Manuscript for the online service of July 26, 2020

P In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.

C Amen.

Collect of the Day

P   O God, whose never-failing providence orders all things both in heaven and earth, we humbly implore You to put away from us all hurtful things and to give us those things that are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

C Amen.

Gloria in Excelsis LSB 204

C 1 To God on high be glory

    And peace to all the earth;

    Goodwill from God in heaven

    Proclaimed at Jesus’ birth!

    We praise and bless You, Father;

    Your holy name, we sing—

    Our thanks for Your great glory,

    Lord God, our heav’nly King.

2 To You, O sole-begotten,

    The Father’s Son, we pray;

    O Lamb of God, our Savior,

    You take our sins away.

    Have mercy on us, Jesus;

    Receive our heartfelt cry,

    Where You in pow’r are seated

    At God’s right hand on high—

3 For You alone are holy;

    You only are the Lord.

    Forever and forever,

    Be worshiped and adored;

    You with the Holy Spirit

    Alone are Lord Most High,

    In God the Father’s glory.

    “Amen!” our glad reply.

Old Testament Reading Genesis 2:7–17

⁷Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. ⁸And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. ¹¹The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. ¹²And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. ¹³The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴And the name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ¹⁶And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

A This is the Word of the Lord.

C Thanks be to God.

Psalm Psalm 33:1–11

¹Shout for joy in the Lord, O you | righteous!*
Praise befits the | upright.
²Give thanks to the Lord | with the lyre;*
make melody to him with the harp of | ten strings!
³Sing to him a | new song;*
play skillfully on the strings, with | loud shouts.

⁴For the word of the Lord is | upright,*
and all his work is done in | faithfulness.
⁵He loves righteousness and | justice;*
the earth is full of the steadfast love | of the Lord.

⁶By the word of the Lord the heav- | ens were made,*
and by the breath of his mouth | all their host.
⁷He gathers the waters of the sea | as a heap;*
he puts the deeps in | storehouses.

⁸Let all the earth | fear the Lord;*
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in | awe of him!
⁹For he spoke, and it | came to be;*
he commanded, and it | stood firm.

¹⁰The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to | nothing;*
he frustrates the plans of the | peoples.
¹¹The counsel of the Lord stands for- | ever,*
the plans of his heart to all gener- | ations.

Holy Gospel

P The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the eighth chapter.

C Glory to You, O Lord.

¹In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, [Jesus] called his disciples to him and said to them, ²“I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. ³And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” ⁴And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” ⁵And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” ⁶And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. ⁷And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. ⁸And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. ⁹And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.

P This is the Gospel of the Lord.

C Praise to You, O Christ.

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 Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven

and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

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

Genesis 2:11-12 The name of the first river is Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is good.

Psalm 33:4-5

For the word of the Lord is right and true;

    he is faithful in all he does.

 The Lord loves righteousness and justice;

the earth is full of his unfailing love.

“The earth is full of his unfailing love.” That includes the good gold in the land of Havilah. Moses was inspired to mention this gold when he wrote about how God created the earth. When God created this earth, he was lovingly concerned about little details. Even including precious metals that are nice to look at. Gold is decorative and pliable enough to be formed into nice things -- ornaments to beautify buildings or the finger of the one I love.

We are hearing a lot of troubling news convincing us that all the earth is bad.

l The climate is changing so much; life on earth is in jeopardy.

l Bad law enforcement officers harm and kill the helpless.

l There are race riots and class warfare.

l Celebrities in entertainment and sports are saying godless and stupid things and engaging in disrespectful behavior.

l We are in the midst of an economic disruption unlike anything we’ve ever seen.

l And there’s this life-threatening pandemic.

Does it sound like the Lord God, who put good gold in the hills of Havilah, has suddenly lost control of his creation?

Those fist chapters of Genesis must be in our ears and on our minds regularly. The Creator is pretty good at doing what he does. Read further in Genesis and bad things, sad things start to happen. The living creatures, the ones created by the loving God, disregard God’s created order and take to themselves the decisions about what is “good” and what is “evil’. The creatures disobey, and creation falls. And you and I participate in that disobedience and fall, and as a result, we suffer in this fallen creation.

Good God, don’t abandon us in our fall. Don’t leave us in our disobedience.

And God answers our plea with Jesus, who starts a new creation in the hearts of the faithful and promises a full completion of the new, perfect creation when He decides it’s the right time.

Adam failed. Jesus succeeded. Creation fell and was broke, but Jesus was not content in heaven to just put some patches on that old creation. He plans a new creation of glory and perfection, free from sin and free from sin and He says to those who love Him, “It’s for you.”

His promise gives us hope. That Jesus-given hope is comforting to us. If one or another of these fallen-world troubles brings us to the end of our short time in this present creation, we who believe in him will not perish because we have eternal life.

With that hope in our heart we can face the events of these days with some here-and-now optimism.

That’s what Jesus was teaching the disciples when he suggested feeding crowds of people with a few loaves and some small fish. They and we after them, learn from this to trust our Lord and look to him for all our needs.

They couldn’t conceive of his solution on their own. Now would any of us have had the forethought and wisdom to put the element 79 of the periodic table--gold-- in rocks at Havilah where it could be picked up formed into decorations pleasing to the eye, and rare enough to serve as a precious metal that could be traded for goods and services in a complicated commerce of transactions.

See, the Creator has worked and continues to work to keep an economy going, of one sort or another in this fallen world. Pessimistic forecasts about both the weather and the economy, do not measure up to the God’s honest truth.

He also continues to make the rain fall and the sunshine and the seasons change. It is the way of the world to expect that the earth and its climate function without God. But we the citizens of heaven, don’t think the way this world thinks. We know who is in control of this earth and all creation.

There have always, since the fall of creation, been bad people who abuse and murder. We can have some optimism, praying God to appoint faithful law enforcement and military to protect us from evil foes foreign and domestic. Get worked up about bad cops. That’s right. But thank God for good cops, because he creates them and equips them with the skill and temperament to do their job, protecting those who need protecting, and bringing evil doers to justice and appropriate punishment.

Lots of voices are saying stupid, godless things. Lots of characters are behaving stupidly and disorderly. Pray for the Church and look to Jesus the Lord of the Church to convert hearts and send His Word, the Truth, really the only Truth, to those in the world that need to hear it.

Oh, and this virus is killing many. Lord save us. He is.

But sin kill us all. Lord save us. He has, by Jesus precious blood and innocent suffering and death.

God the good creator is still taking care of his creation. We ought not be scared to death.

And God’s Son Jesus, by his death on the cross and His win over death and sin by rising from the dead has made for us a new and glorious creation, now and forever. Amen.

Prayer of the Church

Almighty and most merciful God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we give You thanks for all Your goodness and tender mercies, especially for the gift of Your dear Son and for the revelation of Your will and grace. Implant Your Word in us that, with good and honest hearts, we may keep it and bring forth the fruits of faith.

     We humbly implore You to rule and govern Your Church throughout the world. Bless all those who proclaim Your truth that we may be preserved in the pure doctrine of Your saving Word and that faith in You may be strengthened, love toward others increased, and Your kingdom extended. Send forth laborers into Your harvest, and sustain those whom You have sent that the Word of reconciliation may be proclaimed to all people and the Gospel preached in all the world.

     Grant health and prosperity to all who are in authority, especially to [(USA) the president and congress of the United States, the governor and legislature of this [state/commonwealth], and to all those who make, administer, and judge our laws.] [(British Commonwealth) [His/Her] Majesty, the [King/Queen], the governor general, the prime minister and the parliament, the government of this province, and all who have authority over us.]

     Grant them grace to rule according to Your good pleasure for the maintenance of righteousness and the hindrance and punishment of wickedness, that we may lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty.

     According to Your good pleasure, turn the hearts of our enemies and adversaries that they may cease their hostilities and walk with us in meekness and in peace.

     Comfort, O God, with Your Holy Spirit all who are in trouble, want, sickness, anguish of labor, peril of death, or any other adversity. Grant courage and steadfastness especially to those who suffer for Your name’s sake that they may receive and accept their afflictions in the confidence that You will acknowledge them as Your own.

     Although we have deserved Your righteous wrath and punishment, yet, we ask You, O most merciful Father, not to remember the sins of our youth nor our many transgressions. Out of Your unspeakable goodness and mercy defend us from all harm and danger to body and soul. Preserve us from false doctrine, from war and bloodshed, from plague and pestilence, from all calamity by fire and water, from hail and tempest, from failure of harvest and from famine, from anguish of heart and despair of Your mercy, and from an evil death. In every time of trouble, show Yourself a very present help, the Savior of all, especially to those who believe.

     Cause all needed fruits of the earth to prosper that we may enjoy them in due season. Give success to the Christian training of the young, to all lawful occupations on land, sea, and air, and to all pure arts and useful knowledge, crowning them with Your blessing.

     Receive, O God, our bodies and souls and all our talents, together with the offerings we bring You, for by His blood Your Son has purchased us to be Your own that we may live under Him in His kingdom.

     These and whatsoever other things You would have us ask of You, O God, grant us for the sake of Jesus Christ, Your only Son, our Lord and Savior, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Lord’s Prayer

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.

Benedicamus LSB 212

A Let us bless the Lord.

C Thanks be to God.

Benediction

P The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.

The Lord look upon you with favor and T give you peace.

C Amen.

819 Sing Praise to God, the Highest Good

1 Sing praise to God, the highest good,
    The author of creation,
The God of love who understood
    Our need for His salvation.
With healing balm our souls He fills
And ev’ry faithless murmur stills:
    To God all praise and glory!

2 What God’s almighty pow’r has made,
    In mercy He is keeping.
By morning glow or evening shade
    His eye is never sleeping.
Within the kingdom of His might
All things are just and good and right:
    To God all praise and glory!

3 We sought the Lord in our distress;
    O God, in mercy hear us.
Our Savior saw our helplessness
    And came with peace to cheer us.
For this we thank and praise the Lord,
Who is by one and all adored:
    To God all praise and glory!

4 He never shall forsake His flock,
    His chosen generation;
He is their refuge and their rock,
    Their peace and their salvation.
As with a mother’s tender hand,
He leads His own, His chosen band:
    To God all praise and glory!

5 All who confess Christ’s holy name,
    Give God the praise and glory.
Let all who know His pow’r proclaim
    Aloud the wondrous story.
Cast ev’ry idol from its throne,
For God is God, and He alone:
    To God all praise and glory!

Text: Public domain

Acknowledgments

Divine Service, Setting Four from Lutheran Service Book

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV^® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version^®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2018 Concordia Publishing House.