Organ Prelude
Lighting of Advent Candle
Opening Hymn – Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates (LSB 341)
Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates!
Behold, the King of glory waits.
The King of kings is drawing near;
The Savior of the world is here.
Life and salvation He doth bring;
Therefore rejoice and gladly sing.
To God the Father raise
Your joyful songs of praise.
A righteous Helper comes to thee;
His chariot is humility,
His kingly crown is holiness,
His scepter, pity in distress.
The end of all our woe He brings;
Therefore the earth is glad and sings.
To Christ the Savior raise
Your grateful hymns of praise.
Redeemer, come and open wide
My heart to Thee; here, Lord, abide!
O enter with Thy grace divine;
Thy face of mercy on me shine.
Thy Holy Spirit guide us on
Until our glorious goal is won.
Eternal praise and fame
We offer to Thy name.
Opening Sentences – 2 Samuel 12:9, 24; Titus 3:3–5a; Mark 1:11
P: Although Nathan condemned David, “You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife,”
C: she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon.
P: Paul writes that although “we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient,
C: when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us.”
P: When John baptized Jesus, “A voice came from heaven, ‘You are My beloved Son;
C: with You I am well pleased.’ ”
Psalm – Psalm 71:1–12; antiphon: v. 1
P: In You, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame!
In Your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
C: incline Your ear to me, and save me!
P: Be to me a rock of refuge, to which I may continually come;
C: You have given the command to save me,
for You are my rock and my fortress.
P: Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
C: from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
P: For You, O Lord, are my hope,
C: my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
P: Upon You I have leaned from before my birth;
C: You are He who took me from my mother’s womb.
P: My praise is continually of You.
C: I have been as a portent to many,
but You are my strong refuge.
P: My mouth is filled with Your praise,
C: and with Your glory all the day.
P: Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
C: forsake me not when my strength is spent.
P: For my enemies speak concerning me;
C: those who watch for my life consult together
P: and say, “God has forsaken him;
C: pursue and seize him,
for there is none to deliver him.”
P: O God, be not far from me;
C: O my God, make haste to help me!
In You, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
First Reading – Psalm 42:1-11
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
while they say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
These things I remember, as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves have gone over me.
By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.
P: O Lord, have mercy on us.
C: Thanks be to God.
Second Reading – Titus 3:3–7
For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
P: O Lord, have mercy on us.
C: Thanks be to God.
Third Reading – Mark 1:4–11
John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opening and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
P: O Lord, have mercy on us.
C: Thanks be to God.
Responsory – Based on 2 Samuel 12:24; Titus 3:5; Mark 1:8
P: She bore a son, Solomon.
C: He saved us according to His own mercy.
P: Not because of works done by us,
C: He saved us according to His own mercy.
P: He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
C: He saved us according to His own mercy.
Hymn – Blessed Assurance
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of his Spirit, washed in his blood. Refrain
Refrain: This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long:
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love. Refrain
Perfect submission, all is at rest;
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with his goodness, lost in his love. Refrain
Sermon
