: the kingdom coming near through ordinary acts, through the welcome you extend to one another and to those beyond your doors.
This is hard work, and it is holy work. You are allowed to feel both the weight and the wonder. Pay attention to what emerges when no single person holds all the speaking. Notice who steps forward, who needs rest, who asks the questions that open something new. You are not waiting for ministry to resume — you are the ministry, right now, gathered and sent in Christ’s name.
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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.
Resource Details
Date: June 28, 2026
Scripture: Matthew 10:40–42
Theme: Small Acts, Sacred Welcome (Psalm 89:1-18, Matthew 10:40–42)
Lectionary: RCL Year A
Scripture on this page is from The Shared Word Translation (SWT), an ongoing translation project within ChurchCommons.org.
Scripture on this page is from The Shared Word Translation (SWT), an ongoing translation project within ChurchCommons.org.