Prelude – Prelude in C Major
Greeting and Welcome
Lighting of the Candles
Hymn of Invocation – I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry
I was there to hear your borning cry,
I’ll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
To see your life unfold.
I was there when you were but a child,
With a faith to suit you well;
I’ll be there in case you wander off
And find where demons dwell.
In the middle ages of your life,
Not too old, no longer young,
I’ll be there to guide you through the night,
Complete what I’ve begun.
When the evening gently closes in
And you shut your weary eyes,
I’ll be there as I have always been
With just one more surprise.
I was there to hear your borning cry,
I’ll be there when you are old.
I rejoiced the day you were baptized,
To see your life unfold.
+ Preparation +
Invocation
P: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
Confession and Absolution
P: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
C: But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
P: Let us therefore come before His throne of grace with humble and sincere hearts to lay our burdens down.
Silent prayer for personal confession
P: Gracious Lord,
C: we come before You, laying the burden of our sin at the foot of Your cross. We openly acknowledge our failure to follow Your plans for our lives. We have stumbled and fallen in our service to You. We have placed our agenda ahead of Yours. We have been shallow in our love toward You and toward those You have placed in our path. We cry out for mercy, trusting in Your promise to forgive us through the love of our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
P: God has heard your cry for mercy and fulfills His promise to save and deliver you! Lavishing His grace upon you in Jesus, He enables you to love and forgive as He has first loved and forgiven you. As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
+ Word +
First Reading – Deuteronomy 6:1-9, 20-25
“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’”
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Epistle – Romans 12:9–21
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Holy Gospel – Matthew 16:21–28
P: The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the sixteenth chapter.
C: Glory to You, O Lord.
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
P: This is the Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to You, O Christ.
Children’s Song – Father Welcomes (AGPS 95)
Refrain: Father welcomes all His children
To His fam’ly through His Son.
Father giving His salvation,
Life forever has been won.
Little children, come to me,
For My kingdom is of these.
Life and love I have to give,
Mercy for your sin. Refrain
In the water, in the Word,
In His promise be assured:
Those who are baptized and believe,
Shall be born again. Refrain
Children’s Message
Hymn of the Day – Let Children Hear the Mighty Deeds (LSB 867)
Let children hear the mighty deeds
Which God performed of old,
Which in our younger days we saw,
And which our parents told.
Our sons and daughters we shall tell
And they again to theirs
That generations yet unborn
May teach them to their heirs.
O teach them with all diligence
The truths of God’s own Word,
To place in Him their confidence,
To fear and trust the Lord.
Sermon
