The Service in PDF format is at: 03-11-2020 – Service
Midweek of Lent 2: March 11, 2020
Vespers
“Misjudging Eyes”
“This Lent, we will use the metaphor of eyesight to examine how the various people in Mark’s Gospel viewed Jesus during His Passion. In most cases, they misunderstood who He was and what He was doing; then again, sometimes by faith people did recognize Him correctly. Today, we consider the disciples. They failed to see that Jesus had to leave them so He could die and rise for them and for us. And they misjudged the selfless, loving act of the woman who anointed Jesus with expensive ointment. He saw it as a beautiful, selfless act of devotion that prepared Him for burial. We need to examine ourselves, lest we seek public approval or divine reward for our good deeds. Only what our Lord has done for us makes us pleasing to the Father”
Stand
L: O Lord, open my lips,
C: and my mouth will declare Your praise.
L: Make haste, O God, to deliver me;
C: make haste to help me, O Lord.
C: 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.
Praise to You, O Christ, Lamb of our salvation.
OPENING HYMN: Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing LBW 499
Come, thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
While the hope of endless glory fills my heart with joy and love,
Teach me ever to adore Thee, may I still thy goodness prove.
Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by thy help I’m come;
And I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be;
Let that grace now like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heartk, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above
Sit
+ Readings +
2May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 5For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, 6and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. 8For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. 10Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. 11For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
L: O Lord, have mercy on us.
C: Thanks be to God.
It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, 2 for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”
3 And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me. 8 She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial. 9 And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
L: O Lord, have mercy on us.
C: Thanks be to God.
LENT
L: Deliver me, O Lord, my God, for You are the God of my salvation.
C: Rescue me from my enemies, protect me from those who rise against me.
L: In You, O Lord, do I put my trust, leave me not, O Lord, my God.
C: Rescue me from my enemies, protect me from those who rise against me.
L: Deliver me, O Lord, my God, for You are the God of my salvation.
C: Rescue me from my enemies, protect me from those who rise against me.
SERMON HYMN: “Alas! And did my Savior Bleed” LBW 98
1 Alas! and did my Savior bleed,
And did my sov’reign die?
Would he devote that sacred head
For sinners such as I?
2 Was it for sins that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity, grace unknown,
And love beyond degree!
3 Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut its glories in
When God, the mighty maker, died
For his own creatures’ sin.
4 Thus might I hide my blushing face
While his dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt mine eyes to tears.
5 But tears of grief cannot repay
The debt of love I owe;
Here, Lord, I give myself away:
It’s all that I can do.
SERMON: “Misjudging Eyes” Mark 14:1-9
+ Prayer +
Stand
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.
L: Almighty and everlasting God, You despise nothing You have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create in us new and contrite hearts that, lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, we may receive from You full pardon and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
C: Amen.
COLLECT FOR LENT
L: Almighty and everlasting God, You despise nothing You have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create in us new and contrite hearts that lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness we may receive from You full pardon and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.
COLLECT FOR PEACE
L: 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.
L: 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.
HYMN: “Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me” LBW 334
1 Jesus, Savior, pilot me
Over life’s tempestuous sea;
Unknown waves before me roll,
Hiding rock and treach’rous shoal.
Chart and compass come from thee.
Jesus, Savior, pilot me.
2 As a mother stills her child,
Thou canst hush the ocean wild;
Boist’rous waves obey thy will
When thou say’st to them, “Be still.”
Wondrous sov’reign of the sea,
Jesus, Savior, pilot me.
3 When at last I near the shore,
And the fearful breakers roar
Twixt me and the peaceful rest,
Then, while leaning on thy breast,
May I hear thee say to me,
“Fear not, I will pilot thee.”