| Prelude Greeting and Welcome Lighting of the Candles Hymn of Invocation – Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee (LSB 803) Joyful, joyful we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love! Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee, Praising Thee, their sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness, Drive the gloom of doubt away. Giver of immortal gladness, Fill us with the light of day. All Thy works with joy surround Thee, Earth and heav’n reflect Thy rays, Stars and angels sing around Thee, Center of unbroken praise. Field and forest, vale and mountain, Flow’ry meadow, flashing sea, Chanting bird, and flowing fountain Call us to rejoice in Thee. Thou art giving and forgiving, Ever blessing, ever blest, Wellspring of the joy of living, Ocean-depth of happy rest! Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Fountainhead of love divine: Joyful, we Thy heav’n inherit! Joyful, we by grace are Thine!
+ Preparation + Invocation P: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. C: Amen. Opening Sentences P: The Lord is faithful. C: He establishes us and guards us against Satan. P: The Lord is steadfast. C: He directs our hearts to love our neighbors. P: We can be confident in the Lord and His love for us. C: May He grant us quiet lives free from trouble. Confession and Absolution P: In our lives, we struggle to follow Jesus’ example of love, steadfastness, and faith. We have sown hatred, shown laziness, and known many doubts. We have not kept our eyes fixed on Jesus. Yet our heavenly Father invites us to draw near to His throne in confidence and ask for forgiveness. Silence for reflection. P: Heavenly Father, C: we have sinned against You in thoughts, words, and actions. Help us to serve in joy and love. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us back to You, on account of Jesus. Amen. P: Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son to die and rise for you and for His sake forgives you all your sins. To those who believe in Jesus Christ He gives the power to become the children of God and bestows on them the Holy Spirit. May the Lord, who has begun this good work in us, bring it to completion in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. C: Amen. We are forgiven by the steadfast love of Christ. + Word + Introit P: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. C: I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? P: My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. C: The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. P: The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. C: The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. 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: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Salutation and Prayer of the Day P: The Lord be with you. C: And also with you. P: Let us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, You are always faithful. As we await Your promised return, help us to recognize Your gifts in this life so that we may serve You in confidence and quietness, for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. C: Amen. First Reading – Malachi 4:1–6 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts. “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and just decrees that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
P: This is the Word of the Lord. C: Thanks be to God.
Epistle – 1 Thessalonians 3:1–13 Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith, that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know. For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain. But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us the good news of your faith and love and reported that you always remember us kindly and long to see us, as we long to see you—for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we have been comforted about you through your faith. For now we live, if you are standing fast in the Lord. What thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God, as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith? Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints. P: This is the Word of the Lord. C: Thanks be to God.
Holy Gospel – Luke 21:5-19 P: The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the twenty-first chapter. C: Glory to You, O Lord.
While some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, [Jesus] said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” And they asked him, “Teacher, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when these things are about to take place?” And he said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.
P: This is the Gospel of the Lord. C: Praise to You, O Christ. Apostles' Creed 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 – I’ve Got the Joy (AGPS 140) I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy Down in my heart, Down in my heart, down in my heart! I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy Down in my heart. Down in my heart to stay!
And it’s the greatest, grandest feeling, And it’s a feeling here to stay! And it’s a joy that needs revealing, So I just want to say: (Repeat first verse) Children’s Sermon – Tim Cosby Hymn of the Day – 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. Before the hills in order stood Or earth received her frame, From everlasting Thou art God, To endless years the same. A thousand ages in Thy sight Are like an evening gone, Short as the watch that ends the night Before the rising sun. Time, like an ever-rolling stream, Soon bears us all away; We fly forgotten as a dream Dies at the op’ning day. O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Be Thou our guard while troubles last And our eternal home! Sermon | 
