+ ORDER OF WORSHIP +

OPENING HYMN There Is a Redeemer

Christian Worship 519

During this Lenten season, we are using The Service Setting One from the hymnal (p. 154 and following) as our order of worship.

Please stand

Invocation

Minister: In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit.

Congregation: Amen.

Psalm

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” James 5:16

Confession Of Sins

Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.

Blessed are they whose sin the Lord does not count against them.

Let us confess our sins to the Lord. Almighty and merciful Father, we have strayed from your ways like lost sheep. We have followed what we have devised and desired in our hearts. We have offended you and sinned against your holy law. We have done those things that we should not have done, and we have not done those things that we should have done. Have mercy on us, Lord! Spare us, forgive us, and restore us, according to your promises in Christ Jesus.

Silence for meditation and reflection

God, our merciful Father, has forgiven all our sins. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to be our Redeemer and Savior. Jesus paid the penalty for our guilt by his death on the cross and freed us from death by his resurrection from the grave. We have peace with God now and forever.

Amen.

Mark 10:47

Kyrie is the Greek word for Lord. The expression “Lord, have mercy” is one of the oldest worship responses in the Christian Church. The minister will sing the italicized words. The congregation responds by singing “Lord, have mercy” and with the final “Amen.”

LORD, HAVE MERCY (Kyrie) Christian Worship 156

Minister: In peace let us pray to the Lord.

Congregation:

For the peace from above and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.

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.

For this holy house and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the Lord.

Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.

+ THE WORD +

Prayer Of The Day

The Lord be with you. And also with you.

Let us pray.

Almighty God, you see that we have no power to defend ourselves. Guard and keep us both outwardly and inwardly from all adversities that may happen to the body and all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt the soul; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

Please be seated

The Gloria (Glory to God in the Highest), which we often sing following the Kyrie, is traditionally omitted during the season of Lent, as our rejoicing is more muted and quiet during this season. We look forward with joyful anticipation to Easter Day when our most jubilant songs of praise will return.

The L promised Abram that one of his descendants would be a gift for the world. The L also gave Abram the gift of faith to believe that promise.

First Reading

1 Now the L said to Abram, “Get out of your country and away from your relatives and from your father’s house and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse anyone who dishonors you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you.”

4 So Abram went, as the L had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to travel to the land of Canaan. Eventually they arrived in the land of Canaan. 6 Abram passed through the land until he came to the Oak of Moreh at the place called Shechem. The Canaanites were in the land at that time.

7 The L appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” Abram built an altar there to the L , who had appeared to him.

8 He moved on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent there, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the L and proclaimed the name of the L

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Abraham provides an example of how salvation is not earned but received as a gift through faith.

Genesis 15:6

SECOND READING Romans 4:1

1 What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered according to the flesh? 2 If indeed Abraham had been justified by works, he would have had a reason to boast but not before God. 3 For what does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

4 Now to a person who works, his pay is not counted as a gift but as something owed. 5 But to the person who does not work but believes in the God who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited to him as righteousness.

13 Indeed, the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not given to Abraham or his descendants through the law, but through the righteousness that is by faith. 14 To be sure, if people are heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified. 15 For law brings wrath. (Where there is no law, there is no transgression.) 16 For this reason, the promise is by faith, so that it may be according to grace and may be guaranteed to all of Abraham’s descendants not only to the one who is a descendant by law, but also to the one who has the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”

In the presence of God, Abraham believed him who makes the dead alive and calls non-existing things so that they exist.

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Please stand

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Genesis 17:5

The Gospel Acclamation points toward the words of the Gospel.

GOSPEL John 3:1-17

1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these miraculous signs you are doing unless God is with him.”

3 Jesus replied, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”

By sharing the gospel of God’s love for the world, Jesus gave the gift of faith to a Pharisee named Nicodemus.

Matthew 6 and Luke 11 record how Jesus taught his disciples to pray. We use his example prayer as part of our public worship, trusting that he will hear and answer our prayers.

5 Jesus answered, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God! 6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not be surprised when I tell you that you must be born from above. 8 The wind blows where it pleases. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 “How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.

10 “You are the teacher of Israel,” Jesus answered, “and you do not know these things? 11 Amen, Amen, I tell you: We speak what we know, and we testify about what we have seen. But you people do not accept our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.

14 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise be to you, O Christ.

CHILDREN’S MESSAGE & GREETING

While the children are coming forward please greet your neighbor and fill out the Friendship Register located in the red folder in your row and pass it along. Thank you!

Please be seated

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. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.

During the singing of this hymn, children ages 1-8 are excused to attend Children’s Church in the CLC Building. Parents can pick-up their children there following the service.

5 If you are sick, if death is near, this truth your troubled heart can cheer: Christ Jesus saves my soul from death; this is the anchor of my faith!

6 Glory to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Three in One! To you, O blessèd Trinity, be praise now and eternally!

We Need a Gift

The Nicene Creed was first developed in 325 at the First Council of Nicea. It was written to reaffirm the Biblical teaching of the divinity of Jesus, God’s Son. Like the Apostles’ and Athanasian Creeds, the Nicene Creed is a confession of what the Bible teaches.

CONFESSION OF FAITH 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 in unity with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy Christian 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.

Prayer Of The Church

Brief intercessory prayers may be added in a fitting place.

Gracious Lord, according to your will and promise, you sent your Son into our world to atone for sin and restore eternal life. You planned his path to the cross, and he followed it perfectly. Your Spirit led him to endure the temptations of Satan, but he triumphed. Your own people rejected his message, but he persevered. He confronted the blindness of unbelief, the confusion of doubt, and the hurt of death but was not deterred as he proclaimed your kingdom to the least, the last, and the lost.

Guide us to follow Christ by faith as we walk the road of temptation and trial. Spare us from falling into Satan’s traps, and steel our resolve as his partners confront us. Teach us to use your Word as a weapon to fight against all devilish lies and deceptions. When we fall and we surely will lift us up again with your forgiveness and grace.

As we hear and contemplate the holy record of our Savior’s passion and death, use the sharp message of the law to empty us of pride and self-reliance. Humble us as we view the Savior in his humility, remembering and believing that he endured the cross so we might be freed from its horror. In his suffering show us our healing, in his grief show us our joy, and in his death show us our life.

Protect all who are bearing the cross of persecution and disdain. Supply your power to those fighting temptations and addictions. Watch over all who are sick and suffering in body, mind, and heart. We pray especially for children who are abused, forsaken, or ignored. Comfort all your troubled people with the sweet peace that only Jesus can bring.

Give wisdom and resolve to the leaders of our government that their rule may bring prosperity to our land and peace to our people. Supply insights to those who seek cures and invent devices to make our lives on earth better and safer. Inspire creative minds to touch our hearts in ways that reflect your creating love. You desire that we bask in the glory of your redemption; according to your will, may we also enjoy the wonders of your creation.

Hear our prayers, Lord, for the sake of Jesus, whose journey to the cross we remember during the days of Lent. Comfort and strengthen us by his life and death on our behalf, and thrill us as we look forward to celebrating his victory on Easter. Amen.

Please stand