THE Annunciation of our
Lord
March 25, 2020
Service of Light
L Jesus Christ is
the Light of the world,
C the light no darkness can overcome.
L Stay with us,
Lord, for it is evening,
C and the day is almost over.
L Let Your light
scatter the darkness
C and illumine Your Church.
L Joyous light of
glory:
C of the immortal Father;
heavenly, holy, blessed Jesus Christ.
We have come to the setting of the sun,
and we look to the evening light.
We sing to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:
You are worthy of being praised
with pure voices forever.
O Son of God, O Giver of life:
the universe proclaims Your glory.
L Blessèd are
You, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who led Your people Israel by a
pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Enlighten our darkness by
the light of Your Christ; may His Word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our
path; for You are merciful, and You love Your whole creation and we, Your
creatures, glorify You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
C Amen.
Psalm 45:7–17
7You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;
8your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;
9daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;
at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;
8your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;
9daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;
at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.
10Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear:
forget your people and your father’s house,
11and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him.
12The people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts,
the richest of the people.
forget your people and your father’s house,
11and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him.
12The people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts,
the richest of the people.
13All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with
robes interwoven with gold.
14In many-colored robes she is led to the king,
with her virgin companions following behind her.
15With joy and gladness they are led along
as they enter the palace of the king.
14In many-colored robes she is led to the king,
with her virgin companions following behind her.
15With joy and gladness they are led along
as they enter the palace of the king.
16In place of your fathers shall be your sons;
you will make them princes in all the earth.
17I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations;
therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.
you will make them princes in all the earth.
17I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations;
therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.
L Let us pray.
Let the
incense of our repentant prayer ascend before You, O Lord, and let Your
loving-kindness descend on us that, with purified minds, we may sing Your
praises with the Church on earth and the whole heavenly host and may glorify
You forever.
C Amen.
Reading Luke
1:26–38
26In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from
God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27to a
virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the
virgin’s name was Mary. 28And he came to her and
said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and
tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30And
the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with
God. 31And behold, you will conceive in your
womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the
Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since
I am a virgin?”
35And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will
come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore
the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age
has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called
barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with
God.” 38And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant
of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed
from her.
Sermon
Psalm 45:17
I will cause
your name to be remembered in all generations;
therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.
Today we celebrate the Feast of the
Annunciation of our Lord. As the Angel Gabriel announced the Son of God was
conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. There is great cause
for us to celebrate and rejoice in the good news that our Lord came into this
world in this way. He came, not as a tourist, not as a visiting dignitary. He
moved in. He was born and bred here in our world. He lived and died.
The
date for this Festival, March 25, is set as nine months before Christmas,
because humans, like the baby Jesus, are usually born nine months after being
conceived. And so, the timing of this celebration is remarkable -- right in the
middle of Lent. As we meditate on the passion of our Lord, His humiliation of
suffering and death, we also consider the beginning of His incarnation, the
humiliation of his leaving the thrown of glory to be conceived in human flesh,
so lowly and poor, so ordinary.
But
then even more than an ordinary, usual human life, this one was especially
humiliated. He was despised, rejected and murdered by evil people. Though the
suffering and death of Jesus was carried out with evil intentions, God’s will
was hindered but not abolished. God’s work was attacked but not ruined. The
death of Jesus, as horrible as it seems, was used by God as His greatest
work. So our Lord Jesus is exalted by
His Father. You can hear that exaltation in the Psalm for today:
Psalm 45:7
You have
loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore
God, your God, has anointed you
with the
oil of gladness beyond your companions;
and again
I will cause your name to be remembered in
all generations;
therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.
Jesus
became the object of Spirit given faith for people of all ages. He has become
the praise of the nations. Ultimately He is the Judge of the living and the
dead.
The
humiliation and exultation of our Lord Jesus is our hope and salvation. We can
hear and believe that our destiny is tied to His, because He has told us, “that
where I am you may be also” (John 14:3).
When
we pray this Evening Prayer, we ask God to be with us like He was with ancient
Israel in that pillar of cloud and fire. We have Him with us, even more so.
Rely on your faith. Rely on your Baptism. By faith and by baptism you are in
Christ. You are with Christ and Christ is with you. So when you go through dark
and difficult, even scary times, you can have the peace of knowing that Christ
who went through humiliation and darkness is with you.
Also,
when you have glorious days and happy times, you can have the tempered
perspective of knowing that, “ya, these are happy moments, fleeting as they may
be. Thank God He gives such relief and blessings in this life, but the great
exultation we look forward to is when we are with Jesus in His glorious kingdom
to be fully revealed on the last day.
In a
moment we will sing Mary’s song, the Magnificat, as part of this Evening
Prayer. It’s a song for the downcast, the troubled, the sorrowful, the
repentant. She tells how God works. He lifts up the humble and the humiliated.
God exalts the lowly and feeds the poor. As we meditate on the suffering and
cross of Jesus, we trust that it was for the forgiveness of our sins and
our deliverance from death. We take hope
in the outcome, that God was pleased with Jesus. He was satisfied with His
humiliation, suffering and death. So when Jesus takes us with Him, through suffering
and death, and on into resurrection and life, God is pleased with us as well.
Amen.
Magnificat LSB 248
C My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit
rejoices in God, my Savior.
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in
God, my Savior.
For He has regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden.
For behold, from this day all generations will call me
blessèd.
For the Mighty One has done great things to me, and
holy is His name;
and His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation
to generation.
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in
God, my Savior.
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in
God, my Savior.
He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered
the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has
exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things, and the
rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel in remembrance of His
mercy as He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his seed forever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy
Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be
forever. Amen.
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in
God, my Savior.
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in
God, my Savior.
Litany LSB 249
L In peace let us
pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
L For the peace
from above and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
L For the peace
of the whole world, for the well-being of the Church of God, and for the unity
of all, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
L For this holy
house and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the
Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
L For all pastors
in Christ, for all servants of the Church, and for all the people, let us pray
to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
L For President
Trump, for all public servants, for the government and those who protect us,
that they may be upheld and strengthened in every good deed, let us pray to the
Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
L For those who
work to bring peace, justice, health, and protection in this and every place,
let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
L For those who
bring offerings, those who do good works in this congregation, those who toil,
those who sing, and all the people here present who await from the Lord great
and abundant mercy, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
L For favorable
weather, for an abundance of the fruits of the earth, and for peaceful times,
let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
L For our
deliverance from all affliction, wrath, danger, and need, let us pray to the
Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
L For all those
who work to provide us with essential services, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
L Help, save,
comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.
Collect For Peace
L O God, from
whom come all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works, give to us,
Your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be
set to obey Your commandments and also that we, being defended from the fear of
our enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son,
our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
forever.
C Amen.
Lord’s Prayer LSB
251
L Taught by our
Lord and trusting His promises, we are bold 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.
Benedicamus LSB
252
L Let us bless
the Lord.
C Thanks be to God.
Benediction
P The almighty
and merciful Lord, the Father, the T Son,
and the Holy Spirit, bless and preserve you.
C Amen.
560 Drawn to the Cross, Which Thou Hast Blessed
1 Drawn to the cross, which Thou hast
blessed
With healing gifts for souls distressed,
To find in Thee my life, my rest,
Christ crucified, I come.
With healing gifts for souls distressed,
To find in Thee my life, my rest,
Christ crucified, I come.
2 Thou knowest all my griefs and fears,
Thy grace abused, my misspent years;
Yet now to Thee with contrite tears,
Christ crucified, I come.
Thy grace abused, my misspent years;
Yet now to Thee with contrite tears,
Christ crucified, I come.
3 Wash me and take away each stain;
Let nothing of my sin remain.
For cleansing, though it be through pain,
Christ crucified, I come.
Let nothing of my sin remain.
For cleansing, though it be through pain,
Christ crucified, I come.
4 And then for work to do for Thee,
Which shall so sweet a service be
That angels well might envy me,
Christ crucified, I come.
Which shall so sweet a service be
That angels well might envy me,
Christ crucified, I come.
Text: Public domain
Tune and text: Public domain
