Your Invitation to Worship

at St. John's Presbyterian Church

in Houston

Friends,

This Sunday at St. John’s, we gather around a dangerous kind of grace. The kind that sneaks up on us through stories and parables, the way Nathan approached David, the way Jesus spoke to those who thought they already had God figured out. These are not gentle texts meant to flatter us. They are honest words, told with care, that have a way of slipping past our defenses and helping us see ourselves clearly, without being crushed by shame.

Our worship on February 8 will be grounded, reverent, and deeply human. We will sing together, pray honestly, confess what we usually hide, and hear Scripture that names the truth while still holding out mercy. The sermon, The Truth-Teller in Disguise, explores how God often speaks through stories that disarm us first, then invite us to change. This is worship for people who know faith is not about appearances, but about turning again toward life.

If you are tired of pretending, if you are hungry for a word that both unsettles and heals, you are welcome here. Come as you are. Sit, sing, listen, and let God do what God has always done. Tell the truth in love, and set people free. We gather this Sunday at 11:00 AM, and there is a place for you among us.

Peace,

Pastor Jon The Rev. Dr. Jon Burnham

St. John's Presbyterian Church

5020 West Bellfort Avenue Houston, TX 77035

(713) 723-6262

P.S. The service will be live-streamed

on our church website

and on our St. John's Facebook page.



St. John's Presbyterian Bulletin

February 8, 2026, 5th Sunday After Epiphany

Gathering

Prelude, Alina Klimaszewska, organ

*Call To Worship, The Rev. Dr. Jon Burnham

Leader: The Lord speaks through prophets and parables, through stories that slip past our defenses and pierce our hearts.

People: We gather to hear the truth we have been avoiding, wrapped in grace we do not deserve.

Leader: Tax collectors and sinners press forward into the kingdom while the confident stand still.

People: We come as we are: exposed, uncertain, yet hungry for the word that sets us free.

Leader: Come, let us worship the God who tells us the truth in love, that we might truly live.

Opening Prayer 

* Hymn 409, God Is Here! 1, 2 and 4

1 God is here! As we your people

meet to offer praise and prayer,

may we find in fuller measure

what it is in Christ we share.

Here, as in the world around us,

all our varied skills and arts

wait the coming of the Spirit

into open minds and hearts.

2 Here are symbols to remind us

of our lifelong need of grace;

here are table, font, and pulpit;

here the cross has central place.

Here in honesty of preaching,

here in silence, as in speech,

here, in newness and renewal,

God the Spirit comes to each.

4 Lord of all, of church and kingdom,

in an age of change and doubt

keep us faithful to the gospel;

help us work your purpose out.

Here, in this day's dedication,

all we have to give, receive:

we, who cannot live without you,

we adore you! We believe!

Prayer of Confession, Ann Hardy, Liturgist

Holy God, we confess that we have pointed fingers while hiding our own hands. We have said yes with our lips and no with our lives. We have stood confident in our righteousness while others we dismissed pressed ahead into your kingdom. Forgive us, expose us, and turn us toward the mercy we so desperately need. Amen.

(Silent Confession)

Assurance of Pardon 

*Glory Be to the Father, Hymn 581

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end. Amen, amen.

*Passing the Peace

Children’s Time, Rev. Linda Herron

The Word

Prayer for Illumination 

First Scripture Reading, 2 Samuel 12:1-15

And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds; but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. He brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children; it used to eat of his meager fare, and drink from his cup, and lie in his bosom, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was loath to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfarer who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb, and prepared that for the guest who had come to him." Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. He said to Nathan, "As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die; he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity."

Nathan said to David, "You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king over Israel, and I rescued you from the hand of Saul; I gave you your master's house, and your master's wives into your bosom, and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, for you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord: I will raise up trouble against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun." David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." Nathan said to David, "Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die."

Then Nathan went to his house. The Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and it became very ill. 

Anthem

Sermon Scripture, Matthew 21:28-32

“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not,’ but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same, and he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him, and even after you saw it you did not change your minds and believe him.”

The Word of the Lord for us today.

Thanks be to God. 

Sermon, The Truth-Teller in Disguise.

The Rev. Dr. Jon Burnham

*Hymn 700, I'm Gonna Live So God Can Use Me

1 I’m gonna live so God can use me

anywhere, Lord, anytime!

I’m gonna live so God can use me

anywhere, Lord, anytime!

2 I’m gonna work so God can use me

anywhere, Lord, anytime!

I’m gonna work so God can use me

anywhere, Lord, anytime!

3 I’m gonna pray so God can use me

anywhere, Lord, anytime!

I’m gonna pray so God can use me

anywhere, Lord, anytime!

4 I’m gonna sing so God can use me

anywhere, Lord, anytime!

I’m gonna sing so God can use me

anywhere, Lord, anytime!

The Apostles’ Creed 

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,

And in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

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

Prayers of the People

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 forever. Amen.

Welcome and Announcements

Offering 

*Doxology, Hymn 609

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.

Praise God, all creatures high and low.

Alleluia, alleluia!

Praise God, in Jesus fully known:

Creator, Word, and Spirit one.

Alleluia, alleluia! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

*Prayer after the Offering Rev. Burnham

Sending

*Hymn 724, O Jesus, I Have Promised, 1, 3 and 4

1 O Jesus, I have promised

to serve thee to the end;

be thou forever near me,

my Master and my friend;

I shall not fear the battle

if thou art by my side,

nor wander from the pathway

if thou wilt be my guide.

3 O let me hear thee speaking

in accents clear and still,

above the storms of passion,

the murmurs of self-will;

O speak to reassure me,

to hasten or control;

O speak, and make me listen,

thou guardian of my soul.

4 O Jesus, thou hast promised

to all who follow thee

that where thou art in glory

there shall thy servant be.

And, Jesus, I have promised

to serve thee to the end;

O give me grace to follow,

my Master and my friend.

*Benediction

Postlude