3461 Merle Ave Modesto, CA 95355 (209) 551-0563 www.stpetermodesto.org W Second Sunday after the Epiphany January 20, 2019 Epiphany Epidemic: Better Than Advertised elcome and thank you for joining us for worship today! In our service we gather before our almighty and saving God to offer him our worship and praise. We also assemble to hear God s holy and powerful word and celebrate his life-giving sacraments. Through these means, God strengthens our faith and walks us ever closer to our eternal home with him. The Lord s Supper (Holy Communion) The Bible tells us that those who take Communion together are to: Recognize that Christ s true body and blood are present in the Sacrament (1 Cor. 11:29), Examine themselves as Scripture instructs (1 Cor. 11:28), and Be one in faith and belief with the congregation with which they commune (1 Cor. 10:17). For these reasons, it is our practice that only those who are members of our congregation or a congregation of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) join us for Holy Communion. If you are interested in learning more about becoming a member of our body of believers or want to find out more about our Communion practice please speak to Pastor Schroeder after the service. PRAYER BEFORE WORSHIP Just as you changed water into wine, O Lord, you have changed me from a sinner into a saint. No longer must I dread the bitter taste of death, for you have revealed the sweetness of your salvation through your life, death and resurrection. May your grace continue to sweeten the lives of so many more. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Flowers adorning our altar this morning are given to the glory of God by Gary and Debbie Schulz in thankfulness for God s blessings. Minister: Pastor Daniel Schroeder Pianist: Karen Adams The following were reprinted under OneLicense.net #A-706579: Cover artwork by Ian M. Welch. Copyright 2015 Ian M. Welch. All Rights Reserved. The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible, and CSB are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved. 1
PREPARING FOR WORSHIP By its very nature, an epidemic is something you can t stop. You either quarantine yourself from it or inevitably catch it. The same is true of the child born at Christmas. The truth about his identity is undeniable and its effect on human lives is unstoppable. This week, we see that Jesus always exceeds expectations. We might imagine the best and greatest things God could do for us. Sometimes it seems like he lets us down. In reality, because of his infinite love for us, what he does for us is always better than we could ask or even imagine. OPENING HYMN The Church s One Foundation Christian Worship #538 stanzas 1-3 CALL TO WORSHIP Minister: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Congregation: Amen. CONFESSION OF SINS M: Dear friends, let us approach God with a true heart and confess our sins, asking him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to forgive us. C: Lord of life, I confess that I am by nature dead in sin. For faithless worrying and selfish pride, For sins of habit and sins of choice, For the evil I have done and the good I have failed to do, You should cast me away from your presence forever. O Lord, I am sorry for my sins. Forgive me, for Jesus sake. LORD, HAVE MERCY (KYRIE) 2
ABSOLUTION M: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. In his great mercy, God made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in our sins. Hear the word of Christ through his called servant: I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. C: Amen. M: In the peace of forgiveness, let us praise the Lord. GLORIA 3
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PRAYER OF THE DAY M: The Lord be with you. C: And also with you. M: Let us pray. Almighty and eternal God, at the wedding of Cana in Galilee your Son, Jesus Christ, showed his divine power in a miraculous sign. Grant your people faith always to see the glory of Jesus hidden in the means of grace, the Gospel and the Sacraments; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. C: Amen. THE WORD OF GOD FIRST LESSON Exodus 7:14-24 In his judgment God changes water into blood Then the LORD said to Moses, Pharaoh s heart is hard: He refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning. When you see him walking out to the water, stand ready to meet him by the bank of the Nile. Take in your hand the staff that turned into a snake. 16 Tell him: The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness, but so far you have not listened. 17 This is what the LORD says: Here is how you will know that I am the LORD. Watch. I am about to strike the water in the Nile with the staff in my hand, and it will turn to blood. 18 The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink water from it. 19 So the LORD said to Moses, Tell Aaron: Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt over their rivers, canals, ponds, and all their water reservoirs and they will become blood. There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in wooden and stone containers. 20 Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded; in the sight of Pharaoh and his officials, he raised the staff and struck the water in the Nile, and all the water in the Nile was turned to blood. 21 The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad the Egyptians could not drink water from it. There was blood throughout the land of Egypt. 22 But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing by their occult practices. So Pharaoh s heart was hard, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said. 23 Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and didn t take even this to heart. 24 All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink because they could not drink the water from the river. (CSB) 5
PSALM OF THE DAY Psalm 133-134 The joy over our salvation unites us in praise to the Lord We will read the verses and sing the refrain in unison. How good and pleasant it is, when brothers live together in unity! For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore. Refrain Praise the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who minister in the house of the LORD. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the LORD. May the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion. 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 6
SECOND LESSON Ephesians 3:14-21 To God be the glory for the expansive love Christ has for his bride, his believers For this reason I kneel before the Father 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. 16 I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God s love, 19 and to know Christ s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (CSB) 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 fully 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. 7
HYMN OF THE DAY Songs of Thankfulness and Praise Christian Worship #82 stanzas 1-3 SERMON John 2:1-11 When We Think We Know What Jesus Ought to Do On the third day a wedding took place in Cana of Galilee. Jesus s mother was there, and 2 Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding as well. 3 When the wine ran out, Jesus s mother told him, They don t have any wine. 4 What does that have to do with you and me, woman? Jesus asked. My hour has not yet come. 5 Do whatever he tells you, his mother told the servants. 6 Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification. Each contained twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Fill the jars with water, Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim. 8 Then he said to them, Now draw some out and take it to the headwaiter. And they did. 9 When the headwaiter tasted the water (after it had become wine), he did not know where it came from though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the groom 10 and told him, Everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people are drunk, the inferior. But you have kept the fine wine until now. 11 Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him. (CSB) 8
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OFFERING The members of St. Peter Congregation have joined together to do the Lord s work in this community and around the world. Guests at St. Peter are welcome to participate in the offering but need not feel obligated to do so. PRAYER OF THE CHURCH M: In hopeful expectation that the Lord of Epiphany will brighten our dark world with the light of the Gospel, let us pray to the God of all mercy. Almighty God, with confidence we come before you knowing that according your boundless mercy you both hear and answer even before we speak. You are the source of all good and every blessing, and it is by your holy will that we receive your mercies with constant thanksgiving. C: Bless us, your children, by continuing to give us your Spirit, that we may continue to rely solely on your grace. M: Lord of life, lead all pastors and missionaries that they may always point to Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Guide your Church, that we may all receive the truth of Christ and confess it. C: Enable us to reflect his gifts of love and forgiveness and so give hope to the hopeless, faith to the despondent, peace to the fearful, joy to the bereaved and sorrowing, strength to the needy, and love even to those who seem most unlovable. M: Heavenly Father, bring all who are arrogant and self-satisfied to repentance by the word of Christ giving them the bounty of his forgiveness. C: Visit all who hold grudges, that they may be freed from this burden by your Spirit, thus enabling them to forgive even as Christ has freely forgiven them. Special prayers of intercession may follow. M: Now to him who is able and ready to supply all human needs, whose Light shines forth in his Epiphany, be all glory and honor, forever and ever. C: Amen. LORD S PRAYER 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. 10
THE SACRAMENT St Peter Lutheran Church practices member communion. We invite confirmed members to come forward to partake of the Sacrament. Thank you for your consideration. This dialog (also known as the preface ) leads into the heart of the Sacrament portion of the service. In its exalted sentences we have the oldest and least changed part of the liturgy. There is evidence of its use in the 100 s AD. M: The Lord be with you. C: And also with you. M: Lift up your hearts. C: We lift them up unto the Lord. M: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. C: It is good and right so to do. M: It is truly good and right that we should at all times and in all places give you thanks, O Lord, holy Father, almighty and everlasting God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lived among us as a human being and revealed his glory as your only Son, full of grace and truth. Therefore, with all the saints on earth and hosts of heaven, we praise your holy name and join in their glorious song: 11
HOLY, HOLY, HOLY (SANCTUS) WORDS OF INSTITUTION M: Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night he was betrayed, took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat. This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me. M: The peace of the Lord be with you always. C: Amen. 12
O CHRIST, LAMB OF GOD (AGNUS DEI) DISTRIBUTION OF THE LORD S SUPPER During the distribution you are invited to join in singing the indicated hymns or to use the time for private prayer and meditation. Appropriate prayers are found on page 11 in the front of the hymnal. A personal preparation for the Lord s Supper is found on page 156. DISTRIBUTION HYMNS God Himself Is Present Christian Worship #224 Hail to the Lord s Annointed Christian Worship #93 13
SONG OF SIMEON THANKSGIVING AND BLESSING M: O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. C: And his mercy endures forever. M: We give thanks, almighty God, that you have refreshed us with this Holy Supper. We pray that through it you will strengthen our faith in you and increase our love for one another. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. C: Amen. M: 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. 14