Fourth Sunday in Lent
March 14, 2010
Prelude Jesu, Priceless Treasure J. S. Bach
Welcome
We’re delighted to greet everyone in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who takes away our sin and offers grace to all people. If you are a guest, please fill out the Guest Form. If you’re looking for a meaningful ministry with which to become involved, you are encouraged to speak with the Pastor.
Gathering
(Please stand)
Brief Order for Confession & Forgiveness
P We gather in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
C Amen.
P God of all mercy and consolation, come to the help of your people, turning us from our sin to live for you alone. Give us the power of your Holy Spirit that we may confess our sin, receive your forgiveness, and grow into the fullness of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
C Amen.
(Please kneel)
Confession
P Most merciful God,
C we confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name. Amen.
Absolution
P In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake God forgives us all our sins. As a called and ordained minister of the church of Christ, and by his authority, I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the ς Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
C Amen.
(Please stand)
Entrance Hymn O Day of Rest and Gladness Hymn 521
Greeting
P The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all!
C And, also with you.
(1)
Kyrie Music on
page 138
P In
peace, let us pray to the Lord.
C
Lord, have mercy.
P For the peace from above, and for
our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.
C
Lord, have mercy.
P For the peace of the whole world,
for the well-being of the church of God, and for the unity
of all, let us pray to the Lord.
C
Lord, have mercy.
P For this holy house, and for all
who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the
Lord.
C
Lord, have mercy.
P Help, save, comfort, and defend
us, gracious Lord.
C
Amen.
Prayer
of the Day
P God of compassion, you welcome the
wayward, and you embrace us all with your mercy. By our
baptism clothe us with garments of your grace, and feed us
at the table of your love, through Jesus Christ, our Savior
and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C
Amen.
Anthem (11:00
am) Jesu,
Jesu Fill Us with Your Love African American Song
Alleluia Choir: Derrick Wieters and Clara Cullum, soloists
Danelle Welzig, Director
Word
Lesson (Please sit)
Joshua
5:9–12
By
celebrating the Passover and eating the produce of the
promised land instead of the miraculous manna that had
sustained them in the desert, the Israelites symbolically
bring their forty years of wilderness wandering to an end
at Gilgal.
The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you
the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgal
to this day. While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal
they kept the passover in the evening on the fourteenth day
of the month in the plains of Jericho. On the day after the
passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the
land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. The manna ceased
on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the
Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the
land of Canaan that year.
P The
Word of the Lord.
C
Thanks be to God.
Psalmody Psalm
32
Happy are
they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sin is
put away!
Happy are they to whom the LORD imputes no guilt,
and in whose spirit there is no guile!
R
While I held my tongue, my bones withered away,
because of my groaning all day long.
For your hand was heavy upon me day and night;
my moisture was dried up as in the heat of summer.
Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not conceal my
guilt.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.”
Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin.
Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you
in time of trouble;
when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach
them.
R
You are
my hiding-place; you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance.
"I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you
should go;
I will guide you with my eye.
Do not be like horse or mule, which have no understanding;
who must be fitted with bit and bridle, or else they will
not stay near you.”
Great are the tribulations of the wicked;
but mercy embraces those who trust in the LORD.
Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice in the LORD;
shout for joy, all who are true of heart.
R
Lesson 2
Corinthians 5:16–21
One
way to describe the gospel is the promise that in Christ
everything is transformed into newness. All mistakes, all
deliberate sins, all old history is reconciled with
Christ’s resurrection. This is Paul’s strong message to the
congregation in the city of
Corinth.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point
of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point
of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is
in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has
passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is
from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and
has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in
Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not
counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the
message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for
Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we
entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For
our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in
him we might become the righteousness of God.
P The
Word of the Lord.
C Thanks
be to God.
Children’s
Sermon (8:30
am)
Lenten
Acclamation (Please stand)
Gospel Luke
15:1-3, 11b-32
P The
Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke, the fifteenth chapter.
C
Glory to you, O Lord.
Now all the tax collectors and
sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the
Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This
fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told
them this parable: ”There was a man who had two sons. The
younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the
share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he
divided his property between them. A few days later the
younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant
country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute
living.
When he
had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout
that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and
hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country,
who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would
gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were
eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to
himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have
bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I
will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him,
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am
no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one
of your hired hands.” ‘ So he set off and went to his
father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him
and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms
around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him,
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am
no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father
said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe — the best
one — and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and
sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it,
and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead
and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they
began to celebrate. Now his elder son was in the field; and
when he came and approached the house, he heard music and
dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was
going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your
father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him
back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to
go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But
he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have
been working like a slave for you, and I have never
disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a
young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But
when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your
property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for
him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always
with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to
celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was
dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been
found.’”
P The
Gospel of the Lord.
C
Praise to you, O Christ.
Sermon (Please sit)
Listen to Jesus . . .
Pastor Robert Wallace
To His Depiction of the Father’s Mercy
(Please
stand)
Hymn
of the Day Amazing Grace, How Sweet the
Sound Hymn
779
Nicene
Creed
We
believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of
heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from
Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one
Being with the Father; through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was
incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary and became
truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius
Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day
he rose again in accordance with the scriptures; he
ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come
again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his
kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the
Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has
spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church. We
acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We
look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the
world to come. Amen.
The
Prayer of the People (Please
kneel)
The prayers
conclude:
P Receive our prayers, holy God, and
give us all we need for this day and the days to come,
through the power of the Holy Spirit, and in the name of
Jesus Christ our Lord.
C
Amen.
Peace (Please
stand)
P The peace of the Lord be with you
always.
C
And also with you.
(Please feel free to move about and share God’s Peace with
one another!)
Meal
Offering
(Please
sit)
Anthem
(8:30 am)
Come, Thou Fount
of Every Blessing J. Wyeth
Family Choir
Anthem
(11:00 am)
O Kind
Jesus Latvian Folksong
Gallery Choir
Offering Response (Please stand)
Tune:
Passion
Chorale
C
What language shall I borrow to thank thee, dearest friend.
For this thy dying sorrow, thy pity without end?
Oh, make me thine forever, and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to
thee.
Offering
Prayer
P Holy God, gracious and merciful,
you bring forth food from the earth and nourish your whole
creation.
Turn our hearts toward those who hunger in any way, that
all may know your care; and prepare us now to feast on the
bread of life, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
C
Amen.
The
Great Thanksgiving Music on Page 144
P The
Lord be with you.
C
And also with you.
P Lift up your hearts.
C
We lift them to the Lord.
P Let us give thanks to the Lord our
God.
C
It is right to give our thanks and
praise.
Proper
Preface
Sanctus
Music on Page 144
Holy, holy, holy Lord. God of pow’r and might
heaven and earth are full of your glory, Hosanna, Hosanna.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
Words
of Thanksgiving
P . . . as we proclaim the mystery
of faith.
C
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come
again.
P . . . Grace our table with your
presence.
C
Come Holy Spirit.
P . . . Send us forth . . . peace
and love.
C
Come Holy Spirit.
Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in
heaven.
Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the
time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom,
the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.
Communion
All baptized Christians are invited to share in the
Eucharist. Those who are not baptized, or wish to receive
only a blessing, are asked to fold their arms over their
chest. Communion will be by intinction (dipping). Please
follow the usher’s direction. If you are not physically
able to come forward to receive communion, please inform
the usher and someone will come to you.
Music
at Distribution (Please
sit)
Agnus
Dei Music on
page 146
Lamb of God you take away the sin of the world: have mercy
on us.
Lamb of God you take away the sin of the world: have mercy
on us.
Lamb of God you take away the sin of the world: grant us
peace.
Hymns
Post
Communion Blessing and Prayer (Please
stand)
P Compassionate God, you have fed us
with the bread of heaven. Sustain us in our Lenten
pilgrimage: may our fasting be hunger for justice; our
alms, a making of peace; and our prayer, the song of
grateful hearts, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
C
Amen.
P
The Lord bless you and
keep you. The Lord’s face shine on you with grace and
mercy. The Lord look upon you with favor and
ς give you
peace.
C
Amen.
Sending
Hymn Go,
My Children, with My Blessing Hymn 543
Dismissal
P
Go in peace. Serve the
Lord.
C
Thanks be to God.
Postlude
__________________________________________
Music reproduced with permission
by Augsburg Fortress.
Liturgies License # 23349
You may use this Bulletin to cover your parking in the
Francis Marion or
Camden (former Hutson Street) Garage.
St.
Matthew’s Lutheran Church * 405 King Street * Charleston,
SC * 29403
843.723.1611