Speak the Truth of Life Speaking the truth in love Ephesians 4:15a Sanctity of Life Sunday Lutherans For Life 1
Words of Preparation What is truth? Pilate asked Jesus. We gather together to receive Jesus answer. He is truth. His Word is truth. Specifically today, He brings us His truth of life. It is a powerful and positive truth that is tailor made for the life issues of our day. He brings it to us in love. He asks us to speak it in love to one another. So we pray, Lord Jesus, speak the truth of life to us and create in us a desire to speak it to others. Amen. Prelude Opening Hymn All People That on Earth Do Dwell (LSB 791) 1 1. All people that on earth do dwell, Sing to the Lord with cheerful voice. Him serve with mirth, His praise forthtell; Come ye before Him and rejoice. 2. Know that the Lord is God indeed; Without our aid He did us make. We are His folk, He doth us feed, And for His sheep He doth us take. 4. For why? The Lord our God is good; His mercy is forever sure. His truth at all times firmly stood And shall from age to age endure. 5. To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, The God whom heav n and earth adore, From us and from the angel host Be praise and glory evermore. 3. O enter then His gates with praise; Approach with joy His courts unto. Praise, laud, and bless His name always, For it is seemly so to do. Invocation In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Confession and Absolution If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Let us then confess our sins to God our Father. Gracious Father, we confess that in thought, word, and deed we have often strayed from Your truth. We devise our own truths and do what seems right in our own eyes. We listen to the lies of the world as if they are truth and we are led 2
astray into all kinds of falsehoods. We fail to speak Your truth or we fail to speak it in love. Father, have mercy upon us and forgive us for Jesus sake. Jesus said, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:31-32). The truth is, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-2). Therefore, as a called and ordained servant of Christ, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen! The truth is, If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:36). Introit (Selected Psalms) All: Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth (86:11a). Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation (25:5a). Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me (43:3a). Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart (51:6). And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules (119:43). The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever (119:160). The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call on him in truth (145:18). 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. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth (86:11a). Hymn of Praise You Are the Way; through You Alone (LSB 526) 1 You are the truth; Your Word alone True wisdom can impart; You only can inform the mind And purify the heart. You are the way, the truth, the life; Grant us that way to know, That truth to keep, that life to win Whose joys eternal flow. 3
Collect The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. Let us pray to the Lord. Lord of Life, who is the Truth that sets us free from sin and death, help us to know the truth of the value that You give to all human life, and then enable us to courageously and joyfully speak that truth in love. We pray in Your name who lives with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen! Old Testament Reading Job 10:8-12 (ESV) Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether. Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust? Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese? You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit. This is a truth of Life. Thanks be to God. Epistle Reading Ephesians 4:14-16 [S]o that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. This is a truth of Life. Thanks be to God. Gospel Reading John 17:14-19 The Holy Gospel according to St. John the 17 th chapter. Glory to You, O Lord. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but 4
that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to You, O Christ. Creed Hymn of the Day Lord of Life (Tune: Hyfrydol) 2 1. Lord of life, Whose hand has made us, Formed us each with tender care. You had crowned man with Your image, Not intending such despair. Yet through sin the glory faded, Death and doom came in its place. But inspite of our condition, We ve been rescued by Your grace! 2. God so loved the world, He gave us, Jesus Christ to bear our sin. On the cross His life He offered, That we might be His again. And the Holy Spirit calls us By the gospel s joyful ring. Making us His own dear children Us, eternal life to bring. 3. Lord of Life, Who rose in triumph, Conquering death and giving hope, You have called us and equipped us, In a sinful world to cope; Teaching us to love each other, To befriend and help in strife; To forgive and seek to comfort, And preserve the gift of life. 4. Help us, Lord, to see as You do Life is precious in each stage. From the unborn to the feeble, Life is precious in each age. Help us, Lord, to be Your witness And to show the world we care. So that people may not perish, But, instead Your life may share. Proclamation of the Truth of Life Offering Prayers Heavenly Father, thank You for revealing to us the truth that every life is the work of Your hands. Help us to speak this truth in love. 5
Thank You for revealing to us the truth that every life has been bought with the blood of Your Son. Help us to speak this truth in love. Thank You for revealing to us the truth that You desire to call every life into an eternal relationship with You. Help us to speak this truth in love. Help us speak these truths to one another. So that, as Your body, we may grow in our knowledge and appreciation of the value that You give to life. Help us speak these truths in our society through our words and deeds So that, as Your body, we can influence and bring change to a death-obsessed culture. Help us speak these truths in our society through our words and deeds So that, as Your body, we can have opportunity to bring others to the knowledge of Your truth and the freedom from sin and death it brings. As Your Body, we now bring before you the joys and sorrows of our congregation. (Special petitions may be given here.) All of these prayers we bring to You, heavenly Father, in the name of your Son and our Head, Jesus Christ. Amen. Lord s Prayer Benediction The Lord bless you and keep you in His truth. The Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen! Closing Hymn Son of God, Eternal Savior (LSB 842) 1 1. Son of God, eternal Savior, Source of life and truth and grace, Word made flesh, whose birth among us Hallows all our human race, You our Head, who, throned in glory, For Your own will ever plead: Fill us with Your love and pity, Heal our wrongs, and help our need. 2. As You, Lord, have lived for others, So may we for others live. Freely have Your gifts been granted; Freely may Your servants give. Yours the gold and Yours the silver, Yours the wealth of land and sea; We but stewards of Your bounty Held in solemn trust will be. 6
3. Come, O Christ, and reign among us, King of love and Prince of Peace; Hush the storm of strife and passion, Bid its cruel discords cease. By Your patient years of toiling, By Your silent hours of pain, Quench our fevered thirst of pleasure, Stem our selfish greed of gain. 6. Son of God, eternal Savior, Source of life and truth and grace, Word made flesh, whose birth among us Hallows all our human race: By Your praying, by Your willing That Your people should be one, Grant, O grant our hope s fruition: Here on earth Your will be done. Postlude (Endnotes) 1 Text: Public Domain 2 From For Life: ProLife Songs for the Classroom, Choir, and Congregation. Edited for Lutherans For Life, Frank Mogan, 2000. Text: Rev. Gerald Scheperle, 1985. Used by permission. Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. 7
Lutherans For Life 1120 South G Avenue Nevada, IA 50201-2774 U.S. Toll-Free (888) 364-LIFE (515) 382-2077 Fax (515) 382-3020 info@lutheransforlife.org www.lutheransforlife.org Item 1823 8