The Service in PDF format is at: September 12, 2021 Service
Video of service is at: Facebook Video
Peace Lutheran Church
We welcome you in the name of the Lord Jesus. We are honored with your presence. If you do not have a church home, you are invited to join us regularly. Please introduce yourself to Pastor Jeremy Lucke or one of the Ushers as you leave today and sign the guest book in the entryway. We continue to observe the guidelines for health safety. If you have any questions, please see an usher. Everyone is welcome.
The ringing of the bell and the lighting of the Christ candle mark the beginning of our service and a time for quiet meditation, prayer and inward reflection as we begin our worship.
Children are welcome at our worship services. If you prefer, Peace Lutheran has a playroom equipped for children three years old and younger. The room is unstaffed and can be accessed in the fellowship hall where the service is also being live streamed for your convenience and enjoyment.
Holy Communion is celebrated every first and third Sunday and will follow the order of service in the bulletin. If you are a baptized Christian and share our faith in Jesus as Savior and have been instructed in the meaning and use of the Lord’s Supper, you are invited to partake. We have pre-wrapped communion wine or juice and wafers. We also have gluten-free wafers available. If you desire a gluten-free wafer, ask the server. May the body and blood of Jesus, present in the bread and wine, be a blessing to you.
There are times during the service when you will be asked to stand if you are able. Please feel free to remain seated if standing is difficult.
AS WE GATHER… Eugene Peterson paraphrased Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:29: “Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythm of grace.” Jesus invites us to follow Him. As we walk and work with Him, we look to Him – and He teaches us “the unforced rhythms of grace.” Jesus’ habits are not forced. They come naturally from an internal desire to follow Him and become more like Him. Today we are introduced to the BEING CHALLENGE. This is a 40 day journey based on the habits of Jesus. Our goal is to learn Jesus’ way so that we can make it our own.
OPENING SONG “You Are My All in All”
Dennis Jernigan, 1991 Shepherd’s Heart Music, Inc. (Admin. by PraiseCharts Publishing, Inc.)
You are my strength when I am weak,
You are the Treasure that I seek,
You are my All in All.
Seeking You as a precious jewel,
Lord to give up I’d be a fool.
You are my All in All.
Chorus: Jesus, Lamb of God, Worthy is Your name.
Jesus, Lamb of God, Worthy is Your name.
Taking my sin, my cross, my shame,
rising again I bless Your name.
You are my All in All.
When I fall down, You pick me up;
When I am dry, You fill my cup.
You my All in All!
Chorus
Pastor: In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen.
Pastor: I called on the name of the Lord:
People: O Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief!
Pastor: The Lord has dealt bountifully with us.
People: The Lord has opened our ears.
Pastor: The Lord has delivered us from death.
People: He wipes away tears from all faces.
Pastor: He rescues our feet from stumbling
People: and restore our tongues to proclaim His good news.
WE CONFESS
Pastor: Despite all of God’s actions on our behalf, we still struggle with sin in our lives. Our tongues still curse. Our feet still stumble. Our ears still listen to lies and gossip. But our heavenly Father invites us to come to Him for restoration, renewal, and forgiveness.
SONG OF CONFESSION (twice through)
Change my heart, oh God. Make it ever true.
Change my heart, oh God. May I be like You.
You are the potter. I am the clay.
Mold me and make me. This is what I pray.
Change my heart, oh God. Make it ever true.
Change my heart, oh God. May I be like You.
Pastor: We confess,
People: We have sinned against You and our neighbors in what we have said and what we have left unsaid. We have neglected opportunities to love our neighbors. We have stumbled and fallen again and again. We ask that You restore us, renew us, and forgive us on account of Jesus. Amen.
Pastor: Almighty God, in His boundless love sent His Son, Jesus, to die and rise for our forgiveness and eternal life. Because of Jesus, we are restored, body and soul. Therefore, by Jesus’ authority, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen. We are forgiven in Christ. We are renewed and restored. Amen.
PRAYER FOCUS
Pastor: Let us Pray. O God – You delight not in pomp and show, but in a humble and contrite heart. Overturn our love of worldly possessions and fix our hearts more firmly on You, that, having nothing, we may yet possess everything, a treasure stored up for us in heaven.
People: Amen.
scripture lessons
FIRST LESSON: 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Four our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says
“In a favorable time I listened to you,
And in a day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, bur as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in affections, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapon of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
Reader: This is the Word of the Lord
People: Praise to You O Christ
Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For the love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
And when you fast, do not look gloomy like hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Reader: This is the Gospel of the Lord
People: Praise to You O Christ
SERMON HYMN “Take My Life, And Let It Be” LBW 406
Text: Frances Ridley Havergal, Public Domain
Take my life, that I may be
Consecrated, Lord to thee;
Take my moments and my days;
let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of thy love;
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for thee.
Take my voice and let me sing
Always, only, for my King;
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from thee.
Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold;
Take my intellect, and use
Ev’ry pow’r as thou shalt choose.
Take my will and make it thine;
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is thine own;
It shall be thy royal throne.
Take my love; my Lord, I pour
At thy feet its treasure store;
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for thee.
SERMON
“Unforced Rhythms”
“Small disciplines done consistently lead to big results over time.”
People: I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
Born of the virgin Mary,
Suffered under Pontius Pilate,
Was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day He rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
And sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
The holy Christian Church,
The communion of saints,
The forgiveness of sins,
The resurrection of the body,
And the life + everlasting. Amen.
Pastor: Let us pray for the whole people of God in Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs.
Gracious Father, we believe that without Your Son, we are dead in our trespasses and overcome by our own sinful desires. Be merciful to us and help us to keep Jesus as the center of our lives. Lord, in Your mercy,
People: Hear our prayer.
Pastor: Grant us true humility, as littler children. Deliver us from temptation and keep us in the faith. Lord, in Your mercy,
People: Hear our prayer.
Pastor: We pray for all the little ones who believe in You, the youngest members of our congregation as well as those of every generation who are called Your children. Bless parents, pastors, and teachers to teach Your truth and Your ways, that we may grow in Christ’s forgiveness and live as Your children. Lord, in your mercy,
People: Hear our prayer.
Pastor: Give to us such love that cares for one another that we call those to sin to repentance in order to joyfully speak Your forgiveness. Lord, in Your mercy,
People: Hear our prayer.
Pastor: Gracious Father, fill us with care for the members of our earthly families and especially those of the family of faith. We thank you for our special spiritual family at Peace and pray that You would lead us in our Sunday School efforts this year. We also pray for those with illness and trouble (especially…). Lord, in Your mercy,
People: Hear our prayer.
Pastor: Into Your hands, O Lord, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy. We pray these things through Your Son, Jesus, our Lord.
People: Amen.
LORD’S PRAYER
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
Pastor: Almighty God, Father, + Son, and Holy Spirit, bless you now and forever.
People: Amen.
DISMISSAL
Pastor: Go in Peace. Serve the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.
CLOSING SONG “Let the Circle Be Unbroken”
There are loved ones in the glory
whose dear forms you often miss;
When you close your earthly story,
will you join them in their bliss?
Chorus: Will the circle be unbroken by and by,
Lord, by and by?
There’s a better home a-waiting in the sky,
Lord, in the sky!
In the joyous days of childhood, oh,
they told of wondrous love,
Pointed to the dying Savior;
now they dwell with Him above.
Chorus
One by one their seats were emptied,
one by one they went away.
Now the fam’ly circle’s broken;
will it be complete one day?
Chorus
Announcements
Thank you from Barry Hagen. Barry would like to thank everyone for their support and prayers for his mother, Betty. She had a beautiful memorial service last Monday here at Peace.
Fall Bazaar. Mark your calendars for the return of the Fall Bazaar at Peace. It will be held Saturday Nov 6 here at the church. If you have any questions, please contact Jani Burton.
Being Challenged. We will start the Being Challenged Book this Wednesday, Sept 14. More books have arrived so if you didn’t get one, please let Daniel know so he can get you one.
New Member Class. Great news. New people are joining Peace. Please take a moment to introduce yourself and welcome them. A new member class will be held on September 19, 26, and October 10.