OUR REDEEMER LUTHERAN CHURCH March 24, 2019 We love, because God first loved us 1 John 4:19 1370 Church Street, Penticton, BC, V2A 4R8 (see the calendar for office hours) Contact us at: 250.492.6861 or orlc@shaw.ca or visit www.orlc.shawbiz.ca Pastor Curtis Aguirre after-hours contact: 250.490.9330 or orlcpastor@shaw.ca Council Chair: Brita Park Office Administration: Anette Engel Welcome to Worship! Thank you for choosing to spend your morning with us. Whoever you are and wherever you are on your journey of faith, you are welcome in this place. Consider participating in one of our weekly offerings: Sunday, March 24 10 am Service of the Word Monday, Wednesday & Friday 9.15 10.30 am Seniors' Exercise Class (in Hall) Monday, Wednesday, Friday 3-4 pm Hall in use, John Windcliff Tuesday & Thursday 9 12 noon office open 7 pm Choir practice (in Sanctuary) Sunday, March 31 10 am Service of the Word
Third Sunday in Lent Abbreviations used in the order of service: ELW: The red Evangelical Lutheran Worship books. Page numbers (p.) refer to the numbered pages in the front 1/3 of the ELW. Hymn or song numbers (#) refer to the hymns and songs in the middle and back 2/3 of the ELW. P: Presiding Minister or Presider C: Congregation (congregational parts are in bold.) At various points in the service the Presiding Minister will ask you to stand or sit. If standing is too difficult please feel free to remain seated. GATHERING (Quiet reflection to prepare for worship) Confession of Sin for Lent WL: Let us pray. Most Holy and Merciful God, All: we confess to you and to one another, and before the whole company of heaven, that we have sinned by our fault, by our own fault, by our own most grievous fault, for we have not loved you with our whole heart, and we have not loved our neighbours as ourselves. Forgive us, O God, and restore us, so that we may serve you with joyful hearts. WL: God, who is rich in mercy, loved us even when we were dead in sin, and made us alive together with Christ. By grace we have been saved. In the name of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven. Almighty God strengthen us with the power of the Holy Spirit, that Christ may live in our hearts through faith. All: Amen. (Please stand if you are able to sing the hymn.) Gathering Hymn: ELW # 526 WL: 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.
The Prayer of the Day P: The Lord be with you. C: And also with you. P: Let us pray. Eternal God, your kingdom has broken into our troubled world through the life, death, and resurrection of your Son. Help us to hear your word and obey it, and bring your saving love to fruition in our lives, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. C: Amen. (Please be seated for the lessons.) WE HEAR THE WORD Isaiah 55:1-9 Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. R: Holy word, holy wisdom, C: Thanks be to God Psalm 63:1-8 O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name. My soul is satisfied as with a rich feast, and my mouth praises you with joyful lips when I think of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play." We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it. R: Holy word, holy wisdom C: Thanks be to God Gospel Hymn: Break Now the Bread of Life ELW # 515 Luke 13:1-9 P: The Gospel according to Luke, the 13 th Chapter C: Glory to you, O Lord At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them--do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did." Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'" SR: The Gospel of the Lord C: Praise to you, O Christ (Please be seated for the Sermon.) Sermon (Silence for reflection follows) (Please stand if you are able for the hymn.) Hymn of the Day: ELW # 631
P: Let us confess our faith using the words of the Nicene Creed. All: 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, 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; by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the virgin Mary, and was made 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. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy, catholic, 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. WE RESPOND TO THE WORD (Please be seated while the offering is being gathered.) Offering (Please stand if you are able for the Offertory Hymn.) Offertory Hymn (While the offering is being brought forward, all sing ) We Give Thee but Thine Own ELW #302 (Please be seated for the Prayers.) Prayers of Intercession (responsive form) Lord, in your mercy,. Hear our prayer The prayers conclude with The 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. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, For thine is the kingdom, and power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. WE ARE SENT TO SERVE Benediction WL: The Lord bless us and keep us; the Lord s face shine on us and be gracious to us; the Lord look upon us with favour and grant us peace (+). C: Amen. Sending WL: Go in peace; serve the Lord. C: Thanks be to God! Sending Hymn: ELW # 543 L: Go in Peace, Serve the Lord. C: Thanks be to God Commemoration Day for Oscar Romero, Bishop of El Salvador, Martyr Oscar Arnulfo Romero (1917-1980) was born to a poor family in Ciudad Barrios, El Salvador. He attended public school until grade 3, learned carpentry from his father, and received some private instruction in academics from a family friend. At age 13 he entered "minor seminary" in San Miguel, continuing on to the national seminary in the capital, San Salvador, and eventually to Rome where he was ordained into the priesthood in 1942. Returning to El Salvador, Romero served as a country priest in his native land for 20 years. El Salvador was a country in which 13 families controlled 90% of the country's land and resources, including church and government. From 1966 to 1977, Romero
rose through the ranks from Secretary of the El Salvador Bishops' Conference to Bishop of Santiago de Maria. In 1977 he was appointed Archbishop, a move that was welcomed by conservatives, but greeted with disappointment by more progressive elements in the Salvadorian church. That year his good friend Father Rutilio Grande, a Jesuit, was assassinated for his work organizing rural peasants for mutual support. Grande's death was never investigated and the press was silenced on the matter. This event marked a shift in Romero's thinking. He began to speak out against the systemic poverty, social injustice, assassinations, and torture that were used by the Salvadorian government to silence critics or anyone who appeared to be threatening the power of the landowners. As the civil war in El Salvador escalated, and the United States continued to send arms and money to the government, Romero became a vocal critic of the regime and the U.S. He appealed to the Pope and his fellow Salvadorian Roman Catholics, including those in the military, to stop supporting such a brutal government. As the press were heavily censored, Romero began to use his sermons and weekly radio addresses to announce disappearances, arrests, mass killings, and other news. These became the main source of information for the people on what was happening in their country. On March 24, 1980, Romero was gunned down while celebrating mass in a hospital chapel. His death became a rallying point for the people of El Salvador. Thank you to all those who served today to make this Sunday morning a positive and uplifting experience: Worship Leader: Organist Violinist Greeters Ushers Lector Gospel and Sermon Reader Counters Coffee Hosts Sunday Goodies Linda Wilson Lorraine Cameron Fred von Heyking Chris Lind Jim Polvi Ruthie Stewart Maureen Downey Claude Berman & helper Lynne Marand Lynne Marand
A reminder to those who will be serving on March 31, 2019: Worship Leader: Organist Violinist Greeters Ushers Lector Gospel and Sermon Reader Counters Coffee Hosts Sunday Goodies Lynne Marand Lorraine Cameron Fred von Heyking Jean Grad Brita Park Brita Park Claude Berman & Jill Gillingham needed If you are unable to serve on the date assigned, please exchange with someone and notify the office of your changes! 250-492-6861 Pastor Curtis is away until April 6. For pastoral emergencies please contact Maureen Downey at 778-821-2075 TASTE & SEE that the Lord is Good! Prayer Smorgasbord April 6th from 9:00 AM - 4:00 PM at St. Stephen Anglican Church in Summerland This interactive workshop will be an opportunity to learn about, and sample, a number of different prayer approaches, such as: Centering Prayer, Prayer Journaling, Liturgical Dance, Scriptural Prayer, Divine Office, and Prayer Beads. Participants will have time to choose 4 of the 6 throughout the day. Pastor Curtis will be leading the sessions on Centering Prayer. Cost: $10, includes coffee, tea, and snacks Please sign up at the sign-up sheet in the narthex! You can pay at the door. The Annual ORLC Yard and Bake Sale will be Saturday, April 13, from 8:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. There is a sign-up sheet in the narthex if you can help! If you have items to donate please bring them Friday, April 12 or contact Darryl for pick up 250-493-9139.