Prelude
Greeting and Welcome
Lighting of the Candles
Hymn of Invocation – Beautiful Savior (LSB 537)
Beautiful Savior, King of creation,
Son of God and Son of Man!
Truly I’d love Thee, truly I’d serve Thee,
Light of my soul, my joy, my crown.
Fair are the meadows, fair are the woodlands,
Robed in flow’rs of blooming spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
He makes our sorr’wing spirit sing.
Fair is the sunshine, fair is the moonlight,
Bright the sparkling stars on high;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels in the sky.
Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations,
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration
Now and forevermore be Thine!
+ Preparation +
Invocation
P: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
Opening Sentences – Numbers 21:9; Ephesians 2:4–5; John 3:16
P: Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone,
C: he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
P: But God, . . . even when we were dead in our trespasses,
C: made us alive together with Christ.
P: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son,
C: that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Confession and Absolution
P: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
C: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Silence for reflection on God’s Word and for self-examination.
P: God’s steadfast love endures forever! Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
C: Although we are on the way to the heavenly promised land, like the Israelites in the desert, we complain about many things. We are sinful and unclean at heart and often follow the desires of the body and the mind.
P: God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us,
C: made us alive together with Christ.
P: God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world,
C: but in order that the world might be saved through Him.
P: By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God. Therefore, 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. Thanks be to God.
+ Word +
First Reading – Numbers 21:4–9
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Epistle – Ephesians 2:1–10
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Holy Gospel – Mark 12:18-27
P: The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the twelfth chapter.
C: Glory to You, O Lord.
And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no offspring. And the second took her, and died, leaving no offspring. And the third likewise. And the seven left no offspring. Last of all the woman also died. In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife.”
Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.”
P: This is the Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to You, O Christ.
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 – By Grace I’m Saved (LSB 566, verses 1-2)
By grace I’m saved, grace free and boundless;
My soul, believe and doubt it not.
Why stagger at this word of promise?
Has Scripture ever falsehood taught?
No! Then this word must true remain:
By grace you too will life obtain.
By grace! None dare lay claim to merit;
Our works and conduct have no worth.
God in His love sent our Redeemer,
Christ Jesus, to this sinful earth;
His death did for our sins atone,
And we are saved by grace alone.
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: 14 – Michael Barbercheck, Pat Steele
Special Celebrations and Needs:
+ Church family members: Janet Hurley, upon the death of her sister, Beverly; Ken Kight, upon the death of his father; family and friends of Charlotte Moret upon her death; prayer of thanksgiving for newborn grandchild of John & Sharon Willmann; prayer of thanksgiving for Fiona Marie Wise, newborn granddaughter of Julie Atwood-Wise; prayer of thanksgiving for Charlotte Nichole Jacobson, newborn grandchild of Bob & Debbie Jacobson
+ Friends of our congregation: Rebecca Guion, daughter-in-law of Mary Guion, who is receiving treatment for lymphoma; Ryan Barnett’s father, who has cancer; the family and friends of former Glendale Lutheran member Nancy Allen upon her death
+ Those who are homebound or in nursing facilities: Mary Guion, Corinne Gutzler, Anne Hammann, Bettie Welch, Joan Winkler, Ruth Wussler
Offertory
