Divine Service IV
Prelude – Bless This House
Greeting and Welcome
Lighting of the Candles
Hymn of Invocation – Lift High the Cross (LSB 837, verses 1-3)
Refrain: Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim
Till all the world adore His sacred name.
Come, Christians, follow where our Captain trod,
Our king victorious, Christ, the Son of God. Refrain
Led on their way by this triumphant sign,
The hosts of God in conqu’ring ranks combine. Refrain
+ Preparation +
P: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
P: Our help is in the name of the Lord,
C: who made heaven and earth.
P: If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?
C: But with You there is forgiveness; therefore You are feared.
P: Since we are gathered to hear God’s Word, call upon Him in prayer and praise, and receive the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in the fellowship of this altar, let us first consider our unworthiness and confess before God and one another that we have sinned in thought, word, and deed, and that we cannot free ourselves from our sinful condition. Together as His people let us take refuge in the infinite mercy of God, our heavenly Father, seeking His grace for the sake of Christ, and saying: God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
C: Almighty God, have mercy upon us, forgive us our sins, and lead us to everlasting life. Amen.
P: Almighty God, merciful Father, in Holy Baptism You declared us to be Your children and gathered us into Your one, holy Church, in which You daily and richly forgive us our sins and grant us new life through Your Spirit. Be in our midst, enliven our faith, and graciously receive our prayer and praise; through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
C: Amen.
+ Word +
Introit – Ps. 66:1–2, 8–9, 20; antiphon: Ps. 66:16
P: Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
C: Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
sing the glory of his name; give to him glorious praise!
P: Bless our God, O peoples;
let the sound of his praise be heard,
C: who has kept our soul among the living
and has not let our feet slip.
P: Blessèd be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!
All: 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
P: Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
Kyrie
C: Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy; Lord, have mercy.
Gloria in Excelsis
C: 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.
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—
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.
Salutation and Collect of the Day
P: The Lord be with you.
C: And also with you.
P: Let us pray. O God, the giver of all that is good, by Your holy inspiration grant that we may think those things that are right and by Your merciful guiding accomplish them; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.
First Reading – Joshua 9:6-15
And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us.” But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a covenant with you?” They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” And Joshua said to them, “Who are you? And where do you come from?” They said to him, “From a very distant country your servants have come, because of the name of the Lord your God. For we have heard a report of him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon the king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth. So our elders and all the inhabitants of our country said to us, ‘Take provisions in your hand for the journey and go to meet them and say to them, “We are your servants. Come now, make a covenant with us.”’ Here is our bread. It was still warm when we took it from our houses as our food for the journey on the day we set out to come to you, but now, behold, it is dry and crumbly. These wineskins were new when we filled them, and behold, they have burst. And these garments and sandals of ours are worn out from the very long journey.” So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Epistle – 1 John 5:1–8
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
This is he who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not by the water only but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and these three agree.
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Alleluia and Verse
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
These things are written that you may believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.
Holy Gospel – John 15:9-17
P: The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the fifteenth chapter.
C: Glory to You, O Lord.
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
[Jesus said:] “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
P: This is the Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to You, O Christ.
Nicene Creed
C: I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church, I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life + of the world to come. Amen.
Children’s Hymn – Children of the Heavenly Father (LSB 725, verses 1-2)
Children of the heav’nly Father
Safely in His bosom gather;
Nestling bird nor star in heaven
Such a refuge e’er was given.
God His own doth tend and nourish;
In His holy courts they flourish.
From all evil things He spares them;
In His mighty arms He bears them.
Children’s Sermon
Hymn of the Day – Jesus, Lead Thou On (LSB 718)
Jesus, lead Thou on till our rest is won;
And although the way be cheerless,
We will follow calm and fearless.
Guide us by Thy hand to our fatherland.
If the way be drear, if the foe be near,
Let not faithless fears o’ertake us;
Let not faith and hope forsake us;
For through many a woe to our home we go.
When we seek relief from a long-felt grief,
When temptations come alluring,
Make us patient and enduring.
Show us that bright shore where we weep no more.
Jesus, lead Thou on till our rest is won.
Heav’nly leader, still direct us,
Still support, console, protect us,
Till we safely stand in our fatherland.
Sermon
Offertory – I’d Rather Have Jesus
