Prelude
Greeting and Welcome
Lighting of the Candles
Hymn of Invocation – Faith and Truth and Life Bestowing (LSB 584)
Faith and truth and life bestowing,
Open now the Scriptures, Lord,
Seed to life eternal sowing,
Scattered on the wind abroad.
Let not hearts, Your Word receiving,
Like a barren field be found,
Choked with thorns and unbelieving,
Shallow earth or stony ground.
May the Spirit’s pow’r unceasing
Bring to life the hidden grain,
Daily in our hearts increasing,
Bearing fruit that shall remain.
So in Scripture, song, and story,
Savior, may Your voice be heard.
Till our eyes behold Your glory
Give us ears to hear Your Word.
+ Preparation +
Invocation
P: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
Confession and Absolution
P: O God, why do You cast us off forever?
C: Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?
P: May the Lord direct us to the ruins of our righteousness
C: that we may learn repentance.
Silence for meditation and reflection.
P: O Lord,
C: we poor sinners cry to You and beg Your mercy. We confess that we have lived as if You did not matter and as if we mattered most of all. Our Lord’s name we have not honored as we should; our worship and prayers have faltered. We have not loved God above all things, and we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not done the good Your Word desires and have done the evil Your Word forbids. May God be merciful to us, forgive us all our sins, and strengthen our faith for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
P: Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son to die for you and for His sake forgives you all your sins. As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. To the impenitent and unbelieving I declare that so long as you continue in your impenitence, God will not forgive your sins and will visit your iniquity upon you until you turn from your sinful ways, come to repentance, and trust in the merits of Jesus Christ alone.
C: Amen.
P: 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.
+ Word +
Introit
P: For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
C: O God, why do you cast us off forever?
Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
P: Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.
C: Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
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: For zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
Salutation and Prayer of the Day
P: The Lord be with you.
C: And also with you.
P: Let us pray. O God You see that of ourselves we have no strength. By Your mighty power defend us from all adversities that may happen to the body and from all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt the soul; 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 – Jeremiah 26:8–15
And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, “You shall die! Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord and took their seat in the entry of the New Gate of the house of the Lord. Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, “This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”
Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. Now therefore mend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you. But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Epistle – Philippians 3:17—4:1
Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Holy Gospel – John 14:15-26
P: The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the fourteenth chapter.
C: Glory to You, O Lord.
[Jesus said:] “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.
“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
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 – This Is My Commandment (AGPS 240)
This is my commandment
That you love one another
That your joy may be full.
This is my commandment
That you love one another
That your joy may be full.
That your joy may be full,
That your joy may be full.
This is my commandment
That you love one another
That your joy may be full.
Children’s Sermon – Pastor Scott
Hymn of the Day – Holy Spirit, Light Divine (LSB 496)
Holy Spirit, light divine,
Shine upon this heart of mine;
Chase the shades of night away,
Turn the darkness into day.
Let me see my Savior’s face,
Let me all His beauties trace;
Show those glorious truths to me
Which are only known to Thee.
Holy Spirit, pow’r divine,
Cleanse this guilty heart of mine;
In Thy mercy pity me,
From sin’s bondage set me free.
Holy Spirit, joy divine,
Cheer this saddened heart of mine;
Yield a sacred, settled peace,
Let it grow and still increase.
Holy Spirit, all divine,
Dwell within this heart of mine;
Cast down ev’ry idol throne,
Reign supreme, and reign alone.
Sermon
