Fourth Sunday in Lent March 6, 2016 Holy Communion 8:15 & 11:00 A.M.

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1 NOTES Fourth Sunday in Lent March 6, 2016 Holy Communion 8:15 & 11:00 A.M. ST. JOHN S LUTHERAN CHURCH 3911 Sweet Air Road Phoenix, MD

2 OUR MISSION: WELCOME ALL TELL THE STORY GROW AS DISCIPLES OUR VISION As Christ accepts and loves all kinds of people, we seek to accept and reach out to others with hospitality, flexibility and love. so that all will experience Jesus and His triumphant, unconditional love in their real lives. As His followers, we move between nurturing ourselves in relationship with God, and going out to love and serve others in the world. GOD CALLS US TO REACH OUT TO OTHERS. WE GO FORWARD WITH A PASSION FOR A VARIETY OF MINISTRY AND WORSHIP EXPERIENCES, AND DISCIPLESHIP GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES. LAY MINISTRY IS PRIMARY. OUR GOAL IS THAT EACH ONE WILL HAVE A TRANSFORMING AND PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF JESUS. GOD WILL PROVIDE ALL THAT WE NEED! NOTES Theme of the Day The psalm sets the tone this day: Happy are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sin is put away! Happy are those who have become the righteousness of God in the merits of Christ Jesus. Happy are those for whom the forgiveness of God has rolled away... the disgrace of former times. Happy is the father at the return of his prodigal son. Happy are we that our sins are forgiven for Jesus sake. Rejoice! Thank you For turning off all cell phones and electronic devices during worship 2

3 NOTES WELCOME ALL! Prelude Welcome Passover Devotion P. When the hour had come, Jesus sat at a table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you... L. Let us pray together C. Holy God, God of the Passover and of the Exodus, God of the crucifixion and the resurrection, may we rightly hallow our humanity and yet long for our true freedom. Lead us as you led the Israelites through their wilderness and the disciples through the darkness. Lead us in Jesus name into the love of you. L. Amen! Our unleavened bread! C. AMEN! Confession and Forgiveness (P: Presiding Minister; A: Assisting Minister: C: Congregation) P. We gather in the name of the Triune God, the Alpha & Omega; whose mercy and redeeming work has no end. Today, we acknowledge our own limitations and with God s help, turn in repentance to more fully trust and follow Jesus calling for us in our own lives, and as a church. Let us confess our sins (Silence for reflection and self-examination. Please kneel or sit.) P. God of endless mercy, C. Amid our busy schedules, thank you for leading us here today. Thank you for continuing to remind us of your love for us, and your ongoing work in our lives. Yet everything is not as you intended. Today, we name the afflictions, fears and brokenness in our lives. For those times when we sat motionless, when there was urgency to respond to a neighbor. Forgive us. For those times we name now, silently or spoken, when other priorities and aspects of our lives held us captive from more fully following you.. P. Friends in Christ s name, you are forgiven. When we are weary and weighed down, Jesus promises that when we come to him, we will receive rest. Through Baptism, we are embraced into a larger community of faith, and connected with the life, death & resurrection of Jesus. Through Christ, we are freed from proving ourselves, and free to serve, we are free to worship. Now is the time to worship, now is when God is at work in you, and through us. C. AMEN. 3

4 Gathering Hymn What Wondrous Love Is This Red hymnal # 666 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. Prayer of the Day A. Let us pray. C. 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. Amen. The people sit. TELL THE STORY! FIRST READING: 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. This is the reading: 9 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. 10 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. 11 On the day after the passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. 12 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. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. ANTHEM (11:00am) I Want Jesus to Walk with Me -arr. Jason W. Krug St. John s Bronze PSALM: Psalm 32 1 Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 4 PLEASE PRAY FOR Those with illness: Millie Auer Elsa Bleakley Ann Briggeman Harrison Carr Lois Collinge Dan Feeley Kathy Francis Bentley Glock Rosemarie Guntzel Mark Habicht Alex Harrison Elke Heidemann John Hinegardner Malcolm Hobbs Grant Holland The Hunt family Jack Kneafsey Clarence Lamb The Laumann family Dan Lipsey Elsa Miller The Mitchell family Janice Moon Nancy Myers Rose Peterson Amy Pressel Candace Rader Linda Reynolds Vera Sachs Doris Savin Randy Storke Jacob Wassif Henry & Gloria Weaver Charlotte Wienhold Parker Wilson Those with destructive addictions Names on the prayer list are printed with permission of the person named. After receiving permission you may place a completed yellow prayer request card in the offering plate or contact the church office to add a name to the prayer list. After four weeks on the list a name will be removed unless the office is notified for an extension of time. Visitation: please notify the church office if you anticipate a hospital stay. Thank you! 13 Special needs: ReFocusing summits Peace in the world and protection from assaults of terror For Pastor and Barbel Otto as they recover from a house fire Deployed soldiers & families: Melissa Smith Partners in Care Congregations for the MD National Guard Current ministries: Empowerment of the Holy Spirit in: Property Committee St. John s Bronze St. John s Staff Ministry Team Our mission partners: Amazing Grace Lutheran Church Pr. Gary Dittman (Baltimore) Prs. Mercedes & Isaias Nelson (Dom. Rep.) Pr. Tyrone Smith (New Orleans) Our bishops, Wolfgang Herz-Lane & Elizabeth Eaton Prayers of thanksgiving: Stephanie Carroll Kathy Cathell Michael Chambers

5 INISTRY ASSISTANTS 8:15AM 11:00AM Ushers:: Cindy Hilbert-Rayme John Bruck* Bon Rayme Doug Clark Angel Christman Bob Shaff Joe Christman Rick Jones Greeters: Linda Peper John Bruck Karen Donoho Kathy Bruck Reader: Louisa Rettew Rae Neunaber Preaching Minister: Pastor Adam Forbes Pastor H. J. S. Otto Presiding Minister: Pastor George Tuttle Pastor George Tuttle Assisting Minister: Marjorie Espenschade Don Zurwelle Communion Assts.: Kris Walton Rae Neunaber Chris Fullem Adam Drescher Doug Savin Jim Bridges Nursery Caregiver: Leah Hunt Michelle Wachter Altar: Rae Neunaber Rae Neunaber Dolores Klass Dolores Klass Sound: Rick Ludwig TBA Projection: Tim Rader Gino Liberati Organist: Michael Chambers Michael Chambers From Sundays and Seasons.com. Copyright 2016 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License # While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. 5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, I will confess my transgressions to the LORD, and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah 6 Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them. 7 You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah 8 I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 9 Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you. 10 Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the LORD. 11 Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart. SECOND READING: 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. This is the reading: 16 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. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 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. 20 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. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. The people stand. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 12 5

6 Gospel Acclamation SENDING FOR SERVICE! The people stand. Blessing P. May the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you in his grace. C. Amen. P. The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the 15th chapter. C. Glory to you, O Lord. GOSPEL: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Jesus tells a parable about a son who ponders his father s love only after he has spurned it. The grace he receives is beyond his hopes. That same grace is a crisis for an older brother who believed it was his obedience that earned his place in the father s home. This is the reading: Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them. 3 So he told them this parable: 11 Then Jesus said, There was a man who had two sons. 12 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. 13 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. 14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15 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. 16 He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 17 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! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands. 20 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. 21 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. 22 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. 23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son 6 Post-Communion Prayer A. Let us pray. C. O God, we thank you for gathering and feeding us as a mother hen embraces her young. Release us now to go on our way in these forty days, ready to see our work as prayer, ready to fast from complacency, and ready to share with those in need; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen. Benediction P. The blessing of God Almighty, the wisdom and power of Christ Jesus, and the light of the Holy Spirit be among you and remain with you always. C. Amen. Sending Hymn My Life Flows On in Endless Song Red hymnal # 763 Dismissal A. Go in peace. Remember the poor. C. Thanks be to God. Worship has ended; let the service begin! 11

7 Eucharistic Prayer ~ The Words of Jesus P. In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me. Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me. Lord s Prayer C. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. The people sit. Please speak your name to the assistant and then receive communion by intinction ~ dip the bread into the wine. Juice is available for those who prefer it instead of wine. Please alert an usher if you would like communion but are unable to come forward. Lamb of God of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found! And they began to celebrate. 25 Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 27 He replied, Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound. 28 Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 29 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. 30 But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him! 31 Then the father said to him, Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 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. The people sit. P. The Gospel of the Lord. C. Praise to you, O Christ. Sermon (8:15am) Just One Pastor Adam Forbes (11:00am) The Joy of Repentance Pastor H. J. S. Otto The people stand. Hymn of the Day Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound Red hymnal # 779 Apostles Creed C. I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God s 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 to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Distribution Hymn Precious Lord, Take My Hand Red hymnal # 773 Prayers of the People (Please kneel or be seated.) P. Merciful God, accompany us on our Lenten journey. C. Renew us in the gift of baptism. 10 7

8 Sharing the Peace P. Let us worship God with our offerings and share His peace with each other. The peace of the Lord be with you. C. And also with you. The people sit. MEAL FOR DISCIPLES Offertory Prayer A. Let us pray. C. God our provider, you have not fed us with bread alone, but with words of grace and life. Bless us and these your gifts, which we receive from your bounty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Tithes and Offerings Offertory Anthem (8:15am) I Want Jesus to Walk with Me St. John s Bronze -arr. Jason W. Krug Offertory Anthem (11:00am) Give Me Jesus -arr. Larry Shackley Jubilee Singers The people stand. Offertory Create in Me a Clean Heart Red hymnal # 188 The Great Thanksgiving 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. It is indeed right..join their unending hymn. 8 9