Fourth Sunday in Lent March 9 th & 10 th, 2013 Welcome to worship. Let us find refreshment today in God our Father s strong mercy and kindness to us sinners. If you are a guest with us, please sign our guest register. We invite you to worship with us again! Communion Announcement Today we celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Here at Trinity we practice a close Communion. God tells us that we are to be properly prepared for the Lord s Supper and that we show a unity in our faith when we go to Communion. Since the Lord s Supper is an expression of our common confession and we wouldn t want to put our guests in the awkward position of confessing beliefs they might not hold to, we ask that only members of the WELS (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) and ELS (Evangelical Lutheran Synod) church come forward. If you have any questions or are interested in membership, please speak with Pastor Pope. Our Worship Order of Service: Divine Service Il on page 28 of the Christian Worship Supplement. Hymns: see insert, 713, 740, 715 Prayer of the Day: Almighty God, we confess that we deserve to be punished for our evil deeds. But we ask you graciously to cleanse us from all sin and to comfort us with your salvation; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. 1
Old Testament Lesson: Judges 10:6-16 (NIV) 6 Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the LORD and no longer served him, 7 he became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, 8 who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites. 9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin and Ephraim; Israel was in great distress. 10 Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals. 11 The LORD replied, When the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Philistines, 12 the Sidonians, the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you and you cried to me for help, did I not save you from their hands? 13 But you have forsaken me and served other gods, so I will no longer save you. 14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble! 15 But the Israelites said to the LORD, We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think best, but please rescue us now. 16 Then they got rid of the foreign gods among them and served the LORD. And he could bear Israel s misery no longer. Psalm of the Day: 51a on page 48 (blue hymnal) 2
The Epistle Lesson: Romans 11:11-21 (NIV) 11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. 12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring! 13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry 14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in. 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. VERSE OF THE DAY For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) 3
GOSPEL: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 (NIV) God wants a contrite heart which confesses its sins and looks to him for forgiveness. 1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 11 Jesus continued: There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. 13 Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 When he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants. 20 So he got up and went to his 4
father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. So they began to celebrate. 25 Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 Your brother has come, he replied, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound. 28 The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, Look! All these years I ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him! 31 My son, the father said, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found. Sermon Text: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 TWO WEAK BROTHERS, ONE STRONG FATHER 5
We welcome those visiting us today. If you are a resident of this area and have no church home, we invite you to consider Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, town of Liberty. If you are interested, please speak to the pastor. We pray the blessing of God s Holy Spirit upon his Word, which you have heard with us today. Come worship with us again! Announcements: Organist Our organist this weekend is Jennifer Knutson from Bethany, Mtwc. We thank her for beautifying our worship with her playing. Sunday School Teacher Needed The Sunday School is looking for help in teaching. The person would be teaching once a month until the end of April. If you are interested and if you have any questions please contact Lisa Kiesow at 905-2813. Childrens Sermon March 24 th Palm Sunday, March 24th, Pastor Pope plans to also preach a childrens sermon. Other WELS churches in the area have done this and some in our congregation have suggested we give it a try. Be sure to bring your younger kids to church that day so that, if they want, they can be called up to hear the childrens sermon. Note: the regular sermon that day will be shortened accordingly. 6
Lenten Meal & Guest Preacher For our next Wednesday Lenten meal, March 13 th, the Altar Guild will be serving hot dogs and all the fixings at 6:00 pm. Worship is at 7:00 pm and Pastor Headrick from St. John s, Manitowoc will be our guest preacher. Please join us for the meal and worship as we reflect on our Lord s suffering and death for our salvation. Extra Lenten Meal on Maundy Thursday Because the Lenten meal and service were snowed out on Wednesday, February 27, the Trinity Ladies Circle is planning to serve their chili dinner on Maundy Thursday instead. Please join us for the meal at 6 pm before Maundy Thursday worship March 28 th. Repeat Performance Repeat Performance is having a Customer Appreciation sale on Saturday March, 16th. Everything will be half price with only a few exclusions. We have noticed that February and March are slow as far as donations coming in. We can always use clothing, but we are getting low on household items, appliances, toys, and jewelry. People are always asking for beds and dressers. We also NEED volunteers. We recently built an addition to hold large items until there is room on the floor. We are often asked why we don't expand. Our reply is that we would love to, but we have just enough volunteers to run the existing store. With summer vacations coming up, scheduling will be very difficult. If you are interested in volunteering, stop in and ask for a tour. Our store is next to Verlo's and behind Wendy's. If you have items that you would like to donate and are not able to get there, you may contact Carol Kasten at 758-2507. She can pick them up for you or you can drop the items off at Ron & Carol Kasten s home. 7
Reminders Our church services are available on DVD. Ask Pastor. Next weekend is the 3 rd weekend of the month door collection after worship, for the Trinity Family Care Fund. Our website is trinityliberty.org Sat.9 th Sun.10 th Tues.12 th Wed.13 th Thur.14 th Sat.16 th Sun.17 th CALENDAR OF EVENTS 7:00 p.m. 8:15 a.m. 8:15 a.m. 9:30 a.m. 7:00 p.m. 6:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m. 6:30 p.m. 7:00 p.m. 8:15 a.m. 8:15 a.m. 9:00 a.m. 9:30 a.m. Worship with Holy Communion Adult Bible Class Sunday School Worship with Holy Communion Church Council Lenten Meal Altar Guild Lenten Worship Catechism Adult Bible Class Worship with Holy Communion Adult Bible Class Sunday School WCUB Radio Broadcast Worship with Holy Communion Ushers: March 9 th Greg Buechner (Server), John Smith (Server), Peter Liermann March 10 th Keith Petersen (Server), Brian Glaeser (Server), David Mellstrom, Todd Bergmann Lenten Service March 13 th Derrick Krey, James W. Ott March 16 th Fred Schnell, Mike Kiesow March 17 th Larry Hochkammer, Elwood Free, Jeff Kasten, Andy Fisher 8
Greeters: Mar 10 th Harold & Ann Luebke Mar 17 th Fred & Janice Wehausen Mar 24 th Sunday School Grades 4-8 Mar 31 st Harry Bratz & Donna Nagel Altar Guild: March Group 4: Marilyn Kaufmann, Marie Knutson, Grace Ott, Jennifer Ott A Happy Birthday to 3/7 Sean Hacker 3/9 Ethan Drake 3/9 Ronald Kasten 3/9 Andrew Kleinhans 3/10 Amanda Drake 3/11 Bernice Vetting-88 yrs. young! 3/13 Brayden Hochkammer 3/14 Gloria Kiesow-85 yrs. young! 3/16 Ed Vetter 3/17 Joel Howard 3/17 Haley Tuschel Happy Anniversary to 3/15 Lance & Erin Preston 2 Years *If you have a March birthday or anniversary that was missed or listed incorrectly please let us know so we can update church records! Thanks! 9