St Ansgar Lutheran Church, London

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Sunday Morning

We invite you to join us for the following worship services:

Sundays
10:30 a.m. Worship service

Hand sanitizer will be available at the entrance and other locations in the church for
your use.

Washrooms will be available for use.

In the service: The service will be shown on the screen. The offering will not be gathered and presented, but there will be an offering plate at the back of the sanctuary where you can put your offering as you enter or leave. Pastor David distributes the communion wafers and an Assisting Minister distributes wine or grape juice in individual glasses.

We have coffee and fellowship time available again in Luther Hall after the service.

We will continue to evaluate our worship service procedures on a monthly basis.

Sunday October 18, 2026 - Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost.

St. Ansgar Lutheran Church, Outline for Worship (with sermon)
Sunday, October 18, 2026 – Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost
Based on ELW Setting Ten

GATHERING

WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS

BRIEF ORDER FOR CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
P: Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God, who pours love into our hearts and
healing upon the earth.
C: Amen.

P: Confident that God justifies us by grace through faith, let us confess our sin.

Silence is kept for reflection.

P: Compassionate God,
C: we confess that we struggle to embody your goodness in the world and
in our own hearts.
Creation groans from overuse. Jealousy and bitterness strain our
relationships. Indifference keeps us from seeking justice. Divisions
disrupt your call to show genuine love to others.
Turn our hearts back to you. Restore our world and reconcile us to one
another. Renew us to live as your holy people, following the way of Jesus
Christ. Amen.

P: Hear this good news: We have peace with God through ☩ Jesus Christ, in
whom there is no condemnation, but only forgiveness and the promise of eternal
life. Receive freely this healing gift of grace.
C: Amen.

ENTRANCE HYMN - As We Gather at Your Table (ELW 522)

GREETING
P: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion
of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
C: And also with you

KYRIE (ELW p. 203)
Have mercy on us, Lord, and hear our solemn prayer.
We come to hear your living word; it saves us from despair.
Have mercy on us Christ, and wash away our sin.
Pour out your grace and make us whole that new life may begin.
Have mercy on us, Lord; make sin and shame depart.
Renew us with your saving pow’r; create in us new hearts!

CANTICLE OF PRAISE (ELW p. 204)
Glory be to God in heaven; peace, goodwill to all the earth.
Mighty God of all creation, Father of surpassing worth:
we exalt you, we adore you, we lift high our thanks and praise.
Saints and angels bow before you; here on earth our songs we raise.
Glory be to Christ forever, Lamb of God and Lord of love.
Son of God and gracious Saviour, you have come from heav’n above;
on the cross you died to save us; now you reign at God’s right hand.
Hear our prayer; restore, forgive us; in your promise firm we stand.
Holy One we now acclaim you; Lord alone, to you we call;
Holy One in faith we name you, God most high, yet near to all:
Jesus Christ, with God the Spirit, in the Father’s splendour bright.
For the peace that we inherit, glory be to God on high!

PRAYER OF THE DAY
P: Let us pray.
P: Sovereign God, raise your throne in our hearts. Created by you, let us live in
your image; created for you, let us act for your glory; redeemed by you, let us
give you what is yours, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.
C: Amen

WORD

FIRST READING: Isaiah 45:1-7
1 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have
grasped to subdue nations before him and strip kings of their robes, to open
doors before him-- and the gates shall not be closed: 2 I will go before you and
level the mountains, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through
the bars of iron, 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in
secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel,
who call you by your name. 4 For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my
chosen, I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me. 5 I
am the LORD, and there is no other; besides me there is no god. I arm you,
though you do not know me, 6 so that they may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is no one besides me; I am the LORD, and there is
no other. 7 I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe; I the
LORD do all these things.

A: The word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.

PSALM: Psalm 96: 1-13
1 Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord, bless the name of the Lord;
proclaim God’s salvation from day to day.
3 Declare God’s glory among the nations
and God’s wonders among all peoples.
4 For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised,
more to be feared than all gods.
5 As for all the gods of the nations, they are but idols;
but you, O Lord, have made the heavens.
6 Majesty and magnificence are in your presence;
power and splendour are in your sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the Lord you families of the peoples,
ascribe to the Lord honour and power.
8 Ascribe to the Lord the honour due the holy name;
bring offerings and enter the courts of the Lord.
9 Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness;
tremble before the Lord, all the earth.
10 Tell it out among the nations: “The Lord is king!
The one who made the world so firm that it cannot be moved will
judge the peoples with equity.”
11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
let the sea thunder and all that is in it; let the field be joyful and all that is
therein.
12 Then shall all the trees of the wood shout for joy at your coming, O
Lord, for you come to judge the earth.
13 You will judge the world with righteousness
and the peoples with your truth.

SECOND READING: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. 2 We always give
thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly 3
remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love
and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers
and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 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 persons we proved to be
among you for your sake. 6 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,
7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in
Achaia. 8 For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in
Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known,
so that we have no need to speak about it. 9 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, 10 and to wait for his Son from
heaven, whom he raised from the dead--Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath
that is coming.

A: The word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (ELW p. 205)
Alleluia! Lord and Saviour: open now your saving word.
Let it burn like fire within us; speak until our hearts are stirred.
Alleluia! Lord, we sing for the good news that you bring

GOSPEL
P: The Holy Gospel according to Matthew 22:15-22
C: Glory to you, O Lord.

15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said.
16 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. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to
the emperor, or not?" 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why are you
putting me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin used for the tax."
And they brought him a denarius. 20 Then he said to them, "Whose head is this,
and whose title?" 21 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." 22 When they heard this, they were amazed; and they
left him and went away.

P: The Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to you, O Christ.

SERMON
Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost
Matthew 22:15-22
Let us pray: May the words of my mouth, and the prayers of our hearts, always
be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. AMEN
We sing to God:
You alone are the Holy One.
You alone are the Lord.
You alone are the Most High.
And God says to us in our lesson from Isaiah:
I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no god.
I am the Lord, and there is no other,
I form light and create darkness; I make weal and create woe.
I, the Lord do all these things.
Back and forth, point and counterpoint, push and pull, beholding what we are,
becoming what we receive, until breathless and spent and brought to shore our
whole life confesses one truth: Everything belongs to God, everyone belongs to
God.
Jesus said, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperors, and
to God the things that are God’s.”
There is nothing that does not belong to God.
When you look intently and intentionally at the world around you, what do you
see? Do you see a world of creatures who bear the image of their creator
stamped permanently upon them and within them? When you look at a man, or
a woman, or a child, do you see a coin in the hand of God worth more than all
the currency of every nation combined? Do you see a world that belongs entirely
to God?
Give therefore the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and give to God
the things that are God’s. I have thought about these words a lot this past week.
Listening to the words of Jesus in this Gospel lesson, there are a few things that
I do not hear.
I do not hear a teaching about whether or not we should pay taxes. I do not hear
advice about keeping our religious and economic lives separate. I do not hear a
passage upon which to justify the separation of church and state. And yet,
neither do I hear a passage validating some easy truce between the two. I do
hear a lesson about being good and dutiful citizens of the nation in which we are
residing. I do believe that cooperating with democratically elected government is
a form of loving my neighbour as myself. I do not hear a passage demanding
that we engage in civil disobedience in the name of the God we serve, though
giving to God the things that are God’s may itself require such action, and there
are plenty of words in the Gospel that can and even should be interpreted as
calls to nonviolent resistance.
I do not even think that this passage is primarily about what we should do with
our money, though it has profound implications in that direction to which I will
later return. I hear this challenging text from Matthew’s Gospel as a message
about our fundamental attitude toward God who created us in God’s own image.
This is an attitude, a disposition, a place we come from prior to any loving and
faithful response.
There is no thing that does not belong to God. If we embrace this attitude, which
is also a truth, then we realize that we too belong to God: everything we have,
and everything that we are, and then what is left over after that. If our basic
attitude is that some things belong to God while other things belong to someone
or something less than God, including things belonging to ourselves, we are
mistaken.
This passage in its original context reveals much. The tax in question, one of the
many taxes paid by the Jewish people in first century Palestine, was the imperial
tax paid as a tribute to Rome to support the Roman occupation of Isreal.
Whether the tax was a ticket to privilege or a badge of oppression quickly
divided the Jewish people into two camps: the Herodians who regarded Roman
rule as a privilege, and the Pharisees and other nationalists who regarded the
tax as a profound humiliation. These unlikely bedfellows joined forces to entrap
Jesus as he teaches in the temple during what will be his final week of life on
earth. If Jesus says “Yes,” he will be advocating for Roman rule and the vast
majority of the common people around him will feel betrayed; if he says “No,” he
will be committing political treason. But in characteristic form, Jesus chooses
neither of the options. He says, “Show me the coin used for the tax.” Jesus does
not own such a coin, but he knows his opponents will, and their possession of a
denarius in the Temple will demonstrate their own loyalties. “Whose head is this,
and whose title?” “The emperor’s,” they must reply. “Give therefore to the
emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are
God’s.” Just as the emperor is not God, God is not an emperor.
God does not own simply a staggeringly large amount of the known universe.
God does not demand tribute from us and let us keep the remainder for our own
purposes. Everything belongs to God. Under all this dialogue, I hear Jesus
saying, “If Tiberius Caesar has so much fun minting these little bits of silver and
writing his name on them, let him have them. Our true worth and genuine
resources come from God.” We belong to God. What we have belongs to God.
We buy and we sell in God’s economy, God’s marketplace. The way we engage
with the world’s economy and the world’s marketplace must reflect this prior
reality and loyalty. That is no easy task, and Jesus does not give us a formula.
Earlier I said that if our basic attitude is that some things belong to God while
other things belong to someone else less that God, including ourselves, we are
mistaken. One possible mistake might be to attempt to serve God while also
building our own empire and collecting bits of silver imprinted with our own
likeness. There are abundant examples of this in both American and Canadian
Christianity. But another possibility is that we become unwitting, tax-paying
subjects of one of the world’s many competing emperors by internalizing the
messages communicated by our economy or our government or our employer
that we belong to them. Edicts from the world’s emperors can easily become,
“Your sense of worth depends on me,” or “Your pursuit of meaning is
determined by my parameters.” Our relationship with money can have a great
deal of power over us. We give the emperor things that are not his.
There is no thing that does not belong to God. If we embrace this attitude, which
is also the truth, then we too will accept that we belong to God: everything we
have, everything that we are, and then what is left after that. And since we
belong to God, all that is God’s is also ours, though the sense in which it is ours
will be infinitely more spacious than any words can convey.
Jesus reminds us, by his answer to the question about taxes, and by his own life
and death in full obedience to God, that we are, body and soul, the people of
God, created in God’s likeness, living here as stewards of earth and
ambassadors of God’s reign.
We are the coin of God’s realm. God’s likeness stamped on us declares that we
belong wholly and entirely to God. May we each remember, every day, in whose
likeness and for whose purposes we are created, and may we never forget that
we will always belong to God.
AMEN

HYMN OF THE DAY – We Give Thee but Thine Own (ELW #686)

APOSTLES’ CREED
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.

On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
A: Seeking the Spirit of God who makes all things new, we pray for the church
and the world.
A: God of our church, send forth your Spirit as we pray for our National Bishop
Larry Kochendorfer. Empower him with your wisdom to lead the church. We also
pray for our Synod Bishop Carla Blakley and the Eastern Synod Office and
Support Staff. Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: Living and true God, you inspire us to share the message of the gospel. Give
your spirit of love to seminarians and those beginning their lives in ordained
ministry. Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: We give you thanks for the majesty of our oceans. Protect the abundant
life within them and sustain all those who work to preserve them. Hear us, O
God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: We seek your wisdom in all things. Direct all who hold positions of authority
around the world, that they act with compassion, seeking the good of all. Hear
us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: We pray for all people who work in dangerous or degrading environments.
Grant them safety and courage, and heal those who are injured, sick, or
suffering through their work. We pray for all with special needs for your comfort
and healing care, especially Beth, Jean, Kristine, Karen, Emma, Cathy, Lene,
Lyra, Bud, Pastor Bob, Margaret, Johnny, Marion, and those others who are in
our hearts. Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: We ask your blessing on those who do the quiet, unseen work of the church.
Encourage them in their work of faith and labour of love. Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: Merciful God, we pray for peace as war continues in Ukraine and in the
Middle East. Shelter all living in fear; protect those seeking refuge in
neighbouring countries; sustain families separated by the horrors of war;
tend to those who are injured; comfort all who mourn their dead.
Direct your people into the way of peace. Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: We thank you for our ancestors who have been called home to you. Hear us,
O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: Trusting in your boundless grace, O God, we lift up these spoken prayers and
those in our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
C: Amen.

PEACE
P: The peace of Christ be with you always.
C: And also with you.

LORD’S PRAYER
P: Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray.
C: 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 trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.

SENDING

BLESSING
P: The God of love draw you into full accord and one mind, in the body of Christ
Jesus.
C: Amen.

P: The God of hope grant you strength and joy in all circumstances through the
interceding of the Spirit.
C: Amen.

P: The God of grace + bless you now and forever.
C: Amen.

SENDING HYMN – God of Grace and God of Glory (ELW #705)

DISMISSAL
A: Go out in joy. Be led forth in peace.
C: Thanks be to God.

DISMISSAL HYMN – The Lord Now Sends Us Forth (ELW #538)
Verse 1
The Lord now sends us forth
with hands to serve and give,
to make of all the earth
a better place to live. Repeat (2X)

Verse 2
The angels are not sent
into our world of pain
to do what we were meant
to do in Jesus' name;
that falls to you and me
and all who are made free.
Help us, O Lord, we pray,
to do your will today. Repeat (2X)