The Service in PDF format is at: 03-13-2018 - Service
MIDWEEK LENTEN VESPERS
MARCH 13, 2019
Pastor Michael Miller
A LENT TO REMEMBER: THIS YEAR, THE THEME OF OUR LENT SEASON IS “A LENT TO REMEMBER.” THE KEY WORD WILL BE REMEMBER. EACH WEEK, WE’LL FOCUS ON SOMETHING GOD REMEMBERS OR SOMETHING GOD CAUSES US TO REMEMBER. THERE’S A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOD’S REMEMBERING AND OUR REMEMBERING. WHEN WE REMEMBER SOMETHING, TOO OFTEN IT’S LIKE ONE PERSON SAYING, “YOU FORGOT MY BIRTHDAY” AND ANOTHER REPLYING, “NO. I REMEMBERED YOUR BIRTHDAY. I JUST DIDN’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.” WHEN GOD REMEMBERS, HE DOES SOMETHING ABOUT IT. GOD REMEMBERS AND ACTS GRACIOUSLY TOWARD US. WHEN GOD CAUSES US TO REMEMBER SOMETHING, HE ALSO CAUSES US TO DO SOMETHING. HE CAUSES US TO BELIEVE. HE CAUSES US TO RECEIVE, BY FAITH, HIS GRACIOUS GIFTS. BY THE TIME THIS LENTEN SEASON IS OVER, OUR PRAYER IS THAT THE POWER OF GOD’S WORD WILL CAUSE US TO REMEMBER THE WAY GOD REMEMBERS, WITH ACTION.
P: From the rising of the sun to its setting,
C: the name of the Lord is to be praised.
P: Rend your hearts and not your garments.
C: Return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
P: Jesus said, “If any man would come after Me,
C: let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”
P: Christ was wounded for our transgressions.
C: He was bruised for our iniquities.
P: From the rising of the sun to its setting,
C: the name of the Lord is to be praised.
P: A number of Lenten hymns remind us of the depth of the sacrifice of Jesus, who left the courts of heaven voluntarily to come to earth to be our sacrificial Savior. That great giving by Jesus is simply but powerfully expressed in the hymn “What Wondrous Love Is This”—a Lenten hymn with an American background.
P: As is the case with many of the hymn writers from the hymn tradition of the southern United States, the author of this hymn is not known. It was first published in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1811 and linked with a Southern harmony melody found in a volume first published in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1835. Sharing deep truths in a simple folk-song manner, the hymn helps us remember the greatest of God’s wondrous works.
HYMN: “What Wondrous Love Is This” LBW 385
1 What wondrous love is this,
O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this
That caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul?
2 When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down,
When I was sinking down, sinking down.
When I was sinking down
Beneath God’s righteous frown,
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul,
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul.
3 To God and to the Lamb I will sing, I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb,
Who is the great I Am,
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing,
While millions join the theme, I will sing.
4 And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on;
And when from death I’m free,
I’ll sing his love for me,
And through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And through eternity I’ll sing on.
SCRIPTURE LESSON Psalm 103:6-14
6 The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his acts to the people of Israel.
8 The LORD is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always chide,
nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;[a]
he remembers that we are dust.
P: O Lord, have mercy on us.
C: Thanks be to God.
HYMN: “Lord Jesus Christ, You Have Prepared” LBW 208
HOMILY: “Remember: Dust” Psalm 103:13-14
As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.
P: Almighty God, You sent Your Son to accomplish Your will for our salvation. In His life, He revealed Your will done on earth as it is in heaven; and by His death He revealed Your kingdom open now to all believers.
Send us Your Holy Spirit to inspire us in prayer and action; that in words we might pray “Thy will be done” and in actions we might have Your strength to do Your will, for the good of our neighbor and for the sake of Your kingdom.
Through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever. Amen.
C: Amen.
COLLECT FOR PEACE
P: O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works, give to us, Your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey Your commandments and also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.
C: 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. Amen.
P: Let us bless the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
BENEDICTION
P: The grace of our Lord + Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
C: Amen.
CLOSING HYMN: “Beneath the Cross of Jesus” LBW 107
Beneath the cross of Jesus I long to take my stand;
The shadow of a mighty rock Within a weary land,
A home within a wilderness, A rest upon the way,
From the burning of the noontide heat And burdens of the day.
Upon the cross of Jesus, My eye at times can see
The very dying form of one Who suffered there for me.
And from my contrite heart, with tears, Two wonder I confess:
The wonder of his glorious love And my unworthiness.
I take, O cross, your shadow for my abiding place;
I ask no other sunshine than The sunshine of his face;
Content to let the world go by, To know no gain nor loss,
My sinful self my only shame, My glory all, the cross.