At Messiah, we are powered by God s Grace! God s grace comes to us as we are. through grains of wheat that comprise the bread of Christ we share and that gathers us into the one Body of Christ. through grapes that are poured out together in the Blood of Christ, as we pour ourselves out into the world. through water that fills the baptismal font, washes us clean, and embraces us as Children of God..through the Holy Spirit that lives within us as the breath of life and that inspires us to live as grace-powered throughout the world. Messiah Lutheran Church, ELCA 415 S. 18th St., Aurora, NE 68818 402-694-2017 www.messiahaurora.org Senior Pastor - Rev. Sarah Ruch 402-833-8218 Pastor of Children, Youth & Family - Rev. Miles Ruch, Jr. 402-833-8219 January 13, 2019 01/13/2019 16 01/13/2019
A warm welcome to all today! THIS WEEK AT MESSIAH News & Announcements May this time of worship strengthen your faith and desire to serve the Creator who loves us with everlasting love in Christ Jesus. Children are welcome in this worship service, and encouraged to participate in any way they are able to. Teach the children sitting around you how to use their hymnals, bulletins, follow the screens, and sing & speak loudly! We value the noise made by our children! Visitors, we are especially glad to see you. Please come again!! As disciples of Christ, we encourage you to CONNECT with ministry opportunities here at Messiah! Please fill out a CONNECT sheet today. After you ve recorded your name(s) and pertinent information, please turn these sheets over and think about the ways in which you can use the gifts and talents given to you in the ministry here at Messiah. CONNECT sheets can be placed in the offering plate as we give our gifts of time, talent, and treasure to God. Sunday, January 13th 9:00 am -- Worship 10:15 am -- Sunday School 10:15 am -- WELCA Meeting 6:00 pm -- Year of the Bible Tuesday, January 15th 8:30 am -- Moms in Prayer 9:00 am -- WELCA Quilting Wednesday, January 16th 6:30 pm -- Confirmation 7:00 pm -- Youth Group 7:00 pm -- First Place Saturday, January 19th Middle School Gathering 9:00am - 3:00 pm - WELCA Winter Retreat - Grand Island Sunday, January 20th Middle School Gathering 9:00 am -- Worship 10:15 am -- Sunday School 10:15 am -- Year of the Bible 6:00 pm -- Year of the Bible UPCOMING EVENTS & MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES WOMEN, WISDOM, & WINE: All ladies of the congregation are welcome to join us on Tuesday, January 15th for fellowship and study of a woman of the Bible. This group will meet at the Parsonage: 130 Galway Rd. CUSTODIAN POSITION AVAILABLE Messiah Lutheran Church is hiring a part-time Custodian. Job entails interior cleaning of the church building. $10 an hour/15 hours per week. Full job descriptions and applications can be picked up at Messiah Lutheran Church between 8am-2pm Monday-Friday. MIDDLE SCHOOL HAPPENINGS: Confirmation (7th & 8th graders) will begin meeting for the new year on Wednesday, January 9th at our regular class time, 6:30pm-8:00pm. Confirmation students will be attending the Nebraska Synod Middle School Gathering on January 19th-January 20th in Kearney. Please keep our kids (and their adult volunteers) in your prayers during this time. You can pray for safe travel, meaningful learning, and faithful relationship building. 01/13/2019 2 01/13/2019 15
News & Announcements UPCOMING EVENTS & MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES WINTERFEST 1/26: Join us for our Annual WinterFest Celebration at The Leadership Center on Sunday, January 26th from 3pm-6pm. We ll play board games and card games (please bring your favorites), have snacks and the pool, basketball, ping pong tables will be available. A donation of $5 per is suggested. All are welcome, and bring your friends! FOOD PANTRY NEEDS: The Food Pantry is always accepting donations, please feel free to help re-stock the shelves after a busy holiday season with donations of dry goods. This month our specific item to collect is 15 oz. cans of Spaghetti & Meatballs for the Backpackers program. Donations can be placed in the Food Pantry baskets near the main entrance. ANNUAL MEETING & MINISTRY CELEBRATION: Messiah members will meet for our Annual Congregational Meeting and Ministry Celebration on Sunday, February 3rd following worship. At this meeting we will approve a Ministry Support Plan for 2019 (budget planning) and celebrate the ministry we have been a part throughout 2018. PLEASE PLAN ON ATTENDING! YOUR VOICE AND VOTE IS IMPORTANT! Annual Reports will be available on Sunday, January 20th. 01/13/2019 14 Ushers: Youth Ushers: Reader: Acolytes: Musician: Serving Us in Worship Today Ed & Claudia Rathje Grace Ziegler Noah Ziegler Gen Weiss Naela Merrihew Kirsten Jensen Beth Johnson A Few Notes. Greeters: Germaine Lemkau Lue Erpelding Sound Booth: Craig Shaffer Video Recorder: KC Pawling PowerPoint: Daniel Helzer Worship Asst: Dixie Ziegler Coffee Bar Hosts: Beth Johnson * Indicates congregation please stand if able. Congregational responses are printed in BOLD type ELW stands for Evangelical Lutheran Worship. This is the Cranberry colored hymnal found in each pew. You are welcome to look up our songs and liturgy in these hymnals, or follow along on the screens. If a p. is listed before the number, these are the small numbers found on the lower corners of each page in the front of the hymnal. If a number is simply listed, these are the large numbers found on the top corners in the back half of the hymnal. Communion today will be celebrated by Intinction. You will be offered a wafer and invited to dip this wafer into the chalice, where both wine and white grape juice are available. Gluten and Nut-free wafers are available from each server. Please simply indicate that this is needed and we will also provide an uncontaminated chalice of wine & grape juice for your use as well We practice an open communion table at Messiah. If you are a baptized child of God and believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, you are welcome at the table. 01/13/2019 3
Order for Worship ANNOUNCEMENTS GATHERING The Holy Spirit calls us together as the people of God. GATHERING SONG Baptized and Set Free ELW 453 *CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS Blessed be the holy Trinity, + one God, who creates us and forms us, who redeems us and calls us, who unites us and sends us. Gathered in God s presence, let us confess our sin. Mighty and loving God, we confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves. We seek our own way. We divide the body of Christ. In your mercy, cleanse us and heal us. Let the words of our mouths, the thoughts of our hearts, and everything that we do be filled with faith, hope, and love. Hear the voice of Jesus: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim release to the captives. In the name of + Jesus Christ, I proclaim to you that your sins are forgiven and you are released. The joy of the Lord is your strength, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit are yours forever. *GREETING The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. And also with you. 01/13/2019 4 *PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION We thank you, O God, that you have fed us at your banqueting table with bread and wine beyond compare, the very life of Christ for us. Send your Spirit with us now, that we may set the captive free, use your gifts to build one another up, and in everything reflect your glory revealed in Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. *BLESSING SENDING God blesses us and sends us in mission to the world. The God of glory dwell in you richly, name you beloved, and shine brightly on your path; and the blessing of almighty God, the Father, the + Son, and the Holy Spirit, be upon you and remain with you always. SENDING SONG Songs of Thankfulness and Praise ELW 310 DISMISSAL Go in peace. Christ is your light. Thanks be to God. Copyright 2018 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License #SAS000462. 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. 01/13/2019 13
*KYRIE ELW p. 184 Verse 1: All; Verse 2: Low Voices; Verse 3: High Voices; Verse 4: All *THANKSGIVING AT THE TABLE ELW p. 190 In the night in which he was betrayed,...... Do this for the remembrance of me. Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks,...... Do this for the remembrance of me. *LORD S PRAYER ELW p. 191 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. COMMUNION COMMUNION SONG ELW p. 191 01/13/2019 12 01/13/2019 5
*PRAYER OF THE DAY OFFERING Let us pray. Almighty God, you anointed Jesus at his baptism with the Holy Spirit and revealed him as your beloved Son. Keep all who are born of water and the Spirit faithful in your service, that we may rejoice to be called children of God, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. WORD God speaks to us in scripture reading, preaching, and song. FIRST READING Isaiah 43:1-7 Old Testament pg. 520 1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. 4 Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. 5 Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; 6 I will say to the north, Give them up, *OFFERING PRAYER God of all creation, all you have made is good, and your love endures forever. You bring forth bread from the earth and fruit from the vine. Nourish us with these gifts, that we might be for the world signs of your gracious presence in Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. GREAT THANKSGIVING *DIALOGUE ELW p. 190 The Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give our thanks and praise. *PREFACE ELW p. 190 It is indeed right, our duty and our joy,...... we praise your name and join their unending hymn: *HOLY, HOLY, HOLY ELW p. 190 01/13/2019 6 01/13/2019 11
Let us pray a beacon of the hope that is promised to all of us. *CREED ELW p. 189 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. *PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION United as one body in Christ, let us pray for the church, the world, and all those in need... Each petition ends: Lord, in your mercy, The congregation responds: hear our prayer. Receive our prayers and fill us with the radiance of your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord. PEACE ELW p. 189 The peace of Christ be with you always. And also with you. MEAL God feeds us with the presence of Jesus Christ. and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made. Word of God, word of life. Thanks be to God. PSALM 29 Old Testament pg. 392 1 Ascribe to the Lord, you gods, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due God s name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. 3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of glory thunders; the Lord is upon the mighty waters. 4 The voice of the Lord is a powerful voice; the voice of the Lord is a voice of splendor. 5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedar trees; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon; 6 the Lord makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Mount Hermon like a young wild ox. 7 The voice of the Lord bursts forth in lightning flashes. 8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the Lord makes the oak trees writhe and strips the forests bare. And in the temple of the Lord all are crying, Glory! 10 The Lord sits enthroned above the flood; the Lord sits enthroned as king forevermore. 11 O Lord, give strength to your people; give them, O Lord, the blessings of peace. SECOND READING Acts 8:14-17 New Testament pg. 96 01/13/2019 10 01/13/2019 7
14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit 16 (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). 17 Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Word of God, word of life. Thanks be to God. CHILDREN'S MESSAGE This little light of mine, I m gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I m gonna let it shine. This little light of mine, I m gonna let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. This Little Light of Mine *GOSPEL ACCLAMATION ELW p. 188 *GOSPEL Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 New Testament pg. 46 The holy gospel according to Luke. Glory to you, O Lord. 15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. 21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased. The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ. SERMON HYMN OF THE DAY Christ, When for Us You Were Baptized ELW 304 BLESSING OF THE PRAYER SHAWLS We take this moment to celebrate the Prayer Shawl ministries of our congregation.we pray that these prayer shawls bring comfort to those who will receive them. Oh God, open our eyes so that we might see, open our ears so that we might hear and open our minds os that we might know who is in need of your healing power and presence. Open our hearts so that we might reach out to them. Please gather around the shawls. 01/13/2019 8 01/13/2019 9