The Service in PDF format is at:04-10-2019 - Service

MIDWEEK LENTEN VESPERS:

APRIL 10, 2019

  

A LENT TO REMEMBER:

REMEMBER SINS NO MORE

Pastor John Westhafer

 WELCOME

AS WE GATHER… “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”  These are simple words, but words that are filled with meaning for us, especially in this Lenten season.  They are a plea, a prayer, and an affirmation.  We ask that Jesus would remember us—not our sins—but ourselves.  We pray that His remembering us and not remembering our sins will have an eternal benefit for us.  And we affirm that His mercy and faithfulness is the source of our salvation.  God is for us in all seasons!

OPENING PRAYER

P:  Let us pray.  Almighty God, our heavenly Father, Your mercies are new every morning.  Though we have in no way deserved Your goodness, You still abundantly provide for all our wants of body and soul.  Give us, we pray, Your Holy Spirit, that we heartily acknowledge Your merciful goodness toward us, give thanks for all Your benefits, and serve You in willing obedience; through Jesus Christ, Your Son,  our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

C: Amen. 

PSALM 103

P:  Bless the Lord, O my soul!

P:  As far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgressions from us.

C: As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear Him. 

P:  For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.

C: But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep His covenant and remember to do His commandments. 

P:  The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, and His kingdom rules over all.

C: Bless the Lord, all His hosts, His ministers, who do His will!  

P:  Bless the Lord, all His works, in all places of His dominion.

C: Bless the Lord, O my soul! 

All:  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.

P:  Bless the Lord, O my soul!

INTRODUCTION OF HYMN

P:  Samuel Crossman, a clergyman who once served as a chaplain to the king of England, penned “My Song Is Love Unknown” in the 1660’s, setting forth the story of salvation simply and directly.  As we sing his words about the Passion of our Lord, who shows “love to the loveless,” we realize that Samuel Crossman’s song from nearly four hundred years ago is our song, and his faith in the loving Savior is ours to share and to treasure.

P:  Many tunes used for the great hymns of the Church are compositions that took an extended period of time to complete.  The tune Love Unknown was written in the early twentieth century by composer John Ireland in fifteen minutes on a scrap of paper specifically for the words of Samuel Crossman from the seventeenth century.  Included in an English hymnbook in 1919, the combination of text and tune has become a favorite of millions of Christians around the world.

HYMN: “My Song is Love Unknown”        LBW 94 vs. 1&4 only

1 My song is love unknown,
My Savior’s love to me,
Love to the loveless shown,
That they might lovely be.
Oh, who am I, that for my sake
My Lord should take frail flesh and die?
My Lord should take frail flesh and die?

4 Why, what hath my Lord done?
What makes this rage and spite?
He made the lame to run,
He gave the blind their sight.
Sweet injuries! Yet they at these
Themselves displease, and ‘gainst him rise;
Themselves displease, and ‘gainst him rise.

SCRIPTURE LESSON:      Jeremiah 31:31-34

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

P: O Lord, have mercy on us.

C: Thanks be to God.

HYMN: “The Lamb” 

The Lamb, the Lamb,

O Father, where’s the sacrifice?

Faith sees, believes

God will provide the Lamb of price!

Chorus:

Worthy is the Lamb

whose death makes me His own!

The Lamb is reigning on His throne!

The Lamb, the Lamb,

One perfect final offering.

The Lamb, the Lamb,

Let earth join heav’n

His praise to sing.

Chorus

The Lamb, the Lamb,

As wayward sheep their shepherd kill

So still, His will

On our behalf the Law to fill.

Chorus

He sighs, He dies,

He takes my sin and wretchedness.

He lives, forgives,

He gives me His own righteousness. Chorus

He rose, He rose,

My heart with thanks now overflows.

His song prolong

Till ev’ry heart to Him belong. Chorus

HOMILY    “Remember Sins No More”  Jeremiah 31:34

 COLLECT OF THE DAY

P:  Let us pray. Gracious God, we thank You for not remembering our sins and our sinfulness, which are all known to You.  Assured of Your love and comfort in Your forgiveness, we seek greater opportunities to serve You in the name of Jesus, our Savior and our Lord.

C: Amen. 

LUTHER’S EVENING PRAYER

ALL: I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have graciously kept me this day; and I pray that You would forgive me all my sins where I have done wrong, and graciously keep me this night.  For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things.  Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.  Amen.

VERSICLES

P:  Show us Your steadfast love, O Lord,

C: and grant us Your salvation. 

P:  Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness;

C: and let Your saints shout for joy. 

P:  Lord, keep this nation under Your care,

C: and guide us in the way of justice and truth.  

P:  Let the nations be glad and sing for joy.

C: for You judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon the earth. 

P:  Let the peoples praise You, O God;

C: let all the peoples praise You! 

P:  For the needy shall not always be forgotten,

C: and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. 

P:  Create in me a clean heart, O God,

C: And renew a right spirit within me. 

P:  Hear my prayer, O Lord;

C: Let my cry come to You. 

LORD’S PRAYER      

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.

BENEDICAMUS 

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: “Go to Dark Gethsemane”         LBW 109

COMMENTS BY Pastor John Westhafer

POSTLUDE MUSIC

 

Palm Sunday                   April 14           Usual worship schedule

Maundy Thursday           April 18           7:00 PM Service

Good Friday                    April 19           7:00 PM Service

Easter Service                 April 21           10 AM Worship

Easter Egg Hunt              April 21           Following Worship

**Finger Food Fellowship after Service**

 

Thank you for joining us for our mid-week Lenten services.  We are preparing for Holy Week and hope you will be able to join us.

 

Please feel free to invite your friends and family for Easter Service.

 

Holy Week Readings

 

Date	Festival	1st Reading	Psalm	Epistle	Gospel
Apr. 14	Palm Sunday Sunday of the Passion	Deut. 32:36–39	Psalm 118: 19–29 or Psalm 31:9–16	Phil. 2:5–11	Luke 22:1—23:56 or Luke 23:1–56 or John 12:20–43
Apr. 18	Holy (Maundy) Thursday	Jer. 31:31–34 or Ex. 12:1–14	Psalm 116: 12–19	Heb. 10:15–25 or 1 Cor. 11:23–32	Luke 22:7–20 or John 13:1–17, 31b–35
Apr. 19	Good Friday	Is. 52:13—53:12	Psalm 22 or Psalm 31	Heb. 4:14–16; 5:7–9	John 18:1—19:42 or John 19:17–30
Apr. 21	The Resurrection of Our Lord – Sunrise	Job 19:23–27	Psalm 118: 15–29	1 Cor. 15:51–57	John 20:1–18
Apr. 21	The Resurrection of Our Lord	Is. 65:17–25	Psalm 16	1 Cor. 15:19–26	Luke 24:1–12