Prelude
Greeting and Welcome
Lighting of the Candles
Hymn of Invocation – Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (LSB 790)
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is your health and salvation!
Let all who hear now to His temple draw near,
Joining in glad adoration!
Praise to the Lord, who o’er all things is wondrously reigning
And, as on wings of an eagle, uplifting, sustaining.
Have you not seen all that is needful has been
Sent by His gracious ordaining?
Praise to the Lord, who has fearfully, wondrously, made you,
Health has bestowed and, when heedlessly falling, has stayed you.
What need or grief ever has failed of relief?
Wings of His mercy did shade you.
+ Preparation +
Invocation
P: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
Opening Sentences – Isaiah 40:21-22, 28; Psalm 147:3,5
P: Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
C: It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, . . . who stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
P: Have you not known? Have you not heard?
C: The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
P: He heals the brokenhearted
C: and binds up their wounds.
P: Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
C: His understanding is beyond measure.
Confession and Absolution – 1 Corinthians 9:24-25
P: O God, You have come to call us to repentance and faith, to salvation and life. We come before You to confess and repent of our sins.
C: Lord, have mercy.
P: For the times we have tried to keep our faith a private concern, failing to be all things to all people for the sake of Your kingdom, instead seeking Your blessings only for ourselves.
C: Lord, have mercy.
P: For the times we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves and have neglected prayer and concern for the community in need around us and for people throughout the world.
C: Lord, have mercy.
P: For the many faults and failings that are known only to You.
C: Lord, have mercy.
P: We hear today in God’s Word, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.” As we run to our Savior in repentance and rely on Him to receive the crown of life He alone has earned, and upon this your confession, I, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God unto all of you, and in the stead and by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ 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 – Isaiah 40:21-31
Do you not know? Do you not hear?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
who brings princes to nothing,
and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name,
by the greatness of his might,
and because he is strong in power not one is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Epistle – 1 Corinthians 9:16–27
For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Holy Gospel – Mark 7:1-13
P: The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the seventh chapter.
C: Glory to You, O Lord.
When the Pharisees gathered to [Jesus], with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban’ (that is, given to God)—then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
P: This is the Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to You, O Christ.
Children’s Hymn – Create in Me (LSB 956)
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.
Children’s Sermon
Hymn of the Day – Holy, Holy, Holy (LSB 507)
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessèd Trinity!
Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Which wert and art and evermore shalt be.
Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see,
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in pow’r, in love, and purity.
Sermon
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.
Prayer of the Church
+ Celebrating birthdays this week: 7 – Flo Ryan; 9 – Vicki Lucas; 10 – John Lee, Bill Richter
Special Celebrations and Needs:
+ Church family members: Gwen Peiper, in the hospital recovering from a fall; Charlotte Moret, recovering from Covid
+ Friends of our congregation: Paul, friend of the Cosby family, recently diagnosed with diabetes; John, friend of the Don family, diagnosed with prostate cancer; Jameson, son of CCLS-Glendale teacher Kelsey, who is being tested for hip issues and starting physical therapy
+ Those who are homebound or in nursing facilities: Mary Guion, Corinne Gutzler, Anne Hammann, Bettie Welch, Joan Winkler, Ruth Wussler
Offertory
