St. John s Evangelical Lutheran Church & School 624 East Street, Baraboo, WI Church Office 355-3870 School Office 355-3860 Email: churchoffice@stjohnsbaraboo.org www.stjohnsbaraboo.org
WELCOME TO ST. JOHN S We re thrilled that you are here today. Our restrooms are located to the right as you leave the sanctuary in the Mother s Room and downstairs next to the exit. The members of St. John s believe that families should be encouraged to worship together. (Church, like much of life, needs to be taught to young children.) If your young one needs some time out, we have an audio and video-equipped Mother s Room just outside the sanctuary to your right. If you need anything during the service, please feel free to ask an usher. THOUGHT FOR THE DAY For quiet meditation before the service begins, worshipers may wish to review a portion of Martin Luther s Small Catechism that is especially fitting on Thanksgiving Day. It is a simple explanation of the first part of the Apostles Creed: I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth. What does this mean? I believe that God created me and all that exists, and that he gave me my body and soul, eyes, ears and all my members, my mind and all my abilities. And I believe that God still preserves me by richly and daily providing clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, spouse and children, land, cattle, and all I own, and all I need to keep my body and life. God also preserves me by defending me against all danger, guarding and protecting me from all evil. All this God does only because he is my good and merciful Father in heaven, and not because I have earned or deserved it. For all this I ought to thank and praise, to serve and obey him. This is most certainly true. 2
THANKSGIVING DAY SERVICE HYMN 614 Sing to the Lord of Harvest 1. Sing to the Lord of harvest; Sing songs of love and praise. With joyful hearts and voices Your alleluias raise. By him the rolling seasons In fruitful order move; Sing to the Lord of harvest A joyous song of love. 2. God makes the clouds rain goodness; The deserts bloom and spring. The hills leap up in gladness; The valleys laugh and sing. God fills them with his fullness, All things with large increase; He crowns the year with blessing, With plenty and with peace. PLEASE STAND 3. Bring to this sacred altar The gifts his goodness gave, The golden sheaves of harvest, The souls Christ died to save. Your hearts lay down before him When at his feet you fall, And with your lives adore him Who gave his life for all. Text: John S. B. Monsell, 1811 75, abr., alt. P: Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. C: Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. P: Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. C: I will praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. P: Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. C: Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. 3
P: For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations C: I will sing of the Lord's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself. HYMN 250 From All that Dwell Below the Skies 1. From all that dwell below the skies Let the Creator s praise arise. Alleluia! Alleluia! Let the Redeemer s name be sung Through ev ry land, by ev ry tongue. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! 2. Eternal are your mercies, Lord; Eternal is your glorious Word. Alleluia! Alleluia! Your praise shall sound from shore to shore Till suns shall rise and set no more. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Text: Isaac Watts, 1674 1748, alt. P: Let us pray. Almighty God our Father, your generous goodness comes to us new every day. By the work of your Spirit lead us to acknowledge your goodness, give thanks for your benefits, and serve you in willing obedience; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. C: Amen. (spoken) 4
THE WORD PSALM OF THE DAY Psalm 145 Christian Worship, page 119 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;* his greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend your works to another;* they will tell of your mighty acts. The LORD upholds all those who fall* and lifts up all who are bowed down. Refrain The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time.* You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. The LORD is near to all who call on him,* to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;* he hears their cry and saves them. 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. Refrain Refrain Tune: Richard Proulx. 1986 GIA Publications, Inc., Chicago, IL, www.giamusic.com. All rights reserved. Used by permission. 5
EPISTLE 2 Corinthians 8:8-15 8 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. 10 And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. 11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have. 13 Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14 At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, 15 as it is written: He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. VERSE OF THE DAY Isaiah 12:4 Alleluia! Alleluia! Give thanks to the Lord; call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Alleluia! GOSPEL Matthew 6:25-33 25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 6
HYMN 612 Praise to God, Immortal Praise 1. Praise to God, immortal praise, For the love that crowns our days. Bounteous Source of ev ry joy, Let your praise our tongues employ. All to you, our God, we owe, Source whence all our blessings flow. 2. All the plenty summer pours, Autumn s rich, o erflowing stores, Flocks that whiten all the plain, Yellow sheaves of ripened grain Lord, for these our souls shall raise Grateful vows and solemn praise. 3. Peace, prosperity, and health, Private bliss and public wealth, Knowledge with its gladd ning streams, True religion s holier beams Lord, for these our souls shall raise Grateful vows and solemn praise. 4. As your prosp ring hand has blest, May we give you of our best And by deeds of kindly love For your mercies grateful prove, Singing thus through all our days: Praise to God, immortal praise. Text: Anna L. Barbauld, 1743 1825, abr., alt. SERMON Deuteronomy 28:1-10 Just as He Promised If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the LORD your God: 3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed. 6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. 7
7 The LORD will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. 8 The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. 9 The LORD will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the LORD your God and walk in his ways. 10 Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will fear you. THANKSGIVING OFFERING SONGS OF THANKS AND PRAISE following each prayer by the minister, sing the hymn stanza that follows P: We praise and thank you, gracious Lord, for your indescribable gift, our Savior Jesus Christ, who has redeemed us from sin, death, and the power of the devil that we might be your own and live in your kingdom forever. C: My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus' blood and righteousness; I dare to make no other claim But wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand. P: We praise and thank you, gracious Lord, for the gift of your Word and Sacraments, through which you give us faith in your Son and the desire to serve you in all we say and do. C: O Lord, let this your little flock, your name alone confessing, Continue in your loving care, true unity possessing. Your sacraments, O Lord, and your saving Word To us e'er pure retain. Grant that they may remain Our only strength and comfort. 8
P: We praise and thank you, gracious Lord, for the gift of life and health and the abundance of our earthly blessings. C: Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving To God the Creator triumphantly raise, Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us, Who still guides us on to the end of our days. God's banners are o'er us; his light goes before us, A pillar of fire shining forth in the night, Til shadows have vanished and darkness is banished, As forward we travel from light into light. P: We praise and thank you, gracious Lord, for the comfort you give us when our hearts are heavy and troubles overwhelm us. C: If God himself be for me, I may a host defy; For when I pray, before me my foes, confounded, fly. If Christ, my head and master, befriend me from above, What foe or what disaster can drive me from his love? This I believe, yea rather, of this I make my boast, That God is my dear Father, my friend who loves me most, And that, whate'er betide me, my Savior is at hand Through stormy seas to guide me and bring me safe to land. P: We praise and thank you, gracious Lord, for the victory you have given to our friends and loved ones who have died and now live with you in glory. C: For all the saints who from their labors rest, All who by faith before the world confessed, Your name, O Jesus, be forever blest. Alleluia! Alleluia! You were their rock, their fortress, and their might; You, Lord, their captain, in the well-fought fight And in the darkness drear their one true light. Alleluia! Alleluia! 9
P: We praise and thank you, gracious Lord, for growing your Kingdom and leading many more to know you and love you. C: Lord, gather all your children, Wherever they may be, And lead them on to heaven To live eternally With you, our loving Father, And Christ, our brother dear, Whose Spirit guards and gives us The joy to persevere. P: For all your gifts, gracious Lord, for your blessings to body and soul that are new to us every morning, we praise and thank you now and always. C: Lift up the voice and strike the string, Let all glad sounds of music ring In God's high praises blended. Christ will be with me all the way, Today, tomorrow, every day Till traveling days are ended. Sing out, ring out triumph glorious, O victorious chosen nation; Praise the God of your salvation. THE 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. 10
BLESSING P: The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with favor and give you peace. C: Amen, amen, amen. HYMN 616 Feed Your Children, God Most Holy Feed your children, God most holy; Comfort sinners poor and lowly. Jesus, bread of life from heaven, Bless the food you here have given. As these gifts the body nourish, May our souls in graces flourish Till with saints in heav nly splendor At your feast due thanks we render. Text: Johann Heermann, 1585 1647; tr. The Lutheran Hymnal, St. Louis, 1941, alt. Pastor: Timothy P. Kuske Pianist: Grace Underwood Today s Radio Broadcast Sponsored in loving memory of Ernest and Dorothy Steinhorst by Bill and Susan Grosz. 11
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