CHRIST CONGREGATIONAL

UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

 

September 6, 2026 – 11:00 a.m.

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Labor day Sunday

 

Preparation for worship

“No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.”

—The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

🏵️Today’s flowers are In Memory of George Clinton Hawkins SR., JR, III

 

The Rev. Candace Thomas, Pastor

Jay Harragin, Director of Music

Graham Bryan, Church Moderator/ Musician

Joan Campagna, Liturgist

Jack Smith, Usher

Kevin Salas, Audio/ Visual Technical director

 

 

14920 Southwest 67^th Avenue, Palmetto Bay, Florida 33158

www.christcongregationalucc.org

office@christcongregationalucc.org | 305.235.9381

 

 

*Indicates please stand if comfortably able

 

GATHERING MUSIC 10:45 a.m.

 

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

PRELUDE

 

*LIGHTING OF THE PEACE CANDLE

Leader: The Light shines in the Darkness

All: And the darkness cannot put out the light!

 

*WORLD PEACE PRAYER (Unison)

Lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth,

Lead us from despair to hope, from fear to trust.

Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace.

Let peace fill our heart, our world, our universe. Amen.

 

* CALL TO WORSHIP  (Responsive)

One: Today is a Sabbath.

 

All: We are called to rest.

 

One: This space is for Sabbath.

 

All: We have come here to rest.

 

One: For all who are lonely…

 

All: May we find belonging.

 

One: For all who are weary…

 

All: May we find rest.

 

One: For all who labor…

 

All: May we find renewal.

 

One: For all who are not afforded belonging, rest, and renewal:

 

All: May we embody solidarity with those longing for community, wages, and sabbaths that everyone deserves.

 

One: Today is a Sabbath.

 

All: Let us find rest, and worship together the One who provides rest from labor, loneliness, and weariness.

 

*HYMN               “Worker God Who Built Creation”

                      (Tune of “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”)

 

Worker God who built creation, author of humanity,

Thoughtful planner, joyous potter, through your work we come to be.

May we labor in your image. May your love guide all we do.

Help us co-create your kin-dom. Help us make your dream come true.

 

Worker Jesus, teaching, healing, sharing gifts of wine and bread,

Strengthening the broken-hearted, making sure the poor are fed,

May we labor in your image. May we set the captives free.

Send us ever to the margins. Rouse our solidarity.

 

Worker Spirit, inspiration, you infuse each living soul,

Calling us to lives of justice till each heart is free and whole.

May we labor in your image. May we tend and heal and praise.

May we strive for life abundant, glad and grateful all our days.

 

OUR LABOR: A RESPONSIVE READING FOR LABOR DAY

One: On Labor Day we honor our work, physical and mental, paid and unpaid, joyous and heartbreaking.

 

Many: We give thanks for work’s gifts, suffer its difficulties, and strive to make labor just and joyous for all.

 

One: Our work can build our society, provide for our material needs, and give our life meaning.

 

Many: We labor in gratitude.

 

One: Our work can damage our society and the planet, fail to sustain our material needs, and be meaningless.

 

Many: We join together to create work that supports the well-being of all.

 

One: Our work can heal the world, help us understand who we are, and keep us safe.

 

Many: We labor in joy.

 

One: Our work can harm the world, demean us, and expose us to danger.

 

Many: We join together to create work that is safe and humane.

 

One: Our work can fill our days with accomplishments and our lives with stories.

 

Many: We labor in love.

 

One: Our work can dissatisfy and alienate us; we may not be able to find enough work or any work.

 

Many: We join together to create work that blesses us, all people, and the planet.

 

One: This Labor Day and all Labor Days to come,

 

All: May our work, and all work, serve humanity and all living beings.

 

 

THE COMMANDMENT OF JESUS (John 15:5, 12)

I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

 

SCRIPTURE LESSON:           James 5: 1-4            NRSV(UE)

 

Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.

 

SPECIAL MUSIC      “Day by Day”      Porter’s Gate

 

 

INVITATION TO CONFESSION:

On this Labor Day Sunday let us lift up all people who labor, either for pay or as volunteers, in jobs or at school, at home or in the workplace, here at home and all around the world.

 

 

UNISON PRAYER OF CONFESSION:

We are workers, God, just like you. But we confess that our actions do not always affirm and honor each other. Our work is not always done in a spirit that is pleasing to you. We confess that, on some occasions, we have blindly bought goods made by people who are paid too little or work in unsafe conditions. We admit that we have failed to end an unjust system in which some workers have jobs that provide good wages and benefits while others may have no job, or one that pays little and provides few benefits.

 

Creator God, help us to be your people, working for a world where all workers are valued. A world where those who clean houses are also able to buy houses to live in. A world where those who grow food can also afford to eat their fill. And one where those who serve and care for others – in stores, schools, hotels, restaurants, nursing homes, and many other places –are, themselves, also served and cared for. A world where all workers everywhere share in the abundance that you have given us. Amen.

 

WORDS OF ASSURANCE- Pastor Candy

Our God is a God of grace and transformation. When we ask, God gives us the courage and strength to live out our faith in the workplace and the marketplace, as well as in the sanctuary.

 

SHARING OUR JOYS AND CONCERNS

 

 

PRAYER SONG       “Spirit of the Living God”    Verse 1   (No. 283, NCH)

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me;

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.

Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.

 

 

TIME OF SILENT MEDITATION 

(You are invited to open your heart to the movement of the Holy Spirit.)

 

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

 

 

THE PRAYER OF JESUS (Unison)

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, now and forever. Amen. 

 

INVITATION TO GENEROSITY- Pastor Candy

The witness of our sacred texts and generations of prophetic leaders is clear: when we have enough – and more than enough – to meet our needs, our call is to share until all others have their needs met. When this vision of thriving humanity is achieved, we all thrive. Let this truth settle upon us as a deeply held desire to love one another as God has loved us.

 

MUSICAL OFFERING        “Dream God’s Dream”      Bryan Sirchio

 

PRAYER OF DEDICATION AND THANKSGIVING (Unison)

God of Justice, Mercy, and Fairness: We commit ourselves and these offerings unto you, that your will and ways may be manifested in our lives, within your assemblies, and spread forth that the powers that be might serve your purposes until all are fed, housed, cared for, work with dignity, and all of these things done in ways that preserve the sanctity of this one precious earth.

 

 

MESSAGE: Miami Worker’s Circle Guest Speaker

* COMMUNION HYMN       “Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ”

                                                                       (No. 347, NCH)

 

THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION

 

WELCOME

THANKS AND PRAISE

INVITATION

 

*PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING (Unison)

Holy Provider, Grace made tangible, Love in motion. We have received your gifts with thanks in our hearts. Grateful for the labor that produced them, we promise we’ll never forget the justice we owe to all people who work, and we will work to repay them our debt. Amen.

 

 

*HYMN       “We Labor for the Day”

 

Verse 1

We labor for the day when
everyone has work enough, when everyone has work they love
that pays a living wage.

 

Verse 2

We labor for the day when
work brings meaning to our lives and makes us proud and helps us thrive,
when work is always safe.

 

Verse 3

We labor for the day when
work enriches not demeans, when no one has to choose between
their morals and their pay.

 

Verse 4

We labor for the day when
all our work is valued well, the source of tales we love to tell,
and balance to our play.

 

Verse 5

We labor for the day when
work will serve the common good and heal our planet as it should
and help us on our way.

 

Verse 6

Oh Maker of our days, inspire us as we labor on.
Empower us to strive as one.
In all your names we pray.

 

COMMISSION- Pastor Candy

Now as you go from this place, go to fulfill God’s purposes that all may know of God’s love, and that by seeking justice and mercy for all of God’s people within our homes, neighborhoods, communities, cities, and nations, God’s realm will be seen, known, and experienced now and throughout the ages.

 

*BENEDICTION

 

*POSTLUDE        

 

Welcome to Everyone!

 

Whoever or whatever brought you to our Sanctuary or our Facebook or YouTube on-line worship service this morning, we believe that the Spirit of God had a hand in you joining us.  We hope that you feel the Holy Spirit in our service of prayer and praise. 

 

At Christ Congregational Church we strive to love one another as God has loved us and welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us.  Therefore, we are an Open and Affirming church, loving, and welcoming all people in all of God’s variety, including racial, ethnic, and economic diversity, gender diversity and expression, sexual orientation, and physical and mental abilities.

 

The Sacrament of Holy Communion is open to all. Our custom is for worshippers to come forward to receive the bread and non-alcoholic grape juice. The elements may be consumed at the front or taken to your seats.

 

Our Labor: A Responsive Reading for Labor Day Amanda Udis-Kessler, © 2018.

 

“Worker God Who Built Creation” is a New Song Commissioned & Written for Labor Sunday! Amanda Udis-Kessler, August 1, 2025.

 

JOYS AND CONCERNS Do you have joys or concerns you would like lifted in worship? Please call or text Pastor Candy at 925.640.9289 or email her at cccpastor@att.net by 10 am Sunday morning.

 

For Pastoral Care Needs, please call Pastor Candy at 925-640-9289 or you may call and leave a message with the Church Office, 305-235-9381.

 

ARE YOU CURIOUS ABOUT CCC? About the United Church of Christ? Pastor Candy would be happy to meet with you to talk about our Christian faith, your spiritual journey, and to discuss what church membership means. Please let her know if you’re interested!

 

REMEMBERED IN OUR CONTINUING PRAYERS

1. Mathews, C.M. Chandler, Ariel Ward, Sibyl Carter, the Wiener Family,

 Janet Smith, Daniel Best and Sheryl Chambers and Family.

 

To keep our prayer list current please let Tracy Williams, Administrative Assistant at <office@christcongregationalucc.org> or Pastor Candy at <cccpastor@att.net> know if you’d like a name included on our Prayer List. It is a blessing to remember that others are praying for us and a blessing to pray for others.

 

ONLINE GIVING: We invite you to use our online giving option as a quick, simple, and secure method to make your pledges and any ancillary contributions.  Clicking on the “Give Online Today” button at the bottom of our weekly newsletter or by going to our website at https://christcongregationalucc.org  and clicking “Online giving.” You will be redirected to the secured Moon Clerk site which will allow you to enter your credit card information.

 

Like to sing? Choir practice begins today at 9:30 am in the Kelsey Hall Library.

 

Labor Day Sunday Guest Speaker

 

Today we’ll welcome a special guest speaker from the Miami Workers Center in place of our traditional sermon. Together, we’ll learn more about the challenges facing workers in our local community, the ongoing fight for dignity and fairness, and how people of faith can support the work of justice for all.

 

 

INVITATION TO JOIN IS IN FAITH 250

 

Faith250 is a national initiative that invites faith leaders and communities to come together for meaningful conversations about our shared values, hopes, and responsibilities as neighbors and citizens. Through gatherings across the country, congregations are creating sacred spaces for listening, learning, and building deeper understanding across differences.

 

Here in South Florida, this interfaith effort is being led by our friend and colleague, Iqbal, who has invited communities from across our region to participate. Pastor Candy and Bianca are grateful to be part of this work and are excited to help bring these conversations to Christ Congregational Church. We hope many in our congregation will join us in creating spaces where people of all faith traditions and backgrounds can share their stories, strengthen connections, and imagine the future we hope to build together.

 

If you are interested in participating or learning more, please speak with Pastor Candy or Bianca, and fill out this form: Faith250 Form

 

To learn more about Faith250 visit: https://faith250.org/