Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church ELW Setting 5 February 14, 2016 8:30 and 11:00 am First Sunday in Lent These forty days called Lent are like no other. It is our opportune time to return to the God who rescues; to receive the gifts of God s grace; to believe with the heart and confess with the mouth the wonder of God s love in Jesus; and to resist temptation at every turn. This is no small pilgrimage on which we have just embarked. It is a struggle Jesus knew. It is a struggle Jesus shares. The nearness of the Lord, in bread and wine, water and word, will uphold and sustain us.
Welcome members and guests to our worship service today. If you are visiting, we encourage you to sign the guest register located in the narthex. Please include your home address, email address and phone number. In each pew, there is a card that you can fill out if you wish to have a consult with the pastor and/or leave us more information about you. A nursery is available for children up to five years of age during the service. The nursery is located off the hallway on the Huntington Avenue side of the church building. There are also quiet bags available for older children to enjoy during the service. Please ask an usher about borrowing one. Parents are invited to bring children from the nursery for Holy Communion to receive a blessing. If children become restless or noisy during worship, parents are encouraged to take them in to and out of the sanctuary as necessary. Trinity offers an induction loop for the benefit of hearing impaired worshippers. To use, please switch your hearing aid to T. If you are unsure if your hearing aid is compatible, please contact your audiologist. The Reverend Doctor James G. Cobb, Interim Pastor C. Robert Keene II, Organist and Director of Music Congregation of Trinity Lutheran, Ministers of the Word 6812 River Road, Newport News, VA 23607 (757) 245-7861 www.trinitylutheran-nn.com Trinity Lutheran is a partner church with Peninsula Pastoral Counseling Center. Cover image by JoAnne Rawls.
Welcome and Announcements Voluntary O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig, BWV 618 Johann Sebastian Bach The assembly stands and faces the processional cross. All may make the sign of the cross, the sign marked at baptism, as the presiding minister begins. Confession and Forgiveness (8:30) Blessed be the holy Trinity, + one God, who brings us safely through the sea, who gives us water from the rock, who leads us into the land of milk and honey. Gathered in God s presence, let us confess our sin. Silence is kept for reflection. Merciful Father, we have sinned against heaven and before you. We do not fully live as your sons and daughters. We use your gifts to our own ends. Forgive us and restore us, that we may resist all that draws us away from you, and be at peace with one another. We are reconciled to God through Christ; for his sake, God does not count our trespasses against us. Once dead in sin, we are now alive to God. Once lost, we now are found. God clothes you in the finest robe of all, the righteousness of+ Jesus Christ, forgiving you all your sins and making of you a new creation. The Sacrament of Holy Baptism (11:00) ELW pages 227-231 Gathering Hymn If You But Trust in God to Guide You ELW 769 The Greeting Kyrie 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.
The Kyrie Eleison, Greek for Lord have mercy, asks for God s mercy and peace for us, for the Church, and for the whole world. Prayer of the Day Lord God, you led your people through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land. Guide O us now, so that, following your Son, we may walk safely through the wilderness of this world toward the life you alone can give, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Old Testament Lesson: Deuteronomy 26:1-11 The assembly is seated. The annual harvest festival, called the feast of Weeks, provides the setting for this reading. This festival celebrates the first fruits of the produce of the land offered back to God in thanks. In this text, worshipers announce God s gracious acts on behalf of Israel. When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go
to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name. You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us. When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, you shall make this response before the Lord your God: A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous.when the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me. You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall celebrate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house. Word of God, word of life. Thanks be to God. Psalm: Psalm 99 You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty you will say to the Lord, My refuge and my stronghold, my God in whom I put my trust. Because you have made the Lord your refuge, and the Most High your habitation, no evil will befall you, nor shall affliction come near your dwelling. For God will give the angels charge over you, to guard you in all your ways. Upon their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot a- gainst a stone. You will tread upon the lion cub and viper; you will trample down the lion and the serpent. I will deliver those who cling to me; I will uphold them, because they know my name. They will call me, and I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble; I will rescue and honor them. With long life will I satisfy them, and show them my salvation. Epsitle Lesson: 2 Corinthians 3:12--4:2 Paul reminds the Christians at Rome of the foundation of their creed, the confession of faith in the risen Christ as Lord. The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, No one who believes in him will be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord
is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Word of God, word of life. Thanks be to God. Gospel Acclamation The assembly stands. Gospel Lesson: Luke 4:1-13 The Holy Gospel according to Luke. Glory to you, O Lord. After being filled with the Holy Spirit at his baptism, Jesus is led in the wilderness. Through his responses to the temptations of the devil he defines what it means to be called the Son of God. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread. Jesus answered him, It is written, One does not live by bread alone. Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours. Jesus answered him, It is written, Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him. Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you, and On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. Jesus answered him, It is said, Do not put the Lord your God to the test. When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time. The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ. Time with the Children The assembly is seated. Sermon A world of wilderness wanderings with devils filled where tyrants Pastor Cobb rant and rage yet God rules the day! Silence is kept for reflection after the sermon. The assembly stands. Hymn of the Day A Mighty Fortress Is Our God ELW 504
The Apostle s Creed (8:30) 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. Amen Prayers of Intercession Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. The peace, which enables people to live in unity and in the spirit of mutual forgiveness, comes from Christ whose word has been proclaimed. (Spoken response in Lent) The peace of the Lord be with you always. And also with you. Receiving of Tithes and Offerings The assembly is seated. Art Song (8:30) At Saint Patrick s Purgatory, Op. 29, No. 1 Samuel Barber Pity me on my pilgrimage to Loch Derg! O King of the churches and the bells bewailing your sores and your wounds, But not a tear can I squeeze from my eyes! Not moisten an eye after so much sin! Pity me, O King! What shall I do with a heart that seeks only its own ease? O only begotten Son by whom all men were made, who shunned not the death by three wounds, pity me on my pilgrimage to Loch Derg and I with a heart not softer than a stone! Anthem (11:00) Jewett R. F. M. Mann Amazing grace! how sweet the sound! That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see. 'Shout, shout for glory, Shout, shout aloud for glory; Brother, sister, mourner, All shout glory, hallelujah! 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed! Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; 'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me, His word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be; As long as life endures. The earth will soon dissolve like snow, The sun forbear to shine; But God, who called me here below, Will be forever mine. The assembly stands. Offertory Hymn Create in Me a Clean Heart ELW 188 Offertory Prayer Let us pray: God our provider, you have not fed us with bread alone, but with words of grace and life. Bless us and these your gifts, which we receive from your bounty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Communion The Great Thanksgiving 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. Proper Preface It is indeed right, our duty and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise we praise your name and join their unending hymn: Sanctus The text of the Sanctus is based on Isaiah 6:3 and Matthew 21:9. This is the highest point of the entire liturgy.
Thanksgiving at the Table O God most mighty, O God most merciful, O God our rock and our salvation, hear us as we praise, call us to your table, grant us your life. When the world was a formless void, you formed order and beauty. When Abraham and Sarah were barren, you sent them a child. When the Israelites were enslaved, you led them to freedom. Ruth faced starvation, David fought Goliath, and the psalmists cried out for healing, and full of compassion, you granted the people your life. You entered our sorrows in Jesus our brother. He was born among the poor, he lived under oppression, he wept over the city. With infinite love, he granted the people your life. In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the rememberance of me. Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink saying: This is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me. Remembering his death, we cry out Celebrating his resurrection, we shout Trusting his presence in every time and place, we plead O God, you are Breath: send your Spirit on this meal. O God, you are Bread: feed us with yourself. O God, you are Wine: warm our hearts and make us one. O God, you are Fire: transform us with hope. O God most majestic, O God most motherly, O God our strength our song, you show us a vision of a tree of life with fruits for all and leaves that heal the nations. Grant us such life, the life of he Father to the Son, the life of the Spirit of our risen Savior, life in you, now and forever.
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. Agnus Dei At the breaking of the bread, the Presider says, Come to the table. Feast on God s abundant life for you. The assembly is seated. In John 1:29, John the Baptist says of Jesus, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Before Holy Communion, we sing these same words. Communion As you receive the bread in your hand, you may commune by intinction using the silver chalice, or you may consume the bread and then drink from the pewter chalice. Music During the Distribution Scalpulis suis Gerald Near O Lord, throughout These Forty Days ELW 319 Lord Jesus, Think on Me ELW 599 Jesus, Remember Me ( repeat until all have communed) ELW 616 The assembly stands.
Table Blessing The blessings and body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you in his grace. Post Communion Prayer O God, we thank you for gathering and feeding us as a mother hen embraces her young. Release us now to go on our way in these forty days, ready to see our work as prayer, ready to fast from complacency, and ready to share with those in need; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Blessing The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. In the name of the Father, and of the Son +, and of the Holy Spirit. Sending Hymn Guide Me Ever, Great Redeemer ELW 618 Dismissal Our liturgy is ended. Go in peace. Serve the Lord. Thanks be to God.