PEACE LUTHERAN CHURCH
Forth Mid-Week Service of Lent
March 22, 2023
THE ORDER OF EVENING PRAYER
Opening Hymn “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name”, vs. 1-4
1 All hail the power of Jesus’ name!
Let angels prostrate fall.
Bring forth the royal diadem,
and crown him Lord of all.
Bring forth the royal diadem,
and crown him Lord of all!
2 O seed of Israel’s chosen race
now ransomed from the fall,
hail him who saves you by his grace,
and crown him Lord of all.
Hail him who saves you by his grace,
and crown him Lord of all!
3 Let every tongue and every tribe
responsive to his call,
to him all majesty ascribe,
and crown him Lord of all.
To him all majesty ascribe,
and crown him Lord of all!
4 Oh, that with all the sacred throng
we at his feet may fall!
We’ll join the everlasting song
and crown him Lord of all.
We’ll join the everlasting song
and crown him Lord of all.
(Stand)
P: Jesus Christ is the Light of the world.
C: the light no darkness can overcome.
P: Stay with us, Lord, for it is evening,
C: and the day is almost over.
P: Let Your light scatter the darkness
C: and illumine Your Church.
P: Joyous light of glory:
C: of the immortal Father; heavenly, holy, blessed Jesus Christ.
We have come to setting of the sun, and we look to the evening
light. We sing to God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. You are
worthy of being praised with pure voices forever. O Son of
God, O Giver of life: the universe proclaims Your glory.
Psalm 141 (spoken from page 245)
P: Let us pray. Let the incense of our repentant prayer ascend before You, O
Lord, and let Your loving-kindness descend on us that, with purified
minds, we may sing Your praises with the Church on earth and the
whole heavenly host and may glorify You forever.
C: Amen. (Sit)
Old Testament Lesson: Zechariah 2:1-13
1 Then I looked up, and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand.
2 I asked, “Where are you going?” He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.”
3 While the angel who was speaking to me was leaving, another angel came to meet him
4 and said to him: “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it.
5 And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will be its glory within.’
6 “Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the LORD, “for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven,” declares the LORD.
7 “Come, Zion! Escape, you who live in Daughter Babylon!”
8 For this is what the LORD Almighty says: “After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye—
9 I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me.
10 “Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the LORD.
11 “Many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you.
12 The LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.
13 Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.”
P: O Lord, have mercy on us.
C: Thanks be to God.
Epistle Lesson: Revelation 21:9-27
9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west.
14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.
16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long.
17 The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick.
18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.
19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald,
20 the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.
21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.
26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
P: O Lord, have mercy on us.
C: Thanks be to God.
26 “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know.
27 He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’
31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”
32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.
33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.
36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
P: In many and various ways, God spoke to His people of old by the prophets.
C: But now in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. (Sit)
Sermon
Pastor Bohlmann
Sermon Hymn “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted”
Stricken, smitten, and afflicted
See Him dying on the tree
‘Tis the Christ by man rejected
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He
‘Tis the long-expected prophet
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord
By His Son, God now has spoken
‘Tis the true and faithful Word
.
Tell me, ye who hear him groaning
Was there ever grief like his?
Friends thro’ fear his cause disowning
Foes insulting his distress
Many hands were raised to wound him
None would interpose to save
Yet the deepest stroke that pierced him
Was the stroke that Justice gave
.
Ye who think of sin but lightly
Nor suppose the evil great
Here may view its nature rightly
Here its guilt may estimate
Mark the sacrifice appointed
See who bears the awful load
‘Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed
Son of Man and Son of God
.
Here we have a firm foundation
Here the refuge of the lost
Christ’s the Rock of our salvation
His the name of which we boast
Lamb of God, for sinners wounded
Sacrifice to cancel guilt
None shall ever be confounded
Who on him their hope have built
Prayer (Spoken from page 250) (Stand)
Collect For the Word
P: Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.
(Sit)
Closing Hymn “Abide with Me” vs. 1-4
Abide with me, fast falls the eventide
The darkness deepens Lord, with me abide
When other helpers fail and comforts flee
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me
.
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away
Change and decay in all around I see
O Thou who changest not, abide with me
.
I fear no foe, with Thee at hand to bless
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness
Where is death’s sting?
Where, grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me
.
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies
Heaven’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee
In life, in death, o Lord, abide with me
Abide with me, abide with me
Order of Evening Prayer and Prayer were created by Lutheran Service Builder copyright 2023