Prelude – Lord of the Dance
Greeting and Welcome
Lighting of the Candles
Hymn of Invocation – O God, Our Help in Ages Past (LSB 733)
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home:
Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last
And our eternal home!
+ Preparation +
Invocation
P: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
Opening Sentences – Psalm 6:9; 54:1–2; 102:1–2
P: Hear my prayer, O Lord;
C: let my cry come to You!
P: Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress!
C: Incline Your ear to me; answer me speedily in the day when I call!
P: O God, save me, by Your name, and vindicate me by Your might.
C: O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth.
P: The Lord has heard my plea;
C: the Lord accepts my prayer.
Confession and Absolution – Psalm 47:2–3; 124:8
P: Let us humble ourselves before God and confess our sins to Him, praying for His gracious forgiveness.
C: O Lord God Almighty, we confess that we are sinful human beings by nature and by deed. We have not always put You first. We have used Your holy name in ways that do not honor You and have not been constant in prayer and devotion. We have not always been thoughtful caretakers of Your creation and have not shared its bounty with others at all times. We have not kept our thoughts, words, and deeds fully pure and honorable. We have sinned in ways we know and in ways we do not even recognize. We have coveted that which is not rightfully ours and have not put the best construction on all things and on all people. Have mercy on us, O Lord. Forgive us all our sins, and finally by Your grace bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
P: The almighty and merciful Lord grant you pardon, forgiveness, and remission of all your sins. 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 +
Salutation and Collect of the Day
P: The Lord be with you.
C: And also with you.
P: Let us pray. Risen and ascended Lord, You now pray for us at the throne of the Father. Keep all those whom You love in Your name, O Lord, that they may be one even as You and the Father are one; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.
First Reading – Joshua 14:6–15
Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.”
Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war.
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Epistle – 1 John 5:9–15
If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Holy Gospel – John 17:11-19
P: The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the seventeenth chapter.
C: Glory to You, O Lord.
And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
P: This is the Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to You, O Christ.
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 + everlasting. Amen.
Children’s Hymn – He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands (AGPS 117)
He’s got the whole world in His hands,
He’s got the whole wide world in His hands,
He’s got the whole world in His hands,
He’s got the whole world in His hands.
He’s got the wind and the rain in His hands,
He’s got the wind and the rain in His hands,
He’s got the wind and the rain in His hands,
He’s got the whole world in His hands.
Children’s Sermon
Hymn of the Day – Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart (LSB 806)
Give thanks with a grateful heart,
Give thanks to the Holy One,
Give thanks because He’s given
Jesus Christ His Son. (repeat)
And now let the weak say “I am strong,”
Let the poor say “I am rich,”
Because of what the Lord has done for us. (repeat)
Give thanks, give thanks.
Sermon
Offertory – Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee
