Manuscript for the October 4 Service

 + 17^th Sunday after Trinity +

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

C Amen.

 INTROIT   Psalm 119:1–2, 5–6; antiphon: vv. 137, 124

Righteous are you, O Lord,
and right are your just decrees.
Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love,
and teach me your statutes.
Blessèd are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord!
Blessèd are those who keep his testimonies,
who seek him with their whole heart.
Oh that my ways may be steadfast
in keeping your statutes!
Then I shall not be put to shame,
having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
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.
Righteous are you, O Lord,
and right are your just decrees.
Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love,
and teach me your statutes.

COLLECT OF THE DAY

P Lord, we implore You, grant Your people grace to withstand the temptations of the devil and with pure hearts and minds to follow You, the only God; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 C Amen.

 

 698 MAY WE THY PRECEPTS, LORD, FULFILL

1 May we Thy precepts, Lord, fulfill
And do on earth our Father’s will
    As angels do above;
Still walk in Christ, the living way,
With all Thy children and obey
    The law of Christian love.

 

2 So may we join Thy name to bless,
Thy grace adore, Thy pow’r confess,
    From sin and strife to flee.
One is our calling, one our name,
The end of all our hopes the same,
    A crown of life with Thee.

 

3 Spirit of life, of love and peace,
Unite our hearts, our joy increase,
    Thy gracious help supply.
To each of us the blessing give
In Christian fellowship to live,
    In joyful hope to die.

Text: Public domain

 

 

OLD TESTAMENT READING Proverbs 25:6–14

⁶Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence
or stand in the place of the great,
⁷for it is better to be told, “Come up here,”
than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.
What your eyes have seen
⁸do not hastily bring into court,
for what will you do in the end,
when your neighbor puts you to shame?
⁹Argue your case with your neighbor himself,
and do not reveal another’s secret,
¹⁰lest he who hears you bring shame upon you,
and your ill repute have no end.
¹¹A word fitly spoken
is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.
¹²Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold
is a wise reprover to a listening ear.
¹³Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest
is a faithful messenger to those who send him;
he refreshes the soul of his masters.
¹⁴Like clouds and wind without rain
is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give.

 

A This is the Word of the Lord.

 

EPISTLE Ephesians 4:1–6

¹I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

 

A This is the Word of the Lord.

 

 

HOLY GOSPEL

P The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the fourteenth chapter.

 

¹One Sabbath, when [Jesus] went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were watching him carefully. ²And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. ³And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” ⁴But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. ⁵And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” ⁶And they could not reply to these things.

⁷Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, ⁸“When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, ⁹and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. ¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. ¹¹For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

 

P This is the Gospel of the Lord.

 

NICENE CREED

 

SERMON

 Jesus said, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place.” Luke 14:10-11.

Jesus has it right, of course. It’s always awkward and humiliating to have to be told, “hey, you’re in the wrong spot. This place is reserved for so and so. And you’re not they. Not even close. Go find another empty seat.”

 Most of us dread embarrassment. I’d like to know, if there is a way to measure just how much of our actions and behavior is driven and motivated by our fear of embarrassment. I wonder how often do we make choices based not on what is good, what is bad, what is right and what is wrong, but rather, “Let’s just avoid even the chance of getting humiliated, laughed at, and shamed.”

 Jesus is making a wonderful promise to us. Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. He is calling us to take on an attitude of humility, not with embarrassment, or the fear of shame. But with peace and confidence because He is calling you to be like Him. Be like Jesus, who for us and for our salvation gave up his high and exalted place. He came down from heaven and took a place of humiliation the lowest place, a microscopic baby in the womb of His mother, a newborn in a borrowed makeshift bed where the animals had recently eaten and presumably slobbered.

 Jesus can remove your fears about shame and embarrassment. His humiliation is for you such glorious exalting good news. He came down, to lift you up. He gave up everything, so He could give you everything.

These words of Jesus were spoken after He noticed how the people at the dinner party were shuffling and maneuvering to get the best seats, the honored positions, each looking out for old number one. People, when they are doing that, working exclusively for their own self-benefit and  self-advancement aren’t bothered to consider how it might work out for the next guy. No one would even think to do what Jesus does.

 Jesus does not look out for His own interests. Instead He notices you and takes action for you and your well-being. He comes down and finds you in your lowly position, and says, “I’ll sit here, you go on ahead and take my spot.” Now your position was that place you were born into, a son or daughter of a sinful race. You’re in the humiliating, shameful place of a sinner, faced with what sinners get: guilt, condemnation, death. There’s nothing lower than that. And Jesus’ place is life with God, glorious, exalted on high, where there is always life, light and immortality. That place you and I can never deserve no matter how hard we might strive for it. It is always beyond our grasp unless the Lord Jesus says, “Here, come with me now. Be exalted. I’ve taken your place. I’ve died for your punishment. Now you have my place. You will live forever with me in the presence of the heavenly King.”

 There’s one word in this Gospel reading that we should be sure and notice: “Parable”. Jesus “told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor.” A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Parables help us understand the Kingdom of God. The parable of the Lost Sheep, for instance, in which, you know, Jesus teaches us how He wants to bring back into His Kingdom the sinner who has gone astray. There’s the parable of the Workers in the Vineyard where we learn our proper attitude in the Kingdom. We don’t get our place in the Kingdom as a reward or wage for our work and good behavior. Heavens no. It’s by the gracious gift of our King that we get us our salvation and eternal life with Him.

 So this teaching of Jesus about sitting in the place of honor is a parable. It’s much more than some earthly advice. It’s always nice when we are exalted here in this world, in this life. Honor given you by your fellows is desirable. It has its benefits. But don’t spend a lot of effort trying to gain it. There’s a reason why we talk about a person getting his or her “15 minutes of fame.” Honor and glory in this life is so very temporary and sooner than we realize, it’s forgotten.

 When Jesus says, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” He is explaining to us the things of the heavenly Kingdom of God. He directs you to humble yourself before God. This is another way of saying what He has said to you many times before: Repent.

Your true humiliation happens when you say, “I a poor miserable sinner confess unto you all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended You and justly deserved Your temporal and eternal punishment.” Your true exaltation happens when you hear “for Christ’s sake, I forgive you all your sins.” With that exalting, uplifting truth, heaven on high opens up for you and your place is there, readied and reserved for you.

Nothing, no honor, no glory in this life compares to it. Well, actually there is a little something here that gives you a glimpse of the glory that is to be revealed. You have something very glorious and exalted here. Jesus Christ invites you to the most honored place on earth, the sacrament of Holy Communion, His table, to share His food. It’s hallowed and honored because Jesus is there and you can share in His glory there. But the other people of this world, won’t even recognize or respect that, it will give you no respect or fame in this life. It’s only a glimpse of what’s to come. A foretaste of the feast to come.

 But for now, it’s the time to repent. Now is the time for you and me to humble ourselves. In fact, these dark and disturbing days of plague and unrest are definitely a time for the whole world to repent and be completely humble before God.

 Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled. When you exalt yourself, when you pull yourself up a few rungs of the ladder, you get a better view, like the short tax-collector Zacchaeus once did. From an exalted position you can look down on everyone else below you. From higher up you can see how everyone else is doing, how bad everyone else is doing. Lately, there has not been much self-humbling. Instead there has been a lot of blaming others going on. From our self-exalted positions we can blame this one or that one for the problems of the world. “This government official didn’t handle the present crisis well at all. These problems now are his fault.” “This authority overreacted way too much. It’s his fault or her fault.” “The Chinese are out to ruin to us. This plague is their fault.” And so when we exalt ourselves we think we can see good enough to put the blame where it belongs.

 Why are we having such difficulties like disease and dissension? Do you think, just maybe, God had something to do with it. It’s time to consider that God is the King of the Universe. He is exalted. And we are not.

Dear friends, let’s spend some of our time in these disturbing days humbled before our God. Let’s come down from our high place of blaming others. Let’s quit longing for glory and good days in this life and pray to God for His merciful forgiveness in Jesus.

 “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

 Amen.

  

Prayer of the Church

 

A Let us pray that God would both give us the words to pray and graciously hear our prayer.

P O God, You speak to us and call us through Your holy Word and Sacraments. Grant us grace to hear Your Word and to remain steadfast in the true faith, that at the last we may come to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

C Amen.

 

A Let us pray for the whole Church of God in Christ Jesus that our faith may be increased and our love for one another may abound more and more.

P Keep, O Lord, Your holy Church in the confession of the true faith and preserve us from all adversities, that we may grow in grace and faith and overflow with love for each other; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

C Amen.

 

A Let us pray that the good news of God's salvation in Christ be proclaimed to all nations.

P O God, grant that Your ways be made known on earth and Your salvation preached among all nations, that all may praise You for the love You have revealed in Your Son; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

C Amen.

 

A Let us pray for the pastors of our Synod and for our leaders: for Pastor Harrison, our synodical president, for Pastor Saunders our district president, and for our congregation, that God would be gracious to us and bless us.

P Almighty and everlasting God, bless all pastors and those committed to their care. Grant that Your Word may be purely preached and Your Sacraments faithfully administered and received by us in faith. Sustain those whom You have called to serve in Your Church, and give them both courage and humility, that they may lead us into all righteousness; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

C Amen.

 

A Let us pray for our President Trump and all those placed in authority over us that we may honor them as God's servants.

P O God Most High, You rule the kingdoms of this world and give governance to those whom You will. Grant that all in authority recognize that You have set them as rulers and governors over us and that we, considering whose authority they bear, obediently honor them; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

C Amen.

 

A Let us pray for those whose vigilant care protects our earthly lives.

P   Heavenly Father, we thank You for all those through whom You bestow Your care upon us:  for doctors and nurses and all who work in the healing arts; for police, firefighters, and those serving in the military, and for all who risk their lives to protect our own. Guard them in the work of their callings and help us to honor them for the ways in which they show us Your protecting care; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

C Amen.

 

A Let us pray for the sick, the suffering, and the sorrowful (especially ___________) that God would strengthen and sustain them in their struggles.

P O God, whose compassions never fail, give healing to the sick, relief to the suffering, peace to the sorrowful, and mercy to every soul that is distressed, that they may find in You the help that only You can give them; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

C Amen.

 

A Finally, let us pray, having no anxiety about anything but with thanksgiving making all our requests known to God.

P Mercifully accept these and all our petitions, O God, which we bring before You this day and grant that what we have asked for we may receive by Your grace; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

C Amen.

 

LORD’S PRAYER

 

700 LOVE DIVINE, ALL LOVES EXCELLING

1 Love divine, all loves excelling,
    Joy of heav’n, to earth come down!
Fix in us Thy humble dwelling,
    All Thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, Thou art all compassion,
    Pure, unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation,
    Enter ev’ry trembling heart.

 

2 Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit
    Into ev’ry troubled breast;
Let us all in Thee inherit;
    Let us find Thy promised rest.
Take away the love of sinning;
    Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its beginning,
    Set our hearts at liberty.

 

3 Come, Almighty, to deliver;
    Let us all Thy life receive;
Suddenly return, and never,
    Nevermore Thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
    Serve Thee as Thy hosts above,
Pray and praise Thee without ceasing,
    Glory in Thy perfect love.

 

4 Finish then Thy new creation,
    Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see Thy great salvation
    Perfectly restored in Thee,
Changed from glory into glory,
    Till in heav’n we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee,
    Lost in wonder, love, and praise!

Text: Public domain

 

BENEDICAMUS LSB 202

A Bless we the Lord.

C Thanks be to God.

 

BENEDICTION LSB 202

P The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and T give you peace.

C Amen.

 

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Divine Service, Setting Three 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.

Sunday School for October 4 -- Zacchaeus

 

Manuscript for the service on September 27

 + 16^th Sunday after Trinity +

 

544 O LOVE, HOW DEEP

1 O love, how deep, how broad, how high,
Beyond all thought and fantasy,
That God, the Son of God, should take
Our mortal form for mortals’ sake!

 

2 He sent no angel to our race,
Of higher or of lower place,
But wore the robe of human frame,
And to this world Himself He came.

 

3 For us baptized, for us He bore
His holy fast and hungered sore;
For us temptation sharp He knew;
For us the tempter overthrew.

 

4 For us He prayed; for us He taught;
For us His daily works He wrought,
By words and signs and actions thus
Still seeking not Himself but us.

 

5 For us by wickedness betrayed,
For us, in crown of thorns arrayed,
He bore the shameful cross and death;
For us He gave His dying breath.

 

6 For us He rose from death again;
For us He went on high to reign;
For us He sent His Spirit here
To guide, to strengthen, and to cheer.

 

7 All glory to our Lord and God
For love so deep, so high, so broad;
The Trinity whom we adore
Forever and forevermore.

Text: Public domain

 

INVOCATION

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

C Amen.

 

 

INTROIT  Psalm 86

Be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to you do I cry all the day.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
In the day of my trouble I call upon you,
for you answer me.
I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart,
and I will glorify your name forever.
For great is your steadfast love toward me;
you have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
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.
Be gracious to me, O Lord,
for to you do I cry all the day.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.

 

COLLECT OF THE DAY

P O Lord, we pray that Your grace may always go before and follow after us, that we may continually be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

 

C Amen.

 

 

 

OLD TESTAMENT READING 1 Kings 17:17–24

¹⁷After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. ¹⁸And she said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!” ¹⁹And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. ²⁰And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” ²¹Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” ²²And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. ²³And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son lives.” ²⁴And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”

 

A This is the Word of the Lord.

 

 

EPISTLE Ephesians 3:13–21

¹³So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

¹⁴For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, ¹⁶that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

 

A This is the Word of the Lord.

 

 

 

HOLY GOSPEL Luke 7:11–17

P The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the seventh chapter.

 

¹¹Soon afterward [Jesus] went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. ¹²As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. ¹³And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” ¹⁴Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” ¹⁵And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. ¹⁶Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” ¹⁷And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

 

P This is the Gospel of the Lord.

 

APOSTLES’ CREED

C 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 T everlasting. Amen.

 

 

SERMON

 

From life to death   Luke 7:11-17

 

¹¹ Soon afterward Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. ¹² As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her.

Try to imagine this scene.  Picture in your mind what it was like in the town called Nain that day.

Two crowds of people come together at the entrance to the town:

· One, Jesus and all his followers; the other, the funeral procession of a young man who had died.

· Jesus’ group was on the way into the city. The funeral group was on the way out of the city.

· One crowd was in grief from learning that this young man had died leaving his mother, a widow, destitute. The other crowd was all excited and expectant for more because they had seen how the wonderful miracles of Jesus, they had high hopes he’d do even greater things.

· One crowd was headed up by death. One crowd was headed up by the Lord of life.

 

There is good news for all of us in this passage from Luke’s Gospel – Good news for all of us who must in one way or another come face to face with death. There’s good news for us who are following behind Him who holds the power of life and death in his hands.

Hear again verse 13. ¹³ And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”

You know, you’re not really supposed to tell someone that. If you have a chance to speak to a widow woman at the death of her only son, you probably shouldn’t say, “Don’t weep.” Unless you’re going to fix it. Unless you’re going to do something to take her tears away.  You can’t tell a person “don’t weep.” Unless you’re Jesus.

For the rest of us, we weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. Sadly, realistically, there are times when you ought to let a sad person be sad.

Yes it might sound as though it were a compassionless thing for Jesus to say to her, “Do not weep.” But as the events play out, we see in that command to her, a promise just about to be fulfilled.

¹⁴ Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”

That’s how Jesus did it. No flash of lightning. No magic potion. No glitz or glamour. He just said the word, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”

That’s how Jesus gives life. That’s how the Lord gives all good things to His creation -- Through His gracious, good word. That’s how the Lord gave you life.

The good word of Jesus was spoken to each of us who have been baptized, much like when Jesus spoke to the dead young man.

Because of sin, you were dead in trespasses – spiritually dead. Then the word of the Lord was applied to you, with water and you became alive, born again.

It’s the Lord’s word alone. No flash of lightning. No magic potion. No glitz or glamour.

Some will think little of baptism because you don’t see anything spectacular happen. Some of you even slept through yours. But baptism saves you not because of what you see with your eyes, but because of what you hear in your ears and believe in your soul. Jesus says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.”  Jesus said it, and it’s so.

¹⁵ And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus^[d] gave him to his mother.

That’s a nice touch there. Jesus gave him to his mother. That young man was rescued from death so he could serve his Lord by serving others. This miracle was not just for his own good, but for the good of others. Jesus gave him to his mother.

You have been saved, rescued from sin, death and the power of the devil in order that you can do some great things. “That you may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness.” And you will serve him by loving you mother, and husbands loving your wives, and wives honoring your husbands, and teachers, blessing your students. And so forth.

We, much like that young man in Nain have been given our new life from the Lord when He speaks His life giving word.  Now our lives are lived in service to Him, in love to our neighbor.

¹⁶ Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” 

Among the crowds there was a growing understanding and faith in Who this man was. “A great prophet” they said, that is one who preached the word of God that powerful word of God that changed lives, changed destinies, changed death to life.

“God has visited his people!” they said. And they were on to something there. We say that same thing. God has visited his people. He comes and checks in on us, as it were. In love for us, He cares enough to visit the oppressed, the dying, the troubled, the scared, yes even the sinner. He comes to visit with His patient yet firm words of repentance and then His miraculous gospel of forgiveness for the sake of Jesus.

¹⁷ And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

And so it would go that the reputation of Jesus would continue to spread. Some would marvel at His wonderful miracles and seek to know more. Some would scoff at the rumors, reject His Gospel and wish Him dead.

And after he was dead, and after He the Lord of life, rose again to eternal life, He charged His disciples and all of us who would follow Him to continue to spread that report in our churches, in our homes, in our love for each other and the world for His sake.

Amen.

 

 

OFFERTORY LSB 192

C Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from Thy presence, and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.

Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy free spirit. 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 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.     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

A Bless we the Lord.

C Thanks be to God.

 

BENEDICTION

P The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and T give you peace.

C Amen.

 

 

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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.

Service for Trinity 15