The Bulletin is at: 08-12-2018 – Bulletin
The Service in PDF format is at: 08-12-2018 – Service
or the service is as follows:
TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
August 12, 2018
AS WE GATHER…As we live out each day, we reflect on our faith in our words and actions. Each of us is an example of the Christian life as we struggle to live in forgiving love toward one another, and also as we continue to trust in the forgiveness Christ won for us. In today’s Old Testament Reading, Elijah almost gives up, but he is strengthened with miraculous food. Then in the Epistle, Paul provides a list of what our life in Christ should look like because of our new birth in Baptism. In the Gospel, Jesus spells out the connection between receiving His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper and living in hope each day. He is the bread of life from heaven, who enables each of us to discard our old ways, live in the new life of God’s forgiving love, and adorn ourselves with gladness.
P: In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
OPENING UP TO GOD AND ONE ANOTHER
P: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
C: But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Silent Reflection
P: Let us then confess our sins to God.
C: Lord God Almighty, we confess that there are times when we have forgotten the hope that is within us. As Elijah feared and fled the forces of Jezebel, so we fear the evil around us. Although incapable of saving ourselves, we attempt to find peace and protection through our own efforts. Assure us of the new life You have given us, made certain in our Baptism into the death and resurrection of Christ.
SONG OF CONFESSION: White as Snow (Repeat x2)
White as snow, white as snow,
though my sins were as scarlet
Lord I know, Lord I know,
that I’m clean and forgiven.
Through the power of your blood,
through the wonder of your love
Through faith in you I know that I can be
white as snow
P: Our gracious heavenly Father sent His Son to give His life as the sacrifice for our sins. Our Lord Jesus is the bread of life from heaven coming down to us to assure us of salvation. We are not alone! Jesus is with us. As a called and ordained servant of Christ and by His authority I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
HYMN OF PRAISE: Jesus in the Morning
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus in the morning,
Jesus in the noon time;
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus when the sun goes down!
Praise him, Praise him, Praise him in the morning,
Praise him in the noon time;
Praise him, Praise him when the sun goes down!
Love him, Love him, Love him in the morning,
Love him in the noon time;
Love him, Love him, Love him when the sun goes down!
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus in the morning,
Jesus in the noon time;
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus when the sun goes down!
P: Let us Pray…Gracious Father, Your blessed Son came down from heaven to be the true bread that gives life to the world.
C: Grant that Christ, the bread of life, may live in us and we in Him,
P: who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.
SCRIPTURE LESSONS
Elijah, fleeing for his life, is given miraculous food so that he may get to Horeb.
Reader: At times we fall into our old ways, fearful of many things, not unlike Elijah. But God provided miraculous nourishment for the prophet then, even as He gives us Christ’s body and blood in His Supper.
The Old Testament Reading is from I Kings, chapter 19: Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying,
C: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my father.”
Reader: And he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him,
P: “Arise and eat.”
Reader: And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said,
P: “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.”
Reader: And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.
Our lives reflect Christ and His forgiving love.
Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Whoever believes in Jesus, the bread from heaven, has eternal life and will live forever.
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come;
‘Tis grace has bought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me;
His Word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.
SERMON “When Supply Meets Demand”
C: We believe in God, the Creator of all things, the source of all goodness and love.
We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, true God yet true man. He was crucified, died and was buried for our sin that we might be free and know the joy of life. He was raised on the third day and ascended to heaven, and will come again in power and glory to judge both the living and the dead.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the power of God at work inside of us.
We believe in the church of God, the people of faith throughout the world.
We believe that our sin is forgiven and that we will live together with God for now and throughout eternity. Amen.
OFFERING
We offer our thanksgiving for what God has first given us—our selves, our time, our possessions.
OFFERTORY
P: Beloved in the Lord, our Lord Jesus said to His apostles: “Whoever confesses Me before men, I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Lift up your hearts, therefore, to the God of all grace and joyfully give answer to what I now ask you in the name of the Lord.
P: Do you this day in the presence of God and of this congregation acknowledge the gifts that God gave you in your Baptism?
New Members: Yes, I do.
P: Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, in Jesus Christ, His only son our Lord, and in the Holy Spirit?
New Members: Yes, I believe.
P: Do intend to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully?
New Members: I do, by the grace of God.
P: Do you desire to become a member of this congregation?
New Members: I do.
P: Will you support the work our gracious Lord has given this congregation with your prayers and the gifts God has given you?
New Members: I will, with the help of God.
P: Upon this your confession of faith, I acknowledge publicly that you are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and of this congregation. Receive the Lord’s Supper and participate with us in all the blessings of salvation that our Lord has given to His Church, in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
New Members: Amen.
P: Let us pray. Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank and praise You for Your great goodness in bringing these Your sons and daughters to the knowledge of Your Son, our Savior, Jesus, and enabling them both with the heart to believe and with the mouth to confess His saving name. Grant that by Your Word and Spirit they may continue steadfast in the one true faith in the fellowship of this congregation as together we await the day when all who have fought the good fight of faith shall receive the crown of righteousness; through Jesus, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.
Introducing the Peace New Members
Jerry & Kathy Wylie
Derek & Rebecca Fisher with Ora & Adeline
Jeanette O’Connor
Mervin & Patricia Munster
Daniel Dusek
After each portion of the prayers, these words are spoken:
P: Lord, in your mercy, C: hear our prayer
LORD’S PRAYER
CLOSING SONG: Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee
Joyful, joyful we adore thee, God of glory, Lord of love!
Hearts unfold like flow’rs before thee, Praising thee, their sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness, Drive the gloom of doubt away.
Giver of immortal gladness, Fill us with the light of day.
All thy works with joy surround thee, Earth and heav’n reflect thy rays,
Stars and angels sing around thee, Center of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain, Flow’ry meadow, flashing sea,
Chanting bird, and flowing fountain Call us to rejoice in thee.
Thou art giving and forgiving, Ever blessing, ever blest,
Wellspring of the joy of living, Ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our brother, All who live in love are thine;
Teach us how to love each other, Lift us to the joy divine!
P: The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favor and+ give you peace.
C: Amen.
DISMISSAL
P: Go in Peace. Serve the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.