| midlent3.11.15.pdf |
Pastor Donaldo Sonntag
Sunday School & Bible Classes—9:00 a.m. Worship: Sunday, 10:00 a.m. Holy Communion 1st & 3rd Sunday
P. O. Box 320, 1000 Dorcas Street, Mexico, MO 65265-1129
Cell: 573-253-1594 Office: 573-581-5655 E-mail:office@stjohnsmexico.org
Psalms of the Penitent – Lent Midweek 4
The Penitent Prays for a Purified Heart – March 11, 2015
LENTEN SERIES
Lent is a time to prepare for Easter. Our Lord’s resurrection was the antidote to His Passion and death, which was the way God chose to rescue us from our fallen sinful condition. Thus Lent is a time to be penitent as we review our own sinfulness as well as the fact that “we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment” (Small Catechism, Meaning of the Fifth Petition).
This Lenten season we are using psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, focusing always on the cross of Christ for our salvation from all that would separate us from God’s love. The psalms are the seven Penitential Psalms (a name given to Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, and 143 already in the sixth century AD) and the Passion Psalm, Psalm 22. Luther’s lectures on these psalms comprised the first work he himself published. The hymns and spiritual songs will come from various countries. They enable us to proclaim God’s love with insight gained from our brothers and sisters in Christ in those traditions.
The Series Hymn, “Savior, When in Dust to Thee,” (LSB #419) will be part of our prayers in each service. Each stanza of the hymn asks our Lord to “hear our penitential cry” (originally “hear our solemn litany”).
AS WE GATHER
Today’s psalm is the familiar Psalm 51, which we often use, as today, for the Offertory. David realized that he did not only need to have his sins forgiven, but he also needed to be saved from his sinful condition and made new again so that he could serve God. And his God-given faith assured him of that gracious cleansing. We know that our Lord, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, came as an answer to David’s prayer. God forgives and cleanses us. What honor He does us, making us worthy to serve the living God!
OPENING SONG - “As the Deer”
1. As the deer panteth fr the water, so my soul longeth after Thee.
You alone are my heart’s desire, and I long to worship Thee
Chorus: You alone are my strength, my shield; to You alone may my spirit yield.
You alone are my heart’s desire, and I long to worship Thee.
2. You’re my friend and You are my brother, even though You are a King.
I love You more than any other, so much more than anything.
3. I want You more than gold or silver, only You can satisfy.
You alone are the real joy giver and the apple of my eye.
INVOCATION
Pastor: In the name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen.
OPENING SENTENCES Based on Ephesians 2:5, 8; Mark 2:17b; Psalm 32:1
Pastor: Even when we were dead in our trespasses,
People: God made us alive together with Christ.
Pastor: By grace you have been saved through faith.
People: It is the gift of God.
Pastor: Jesus said, “I came not to save the righteous,
People: but sinners.”
Pastor: Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
People: whose sin is covered.
Pastor: Let us then in penitence confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another.
CONFESSION & ABSOLUTION (People face one another across the center aisle.)
Pulpit side: I confess to God Almighty, before the whole company of heaven and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned in thought, word, and deed by my fault, by my own fault, by my own most grievous fault; wherefore I pray God Almighty to have mercy on me, forgive me all my sins, and bring me to everlasting life. Amen.
Lectern side: The almighty and merciful Lord grant you pardon, forgiveness, and remission of all your sins. Amen.
Lectern side: I confess to God Almighty, before the whole company of heaven and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned in thought, word, and deed by my fault, by my own fault, by my own most grievous fault; wherefore I pray God Almighty to have mercy on me, forgive me all my sins, and bring me to everlasting life. Amen.
Pulpit side: The almighty and merciful Lord grant you pardon, forgiveness, and remission of all your sins. Amen.
SERIES HYMN - “Savior, When in Dust to Thee” LSB #419 (Tune: TLH #166]
PRAYER FOR TODAY
Pastor: O God, our Creator and Savior,
People: listen to the cries of all who call out to You in their penitence, and create in them hearts willing to serve You with all that they are and have;
Pastor: through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
People: Amen.
EPISTLE READING - 1 John 1:5–2:6 (We all have sinned.)
Lector: This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
People: But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Lector: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
People: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Lector: If we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
People: And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.
Lector: Whoever says “I know Him” but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him,
People: but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.
Lector: O Lord, have mercy on us.
People: Thanks be to God.
THE GOSPEL - Mark 7:1–23 (What defiles a person.)
Lector: Now when the Pharisees gathered to [Jesus], with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of His disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And He said to them,
Pastor: “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; In vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
Lector: And He said to them,
Pastor: “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
Lector: And He called the people to Him again and said to them,
Pastor: “Hear Me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”
Lector: And when He had entered the house and left the people, His disciples asked Him about the parable. And He said to them,
Pastor: “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”
Lector: Thus He declared all foods clean. And He said,
Pastor: “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Pastor: O Lord, have mercy on us.
People: Thanks be to God.
HYMN - “Lord Jesus, Think on Me” LSB #610 - Interspersed with readings from Psalm 51
Pastor: Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your steadfast love; according to Your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be justified in Your words and blameless in Your judgment.
HYMN LSB #610 - Lord Jesus, think on me And purge away my sin;
From worldly passions set me free And make me pure within.
Lord Jesus, think on me, By anxious thoughts oppressed;
Let me Your loving servant be And taste Your promised rest.
Lector: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that You have broken rejoice.
HYMN - Lord Jesus, think on me Amid the battle’s strife;
In all my pain and misery, O be my health and life!
Lord Jesus, think on me Nor let me go astray;
Through darkness and perplexity Point out Your chosen way.
Pastor: Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
HYMN - Lord Jesus, think on me That, when this life is past,
I may th’eternal brightness see And share Your joy at last.
Lector: Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of Your righteousness.
HYMN - Not all the blood of beasts On Jewish altars slain
Could give the guilty conscience peace Or wash away the stain.
But Christ, the heav’nly Lamb, Takes all our sins away;
A sacrifice of nobler name And richer blood than they.
Pastor: O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise. For You will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
HYMN - My faith would lay its hand On that dear head of Thine,
While as a penitent I stand, And there confess my sin.
My soul looks back to see The burden Thou didst bear
When hanging on the cursèd tree; I know my guilt was there.
Lector: Do good to Zion in Your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; then will You delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on Your altar.
HYMN - Believing, we rejoice To see the curse remove;
We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice And sing His bleeding love.
SERMON STUDY
SONG - “Chance My Heart, O God” M2 #110
Change my heart, o God, Make it ever true.
Change my heart, o God, May I be like You. (2x)
You are the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me – this is what I pray.
Change my heart, o God, Make it ever true.
Change my heart, o God, May I be like You.
OFFERING - OFFERTORY - “Create in Me” LSB #956
THE PRAYERS OF GOD’S PEOPLE / LITANY
Pastor: Let us live this Lenten season with the cross before us.
People: Show us your cross, Lord Jesus!
Pastor: In times of prosperity, when success and comfort would draw us away from the way of the cross,
People: Show us your cross, Lord Jesus!
Pastor: In darker times of trial and worry when we feel alone, abandoned to wander in the valley of the shadow,
People: Show us your cross, Lord Jesus!
Pastor: In the routine of each day, in the work we do, in our lives with family and friends, in the light of each day, and in the rest of each night,
People: Show us your cross, Lord Jesus!
Pastor: Heavenly Father, as a family of believers in this congregation, we pray that all we do together be governed by your love for us in Christ.
People: Keep his cross before us, so that we are always ready and eager to follow him!
LUTHER’S EVENING PRAYER
Pastor: Let us pray.
People: I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
LORD’S PRAYER (Matthew 6:9–13)
People: Our Father who art in heaven...
BENEDICTION
Pastor: God go with you on your penitential journey, before you to prepare a path of service, above you so that you need not fear, and within you to move you to love and good works, and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the X Son, and the Holy Spirit bless you now and forever.
People: Amen.
HYMN - “Jesus Sinners Doth Receive” LSB #609, 1 & 7
AT SAINT JOHN’S WE ARE BELIEVERS
WHO SHARE THE TEACHINGS OF CHRIST WITH ALL THROUGH WORD AND ACTION!