Lutheran CORE wants to be of support and assistance to orthodox, confessional congregations in every way that we can.  Three of the ways in which we are seeking to do that are through a catalog of sermon resources, Clergy Connect, and Congregations in Transition.

I have spoken with lay leaders of congregations that are either too small or too remote to be able to find and call a pastor.  Other congregations are in the process of calling a pastor, and at this point do not have an interim.  Some of these congregations have a pastor who is available to come, preach, and preside at communion once or twice a month.  Many times it is a retired pastor, or a chaplain in a nearby care facility, who is able to help out.  I have spoken with some pastors who travel a great distance in order to provide care for the people of God.  Because of the distance, some of these pastors will preach and lead worship one Sunday a month, and then write and send sermons which a lay leader in the congregation can deliver on the other Sundays of the month.  There are many different kinds of situations, and many different kinds of arrangements that have been made.  We want to thank all of the lay leaders of congregations who “step up to the plate” and all the pastors, including retired pastors, who help meet the need.

We are also very grateful to Cathy Ammlung, NALC pastor and former secretary of the board of Lutheran CORE.  Cathy has a special passion and heart for smaller and/or more remote congregations and congregations that do not have a pastor.  She has begun the process of compiling a resource bank of sermons that lay leaders could use on the Sundays when their congregation does not have a pastor.  She describes her concept and vision in an article in the March issue of CORE Voice.  A link to that article can be found here.

Many thanks to all those who have already responded and sent Cathy one or more of their sermons.  If you have not already done so, please consider sending her one or more of your sermons which can be added to this resource bank.  Sermons will be organized by topic, Scripture passage, and Sunday of the church year.   Please email her your “best sermons” at cammlung@gmail.com. 

Another resource I want to lift up is Clergy Connect.  A link to this page on our website can be found here.

Many congregations have reported how difficult it is to find an orthodox, confessional, Great Commission minded pastor.   An anticipated increase in the number of retirements of pastors post-COVID, and the decrease in the number of seminary enrollees, will make and have made this situation even more severe.

We invite you to post your position on our website.  If you check out the page you will see the kind of information that other congregations have provided.  Congregational search committees are asked to submit church name, location, description of the position and the congregation, and contact information.  Vacancies can be emailed to lcorewebmail@gmail.com.   

Third, if you have a pastoral vacancy, please also consider our Congregations in Transition ministry initiative.  We have a group of (mostly) retired Lutheran pastors who have been trained to be transition coaches.  They are able and available to help congregations whose pastors have retired or resigned, or soon will be retiring or resigning, maintain stability and momentum in regards to the congregation’s vital ministries during the transition process.  For more information check out our Transitions page or contact lcorewebmail@gmail.com. 

Work in Progress! Page created 3/19/21. This is Cathy Ammlung’s brainchild. Click here to read her article.

Sermons are grouped in four categories (Year A, Year B, Year C, and Sermon Topic).

Click on one of the buttons below to search for a sermon that suits your needs.

A SUMMER LIKE NO OTHER

This has been a summer like no other.  Who would have ever imagined – at the beginning of the year – that we would be in the midst of a global health crisis?  One person said, “Five years ago, if we all had been asked what we thought we would be doing in 2020, we all would have been wrong.” 

Most of my work as executive director of Lutheran CORE is by telephone or computer, so most of it continues without major change or interruption.  But there is one area where there has been major change.  The various convocations and gatherings that I had been planning on attending during the second half of the year have all had to become online.   

I would like to tell you about two such events that I had been planning on attending in person the past couple months, that instead became online.  The first was a week of NEXUS in mid-July at Grand View University (ELCA) in Des Moines, Iowa.  The second was the NALC convocation in early August.

NEXUS

NEXUS is a program which gives high school youth the opportunity to study the Bible and theology, engage in ministry, develop new friends, and consider a church-related vocation.  This is the fourth summer that Grand View has offered two weeks of NEXUS.  Lutheran CORE will be sponsoring one of the weeks next year, so my intent had been to attend a major part of the NALC-sponsored week in July.  Because NEXUS became an online rather than an in person program, I participated in the sessions on one of the days.  It was a good day.

What I experienced was something totally worthy of our support.  Kate Faas, director of NEXUS, has awesome organizational, coordinating, and technical skills.  During the opening worship service Russell Lackey, campus pastor, gave an inspiring message based on Revelation 2, in which he challenged us to stay in the race.  Mark Mattes, chair of the department of religion and philosophy, gave a presentation from the Old Testament book of Jeremiah.  I was struck by the great similarities between Jeremiah’s day and our day.  The stark contrast between the message of Jeremiah regarding the need to take seriously the power of the Babylonian empire and those who minimized the concern reminded me of the differing attitudes that people today have towards COVID-19.  I felt warmly welcomed by the college-aged mentors and the high schoolers during the hangout time in the evening. 

What I would like to spend more time telling you about was the presentation from the New Testament by Ken Jones, professor in the religion and philosophy department.  The comparisons he drew between the musical “Hamilton” and Paul’s letter to the Galatians were brilliant.  His Bible study was one of the best I have ever heard.  

Dr. Jones described “Hamilton” as “the best theater experience in my entire life.”  He talked about the song, “It’s Quiet Uptown,” where everything in the story changes.  Prior to that time Hamilton’s son Philip had been killed while defending his father in a duel.  He and his wife Eliza have become estranged because of his being unfaithful.  The song, “It’s Quiet Uptown,” talks about three “unimaginables” – the unimaginable consequences of Hamilton’s sin (the death of his son and the breakdown of their marriage), his wife’s unimaginable gift of forgiveness, and the unimaginable grace of now being able to live into a new future.  Hamilton’s adultery and his son’s death had changed the trajectory of their lives in a negative way as it led to a complete collapse of their marriage.  But during the song Eliza reaches out and takes his hand.  Everything changes.  The trajectory is no longer based upon Hamilton’s past sin.  Instead it has hope for the future because of his wife’s gift of forgiveness.  Instead of being determined by the past, their relationship would now be able to build and anticipate a new future. 

Dr. Jones then compared the message of the musical to the fifth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, where the apostle contrasts living by the flesh and living by the Spirit.  As Eliza did for Hamilton, so Jesus gives freedom by extending mercy to sinners.  We were all living in unimaginable sin.  Jesus reached out to us with His unimaginable love.  In an unimaginable act of mercy and grace He took on our flesh and died for our sins.  In the song Hamilton says, “I’m not afraid.  I know whom I married.”  In spite of all the circumstances of our lives, in our nation, and in our world, we need not be afraid, because we can know Jesus as our Savior and Lord.  In the words of the song, Hamilton received from Eliza, and we can receive from Jesus, “a grace too powerful to name.”  The number of times that the college-aged mentors and the high schoolers talked about the musical “Hamilton” during the hangout time that evening told me how much Dr. Jones’ presentation had made a real impact on them.       

Grand View University is making a vitally important contribution to the Church through NEXUS.  I am very glad that Lutheran CORE has the opportunity to support this ministry through sponsoring a week of NEXUS during the summer of 2021.

I am very grateful for all who have already contributed towards our meeting our commitment of $15,000.  This amount covers half of the cost of providing one week of NEXUS for twenty-four high school students, including the cost of college-aged mentors, teachers, activities, room and board, and materials.  The funds from Lutheran CORE will be matched by Lilly Endowment to cover a full week’s cost of $30,000.

At this point we have received over $8,000 in contributions towards our commitment of $15,000.  Thank you to those who have already given.  Please consider making an additional contribution to Lutheran CORE to help us fulfill this commitment.  Be sure to indicate NEXUS on the memo line on your check. 

NALC CONVOCATION

Congratulations to the North American Lutheran Church (NALC) as they celebrate the tenth anniversary of their formation as a denomination.  Since the day when they were first constituted, on August 27, 2010, when seventeen congregations signed up, they have grown to over 440 congregations and over 150, 000 members.  As Bishop Dan Selbo said, “We are not able to be together in person, but we are united in Jesus.” 

Bishop Selbo’s opening devotions and Gemechis Buba’s keynote address were both based upon one of my favorite passages of Scripture – Ephesians 3: 14-21.  Paul concludes this passage by saying in verses 20 and 21, “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.” 

Addressing the fact that Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter and referring to the global pandemic that has surprised us all, Bishop Selbo made the very interesting and pertinent comment that the shutdown and other circumstances related to the pandemic are “the closest I have come to being in prison, and yet they do not even come close.”  He then talked about the hope that sustained Paul in prison as he said, “That is the only real hope that we will ever have.”  Following up on Paul’s statement in verse 14, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,” Bishop Selbo asked us, “Are we spending the time we need to in prayer, or do we think we can do it alone and on our own?”

The following morning Dr. Buba picked up on some more of the emphases of this passage.  I am always hugely inspired and encouraged whenever I hear Dr. Buba. 

Dr. Buba referenced Paul’s language in verse 21 – “To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.”  First he said, “All our focus must be on Jesus.”  Then he asked how we could be speaking of the decline of the church and the passing of the Christian era when the Bible uses the words, “to all generations, forever and ever.”  He reminded us of how we speak of measurable goals, measurable actions, but the Bible speaks of immeasurability.  The Bible tells of the one “who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.”  We must not put a limit on the grace of God.  If God is involved, the results will be immeasurable.

Reflecting on the fact that in verse 14 Paul said, “I bow my knees before the Father,” and in both verses 16 and 18 he said, “I pray that,” Dr. Buba commented that our problems come when we do not pray, when we ask for the wrong things, when we pray for less than God can do, and when our prayers lack intentionality.  In contrast to an image of a church that is shrinking, slowing down, and becoming less, Paul’s reference to “the power (that is) at work within us” means that the church is the most powerful institution on earth.   We must never ask for less.  We must never imagine small.  We need a God-sized prayer life and a God-sized vision. 

During the convocation Bishop Selbo laid out a ministry vision for the next several years of the NALC.  His vision for such things as new mission starts and the number of seminary graduates reflected a faith like that of the apostle.  I like the comment that Dr. Eric Riesen, president of the North American Lutheran Seminary, made to Bishop Selbo.  “You are articulating a vision for a Lutheran church that I have always wanted to be a part of.”   

LETTER TO BISHOP EATON

I had promised that I would share whether I had heard from Elizabeth Eaton, presiding bishop of the ELCA, in response to the letter which I sent to her on July 20.  Over three weeks later I have not heard anything from her or any of her staff.  That is an interesting way to handle challenges to the ELCA’s integrity – to just ignore it.

In my letter I asked Bishop Eaton how the ELCA could be celebrating the tenth anniversary of LGBTQIA+ persons’ being able to serve freely in the church when that is not what was voted on at the 2009 Churchwide Assembly.  That assembly did not consider B, T, Q, I, A, or + persons.  Instead it only provided for the possibility of the ordination of a certain group of L and G persons – those that are in (PALMS) publicly accountable, life-long, monogamous, same sex sexual relationships.  In my letter I asked her how, going forward, any one on any side of any issue would trust any action taken by any Churchwide Assembly if the ELCA does not honor the commitments and remain within the boundaries, but instead essentially rewrites the resolutions that were voted on and approved in 2009. 

A copy of my letter to Bishop Eaton can be found here.  If you receive communications from Lutheran CORE via the U. S. post office mail, a copy of my letter has been enclosed. 

PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH

Finally, I would like to recommend to you the weekly prayers of the church, which can be found on the Worship page on our website.  Many thanks to Cathy Ammlung, NALC pastor and secretary of the board of Lutheran CORE, for writing these weekly prayers.  I had the privilege to preach on August 16 on the text from Matthew 15 on Jesus and the Canaanite woman.  I found her prayers to not only relate to the issues of our day, but also to the unique emphases of that particular Scripture passage.

Many thanks to Cathy for writing these prayers.  I highly recommend them to you.

Blessings in Christ,
Dennis D. Nelson
Executive Director of Lutheran CORE
dennisdnelsonaz@yahoo.com 
909-274-8591  

 

The First Half of the Season of Pentecost, Cycle A

June 14 – September 6, 2020

 

NOTE: LBW – Lutheran Book of Worship (The Green Book)

WOV – With One Voice (The Blue Book)

LSB – Lutheran Service Book (The Maroon Book)
ELW – Evangelical Lutheran Worship (The Cranberry Book)

 

There are versions of some hymns that are superior in LSB and I recommend using them if possible. Also, there are some superb hymns in LSB that aren’t available in the other hymnals. When I suggest one of the latter, I try to include an alternative from LBW or WOV. I recommend that a license and DVD of downloadable hymns from LSB be purchased if you are looking to expand your hymnody. There are, in ELW, some familiar hymns that have been drastically altered, which I try to note. ELW also has some fine hymns not available in the other hymnals, or has, interestingly, a more “traditional” translation or harmonization.

 

Color for the day is indicated for each Sunday. Primary liturgical calendar taken from Sola Publishing (www.solapublishing.org), based on LSB. Also, I include the lessons from the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) found in ELW and used in some congregations. It often overlaps the Sola/LCMS calendar lectionary, but when there are differences, I will note them.

 

Because some of the prayers of confession, as well as offertory and post-communion prayers, provided on certain resource pages lack theological heft or linguistic elegance, I have added some seasonal prayers that you are free to cut, paste, and revise as needed. They are modified from the copyright-free Online Book of Common Prayer, or are my own creation. These are found on the following pages. The regular prayers of intercession will, as usual, be provided weekly in their own Word documents.

 

 

 

For General/Green Season Use: A Brief Order of Confession and Holy Absolution

 

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son+, and of the Holy Spirit: Amen.

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.

Silence may be kept.

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life. Amen.

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

For General/Green Season Use: The Gospel Acclamation (Spoken)

Alleluia. Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of eternal life. Alleluia.

OR

Alleluia. Your Word, O Lord, is truth; consecrate us in the truth. Alleluia.

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

For General/Green Season Use: The Offertory Prayer

Let us pray. Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto

you; and then use us, we pray you, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

OR

 

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we humbly offer to you the gifts of our treasures, talents, and time. Use them to you glory, and for the benefit of all your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

 

For General/Green Season Use: The Great Thanksgiving and Proper Preface

 

The Lord be with you. And also with you.

Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give him thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. For you are the source of light and life, you made us in your image, and called us to new life in Jesus Christ our Lord; who on the first day of the week overcame death and the grave, and by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life. Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of heaven, who forever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your Name:

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

For General/Green Season Use: The Eucharistic Prayer

 

Holy and gracious Father: In your infinite love you made us for yourself, and, when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you, in your mercy, sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all. He stretched out his arms upon the cross, and offered himself, in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world.

On the night he was handed over to suffering and death, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread; and when he had given thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.” After supper he took the cup of wine; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and said, “Drink this, all of you: This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.”

Therefore we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

We celebrate the memorial of our redemption, O Father, with praise and thanksgiving. Recalling our Savior’s death, resurrection, and ascension, we pray that you would sanctify these gifts by your Holy Spirit, to be for your people the Body and Blood of your Son, the holy food and drink of new and unending life in him. Sanctify us also that we may faithfully receive this holy Sacrament, and serve you in unity, constancy, and peace; and at the last day bring us with all your saints into the joy of your eternal kingdom.

All this we ask through your Son Jesus Christ: By him, and with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever. AMEN.

 

OR

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts. Sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.

On the night he was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, “Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After supper, he took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, “Drink this, all of you: This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.”

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. By means of this holy bread and cup, we proclaim his death and resurrection, until he comes again. Gather us by this Holy Communion into one body in your Son Jesus Christ. Make us a living sacrifice of praise. By him, and with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever. AMEN.

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 For General/Green Season Use: Post-Communion Prayer

Eternal God, heavenly Father, you have graciously accepted us as living members

of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, and you have fed us with spiritual food in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood. Send us now into the world in peace, and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

OR

Almighty and ever-living God, we thank you for feeding us with the most precious Body and Blood of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; and for assuring us that we are living members of the Body of your Son, and heirs of your eternal kingdom. Send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 

June 14, 2nd Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 6)

 

Exodus 19:2-8a (Obey my voice, be my treasured people)

 

Psalm 100 (Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!)

 

Romans 5:6-15 (While we were weak, Christ died for the ungodly. Though in Adam’s trespass all

died, God’s grace abounds in Christ’s righteousness)

            (ELW: Romans 5:1-8)

 

Matthew 9:35-10:8 (9-20) (Jesus calls, instructs, and sends out the Twelve)

 

********************

 

Opening Hymn: All People That on Earth Do Dwell (LBW #245, ELW #883, LSB #791)

 

Hymn of the Day: Preach You the Word and Plant it Home (LSB #586)

OR, Hark, the Voice of Jesus Calling (LBW 381, LSB #827)

OR Rise, Shine, You People (LBW #393, ELW #665, LSB #825)

 

Communion 1: In Adam We Have All Been One (LBW #372, LSB #569)

(can use as hymn of day if you preach on Romans text)

 

     OR Our Father, By Whose Name (LBW #357, ELW #640, LSB #863)

 

Communion 2: Lord, Speak to Us, That We May Speak (LBW #403, ELW #676)

 

Closing Hymn: Rise Up, O Saints of God (LBW #383, ELW #669)

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

June 21, 3^rd Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 7; also Father’s Day)

 

Jeremiah 20:7-13 (I must speak God’s Word, though I’m mocked for it)

 

Psalm 91:1-16 (God will deliver from snares, pestilence and evil)

            (ELW: Psalm 69:7-18, Zeal for your house has consumed me; save me from the mire)

 

Romans 6:12-23 (Having been delivered from slavery to sin, now be slaves to righteousness)

            (ELW, Romans 6:1-11, Baptized into Jesus’ death and resurrection)

 

Matthew 10:5, 21-33 (Jesus instructs disciples before their mission;

fear the One who can destroy body and soul!)

            (ELW, Matthew 10:24-39, Disciple not above teacher, but you are of great value

to your Father. I have not come to bring peace but a sword.)

 

*********************

 

Opening Hymn: Herald, Sound the Note of Judgment (LBW #556, LSB #511)

NOTE: If tune is unfamiliar, use the tune Regent Square, LBW #50, “Angels, From the Realms of Glory”

     OR, Lift Every Voice and Sing (LBW #562, ELW #841, LSB #964)

 

Hymn of the Day: O Master, Let Me Walk with You (LBW #492, ELW #818)

 

Communion 1: Just as I Am, Without One Flea (LBW #296, ELW #592, LSB #570)

 

Communion 2: Amazing Grace (LBW #448, ELW #779, LSB #744)

 

Closing Hymn: Our Father, By Whose Name (LBW #357, ELW #640, LSB #863)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

June 28: 4^th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 8)

 

Jeremiah 28:5-9 (Would that the word of the prophet who speaks peace come to pass!)

 

Psalm 119:153-160 (Preserve my life from those who do not heed your law)

            (ELW, Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18, God’s covenant with David)

 

Romans 7:1-13 (We have died to Law in Christ; sin caused the Law to be death for us)

            (ELW, Romans 6:12-23, Delivered from slavery to sin, now be slaves to righteousness)

 

Matthew 10:34-42 (I come not with peace but a sword; whoever doesn’t take up cross and follow isn’t worthy of Jesus, but whoever gives cup of water in His name will receive reward)

            (ELW, Matthew 10:40-42, Whoever welcomes you welcomes me)

 

********************

 

Opening Hymn: The Son of God Goes Forth to War (LBW #183, LSB #661)

     OR If God Himself be For Me (LBW #454; ELW #788 If God My Lord Be For Me, heaven forbid we say “Himself!”; LSB #724)

 

Hymn of the Day: Let Us Ever Walk with Jesus (LBW #487, ELW #802, LSB #685)

 

Communion 1: We Give Thee but Thine Own (LBW #410, ELW #686, LSB #781)

 

Communion 2:  Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love (WOV #765, ELW #708)

 

Closing Hymn: Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun (LBW #530, ELW #434, LSB #832)

 

OR Son of God, Eternal Savior (LBW #364, ELW #655, LSB #842)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

 

July 5: 5^th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 9; Independence Day weekend)

 

Zechariah 9:9-12 (Rejoice, daughter of Zion, your lowly King comes to you)

 

Psalm 145:1-14 (The Lord is gracious and full of compassion; all his works praise him)

 

Romans 7:14-25 (I don’t do the good I want to do; another law is at work in me!)

 

Matthew 11:25-30 (My yoke is easy, my burden light)

            (ELW, Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30, Jesus, friend of sinners; take my yoke…)

 

***********************

 

Opening Hymn: Hark, the Glad Sound (LBW #35, ELW #239, LSB #349)

OR Before You, Lord, We Bow (LBW #401, ELW #893, LSB #966)

Hymn of the Day: I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say (LBW #497,  ELW #332/611, LSB #699,)

NOTE: The words, which are wonderful with the Gospel, can also be sung to the tune Kingsfold, and in ELW is specifically set to that melody at #611. The tune is commonly used for “My Soul Proclaims Your Greatness, Lord” (WOV #730) and is also used for hymns in LSB and LBW. Try it out!

 

     OR Come to Me, All Pilgrims Thirsty (ELW #777)

 

     OR Come unto Me, Ye Weary (LSB #684)

 

 Communion 1:  Father Most Holy, Merciful and Tender (LBW #169, ELW #415, LSB #504)

 

Communion 2: When Peace, Like a River, Attendeth My Way (LBW #346, ELW #785, LSB #763)

     OR One There Is, Above All Others (LBW #298)

 

Closing Hymn: God of Our Fathers (LBW #567)

     OR America the Beautiful (ELW #888)

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

 

July 12: 6^th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 10)

 

Isaiah 55:10-13 (God’s Word does not return to him empty)

 

Psalm 65:1-13 (A song of praise for God’s bounty in nature)

            (ELW, Psalm 65:1-13, Happy are they whom you choose to live in your courts;

thanksgiving for the bounty of creation)

 

Romans 8:12-17 (The Spirit bears witness to our adoption by God, so we cry Abba, Father)

            (ELW, Romans 8:1-11, The mind set on the flesh cannot please God;

but you are in the Spirit, and the life of Christ dwells in you)

 

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 (Parable of the good seed on different soils)

 

*************************

 

Opening Hymn: How Marvelous God’s Greatness (LBW #515) simple, singable tune!

           

     OR This Is My Father’s World (LBW #554, ELW #824)

 

Hymn of the Day: Sing to the Lord of Harvest (LBW #412, ELW #412, LSB #893)

 

     OR We Plow the Fields and Scatter (LBW #362, ELW #680 [more modern, Hispanic tune], #681 [traditional, German tune])

 

Communion 1: For the Fruit of All Creation (LBW #563, ELW #679, LSB #894, For the Fruits of His Creation) Note: A more familiar tune, “All Through the Night,” is used in ELW and LSB. I’d go with that tune if you’re using LBW!!

 

Communion 2: Now Thank We All Our God (LBW #533/4, ELW #839/40, LSB #895)

 

Closing Hymn: On What Has Now Been Sown (LBW #261, ELW #550, LSB #921)

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

 

July 19: 7^th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 11)

 

Isaiah 44:6-8 (I am the first and last; beside me there is no god.)

 

Psalm 119:57-64 (I hasten to keep your commandments)

            (ELW, Psalm 86:11-17, Teach me your way; you are gracious and merciful,

slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love)

 

Romans 8:18-27 (Creation is in travail; we groan, but Spirit searches heart, intercedes for us)

            (ELW, Romans 8:12-25)

 

Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 (Parable of the wheat and the weeds)

 

*******************

 

Opening Hymn: Gracious Spirit, Heed Our Pleading (WOV #687, ELW #401)

     OR Holy Spirit, Truth Divine (if you didn’t use this on Pentecost)

(LBW #257, ELW #398, LSB #496, Holy Spirit, Light Divine)

 

Hymn of the Day: Come, You Thankful People, Come (LBW #407, ELW #693, LSB #892)

 

Communion 1: Eternal Spirit of the Living Christ (LBW #441, ELW #402, LSB #769)

 

Communion 2: Great Is Thy Faithfulness (WOV #771, ELW #733, LSB #809,)

 

Closing Hymn: Abide with Us, Our Savior (LBW #263, ELW #539, LSB #919, Abide, O Dearest Jesus)

OR Almighty Father, Bless the Word (LSB #923)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

July 26: 8^th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 12)

 

Deuteronomy 7:6-9 (Israel chosen because of God’s love, not their deserving)

            (ELW, 1 Kings 3:5-12, Solomon asks for wisdom)

 

Psalm 125 (God stands round his people like the hills surrounding Jerusalem)

            (ELW, Psalm 119:129-136, Your words enlighten the simple; keep my steps steady

 in your precepts)

 

Romans 8:28-39 (Nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus)

 

Matthew 13:44-52 (Parable of the pearl of great price)

            (ELW, Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52, Mustard seed, yeast, pearl)

 

*******************

 

Opening Hymn: I Love Your Kingdom, Lord (LBW #368, LSB #651)

     OR, Praise, Praise! You are the Rock (ELW #862)

Hymn of the Day: Jesus, Priceless Treasure (LBW #457/8, ELW #775, LSB #743)

OR One Thing’s Needful; Lord, This Treasure (LSB #536)

 

Communion 1: Children of the Heavenly Father (LBW #474, ELW #781, LSB #725)

 

Communion 2: How Great Thou Art (LBW #532,  ELW #856, LSB #801 )

 

Closing Hymn: In Thee is Gladness (LBW #552, ELW #867, LSB #818)

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

August 2: 9^th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 13)

 

 

Isaiah 55:1-5 (Buy wine and milk without money; don’t spend for bread that doesn’t satisfy)

 

Psalm 136:1-26 (God’s mercy endures forever!)

            (ELW, Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21, God is gracious and merciful, opens his hand,

feeds every living thing)

 

Romans 9:1-13 (Paul’s anguish for fellow Jews who do not have faith in Christ)

            (ELW, Romans 9:1-5)

 

Matthew 14:13-21 (Miracle of feeding 5000)

 

*************

 

Opening Hymn: What Feast of Love (WOV #701, ELW #487)

 

     OR Lord Jesus Christ, We Humbly Pray (LBW #225, LSB #623)

 

Hymn of the Day: At the Lamb’s High Feast (LBW #210, ELW #362, LSB #633)

 

Communion 1: You Satisfy the Hungry Heart (WOV #711, ELW #484, LSB #641)

 

Communion 2: Break Now the Bread of Life (LBW #235, ELW #515)

 

Closing Hymn: O Living Bread from Heaven (LBW #197, ELW #542, LSB #642)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

August 9: 10^th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 14)

 

Job 38:4-18 (Where were you when I laid out the foundations of the earth?!)

            (ELW, 1 Kings 19:9-18, Elijah encounters God as still small voice)

 

Psalm 18:1-16 (“His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,  and dark is his path

                   on the wings of the storm!”)

            (ELW, Psalm 85:8-13, God will speak peace to his people;

                       righteousness and peace have kissed)

 

Romans 10:5-17 (Righteousness of faith comes through hearing the Gospel preached)

 

Matthew 14:22-33 (Jesus and Peter take a watery walk on the sea)

 

**********************

 

Opening Hymn: O Worship the King, All-glorious Above (LBW #548, ELW #842, LSB #804)

 

Hymn of the Day:, Eternal Father, Strong to Save (LBW #467, ELW #756, LSB #717)

 

     OR Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me (LBW #534, ELW #755, LSB #715 )

 

Communion 1: Precious Lord, Take My Hand (WOV #731, ELW #773, LSB #739)

     OR I am Trusting You, Lord Jesus (LBW #460, LSB #729)

 

Communion 2: Lead Me, Guide Me (ELW #768 LSB #721)

     OR Calm to the Waves (ELW #794)

 

Closing Hymn: Great Is Thy Faithfulness (WOV #771, ELW #733, LSB #809,)

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

 

 

August 16: 11^th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 15)

 

Isaiah 56:1, 6-8 (My house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples)

 

Psalm 67 (God judges the nations with equity and guides all the people of earth)

 

Romans 11:1-2a, 13-15, 28-32 (God’s election of Jews irrevocable; he will show mercy!)

 

Matthew 15:21-28 (Healing of Syro-Phoenecian woman’s daughter)

 

********************

 

Opening Hymn: Note: both go well with Romans text

Blessed Be the God of Israel (WOV #725, ELW #250)

OR Bless Israel’s God Words: Rev. Cathy Ammlung, STS; Tune: Angelic Songs (O Zion, Haste)

1. Bless Israel’s God; he has redeemed his people:

Raised up a Savior born from David’s line;

Promised of old, through prophets’ proclamation,

To save from deadly foes with pow’r divine;

Promised to show our fathers mercy sure;

Promised his covenant forever shall endure.

2. Through Abraham, God swore an oath to save us

From hands of foes, to serve him fearlessly

In holiness and righteousness before him,

There to adore and bless him constantly.

You, child – God’s prophet, go before his face,

Give saving knowledge of forgiveness and God’s grace!

3. Tenderly, God bestows his love and mercy,

His heav’nly Dayspring shines upon our plight.

Darkness and death no longer can confound us:

In paths of peace, he guides us by his light.

Glory to Father, Son, and Spirit – Lord

God who through the ages ever is adored!

 

Hymn of the Day: In Christ There is No East or West (LBW #359, ELW #650, LSB #653)

Communion 1: I Love to Tell the Story (LBW #390, ELW #661)

 

Communion 2: What a Friend We Have in Jesus (LBW #439, ELW #742, LSB #770)

 

Closing Hymn: Spread, O Spread, Almighty Word (LBW #279, ELW #663, LSB #830, Spread the

Reign of God the Lord)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

August 23: 12^th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 16)

 

Isaiah 51:1-6 (Listen for God’s teaching, wait for his deliverance)

 

Psalm 138 (God is faithful; he listens to the lowly)

 

Romans 11:33-12:8 (The depth and riches of God’s wisdom! Present your bodies

as living sacrifice to him)

            (ELW, Romans 12:1-8, Present your body as a living sacrifice to God;

do not be conformed to this world, but transformed by renewal of your mind)

 

Matthew 16:13-20 (Peter’s confession; on this rock I will build my Church)

 

********************

 

Opening Hymn:  Listen, God is Calling (WOV #712, ELW #513, LSB #833)

     OR Father of Mercies, In Your Word (LBW #240) Note: do try this nice hymn; same tune as

                           “Forgive our sins as we forgive” – early American.

 

Hymn of the Day: Built on a Rock, the Church Shall Stand (LBW #365, ELW #652, LSB #645)

 

Communion 1: Take My Life, That I May Be (LBW #406, ELW #583, 685;

LSB #783/4, Take My Life and Let it Be)

 

Communion 2: The Church’s One Foundation (LBW #369, ELW #654, LSB #644)

 

Closing Hymn: Christ is Made the Sure Foundation (WOV #747, ELW #645, LSB #909)

(LBW #367, different tune)

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

August 30: 13^th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 17)

 

Jeremiah 15:15-21(Jeremiah laments; God promises strength, deliverance

if he speaks what is precious)

 

Psalm 26 (I have lived with integrity; do not sweep me away with sinners)

 

Romans 12:9-21 (Live in harmony, respect, and mutual forbearance; vengeance is God’s)

 

Matthew 16:21-28 (Get behind me, Satan! Take up cross and follow me;

what does it profit to gain world, lose soul?

 

******************

 

Opening Hymn: God’s Word is Our Great Heritage (LBW #239, ELW #509, LSB #582)

 

Hymn of the Day: “Take Up Your Cross,” the Savior Said (if tune is unfamiliar, substitute tune for Lord Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word, LBW #230) (LBW #398, ELW #667)

     OR When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (LBW #482, ELW #803, LSB #425/426)

 

Communion 1: Blest Be the Tie That Binds (LBW #370, ELW #649/975, ELW #656)

 

Communion 2: In the Cross of Christ I Glory (LBW #104, ELW #324, LSB #427)

 

Closing Hymn: Jesus, Still Lead On (LBW #341, ELW #624, LSB #718 Jesus, Lead Thou On)

 

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

September 6: 14^th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 18; Labor Day weekend)

 

Ezekiel 33:7-9 (Warn Israel, O watchman, at peril of having their guilt be upon you)

 

Psalm 32:1-7 (Happy are those whose sins are forgiven; whose guilt is put away)

            (ELW, Psalm 119:33-40, Turn my heart to your decrees, not to selfish gain)

 

Romans 13:1-10 (Be subject to the authorities; give honor, respect, taxes to whom they’re due;

                        love does no wrong to neighbor but is the fulfilling of the law)

            (ELW, Romans 12:9-21, Let love be genuine; do not return evil for evil)

 

Matthew 18:1-20 (Warnings against temptations to sin, and exhortation on dealing with

                        grievances in church)

 

*******************

 

Opening Hymn: Thy Strong Word Did Cleave the Darkness (LBW #233, ELW #511, LSB #578)

 

Hymn of the Day:  Lord of Glory, You Have Bought Us (LBW #424, ELW #707, LSB #851)

 

     OR God, When Human Bonds Are Broken (WOV #735, ELW #603) (Fairly familiar tune)

 

Communion 1: Where Charity and Love Prevail (LBW #126, ELW #359, LSB #845)

OR Although I Speak with Angel’s Tongue (ELW #644)

 

Communion 2: Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling (WOV #734, ELW #608)

 

Closing Hymn: O God, My Faithful God (LBW #504, ELW #806, LSB #696)

 

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Lessons and Suggested Hymns,

Ash Wednesday – Easter Sunday, Cycle A

March 1 – April 12, 2020

 

NOTE:

LBW – Lutheran Book of Worship (The Green Book)

WOV – With One Voice (The Blue Book)

LSB – Lutheran Service Book (The Maroon Book)

ELW – Evangelical Lutheran Worship (The Cranberry Book)

 

There are versions of some hymns that are superior in LSB and I recommend using them if possible. Also, there are some superb hymns in LSB that aren’t available in the other hymnals. When I suggest one of the latter, I try to include an alternative from LBW or WOV. I recommend that a license and DVD of downloadable hymns from LSB be purchased if you are looking to expand your hymnody. There are, in ELW, some familiar hymns that have been drastically altered, which I try to note. ELW also has some fine hymns not available in the other hymnals, or has, interestingly, a more “traditional” translation or harmonization.

 

Color for the day is indicated for each Sunday. Primary liturgical calendar taken from Sola Publishing (www.solapublishing.org), based on LSB. Also, I include the lessons from the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) found in ELW and used in some congregations. It often overlaps the Sola/LCMS calendar lectionary, but when there are differences, I will note them.

 

Because some of the prayers of confession, as well as offertory and post-communion prayers, provided on certain resource pages lack theological heft or linguistic elegance,  I have added some seasonal prayers that you are free to cut, paste, and revise as needed. They are modified from the copyright-free Online Book of Common Prayer, or are my own creation. These are found on the following pages. The regular prayers of intercession will, as usual, be provided weekly in their own Word documents.

 

 

 

A Brief Order of Confession and Holy Absolution for Lent

 

P: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son+, and of the Holy Spirit: Amen.

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.

Silence may be kept.

P: Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal,

C: Have mercy and hear us. Though we are poor sinful creatures, have mercy and hear us. Though we have turned from you and grieved you, have mercy and hear us. Though we have hardened our hearts against you and against our sisters and brothers, have mercy and hear us. Though we deserve judgment, wrath, and condemnation, for the sake of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy and hear us. Forgive us, heal us, and save us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

P: God hates nothing that he has made and forgives the sins of all those who are penitent. He shall create in us new and contrite hearts, so that we who worthily lament our sins and acknowledge our wretchedness, may receive from him, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness. This he promises through Jesus Christ, his Son, who is our Lord, our Savior, and our righteousness forever. AMEN.

 

A Spoken Gospel Acclamation for Lent:

 

            C: One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God. Your words, O Lord, are Spirit and life.

 

An Offertory Prayer for Lent

P: Let us pray.

C: What can we render to you, Lord, for all your benefits to us? All we have is yours. Our lives are in your hands. Receive, hallow, and use our time, talents, and treasures, for the love of your Son and the benefit of those he came to save. Amen.

 

A Proper Preface for Lent

 

The Lord be with you.       And also with you.

Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give him thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. You bid your faithful people cleanse their hearts, and prepare with joy for the Paschal feast; that, fervent in prayer and in works of mercy, and renewed by your Word and Sacraments, they may come to the fullness of grace which you have prepared for those who love you.. Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of heaven, who forever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your Name:

A Eucharistic Prayer for Lent

 

Holy and gracious Father: In your infinite love you made us for yourself, and, when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, you, in your mercy, sent Jesus Christ, your only and eternal Son, to share our human nature, to live and die as one of us, to reconcile us to you, the God and Father of all. He stretched out his arms upon the cross, and offered himself, in obedience to your will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world.

On the night he was handed over to suffering and death, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread; and when he had given thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After supper he took the cup of wine; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and said, “Drink this, all of you: This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.”

Sanctify these gifts of bread and wine by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of your Son, the holy food and drink of new and unending life in him. Sanctify us also that we may faithfully receive this holy Sacrament, and serve you in unity, constancy, and peace; and at the last day bring us with all your saints into the joy of your eternal kingdom.

All this we ask through your Son Jesus Christ: By him, and with him, and in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever.  AMEN.

 

A Post-Communion Prayer for Lent

 

P: Let us pray. Almighty and ever-living God,

C: You have given your only Son to be for us both a sacrifice for sin and also an example of godly life. Give us grace that we may always most thankfully receive these his inestimable gifts, and also daily endeavor to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 **************************

A Brief Order of Confession and Holy Absolution for the Easter Season

 

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son+, and of the Holy Spirit: Amen.

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us confess our sins against God and our neighbor.

Silence may be kept.

Lord Jesus, our risen Savior,

We come to you confessing our sins – especially our hurtfulness, selfishness, and unbelief.  We have lived by our own strength, and not by the power of your resurrection.  We have lived by the light of our own eyes, as faithless and not believing. We have lived for this world alone, and doubted our home in heaven. In your mercy, forgive us. In your goodness, resurrect us. Amen.

 Your Savior Christ comes with healing, forgiveness, and life in his wounded hands. He breathes his Holy Spirit upon you, kindling renewed faith, hope, and love. Receive all he gives with humble joy, and share them with others with warm generosity, in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

A Gospel Acclamation for the Easter Season

 

Alleluia. I am the way, the truth, and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father, except through me. Alleluia.

An Offertory Prayer for the Easter Season

Let us pray. Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto you; and then use us, we pray you, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

A Proper Preface for the Easter Season

 

The Lord be with you.       And also with you.

Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give him thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth. But chiefly are we bound to praise you for the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; for he is the true Paschal Lamb, who was sacrificed for us, and has taken away the sin of the world. By his death he has destroyed death, and by his rising to life again he has won for us everlasting life. Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of heaven, who forever sing this hymn to proclaim the glory of your Name:

A Eucharistic Prayer for the Easter Season

 

We give thanks to you almighty God, through your beloved son Jesus Christ, whom you sent to us in former times as Savior, Redeemer, and Messenger of your Will. He is your inseparable Word, through whom you made all things, and in whom you were well-pleased. You sent from heaven into the womb of a virgin, who, being conceived within her, was made flesh, and appeared as your Son, born of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary. It is he who, fulfilling your will and acquiring for you a holy people, extended his hands in suffering, in order to liberate from sufferings those who believe in you. Who, when he was delivered to voluntary suffering, in order to dissolve death, and break the chains of the devil, and tread down hell, and bring the just to the light, and set the limit, and manifest the resurrection, taking the bread, and giving thanks to you, said, “Take, eat, for this is my body which is broken for you.” Likewise the chalice, saying, “This is my blood which is shed for you. Whenever you do this, do this in memory of me.”

Therefore, remembering his death and resurrection, we offer to you the bread and the chalice, giving thanks to you, who has made us worthy to stand before you and to serve as your priests. And we pray that you would send your Holy Spirit upon your Holy Church. In their gathering together, give to all those who partake of your holy mysteries the fullness of the Holy Spirit, toward the strengthening of the faith in truth, that we may praise you and glorify you,

through your son Jesus Christ, through whom to you be glory and honor, Father and Son, with the Holy Spirit, in your Holy Church, now and throughout the ages of the ages.

Amen. AMEN.

A Post-Communion Prayer for the Easter Season

P: Let us pray. Heavenly Father,

C: We thank you for your great gift of love, your Son Jesus Christ. May we who have received his body and blood bear the light of his love into the world, to your glory and for the healing of our world. Amen.

*********************************************************************************************************

Lessons and Suggested Hymns

 

February 23, 2020: Ash Wednesday

 

Joel 2:12-19 (Declare a fast; repent, pray)

 Psalm 51 (Create in me a clean heart!)

 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 (Be reconciled to God and one another; now is the  acceptable time!)

 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 (On prayer, fasting, and giving alms)

 

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Opening Hymn, if you’re not chanting Psalm 51 here:

LBW #99, O Lord, Throughout These Forty Days (ELW #319, LSB #418)

Lenten Hymn, if desired: written by Cathy Ammlung

            May alternatively be used as the opening hymn

 Meter: 88 88 88 Tune: St. Catherine, “Faith of Our Fathers.”

Use refrain as opening line by cantor.

 

A: Glory we give you, God of Grace! In Jesus’ Cross, you grant us peace.

C: Father almighty, great God and King,

Glorious, gracious, merciful, true,

Our praise and worship and blessing we bring;

Receive it, Lord, as homage due.

Glory we give you, God of grace! In Jesus’ Cross, you grant us peace.

 Lord Jesus Christ, your Father’s true Son,

Sin-bearing Lamb, the world’s one true Light,

Grant life and mercy from your heav’nly throne.

Our praise make perfect in your sight.

Glory we give you, God of Grace! In Jesus’ Cross, you grant us peace.

Most Holy Spirit, great God and Lord,

You give us grace to bless and adore

One with the Father and with the Word,

To you be glory forevermore!

Glory we give you, God of Grace! In Jesus’ Cross, you grant us peace.

 Hymn of the Day: LBW #438, Lord, Teach Us How to Pray Aright (ELW #745)

OR WOV #659, O Sun of Justice ( 2^nd verse great if you preach on 2 Corinthians text; tune is simple plainsong chant, but feel free to sing it to the Doxology, Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow)

 

Communion Hymn 1: ELW #328, Restore in Us, O God

            OR LBW #103, O Christ, Thou Lamb of God

OR ELW #697, Just a Closer Walk With Thee

 

Communion Hymn 2: LBW #304, Today Your Mercy Calls Us (LSB #915)

OR  WOV 734, Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling (ELW #608)

 

Closing Hymn: ELW #326, Bless Now, O God, the Journey

OR LBW #307, Forgive Our Sins as We Forgive (ELW #605, LSB #843)

 

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March 1, 2020, 1^st Sunday in Lent

 

Genesis 3:1-21 (The serpent tempts Adam and Eve to disobey God)

(ELW: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7)

 Psalm 32:1-7 (Happy are they whose sins are forgiven!)  

 Romans 5:12-1 (Sin came through Adam; righteousness, through Christ)

Matthew 4:1-11 (Satan tempts Jesus to disobey his Father)

 

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Opening Hymn: LBW #229, A Mighty Fortress is Our God (ELW #504, LSB #657)

OR if you’re a bit braver, LBW #308, God the Father, Be Our Stay (LSB #505)

 

Lenten Hymn, if desired: see Ash Wednesday

 

Hymn of the Day: LBW #372, In Adam We Have All Been One (LSB #569)

OR LSB #668, Rise! To Arms! With Prayer Employ You

(Tune is “Wake, Awake, For Night is Flying.” Words are gutsy encouragement against temptation. Pretty cool.)

OR ELW #334, v. 1-3, Lent 1 stanza, Tree of Life and Awesome Mystery)

 

Communion Hymn 1: LBW #309, Lord Jesus, Think on Me (LSB #610)

            OR ELW #591, That Priceless Grace

Communion Hymn 2:  LBW #498, All Who Would Valiant Be

 

Closing Hymn: LBW #41, Jesus, Still Lead On (ELW #624) (LSB #843, Jesus, Lead Thou On)

 

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March 8, 2020, 2nd Sunday in Lent

 

Genesis 12:1-9 (God calls Abram, promises land and offspring)

            (ELW: Genesis 12:1-4a)

 

Psalm 121 (From whence does my help come? The Lord, who will watch over you)

 

Romans 4:1-8, 13-17 (The promises to Abraham came through the righteousness of faith, not works of law)

 

John 3:1-17 (Jesus and Nicodemus; God so loved the world….)

 

**************************************

 

Opening Hymn: LBW #544, v. 1-4, 11, The God of Abraham Praise (ELW #831, v. 1-4, 8, LSB #798, v. 1-4, 9)

 

Lenten Hymn, if desired: see Ash Wednesday

 

Hymn paraphrase of Psalm 121: LBW #445, Unto the Hills

 

Hymn of the Day: LBW #292, God Loved the World So That He Gave

 (ELW #323, God Loved the World, LSB #571) Suggestion: if the LBW or LSB tune is unfamiliar, take ELW’s suggestion and use “Rockingham Old,” one of the tunes for “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross)

            OR ELW #334, v. 1-3, Lent 2 stanza, Tree of Life and Awesome Mystery)

 

Communion Hymn 1: LBW #333, Lord, Take My Hand and Lead Me (ELW #767, LSB #722)

OR WOV #746, Day by Day (ELW #790)

 

Communion Hymn 2:  LBW #324, O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

OR ELW #464, Jesus, Feed Us

 

Closing Hymn: LBW #543, Guide Me Ever, Great Redeemer (ELW #618)

(LSB #918, Guide Me, O, Thou Great Redeemer)

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March 15, 2020, 3rd Sunday in Lent

 

Exodus 17:1-7 (Thirsty Israelites murmur against God, who gives water from the rock)

 

Psalm 95: (We are the people of God’s pasture; do not be like those who murmured!)

 

Romans 5:1-8 (9-11) (Justified by faith in Christ, we have peace with God through him, who died for the ungodly)

 

John 4:5-26 [may add 27-30, 39-42]) (Jesus and the woman at the well)

 

***********************************

 

Opening Hymn: LBW #358, Glories of Your Name are Spoken (ELW #648)

(LSB #648, Glorious Things of You are Spoken )

 

OR “Come, Let Us Sing Unto the Lord” (paraphrase of Psalm 95)

Words by Rev. Cathy Ammlung, STS

Tune: Kirken (Built on a Rock, the Church Shall Stand)

1.Come, let us sing unto the Lord,

Our mighty Rock of salvation.

Come, with our psalms of thanks outpoured

To the great King of all nations.

Come, make a joyful noise of praise;

Come, worship God through all our days;

Come in his presence, adoring.

2.Within the hollow of his hand,

Caverns and hills find their dwelling.

Measureless seas and trackless land

Their Maker’s glories are telling.

Come; worship; bend the knee and bless

Our God, Our Shepherd. We confess

His hand’s our pasture forever.

 

Lenten Hymn, if desired: see Ash Wednesday

 

Hymn of the Day: LBW #497, I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say (ELW 332, 611; LSB #699)

Note: the 2^nd ELW tune is Kingsfold,” which is a nice English folk tune. If you prefer using it, you’ll find it used in LBW #391, And Have the Bright Immensities)

OR ELW #331, As the Deer Runs to the River

            OR LBW #356, O Jesus, Joy of Loving Hearts

OR ELW #334, v. 1-3, Lent 3 stanza, Tree of Life and Awesome Mystery)

 

Communion Hymn 1: LBW #345, How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds (ELW #620, LSB #524)

OR WOV #709, Eat This Bread (ELW #472 [CAUTION: Don’t use italicized words in ELW as a “second verse.” Just repeat first set of words 3x])

 

Communion Hymn 2: LBW #219, Come With Us, O Blessed Jesus (ELW #501)

 

Closing Hymn: LBW #197, O Living Bread from Heaven (ELW #542, LSB #642)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

March 22, 2020, 4th Sunday in Lent

 

Isaiah 42:14-21 (I will lead the blind by paths they don’t see)

            (ELW: 1 Samuel 16:1-13)

 

Psalm 142 (I cry to the Lord, for I have been brought very low)

            (ELW: Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd)

 

Ephesians 5:8-14 (Once you were in darkness; now walk as children of the light)

 

John 9:1-41 (Jesus heals the man born blind)

 

************************************

 

Opening Hymn: WOV #660, I Want Jesus to Walk With Me (ELW #325)

 

Lenten Hymn, if desired: see Ash Wednesday

 

Hymn of the Day: WOV #661, My Song is Love Unknown (ELW #343, LSB #430)

(LBW uses a different tune; #94)

OR ELW #334, v. 1-3, Lent 4 stanza, Tree of Life and Awesome Mystery)

 

Communion Hymn 1: LBW #448, Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound (ELW #779, LSB #744)

 

Communion Hymn 2:  LBW #524, My God, How Wonderful Thou Art (ELW #863)

OR LBW #481, Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us (ELW #789, LSB #711)

Note: Both LSB and ELW use the tune older members will remember from SBH, “Bradbury.”

 

Closing Hymn: WOV #649, I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light (ELW #815, LSB #411)

OR LBW #504, O God, My Faithful God (ELW #806, LSB #696)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

March 29, 2020, 5th Sunday in Lent

 

Ezekiel 37:1-14 (The valley of dry bones)

 

Psalm 130 (Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord)

 

Romans 8:1-11 (The life-giving Spirit)

            (ELW, Romans 8:6-11, You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit of Christ,

                        who dwells within you and gives you life)

 

John 11:1-45[46-53]) (The death and raising of Lazarus)

 

*********************************

 

Opening Hymn: LBW #315, Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (ELW #631, LSB #700)

 

Lenten Hymn, if desired: see Ash Wednesday

 

Hymn Paraphrase of Psalm 130: LBW #295, Out of the Depths I Cry to You

(ELW #600)(LSB #607, From Depths of Woe I Cry to Thee)

 

Hymn of the Day: LSB #486, If Christ Had Not Been Raised From Death

OR LBW #97, Christ, the Life of All the Living (ELW #339, LSB #420)

OR ELW #334, v. 1-3, Lent 5 stanza, Tree of Life and Awesome Mystery)

 

Communion Hymn 1: LBW #385, What Wondrous Love is This, O My Soul (ELW #666, LSB #543)

 

Communion Hymn 2: WOV #776, Be Thou My Vision (ELW #793)

 

Closing Hymn: LBW 293/294, My Hope is Built on Nothing Less (ELW #596, 597, LSB #575/576)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

April 5, 2020, Palm/Passion Sunday

 

John 12:12-19 (Triumphant entry into Jerusalem)

            (ELW: Matthew 21:1-11, Triumphant entry into Jerusalem)

 

Isaiah 50:4-9a (The Lord vindicates his servant)

 

Psalm 31:9-16 (Deliver me from my tormentors!)

 

Philippians 2:5-11 (Christ humbled himself, even to death. Every knee shall bow!)

 

Matthew 26:1-27:66 (The Passion of Our Lord)

 

**********************************

 

Hymn for Procession With Palms: LBW #108, All Glory, Laud and Honor (ELW #344, LSB #442)

OR LSB #443, Hosanna, Loud Hosanna (A familiar tune and words I remember from SBH. A nice alternative to All Glory, Laud, and Honor)

 

Hymn prior to and following Passion narrative: LBW #116/117, O Sacred Head

(LSB #449/450; Note: the former uses the wonderful Bach harmonization, but the latter has more verses and can be used to break up the Passion narrative, if desired) (ELW #351, 352)

 

Hymn of the Day: LBW #491, O God, I Love Thee (Note: trust me on this. The words are exquisite. If the tune isn’t familiar, sing to the tune of LBW #272, Abide With Me.)

 OR LBW #92, Were You There When They Crucified My Lord (ELW #353, LSB #456 )

 OR WOV #668, There in God’s Garden (ELW #342)

OR LSB #444, No Tramp of Soldiers’ Marching Feet (familiar English folk tune and phenomenal words that tie together the entry into Jerusalem and the crucifixion. I heartily recommend you obtain permission to use this!)

 Communion Hymn 1: LBW #111, Lamb of God, Pure and Sinless 

     (ELW #357, LSB #434, Lamb of God, Pure and Holy)

 

Communion Hymn 2: LBW #107, Beneath the Cross of Jesus (LSB #338)

OR ELW #335, Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross (LSB #335, #346)

 

Closing Hymn: LBW #121, Ride On, Ride On in Majesty (ELW #346)

(LSB #441; uses different, fairly familiar tune)

            OR LBW #102, On My Heart Imprint Your Image (ELW #811, LSB #422)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

 

April 9, 2020: Maundy Thursday

 

John 13:1-35 (for foot washing): Jesus washes disciples’ feet, explains significance

            ELW: This is the only Gospel appointed for Maundy Thursday

 

Exodus 24:3-11): Moses and the elders eat in God’s presence

            ELW: Exodus 12:1-4 [5-10] 11-14: The first Passover

 

Psalm 116: What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?

            ELW: Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19

 

Hebrews 9:11-22: Christ, the mediator of new covenant, cleanses us by his blood

            ELW: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26: Paul’s words of institution

 

Matthew 26:17-30: Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper at his Last Supper

 

******************************************

Opening Hymn, if used: LBW #496, Around You, O Lord Jesus (ELW #468)

 

Foot Washing Hymn: LBW #126, Where Charity and Love Prevail (ELW #359, LSB #845)

OR LSB #446, Jesus, Greatest at the Table

 

Hymn of the Day: WOV #701, What Feast of Love (ELW #487)

OR LSB #445, When You Woke That Thursday Morning (Jaroslav Vajda’s powerful words pair surprisingly              well with Marty Haugen’s tune usually used for “Joyous Light of heavenly Glory”)

 

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #224, Soul, Adorn Yourself With Gladness

(ELW #488; #489 has Hispanic tune, same words) (LSB #636 has All. Eight. Verses!)

 

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #225, Lord Jesus Christ, We Humbly Pray

OR LBW #199, Thee We Adore, O Hidden Savior, Thee (LSB #840)

(ELW #476, Thee We Adore, O Savior, God Most True (Gerard Manley Hopkins’ translation of Aquinas’ words)

 

Closing Hymn: Generally omitted in favor of Psalm 22 while the altar is stripped

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

April 10, 2020: Good Friday

 

Isaiah 52:13-53:12: The Suffering Servant bears our griefs and carries our sorrows

 

Psalm 22: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

 Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9: Jesus the great high priest learned obedience through suffering and therefore                            obtained  salvation for all who obey him

 

John 18:1-19:42: The Passion of Our Lord according to St. John

********************************

Here are a number of hymns to use whether you use the above texts, have a Tenebrae service with 7 readings, or do the 7 last words of Christ.

 

Were You There (LBW #92, ELW #353, LSB #456)

Ah, Holy Jesus (LBW #123, ELW #349)

O Sacred Head (LBW 116, ELW #352, LSB #450 [rhythmic; note 7 verses in LSB makes it useful for separating                        portions of the Passion reading],

OR LBW #117, ELW #351, LSB #449 [more familiar; note ELW and LSB use beautiful Bach harmonization])

Jesus, in Thy/Your Dying Woes (LBW #112, 113{need to use both to get all 7 words}; LSB #447)

O Darkest Woe (LSB #448, also if you have the old SBH, it’s #87)

Upon the Cross Extended (LSB #453; Lovely Paul Gerhard tune, heartfelt lyrics, public domain. If you want to          use it, therefore, feel free to copy it!)

Sing, My Tongue, the Glorious Battle (LBW #118, ELW #356, LSB #454)

Go to Dark Gethsemane (LBW #109, ELW #347, LSB #436)

There in God’s Garden (wherever your last hymn appears in the service, and whatever form of Good Friday                        liturgy you use, I think this is a perfect “capstone” to our worship)  (WOV #668, ELW #342)

 

 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

  

April 11, 2020: The Vigil of Easter

 

For the Service of the Word portion: The great acts of salvation, as taken shamelessly

from the ELW pericope. If fewer than 12 readings (snort) are used, 

make sure to use the ones marked with an asterisk

 

*Genesis 1:1-2:4a: Creation

            Response: Psalm 136:1-9, 23-26

            OR How Marvelous God’s Greatness LBW #515, ELW #830 (Easy Swedish tune)

 

Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18; 8:6-18; 9:8-13: The Great Flood

            Response: Psalm 46

OR Thy Holy Wings WOV #741, ELW #613

 

Genesis 22:1-18: God tests Abraham, commanding him to sacrifice his son

            Response: Psalm 16

            OR God Loved the World (So That He Gave) (Even I don’t know the tune in LBW, so use the tune suggested                           in ELW, used often for “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”)  LBW #292, ELW #323, LSB #571

 

*Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21: Deliverance of Israel at the Red Sea

            Response: Exodus 15:1b-13, 17-18

            OR Guide Me Ever, Great Redeemer LBW #343, ELW #618, LSB #918

            OR The God of Abraham Praise, v. 1, 3, 5 LBW #544, ELW #831, LSB #798

 

*Isaiah 55:1-11: Salvation freely offered to all

            Response: Isaiah 12:2-6

            OR I’ve Just Come From the Fountain WOV #696

 

Proverbs 8:1-8, 19-21; 9:4b-6: The wisdom of God

            Response: Psalm 19

             OR Let All Things Now Living LBW #557, ELW #881

 

Ezekiel 36:24-28: God promises to give a new heart and spirit to his people

            Response: Psalms 42 and 43 (combine them)

            OR As Pants the Hart for Cooling Streams LBW #452

            OR As the Deer Runs to the River ELW #331

 

Ezekiel 37:1-14: The valley of the dry bones

            Response: Psalm 143

            OR O Happy Day When We Shall Stand LBW #351, ELW #441

 

Zephaniah 3:14-20: The gathering of God’s people

            Response: Psalm 98

            OR Joy to the World (hey why not?!) LBW #39, ELW #267, LSB #387

 

Jonah 1:1-2:1: Jonah’s faithlessness and deliverance

            Response: Jonah 2:2-9

            OR Great is Thy Faithfulness WOV #771, ELW #733, LSB #809

 

Isaiah 61:1-4, 9-11: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” to proclaim good news to all who suffer; God clothes his               servant in the garments of salvation

            Response: Deuteronomy 32:1-4, 7, 36a, 43a

            OR In Thee Is Gladness LBW #552, ELW #867, LSB #818

 

*Daniel 3:1-29: Shadrach, Meshach, and A Bean to Go (look it up for great coffee!) are delivered from the fiery                  furnace

Response: Song of the Three (LBW Canticle #18)

OR All Creatures of Our God and King LBW #527, ELW #835 (de-gendered, de-kinged – it’s All Creatures of Our God Most High)

 

 

During the order for Holy Baptism or Affirmation of Baptism

 

The Litany of the Saints (ELW Service Music, #237) may be sung

 

The Service of Holy Communion

 

Romans 6:3-11: We are baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ: dead now to sin, alive in Christ!

 

John 20:1-18: John and Peter race to the tomb; Mary Magdalene encounters the risen Jesus

 

Hymn of the Day: We Know That Christ is Raised and Dies No More   LBW #189, ELW #449, LSB #603

 

Hymn During Communion: I Know That My Redeemer Lives   LBW #352, ELW #619, LSB #461

 

Closing Hymn: This Joyful Eastertide WOV #676, ELW #391, LSB #482

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 April 12, 2020, Easter Sunday, The Resurrection of Our Lord

 

Easter Sunrise:

 

Exodus 14:10-15:1 (Song of thanksgiving after crossing the Red Sea)

 

Psalm 118:15-29 (I shall not die but live, and declare the works of the Lord!)

 

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (I handed on to you what I received: that Christ rose  from the dead)

 

John 20:1-18 (Peter and John’s foot race; Mary Magdalene encounters risen Jesus)

 

#########

 

Easter Day

 

Acts 10:34-43 (Peter preaches Gospel to Gentiles)

 

Psalm 16 (You do not give me up to Sheol, nor let your faithful one see the Pit)

            (ELW: Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24), I shall not die but live, and declare the works  of the Lord!)

 

Colossians 3:1-4 (your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and                  your life is hidden with Christ in God.)

 

Matthew 28:1-10 (The resurrection; Jesus greets the women, bids them tell disciples to go to Galilee)

**************************************

 

 

Opening Hymn: LBW #151, Jesus Christ is Risen Today (ELW #365, LSB #457)

 

Hymn of Praise: WOV #678, Christ Has Arisen, Alleluia (ELW #364, LSB #466)

OR Hymn paraphrase of “This is the Feast” by Cathy Ammlung

Meter: Peculiar; Tune: In Dir Ist Freude, “In Thee is Gladness”

 

This feast of gladness triumphs o’er sadness; Jesus, Lord, the victor now.

The Lamb, once slain now lives again! Every knee to him shall bow.

Joy in full flower! Blessing and power, honor and praises all heaven raises,

And earth shall echo: Alleluia!

Sing of his glory, for Christ is worthy of adoration; and our salvation

In love he wins for us. Alleluia!

 

Gospel Procession Hymn: WOV #676, This Joyful Eastertide (ELW #391, LSB #482)

 

Hymn of the Day: LBW #134, Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands (ELW #370, LSB #458)

 

Communion Hymn 1: LBW #145, Thine is the Glory (ELW #376)

OR LBW #135, The Strife is O’er (ELW #366, LSB #464)

 

Communion Hymn 2:  LBW #352, I Know that My Redeemer Lives (ELW #619, LSB #461)

 

Closing Hymn: LBW #131, Christ is Risen! Alleluia! (ELW #382)

OR LSB #480, He’s Risen, He’s Risen

 *********************************************

 

 

April 19, 2020, 2^nd Sunday of Easter

 

Acts 5:29-42 (Gamaliel counsels caution dealing with apostolic teaching and miracles)

            (ELW: Acts 2:14a, 22-32, Peter exhorts crowd to repent, be baptized)

Psalm 148 (Praise God for his universal glory)

            (ELW: Psalm 16, I keep the Lord always before me; I shall not be moved)

 

1 Peter 1:3-9 (Christ’s resurrection promises new hope, imperishable inheritance)

 

John 20:19-31 (Jesus appears to disciples – including Thomas)

 

*****************************

 

Opening Hymn: LBW #139, v.1-4, O Sons and Daughters of the King 

(LSB #470/471; Note: the latter is the same as in green book, but the former is a well-known Easter tune also)

(ELW #386, v.1-4, O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing)

 

Hymn of Praise: LBW #144, Good Christian Friends, Rejoice and Sing! (ELW #385, LSB #475)

OR Hymn paraphrase of “This is the Feast;” See Easter Sunday

 

Hymn of the Day: WOV #675, We Walk By Faith and Not by Sight (ELW #635, LSB #720)

 OR LBW #132, Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain (I don’t know who has the old Arthur Sullivan tune from the old red book…) (ELW #363, LSB #487)

OR ELW #390, The Risen Christ 

OR LSB #472, These Things Did Thomas Count as Real

 

Communion Hymn 1: LBW #514, O Savior, Precious Savior (ELW #820, LSB #527)

 

Communion Hymn 2: LBW #316, Jesus, the Very Thought of You (ELW #754)

 

Closing Hymn: LBW #139, v. 5-9, O Sons and Daughters of the King (ELW #386, v. 5-8,  LSB #470/471)

 

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

April 26, 2020, 3^rd Sunday of Easter

 

Acts 2:14a, 36-41 (Pentecost: Peter exhorts listeners to repent, be baptized)

 

Psalm 116:1-14 (15-19) (Thanksgiving for deliverance from illness)

 

1 Peter 1:17-25 (You were ransomed not with gold, but the precious blood of  Christ)

Luke 24:13-35 (The Road to Emmaus story)

 

****************************

 

Opening Hymn: LBW #496, Around You, O Lord Jesus (ELW #468)

OR ELW #374, Day of Arising

 

Hymn of Praise: LBW #130, Christ the Lord is Risen Today! (ELW #373, LSB #469)

OR Hymn paraphrase of “This is the Feast;” See Easter Sunday

 

Hymn of the Day: LSB #476, Who Are You Who Walk in Sorrow

OR WOV #674, Alleluia! Jesus is Risen! (ELW #377, LSB #474)

OR LBW #209, Come, Risen Lord

 

Communion Hymn 1: LBW #222, O Bread of Life From Heaven (ELW #480)

(LSB #642, O Living Bread From Heaven; Note, this is a different tune)

OR LSB #629, What Is This Bread

 

Communion Hymn 2: LBW #219, Come With Us, O Blessed Jesus (ELW #501)

OR LSB #776, Come, Lord Jesus, Be Our Guest (sing 3x, or as round)

 

Closing: LBW #210, At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing (ELW #362, LSB #633)

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

May 3, 2020, 4^th Sunday of Easter

 

Acts 2:42-47 (The common life of the first believers)

 

Psalm 23 (The Lord is my shepherd)

 

1 Peter 2:19-25 (Endure suffering for doing right; for you’ve returned to Shepherd and guardian of your souls)

 

John 10:1-10 (Sheep know Shepherd’s voice; Jesus is both shepherd and gate for the sheep)

 

**************************************

 

Opening Hymn: LBW #128, Christ the Lord is Risen Today; Alleluia! (ELW #369, LSB #463)

 

Hymn of Praise: LBW #144, Good Christian Friends, Rejoice and Sing! (ELW #385, LSB #475)

OR Hymn paraphrase of “This is the Feast;” See Easter Sunday

 

Hymn of the Day: LBW #451, The Lord’s My Shepherd; I’ll Not Want (ELW #778, LSB #710)

OR LBW #476, Have No Fear, Little Flock (ELW #764, LSB #735)

            OR LSB #625, Lord Jesus Christ, Life-Giving Bread

 

Communion Hymn 1: LBW #456, The King of Love My Shepherd Is (ELW #502, LSB #709)

 

Communion Hymn 2: LBW #370, Blest Be the Tie That Binds (ELW #656, LSB #649)

OR LSB #740, I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb

 

Closing Hymn: LBW #481, Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us 

(ELW #789, LSB #711;  both use Bradbury, a much more familiar tune)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

May 10, 2020, 5^th Sunday of Easter (also Mother’s Day)

 

Acts 6:1-9; 7:2a, 51-60 (Deacons are chosen; excerpts from Stephen’s speech; the stoning of Stephen)

            (ELW: Acts 7:55-60, The stoning of Stephen)

Psalm 146 (Happy are they whose help is from the Lord, who executes justice for the poor)

            (ELW: Psalm 31: 1-5,15-16, Prayer for deliverance from enemies)

 

1 Peter 2:2-10 (Come to Christ, the living Stone who will cause many to stumble;

            but you are his own people, a royal priesthood)

 

John 14:1-14 (I am the Way, Truth and Life; believe that the Father is in me and I am in him)

 

*****************************

 

Opening Hymn: LBW #468, From God Can Nothing Move Me (LSB #713)

OR LBW #183, The Son of God Goes Forth to War (LSB #661)

OR LBW #383, Rise Up, O Saints of God! (ELW #669)

 

Hymn of Praise: LBW #150, Make Songs of Joy to Christ Our Head (Note: calm down, it’s an easy, sprightly tune) (LSB #484)

OR ELW #878, Soli Deo Gloria

OR Hymn paraphrase of “This is the Feast;” See Easter Sunday

 

Hymn of the Day: LBW #464, You Are the Way (ELW #758) (LSB #526, You Are the Way; Through You Alone)

OR WOV #777, Give Me Jesus (ELW #770)

 

Communion Hymn 1: WOV #781, My Life Flows On in Endless Song (ELW #763)

 

Communion Hymn 2: LBW #336, Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me (LSB #683)

OR LBW #513, Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life (ELW #816)

 

Closing Hymn: LBW #553, Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart (ELW #873)(LSB #813, Rejoice, O Pilgrim Throng)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

May 17, 2020, 6^th Sunday of Easter

 

Acts 17:16-31 (Paul in Athens: What you worship as unknown, I proclaim to you)

            (ELW: Acts 17:22-31)

 

Psalm 66:8-20 (God has tested us but delivered us; we will offer sacrifices and extol him)

 

1 Peter 3:13-22 (Give account of hope within you with gentleness; suffer for doing good, as Christ did;

baptism an appeal to God for good conscience, through Christ’s resurrection and exaltation)

 

John 14:15-21 (If you love me, keep my commandments; I will pray the Father, who will send you the Spirit)

 

*****************************

 

Opening Hymn: LBW #386, Christ is the King! O Friends, Rejoice (ELW #662)

OR LBW #245, All People That On Earth Do Dwell (ELW #883, LSB #791)

 

Hymn of Praise: LBW #549, Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven (ELW #865, LSB #793)

OR Hymn paraphrase of “This is the Feast;” See Easter Sunday

 

Hymn of the Day: LBW #508, Come Down, O Love Divine (ELW #804, LSB #501)

 

Communion Hymn 1: LBW #364, Son of God, Eternal Savior (ELW #655, LSB #842)

 

Communion Hymn 2: LBW #403, Lord, Speak to Us, That We May Speak (ELW #676)

 

Closing Hymn: LBW #353, May We Your Precepts, Lord, Fulfill

(LSB #698, May We Thy Precepts, Lord, Fulfill)

OR LBW #390, I Love to Tell the Story (ELW #661)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

May 24, 2020, 7^th Sunday of Easter, or Ascension (Transferred)

 

7^th Sunday of Easter

 

Acts 1: (6-10), 12-26 (Matthias chosen to replace Judas)

 

Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35 (The holy God is also the protector of orphans and widows)

 

1 Peter 4:12-19; 5:6-11 (Suffering as a Christian; the God of grace will support, strengthen, establish you)

 

John 17:1-11 (Jesus’ High Priestly prayer; glorify yourself in them as you have in me)

 

*******************************

 

Opening Hymn: LBW #546, When Morning Gilds the Skies (ELW #853, LSB #807)

OR LBW  #525, Blessing and Honor (ELW #854)

OR WOV #801, Thine The Amen, Thine The Praise (ELW #826, LSB #680)

 

Hymn of Praise:  LBW #520, Give to Our God Immortal Praise (ELW #848)

OR Hymn paraphrase of “This is the Feast;” See Easter Sunday

 

Hymn of the Day: LBW #77, O One With God the Father

OR LBW #170, Crown Him With Many Crowns (ELW #855, LSB #525)

 

Communion Hymn 1: LBW #526, Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise (ELW #834, LSB #802)

 

Communion Hymn 2: LBW #518, Beautiful Savior (ELW #838, LSB #537)

 

Closing Hymn: WOV #797, O God Beyond All Praising (ELW #880)

 #######

Ascension (Transferred)

 

Acts 1:1-11 (The Ascension of Jesus)

 

Psalm 47 (God has gone up with a shout!)

 

Ephesians 1:15-23 (The power of grace put into effect when God exalted Jesus above every authority and power)

 

Luke 24:44-53 (Shorter account of Ascension; conclusion of the gospel)

 

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Opening Hymn: WOV #797, O God Beyond All Praising (ELW #880)

OR LBW  #525, Blessing and Honor (ELW #854)

OR WOV #801, Thine The Amen, Thine The Praise (ELW #826, LSB #680)

 

Hymn of Praise: LBW #156, Look, the Sight is Glorious (LSB #495, Look, Ye Saints, the Sight is Glorious)

OR LBW #170, Crown Him With Many Crowns (ELW #855, LSB #525)

OR Hymn paraphrase of “This is the Feast;” See Easter Sunday

 

Hymn of the Day: LBW #158, Alleluia! Sing to Jesus (ELW #392, LSB #821)

OR LSB #477, Alleluia, Alleluia! Hearts To Heaven (Note: tune is “Ode to Joy!)

 

Communion Hymn 1:  LBW #526, Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise (ELW #834, LSB #802)

 

Communion Hymn 2: LBW #518, Beautiful Savior (ELW #838, LSB #537)

 

Closing Hymn: LBW #157, A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing!

(ELW #393, LSB #493; mercifully has left off excessive exclamation points)

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

  

May 31, 2020, Day of Pentecost

 

Numbers 11:24-30 (The Spirit descends on 70 elders)

            (ELW, ditto, or Acts 2:1-11, the Holy Spirit descends like tongues of fire)

 

Psalm 25:1-15 (Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.)

(ELW: Psalm 104:24-34, 35b, The Spirit renews creation)

 

Acts 2:1-21 (The Holy Spirit descends; Peter comments)

(ELW, ditto, or 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13, the gifts of the Spirit)

 

John 7:37-39 (The Spirit wells up like living water in believers’ hearts)

            (ELW, ditto, or John 20:19-23)

 

************************

 

Opening Hymn: LBW #472/3, Come Holy Ghost, Our Souls Inspire

(ELW #577/578, Creator Spirit, Heavenly Dove) (LSB #498/9, Come Holy Ghost, Creator Blest)

OR ELW #400, God of Tempest, God of Whirlwind

 

Hymn of Praise: WOV #682, Praise the Spirit in Creation (Note: Suggested alternate tune is LBW #549, Praise,                My Soul, the King of Heaven, and I’d recommend using it!)

OR LBW #523, Holy Spirit, Ever Dwelling (ELW #582, LSB #650)

 

Hymn of the Day: WOV #687, Gracious Spirit, Heed Our Pleading (ELW #401)

OR LSB #502, Holy Spirit, The Dove Sent From Heaven

 

Communion Hymn 1: LBW #475, Come Gracious Spirit, Heavenly Dove (ELW #404)

 

Communion Hymn 2: LBW #257, Holy Spirit, Truth Divine (ELW#398) (LSB #496, Holy Spirit, Light Divine)

OR WOV #680, O Spirit of Life (ELW #405)

 

Closing Hymn: LBW #161, O Day Full of Grace (ELW #627, LSB #503)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

June 7, 2020, The Holy Trinity

 

Genesis 1:1-2:4a (God creates the universe and blesses it)

 

Psalm 8 (What is man that you are mindful of him?)

 

Acts 2:14a, 22-36 (Again, part of Peter’s Pentecost sermon)

            (ELW, 2 Corinthians 13:11-13, Trinitarian blessing)

 

Matthew 28:16-20 (The Great Commission)

 

********************************

 

Opening Hymn: LBW #165, Holy, Holy, Holy (ELW #473, LSB #507)

 

Hymn of Praise: LBW #247, Holy Majesty, Before You

OR ELW #762, Holy, Holy, Holy, Holy

 

Hymn of the Day: LBW #233, Thy Strong Word Did Cleave The Darkness (ELW #511, LSB #578)

OR the following hymn paraphrase of the Nicene Creed:

Almighty Father, Creator Blest

Tune: Victory (The Strife is O’er); Words: Rev. Cathy A. Ammlung, STS

Dedicated to the Pastors of the Society of the Holy Trinity

 

(before first verse; note, “in” is sung on two notes):

Credo, credo, credo in_ unum Deum!

1. Almighty Father, Creator blest,

Worlds sprang to life at his behest;

Seen and unseen, his name they confessed:

Credo, credo!

2. Lord Jesus Christ, his only Son,

In truth and substance, they are one;

Pure Light from Light, in him life’s begun:

Credo, credo!

3. For us poor sinners, mortal and weak,

He came from heav’n, the lost to seek,

God’s Word made flesh, salvation to speak.

Credo, credo!

4. Born of the virgin, Mary most pure,

And of the Spirit, to be sin’s cure,

Christ became man; let praises endure –

Credo, credo!

5. For us, ‘neath Pilate’s judgment he died –

For us, our Lord was crucified,

For us, he rose again, glorified:

Credo, credo!

6. Ascended to the Father’s throne,

He shall return, to judge everyone,

And rule fore’er, as Lord and God:

Credo, credo!

7. Most Holy Spirit, life-giving Lord,

One with the Father and Son, adored,

Inspiring prophets’ holy word,

Credo, credo!

8. Making one holy Church in the world,

One with apostles, martyrs and Lord,

One through baptism with water and Word,

Credo, credo!

9. From sin forgiven, we are made free,

Christ’s life from death our future shall be,

Forever praising the Trinity:

Credo, credo!

(final refrain: as in opening)

Credo, credo, credo in_ unum Deum!

Communion Hymn 1: LBW #249, God Himself is Present(LSB #907)

OR ELW #412, Come, Join the Dance of Trinity

 

Communion Hymn 2: LBW #169, Father Most Holy (ELW #415, LSB #504)

 

Closing Hymn: LBW #535, Holy God, We Praise Your Name (ELW #414, LSB #940)

Editor’s Note: Pastor Cathy Ammlung is a pastor in the North American Lutheran Church and serves as Secretary of the Board of Lutheran CORE. She has earned a master’s degree in Chemistry and two master’s degrees in Theology.

I normally don’t share stuff about my political or religious views, aside from occasionally posting one of my sermons. That’s because I don’t usually like reading other people’s stuff on those topics. I confess, I generally click “hide this post.” Keeps my relationships with many folks more cordial because I’m not tempted to get in a war of words that would probably not change anyone’s mind but undoubtedly would harden someone’s heart.

I don’t want to inflict my views on other people, and would rather talk one on one about such topics. But I’m breaking my own rules today. I promise to not get judgy. Still, if you want to unfriend me because I was at the March for Life, go ahead. I get it.

This was the first time I’ve ever been in any march. I hate crowds! But this was a remarkably peaceful, polite, joyous crowd. White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Mideastern. Many religious groups. Bikers in badass leather. Guys in dreadlocks. A fellow dressed in a weird Uncle Sam outfit, riding a sort of skateboard with a big center wheel, waving a “Shred for Life” banner. Don’t ask!! Knights of Columbus with thunderous drummers, and a group of Evangelicals with bagpipes, trumpets, and fifes. An astonishing number of young people, and scads of young nuns, young priests, young monks. Folks in wheelchairs, on crutches, with canes, in casts. Me, I was part of the North American Lutheran Church contingent. It was an uplifting and thought provoking experience.

What really got to me, and I suppose why I decided to post something, were a few of the very personal posters and comments. A young man with a photo of himself as a very premature baby in a NICU, with the words, “This is what ‘late term’ looks like.” Someone who said, “The doctor urged an abortion when my mom was pregnant, saying I wouldn’t live 24 hours. She chose life.” Women who deeply regretted having an abortion, standing quietly in front of the Supreme Court – next to women quietly holding up “keep abortion legal” posters. Men mourning the death of children they would have loved, but whose partners aborted the child. One of those men openly weeping when some prayers for the sanctity of life that I’d written were read in his church, grateful that someone offered a word of compassion for him and his girlfriend.

And it struck me: if I’d been conceived in 1973 instead of 1953, I might have been a statistic instead of a participant. My birth parents were married when I was born. Can you imagine the gossip if a *married* couple back then, obviously expecting a child, gave up that child – and not to a sympathetic relative but to an agency? How much less awkward, inconvenient, even shameful, if they’d surreptitiously had an abortion and claimed a miscarriage. Seeing those profoundly personal signs, hearing multitudes of personal stories, thinking about my own existence, drove home a point.

This isn’t an agenda or slogan. It’s not a political stunt or legal diktat. This is about real human beings, yes maybe even including me, who would not have even existed except they were not aborted. It’s about real people in the midst of scary, difficult, even tragic circumstances, heroically or maybe even inadvertently being truly “pro-choice.” They chose an innocent child’s right to life above their right to assert their own legitimate desires, hopes, and fears. It’s about committing our lives, time, and efforts into supporting, encouraging, and aiding women and men to make that brave, hard choice even when the culture shouts and celebrates the opposite.

Enough. Here is the prayer that I wrote.

Gracious Father, through you all parenthood is blessed. You were pleased to incarnate your Son through the consent and the flesh of a woman, the Virgin Mary. You entrusted the care of the holy Child to his foster father, St. Joseph. Bless, protect, guide, and strengthen all parents – biological, adoptive, and foster. Especially when parenting is difficult, give them joy and satisfaction in their holy task. Grant them a double portion of your Spirit, so that their children may flourish in faith toward you, in honor toward their parents, and in love for all your children.

We pray for those who struggle to have children and cannot. We pray for those who have lost a child they deeply loved.

We pray for those who struggle to love their children even when that is desperately difficult. We pray for those who do not want the child they have conceived or borne. Have mercy on them all. They face such terrible demons of grief, shame, regret, fear, and anger. Often, we can only stand and weep with them, and pray for them. Help us to do those things, and to walk with them through their dark valleys. Help us to share our confidence that you will lead them safely through.

Have mercy on women who seek, or who have endured, an abortion – and upon the father of their unborn child. As you visited Joseph in a dream, touch their spirits with your presence. Help them understand your love for them, and their unborn child. Where forgiveness is needed, grant it freely and lavishly. Help them to turn to you. Give them the strength to choose life, not death, if they are pregnant. Give them the grace to repent, to forgive themselves and each other, and to be healed in body and soul, if they have already had an abortion.

There are so many “disposable people,” dear Lord! They range from the unborn, to the handicapped, to refugees and immigrants, to the frail elderly, to our personal and corporate foes, to people whose lives seem so “out of bounds” that we can’t really comprehend, much less respond to them helpfully or graciously. Loving, respecting, and caring for “disposable people” is so hard! We can feel overwhelmed, angry, frustrated, cheated, or hopeless. And we’re ashamed even to admit that sometimes even we wish they’d just go away. Forgive us, dear Lord. Give us grace to see them through Jesus’ eyes: as people he loves so much that he gave his life for them. Give us grace to see his presence in them. Give us grace to share even a cup of cold water with them, for Christ has claimed them as his sisters and brothers.

We pray for everyone who cares for the most vulnerable people in our midst. Their work is often hard and usually under-appreciated. Thank you for their goodness and dedication. Deepen their compassion, integrity, and wisdom. Protect and strengthen them when others want them to act against their faith, their principles, and their dedication to cherish life and promote genuine well-being.

Father, there are many who think that humanity is a matter of achievement. If someone isn’t smart enough, healthy enough, independent enough, or even wanted enough, they don’t “deserve” to be treated as fully human persons. Don’t let us fall into that horrible mindset. Give us the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and fear of the Lord, and joy in your presence – not just for our own good, but so that we are equipped to combat those sinful and death-filled notions. Help us to share, in word and by example, what you have always revealed: that we are persons because you have made us in your divine image. No matter how distorted or disabled or debased that image has become through accident, malice or the cussedness of the universe, help us all to see, acknowledge, and pray for that image to be perfectly restored in Christ Jesus our Savior.

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Lessons and Suggested Hymns, Cycle C,

Holy Cross/14^th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 19) – Christ the King Sunday,

 September 15 – November 24, 2019

 

 

NOTE: LBW – Lutheran Book of Worship (The Green Book)

WOV – With One Voice (The Blue Book)

LSB – Lutheran Service Book (The Maroon Book)
ELW – Evangelical Lutheran Worship (The Cranberry Book)

 

There are versions of some hymns that are superior in LSB and I recommend using them if possible. Also, there are some superb hymns in LSB that aren’t available in the other hymnals. When I suggest one of the latter, I try to include an alternative from LBW or WOV. I recommend that a license and DVD of downloadable hymns from LSB be purchased if you are looking to expand your hymnody. There are, in ELW, some familiar hymns that have been drastically altered, which I try to note. ELW also has some fine hymns not available in the other hymnals, or has, interestingly, a more “traditional” translation or harmonization.

 

Color for the day is indicated for each Sunday. Primary liturgical calendar taken from Sola Publishing (www.solapublishing.org), based on LSB. Also, I include the lessons from the standard Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) found in ELW and used in some congregations. It often overlaps the Sola/LCMS calendar lectionary, but when there are differences, I will note them.

 

 

September 15, 14^th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 19

            OR Holy Cross Day, Transferred (from Sept. 14)

 

 

14 Pentecost Lessons and Hymns

 

Ezekiel 34:11-24: God, the true shepherd of his people

            RCL: Exodus 32:7-14: Moses pleads for God to not destroy Israel after it worships golden calf

Psalm 119:169-176: Plea for guidance in keeping God’s commandments

            RCL: Psalm 51:1-10: I know my sin; purge me; create in me a clean heart.

1 Timothy 1: (5-11), 12-17: (Law is laid down not for the innocent but for the sinful. Though chief of sinners, Paul is a living example of Jesus’  patience. To him be glory!

Luke 15:1-10: Parable of lost sheep and lost coin

 

Opening Hymn:   ELW #789, Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us (LSB #711) (NOTE: much more familiar tune than LBW version)

      OR LBW #451, The Lord’s My Shepherd; I’ll Not Want (ELW #778, LSB #710)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #291, Jesus Sinners Will Receive (LSB #609, Jesus Sinners Doth Receive) NOTE: Although the LSB tune is more singable and familiar than is the LBW tune, if you don’t want to try either, I suggest setting this to LBW #535, Holy God, We Praise Your Name. The words to this hymn are good with the epistle and Gospel texts.

      OR LBW #372, In Adam We Have All Been One (LSB #569)

      OR ELW #768, Lead Me, Guide Me

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #448, Amazing Grace (ELW #779, LSB #744)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #298, One There is, Above All Others

            OR ELW #774, What a Fellowship, What a Joy Divine (WOV #780)

Closing Hymn: LBW #263, Abide With Us, Our Savior (ELW #539, LSB #919, Abide, O Dearest Jesus)

 

Holy Cross (Transferred) Lessons and Hymns

 

Numbers 21:4-9: The bronze serpent heals the sinful Israelites who were bitten by poisonous snakes

Psalm 40:1-11: Thanksgiving for deliverance. God desires not burnt offerings but a willing heart.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25: Message of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing, but for those who are being saved, Christ the power and wisdom of God.

John 12:27-33: “I, when I am lifted up, will draw all people to myself.”

 

Opening hymn: LBW #124, The Royal Banners Forward Go (LSB #455) (NOTE: The words are perfect for today. If the tune has your folks coughing up hairballs, this works very well to the Doxology, “Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow”, or Erhalt uns, Herr, “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word”.

      OR ELW# #342, There in God’s Garden (WOV #668)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #377, Lift High the Cross (ELW #660, LSB #837)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #104, In the Cross of Christ I Glory (ELW #324, LSB #427)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #107, Beneath the Cross of Jesus (ELW #338)

Closing Hymn: LBW #482, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (ELW #803, LSB #425/426)

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September 22, 15^th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 20

(OR St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, Transferred (from September 21)

 

 

Pentecost 15 Lessons and Hymns:

 

Amos 8:4-7: God condemns the rich and haughty who defraud the poor.

Psalm 113: God raises the poor from the dust; gives children to the barren woman.

1 Timothy 2:1-15: Pray for all, including leaders. We have one mediator: Christ. Comportment of men and women. Yeah, submission and silence of women.

            RCL: 1 Timothy 2:1-7: Omits section on comportment, submission, and silence

Luke 16:1-15: Parable of dishonest steward; condemnation of pharisees who ridiculed Jesus.

            RCL: Luke 16:1-13: Omits condemnation of Pharisees.

 

Opening Hymn: LBW #419, Lord of All Nations, Grant Me Grace (ELW #716, LSB #844)

            OR WOV #790, Praise to You, O God of Mercy

Hymn of the Day: LSB #857, Lord, Help Us Walk the Servant Way

OR ELW #722, O Christ, Your Heart, Compassionate (NOTE: familiar tune!)

            OR LBW #423, Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service (ELW #712, LSB #848)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #410, We Give Thee But Thine Own (ELW #686, LSB #781)

            OR ELW #498, United at the Table

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #409, Praise and Thanksgiving, Father We Offer (ELW #689, LSB #789)

Closing Hymn: ELW #546, To Be Your Presence

            OR LBW #408, God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending (ELW #678)  (NOTE: I concur with ELW’s suggestion: Sing to the tune, “Ode to Joy” – Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee!)

 

St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, Transferred, Lessons and Hymns:

 

Ezekiel 2:8-3:11: Ezekiel commanded to eat scroll of God’s word; God fortifies him to speak to a rebellious people.

Psalm 119:33-40: “Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain.”

Ephesians 4:7-16: The varieties of God’s gifts are given to build up body of Christ.

Matthew 9:9-13: Jesus calls Matthew, eats with sinners, comes to call sinners.

 

Opening hymn: LBW #178, v. 1, 18, 3: By All Your Saints in Warfare (ELW #421, v. 1, 20, “last;” LSB #518, v. 1, 25, 3)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #291, Jesus Sinners Will Receive (LSB #609… doth receive)

      OR ELW #513, Listen, God is Calling (WOV #712, LSB #833)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #353, May We Your Precepts, Lord, Fulfill (LSB #698…Thy Precepts)

      OR ELW #595, Jesus Loves Me

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #492, O Master, Let Me Walk With You (ELW #818)

Closing Hymn: LBW #239, God’s Word is Our Great Heritage (ELW #509, LSB #582)

 

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September 29: St. Michael and All Angels

 

Daniel 10:10-14, 12:1-3: Michael is the great prince of his people; will protect them. At his coming, the dead shall rise for judgment.

Psalm 91: Assurance of God’s protection; his angels will bear you up lest you dash foot against a stone

Revelation 12:7-12: War in heaven: Michael defeats dragon, who falls to the earth in great wrath.

Luke 10:17-20: Return of 70: Rejoice not that you cast out demons but that your names are written in book of life.

 

Opening hymn: LBW #544, v. 1, 9-11, The God of Abraham Praise (LSB #1, 8, 9) (Note: not worth doing in ELW, as the verse about the angels is missing)

      OR ELW #787, You Who Dwell in the Shelter of the Lord (WOV #779, LSB #727)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #249, God Himself is Present (LSB #907)

      OR LBW #175, Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones (ELW #424, LSB #670)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #549, Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven (ELW #865, LSB #793)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #526, Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise  (ELW #834, LSB #802)

Closing Hymn: LBW #535, Holy God, We Praise Your Name (ELW #414, LSB #940)

 

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October 6, 17^th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 22

 

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4: Prophet complains: God help! God says: write the vision while there is time before the end. The proud have wrong spirit; the righteous shall live by faith.

Psalm 62: My soul waits in silence for God to deliver me from evildoers.

            RCL: Psalm 37:1-9: Be still before the Lord, wait patiently.

2 Timothy 1:1-14: Exhortation for Timothy to emulate Paul as herald of Gospel.

Luke 17:1-10: Woe to those who cause little ones to stumble! Rebuke and forgive fellow sinners. Faith like mustard seed. Be like the slave who tirelessly serves master.

            RCL: Luke 17:5-10: Omits woes, bit on rebuke.

 

Opening Hymn:   LSB #337, The Night Will Soon be Ending

      OR LBW #31, Wake, Awake, For Night is Flying (LSB #516) (ELW #436 [Note: for some reason in v.2, “For her Lord comes down victorious” is replaced by “her dear friend…” no clue.])

Hymn of the Day: LBW #382, Awake, O Spirit of the Watchmen (Note: not real familiar, but not a tough tune, and the words bridge the 3 lessons well)

            OR LBW #503, O Jesus, I Have Promised (ELW #810)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #307, Forgive Our Sins as We Forgive (ELW #605, LSB #843)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #534, Now Thank We All Our God (ELW #840, LSB #895)

Closing Hymn: LBW #293/4, My Hope is Built on Nothing Less (ELW #596/597, LSB #576/6)

 

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October 13, 18^th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 23

 

Ruth 1:1-19a: Ruth insists on accompanying Naomi: Your God shall be my God!

            RCL: 2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15: The healing of Naaman the leper

Psalm 111: Praise for God’s works. “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. His praise endures forever.

2 Timothy 2:1-13: Share in Christ’s suffering as soldier, farmer, or athlete. If we die with him, we will live with him. If we are faithless, he is faithful; he can’t deny himself.

            RCL: 2 Timothy 2:8-15: Omits first section; adds warning to not wrangle over words, and exhortation for Timothy to present himself as one approved by God.

Luke 17:11-19: Jesus heals 10 lepers; only Samaritan returns to give thanks.

 

Opening Hymn:  LBW #336, Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me (LSB #683)

            OR LBW #316, Jesus, the Very Thought of You (ELW #754)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #431, Your Hand, O Lord, in Days of Old (Note: This can very nicely be sung to tune for “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.”) (LSB #846, Note: also a good tune)

      OR LBW #360, O Christ the Healer, We Have Come (ELW #610)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #370, Blest be the Tie that Binds (ELW #656, LSB #649)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #532, How Great Thou Art (ELW #856, LSB #801)

Closing Hymn: WOV #797, O God Beyond All Praising (ELW #880)

      OR LBW #552, In Thee Is Gladness (ELW #867, LSB #818)(Note: remember it’s a dance not a dirge!)

 

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October 20, 19^th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 24

 

Genesis 32:22-30: Jacob wrestles with God at Peniel

Psalm 121: “I lift up my eyes unto the hills… my help comes from the Lord!”

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5: Exhortation to preach the Word faithfully: exhort, instruct, reprove, encourage with sound doctrine, despite the “itchy ears” of many.

Luke 18:1-8: Parable of woman and unjust judge: Be persistent in prayer!

 

Opening Hymn: LBW #475, Come, Gracious Spirit, Heavenly Dove (ELW #404)

Hymn of the Day: (if preaching on Epistle) LBW #230, Lord, Keep Us Steadfast In Your Word (ELW #517, LSB #655)

            OR (if preaching on Gospel): ELW #748, O God in Heaven (Note: simple, catchy folk tune)

            OR LBW #445, Unto the Hills

           OR LBW #317, To God the Holy Spirit Let Us Pray (ELW #743, LSB #768)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #477, O God of Jacob, By Whose Hand

            OR ELW #744, Lord, Be Glorified

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #479, My Faith Looks Up to Thee (ELW #759, LSB #702)

Closing Hymn: WOV #771, Great is Thy Faithfulness (ELW #733, LSB #809)

      OR LBW #262, Savior, Again to Your Dear Name (ELW #534, LSB #517)

 

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October 27, Reformation Sunday

 

Revelation 14:6-7: Fear, worship, and give God glory; his judgment is near!

Psalm 46: God is our refuge and strength; the Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Romans 3:19-28: Righteousness comes by faith in God’s grace, apart from works of Law.

John 8:31-36: If the Son makes you free, you are free indeed.

 

Opening Hymn: LBW #229, A Mighty Fortress is Our God (ELW #504, LSB #657)

    (NOTE: The syncopated version is one number previous in all 3 hymnals)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #233, Thy Strong Word Did Cleave the Darkness (ELW #511, LSB #578)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #369, The Church’s One Foundation (ELW #654, LSB #644)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #293/4, My Hope is Built on Nothing Less (ELW #596/597, LSB #575/576)

Closing Hymn: WOV 716, Word of God, Come Down on Earth (ELW #510, LSB #545)

 

 

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November 3: All Saints’ Sunday

 

Revelation 7: (2-8), 9-17: The tribes of Israel are sealed. The numberless host sings “Blessing and honor and glory and might.” Behold the host, arrayed in white, singing around the throne of the Lamb!

Psalm 149: Let everyone praise the Lord for his righteousness and judgment!

1 John 3:1-3: We do not know what we shall be, but when we see Jesus, we shall be like him, for we will see him as he is.

Matthew 5:1-12: The Beatitudes.

 

Opening Hymn:  LBW #525, Blessing and Honor (ELW #854)

         OR   WOV #791, Alabare (LSB #799)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #174, For All the Saints   (ELW #422 [Note: eliminates “O may thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold], LSB #677)

         OR WOV #764, Blest Are They (ELW #728)

Communion Hymn #1: LSB #676, Behold a Host, Arrayed in White (Note: superior translation!) (LBW #314, Behold a Host, Like Mountains Bright; ELW #425, Behold the Host Arrayed in White)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #315, Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (ELW #631, LSB #700)

Closing Hymn: LBW #328/9, All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name (ELW #634, LSB #549)

         OR WOV 801, Thine the Amen, Thine the Praise (ELW #826, LSB #680)

 

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 November 10, Pentecost 22, Proper 27

 

Exodus 3:1-15: Moses at burning bush; God reveals the divine name YHWH

            RCL: Job 19:23-27a: “I know that my Redeemer lives…. after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God.”

Psalm 148: Let all creation praise God for his glory and might!

            RCL: Psalm 17:1-9: Prayer for deliverance; “Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings.”

2 Thessalonians 2:1-8, 13-17: The Day of the Lord will not come until the restraints on the “man of lawlessness” are removed; but he will be annihilated by Christ. Stand fast in the Gospel; you’re chosen to be God’s first fruits of salvation!

            RCL: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17: Omits annihilation by Christ’s coming

Luke 20:27-40: Seven brothers for one bride: question about resurrection; Jesus uses Torah passage to refute Sadducees.

            RCL: Luke 20:27-38: Omits brief approbation at end.

 

Opening hymn: LBW #352, v. 1-4, I Know That My Redeemer Lives (ELW #619, LSB #461)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #147, Hallelujah! Jesus Lives (ELW #380)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #222, O Bread of Life From Heaven (ELW #480)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #214, Come, Let Us Eat (ELW #491, LSB #626)

Closing Hymn: LBW # 352, v. 5-8, I Know That My Redeemer Lives (ELW #619, LSB #461)

 

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November 17, 23^rd Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 28

 

Malachi 4:1-6: The day of the Lord; he comes with healing in his wings for the righteous, but evildoers are trampled down, Remember the statutes of Moses. Elijah will come on “The great and terrible day” to turn hearts of parents, children to one another and not be cursed.

            RCL: Malachi 4:1-2a: Omits everything after “healing in his wings.”

Psalm 98: Let the whole earth praise God, the righteous Judge of all!

2 Thessalonians 3: (1-5), 6-13: (Prayer for Gospel to spread and faithful to be rescued from evil and firmly obedient to God). Warning against idleness, and to not be weary in doing what is right.

Luke 21:5-28, (29-36): Prediction of destruction of Temple; persecutions, fall of Jerusalem; coming of Son of Man; parable of fig tree; be watchful!

            RCL: Luke 21:5-19: Omits everything after fall of Jerusalem.

 

Opening Hymn:   LSB #671, Sing With All the Saints in Glory

      OR LBW #516, Arise, My Soul, Arise (ELW #827)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #355, Through the Night of Dark and Sorrow (ELW #327)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #351, O Happy Day When We Shall Stand (ELW #441)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #343, Guide Me Ever, Great Redeemer (ELW #618, LSB #918)

Closing Hymn:  WOV #778, O Christ the Same (Note: gotta love singing O Danny Boy!)(ELW #760)

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November 24, Christ the King Sunday

 

Malachi 3:13-18: Those who revere the Lord are written in book of remembrance, will be spared on Day of the Lord.

            RCL: Jeremiah 23:1-6: God will gather, shepherd scattered flock, and raise up a righteous Branch of David to rule and righteously judge his people.

Psalm 46: There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God; he is our refuge.

Colossians 1:13-20: Christ, the image and likeness of God, has rescued us from darkness, made us his body, and granted peace through blood of the Cross.

            RCL: Colossians 1:11-20: Adds prayer for strength to endure everything through his glorious power.

Luke 23:27-43: Jesus addresses weeping women along path to Calvary; forgives his enemies; promises Paradise to repentant criminal.

            RCL: Luke 23:33-43: Omits address to women.

 

Opening Hymn:   LBW #172, Lord, Enthroned in Heavenly Splendor (ELW #475, LSB #534)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #129, Awake, My Heart, With Gladness (ELW #378, LSB #467)  (Note: this is just the perfect hymn for today. It should be played and sung with a dancelike lilt!)

Communion Hymn #1: WOV #740, Jesus, Remember Me (ELW #616)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #171, Rejoice, the Lord is King (ELW #430, Rejoice, for Christ is King)

Closing Hymn: LBW #170, Crown Him With Many Crowns (ELW #855, LSB #525)

 

            NOTE: I’ve attached a hymn I was asked to write for a congregation to sing on Christ the King Sunday, using “O Love, How Deep, How Broad, How High” as the tune and recapping the whole life of Jesus. You can split up the verses to use throughout the service, or as one big honking long Communion hymn.

 

 

 

Lord Jesus Christ, Our God and King

Tune: Deo Gracias (O Wondrous Type), LM

Copyright @Rev. Cathy Ammlung, STS

 

1. Lord Jesus Christ, Our God and King,

Your Father’s well-beloved Son!

His Word, through whom all worlds do spring;

His love, through whom our life is won!

 

2. O God-with-us, Emmanuel,

How strangely meek your kingliness!

A manger for your throne; you dwell

With mortals in their sinfulness!

 

3. As babe, as boy, as youth, as man,

No pampered prince, you toiled and grew

In knowledge of your Father’s plan:

To spend yourself for our rescue.

 

4. As Good Physician, Bread, and Light;

As Teacher, Shepherd, Friend, and Guide,

Though King, you saw our dreadful plight

And lovingly came to our side.

 

5. You spurned the devil’s evil sway,

Your Father’s will, your royal path.

You took our place that dreadful day

To bear destruction, death, and wrath.

 

6. Your crown was thorns; your throne, a Cross.

Yet, “Father, forgive” was on your breath.

We counted that as foolish loss;

Abandoned you to final death.

 

7. But you destroyed the gates of Hell;

Crushed ancient Serpent, sin, and shame;

Destroyed death’s pow’r; arose to tell

The pow’r of your triumphant Name.

 

8. Your kingly life you gladly give

Through Water and Spirit: baptismal grace.

Your lovely power in us shall live

As holy love in ev’ry place.

9. O Christ our King, Redeemer, Lord!

Grant that from you, we ne’er depart.

O fairest Savior, blest, adored,

Rule undisturbed in ev’ry heart!

by Brett Jenkins, member of the board of Lutheran CORE

Editor’s note: Originally called “Draft Social Statement on Women and Justice,” the document which was developed by the ELCA Task Force on Women and Justice and which has been approved by both the ELCA Conference of Bishops and the ELCA Church Council for consideration by the 2019 ELCA Churchwide Assembly is called, “Faith, Sexism, and Justice: A Lutheran Call to Action.” The ELCA Churchwide Assembly will take place in August 2019.

“Ah! Words! Just words!” the person shouted to the man at the lectern whose speech had just concluded. “Who told you culture is a search for coherence? Where do you get that idea from? This idea of coherence is a Western idea.”

Coherent or Incoherent

I heard Ravi
Zacharias tell this story.  With a
quickness of wit that I can only marvel at, he responded to the person (whom he
later learned was transgendered) by saying, “Before I answer you, Madame, let
me ask you this, then: would you prefer that my answer be coherent or
incoherent?”[1]

---

It is a dangerous proposition to write about someone else’s writing; history is full of literary, philosophical, and political critiques that were complete misfires (often cleverly worded) because the author misunderstood what he was reading. They did this because, not being part of what Charles Taylor would aptly deem the “web of interlocution” from which the original document arose, they misunderstood what was being proposed in the first place.

Having left the ELCA, grateful for the friendships and even some of the formation I enjoyed there but much more grateful to leave behind the posture of defensiveness that necessarily accompanied my ministry as a self-consciously orthodox Christian within it, I wondered actively about the idea of writing this article. I even resisted the pressure of colleagues to do so. I am a pastor of the North American Lutheran Church, and this newsletter has already featured one excellent critique by another NALC pastor, Rev. Cathy Ammlung as well as a critique by ELCA pastor, Stephen Gjerde. Both articles were detailed and incisive, so what can I add to them?

Analysis of the Introduction

Actually I can add one thing: an analysis of how the introduction of the ELCA’s proposed social statement Women and Justice represents the broader conflict of worldviews active within our culture, of which I am, indeed, still a part.

Rev. Ammlung noted in her critique numerous points on which the draft social statement was not only out of step with the Christian (and Jewish) traditions of 2000+ years, but even seemed internally incoherent, out of step with itself. Indeed, as Rev. Ammlung noted pithily, “It’s hard, though, to see in this draft how God’s revealed Word is greater than the sum of feminist, intersectional, and ‘gender/sexual justice’ language.”

Impossible

It is not hard to see—it is impossible to see, for there is no evidence to the contrary in the document, nor should we expect there to be. The constellation of “feminist, intersectional, and ‘gender/sexual justice’ language” emerges from a larger worldview wholly at variance with the Scripture’s line of sight, that of postmodernism.

Gender Feminists

In 1994, doctoral candidate in Women’s Studies at Wellesley, Christina Hoff-Somers, recognized that a foreign ideology had hijacked the equity-seeking feminism of the movement’s progenitors, separating the movement into what she deemed “equity feminists” and “gender feminists,” the latter being the product of postmodern thinking married to the aims of feminism. The feminism with which most readers will be familiar from their time as an undergraduate, on a seminary campus, or from the shriller, attention-getting voices on the nightly news is of the gender feminist lineage, which frequently claims that those Hoff-Sommers characterizes as “equity feminists” are not feminists at all, for they do not share the postmodern presuppositions that undergird their narrative and analysis.

Power

To whit, rooted in the work of theoreticians like Derrida and Foucault, postmodernism sees all social interactions (like the proposed social statement) as “word games,” and word games with only one goal: the exercise of power.

Language of Justice,
Science and Religious Truth

In such an account of the world, there is no way to discern good from evil, truth from falsehood, for all such language is merely a ruse, a “word game” to disguise the naked aggression of one person or group against another. In the view of postmodernism, we are all possessed of worldviews incommensurate with one another and irreconcilable, so our only alternative is civil war through our word games. The intersectional feminist gender-fluid activist by their own reckoning uses the language of justice, science, and religious truth but is merely a campaigner for their own peculiar position—just like everyone else.

Civil War Through
Word Games

Postmodernism allows for temporary alliances but not ultimately the pursuit of jointly-held truth or justice. Witness the growing voices within the gay community expressing relief in the fact that they came of age before the rise of transgenderism because they believe if they were coming of age now they would be forced into hormone therapy and miss out on the adult identity they now espouse. Because postmodernism believes in no higher truth or objective reality to which language correlates but only the exercise of power, it can never be more than a sophisticated exercise in narcissism, an assertion of self over-and-against everything and everyone else.

Sophisticated Narcissism

“Everyone else” necessarily includes God, of course… at least if God is purported to do anything other than underwrite our own self-perceptions and exercise of power through our word games. The postmodernist can use the language of “the Word of God,” but they cannot mean by it what Christians have historically meant—a revelation of something we could not have known without the active initiative of God. Nor can they mean by it what Lutherans have meant by it when they distinguish within that Word Law and Gospel. For both Law and Gospel reveal to us a self so impoverished and depraved it is impossible to affirm, the Law by revealing our inability to be righteous and the Gospel by revealing that we can only be saved by Christ’s righteousness, one utterly alien to ourselves.

Incoherence of
Postmodern Thought

There is a reason why the great theologian Augustine defined sin using the phrase in curvatus in se—“being turned in upon oneself.” When we turn within, seeking something affirmable by God, we cannot find our prelapsarian innocence, and what we produce is the incoherence that characterizes all postmodern thought, including the ELCA’s proposed social statement Women and Justice. The founders of postmodernism actively sought to reject the “Logo-centrism” of Western culture, that is, the logic—the coherence—born of a worldview flowing from a belief in the Logos, belief in an ordering principle within the world that does not take its cues from autonomous human actors.

God Brings Order
and Love

Of course, in the case of Christians, that Logos “became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14) God’s first act in the Book of Genesis is to call order forth from the primordial chaos, and He uses His Word to do so. The God revealed by the Scriptures is the bringer of order, of coherence.
The amazing news of the Gospel is that this bringer of order does not look upon our profound disorder—our sin—and simply destroy both it and us. In the words of one of my favorite LGBTQIA+ authors, “It is not the perfect but the imperfect who have need of love.” The Gospel is that God knew this long before Oscar Wilde and “so loved the world, that he gave his only Son”—the order-bringing Logos—“that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Order is Inherently
Hierarchical

Unfortunately, the God who brings order and coherence to not just the created order but our own lives in spite of us is necessarily antithetical to the worldview underlying the ELCA’s proposed social statement, for order is inherently hierarchical; it privileges truth over falsehood and so some narratives over others. This God also calls us away from the contemplation of ourselves—away from seeking affirmation of any sort, no matter what we find within our experience—and to the contemplation of Jesus Christ, in whom alone we are to find our un-hyphenated identity. Far from the postmodern de-legitimization of distinctions inferred by postmodern exegetes, Galatians 3:27–28 (“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”) teaches us that only Christ is acceptable to God and so we are to find our true identity in Him, not in any other identity, real or imagined.

ELCA Anti-logic

The unity gestured to by Paul as he ends this thought is not incidental. Just as the word adhere means “to stick together,” so the word cohere means “to form a whole.” The unity in justice that is to characterize the Body of Christ and claims to be sought by the ELCA’s latest social statement cannot be pursued using it as the mechanism, for its own internal logic is anti-logic; it reviles any coherence that would not privilege every self-perception and self-identification.

Viral Attack

A virus uses the body’s own self-defense system to undo an organism. The ELCA’s proposed social statement Women and Justice is necessarily incoherent because, in ways I assume its authors may not even be aware of because they have probably not read the primary texts that gave birth to postmodernism (Foucault and Derrida are, after all, inordinately difficult authors to plow through), it appropriates the language of truth and justice, sin and righteousness, Law and Gospel, and uses them virus-like to hobble and, if possible, undo the order-bringing work of God’s Word, inverting its meaning as necessary in order to serve an agenda not born of the Word itself. Women and Justice is an example of postmodernism gone viral within the Body of Christ, seeking to destroy it, and if the ELCA hopes to remain Christian in a way that will permit them to be recognized as such by other Christians not held captive to the postmodern mindset, they must not only reject it, but the worldview that informs it.

Moreover, all Christian communions functioning within the increasingly-postmodern West must be on guard against the same virus that has so deeply infected the ELCA and other mainline, revisionist Protestant bodies as well as (smaller) sections of the Roman Catholic and even Orthodox churches. It is in the water around us, and we must fortify our immune systems against it if we hope to not have our health compromised… or worse, to die as non-Christians mouthing Christian-sounding words.

Justice can and must be pursued for not just women and minorities but all people without de-privileging the truth or re-writing the Word of God. The Logos—coherence Himself—demands it.

[1] https://www.rzim.org/read/just-thinking-magazine/an-ancient-message-through-modern-means-to-a-postmodern-mind

Image [of virus attacking cell] by Darwin Laganzon from Pixabay

Photo [Protest]
by Peyton Sickles on Unsplash

by Cathy Ammlung, Secretary of the board of Lutheran CORE

The view from the front of the chapel in the Desert Retreat Center, where the training event was held, looks out on the beauty of Arizona’s Sonoran desert.

In early April we had a training event in Arizona for the Congregations in Transition ministry initiative.  We now have eight (mostly retired) Lutheran pastors who are ready to serve as coaches for congregations that are between pastors.  Another option is for the coach to begin working with a congregation even before the pastor has retired or resigned to take another call.  If you would like to know more about how one of these coaches could be of help to your congregation, please contact Don Brandt at pastordonbrandt@gmail.com or Dennis Nelson at dennisdnelsonaz@yahoo.com. 

Fear of Pastoral Vacancies

For most of my 29 years as an ordained pastor, I have served small congregations and/or congregations that had a pastoral vacancy. Even in healthy parishes with little conflict, they consistently had two major concerns. One was the fear that there might be a protracted (and possibly unsuccessful) search for a new pastor. The second was that, rather like a tire with a slow leak, the life of the congregation was going to “go flat.” Energy, commitment, contributions, and attendance would diminish. Especially in small, isolated parishes that could not obtain a full (or significantly part-time) interim pastor, maintaining the worship life, fellowship, pastoral care, and outreach of the congregation seemed like a nearly insurmountable task for the lay leadership.

Team Your Congregation with a Coach

The Congregations in Transition initiative, developed by Pastor Don Brandt and Lutheran CORE, addresses these concerns by teaming an experienced, usually retired pastoral “coach” with such a congregation. The coach helps the laity (through a Leadership Team) to confidently and competently navigate the challenges of a pastoral vacancy, to maintain the critical tasks of ministry and mission, and to thereby pave the way for a call committee to focus on its unique tasks with less distraction and stress.

Tap into God-given Gifts

The workshop I attended as a “coach in training” was challenging, packed with useful insights and information, and very helpful. I like the way it calls for coaches to develop personal relationships with a small “Leadership Team” in order to tap into their God-given gifts for leadership, decision making, spiritual growth, and Christian care for their congregation and its members. Rather than feeling helplessly adrift, the laity are empowered to be the Church, the Body of Christ, beloved of Christ and lavishly endowed by the Holy Spirit with every good gift needed to care for one another and to weather what often seems like a “time in the wilderness.”

One Small Discipleship Step

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that congregations can sometimes feel so desperate to call a pastor, any pastor, that they rush through the call process and sometimes make a bad decision. And if the process drags out, they become so discouraged that they simply drift – and some members just leave, often permanently. An experienced coach helps them understand that they really can see – and take – one small, necessary “discipleship step” after another; and each small step can strengthen their faith, prayer life, discipleship, fellowship, stewardship, and outreach. They can discern what they need to do to care for one another, proclaim the Word of God, and reach out with Jesus’ love to their neighbor. And they can redeem that in-between, interim time, to prayerfully consider what gifts a new pastor would best have to continue their growth in faith toward God, fervent love toward one another, and loving witness and outreach to their neighbors.

I hope that many Lutheran congregations will benefit from such coaching relationships and experience interims as precious seasons of growth in faithfulness, trust, and obedience to their Savior and Good Shepherd!

Lessons and Hymn Suggestions, Ash Wednesday – Easter Sunday, Cycle C

March 6, 2019 – April 22, 2019

NOTE: LBW – Lutheran Book of Worship (The Green Book)

WOV – With One Voice (The Blue Book)

LSB – Lutheran Service Book (The Maroon Book)

ELW – Evangelical Lutheran Worship (The Cranberry Book)

There are versions of some hymns that are superior in LSB and I recommend using them if possible. Also, there are some superb hymns in LSB that aren’t available in the other hymnals. When I suggest one of the latter, I try to include an alternative from LBW or WOV. I recommend that a license and DVD of downloadable hymns from LSB be purchased if you are looking to expand your hymnody. There are, in ELW, some familiar hymns that have been drastically altered, which I try to note. ELW also has some fine hymns not available in the other hymnals, or has, interestingly, a more “traditional” translation or harmonization.

Color for the day is indicated for each Sunday. Primary liturgical calendar taken from Sola Publishing (www.solapublishing.org), based on LSB. Also, I include the lessons from the standard Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) found in ELW and used in some congregations. It often overlaps the Sola/LCMS calendar lectionary, but when there are differences, I will note them.

 

Wednesday, March 6, 2019: Ash Wednesday

Joel 2:12-19 (return to the Lord with all your heart; sanctify a fast)

Psalm 51 (wash me from my sins; put a right spirit within me)

 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 (be reconciled with God; don’t let his grace be in vain; we have

            suffered for your sake

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21(fast, pray, give alms, but don’t show them off before others)

Opening Hymn: None; Psalm 51 is spoken or chanted; 

OR LBW #99, O Lord, Throughout These Forty Days (ELW #319, LSB #418)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #295, Out of the Depths I Cry to You (ELW #600)

                        (LSB #607. From Depths of Woe I Cry To You: different translation)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #304, Today Your Mercy Calls Us (LSB #915)

OR ELW #323, God Loved the World So That He Gave (tune is Rockingham Old – “When I

Survey the Wondrous Cross)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #302, Jesus, Your Blood and Righteousness

                        (LSB #563, Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness)

            OR ELW #483, Here is Bread

Closing Hymn: LBW #309, Lord Jesus, Think on Me (ELW #599; LSB #610)

OR ELW #320, The Glory of These Forty Days (tune is “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in

                        Your Word”; words attr. To Luther, very nice) (WOV #657)

 

March 10, 2019: 1^st Sunday in Lent

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 (creedal confession when giving first fruit)

Psalm 91:1-13(God will shield his Righteous One; angels will bear him up)

Romans 10:8b-13 (whether Jew or Gentile, those who believe in heart and confess with lips

that Jesus is Lord shall be saved)

Luke 4:1-13 (Jesus tempted by Satan)

Opening Hymn: ELW #325, I Want Jesus to Walk With Me (WOV #660)

            OR LBW  #312, Once He Came in Blessing (LSB #333)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #229, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

(ELW #504, stay away from 505; LSB #657)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #341, Jesus, Still Lead On (ELW #624)

            (LSB #718, Jesus, Lead Thou On)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #230, Lord, Keep Us Steadfast In Your Word (ELW #517, LSB #655)

Closing Hymn:  LSB #424, O Christ, You Walked the Road

            OR LBW #88, O Love, How Deep (especially v. 3) (ELW #322; LSB 544)

  OR

THROUGH THE TIME OF TESTING

(Words: Rev. Cathy Ammlung, STS; Tune: King’s Weston, LBW #179, “At The Name Of Jesus”)

Through the time of testing lead us, Lord, we pray.

Forge a holy people on that desert way.

Strip us from our idols, mortify our pride.

Cleave us and conform us to the Crucified.

And your mind, Christ Jesus, in our midst bestow,

We your love to offer, we your grace to show,

We your service render to your people here:

Murm’ring and rebellious, yet you count them dear.

With your Breath revive us in the wilderness.

Grant us joy, obedience, and your holiness.

Jesus’ new commandment on our hearts engrave.

Your covenant remember; and your people save!

 

March 17, 2019: 2nd Sunday in Lent

Jeremiah 26:8-15 (Jeremiah prophesies against Zion, is marked for death; urges repentance)

            RCL: Genesis 15:1-12, (13-16), 17-18 (God “cuts a covenant” with Abram)

Psalm 4 (The Lord sets apart his faithful; ponder, pray, offer sacrifice, be patient)

            RCL: Psalm 27 (The Lord is my light and salvation; I desire to see the beauty of God)

Philippians 3:17-4:1 (follow example of those who are in Christ; our citizenship is in heaven;

            stand firm in Christ who transforms us from humiliation to his glory)

Luke 13:31-35 (Jesus, like prophets before him, must die in Jerusalem; he longs to gather its

people beneath his wings)

Opening Hymn: LBW #507, How Firm a Foundation, O Saints of the Lord (ELW #796, LSB #728)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #325, Lord, Thee I Love With All My Heart (ELW #750, LSB #708)

Communion Hymn #1: WOV #741, Thy Holy Wings (ELW #613)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #474, Children of the Heavenly Father (ELW #781)

Closing Hymn: LBW #380, O Christ Our Light, Our Radiance True (ELW #675)

 

March 24, 2019: 3rd Sunday in Lent

Ezekiel 33:7-20 (you are a sentinel warning people to repent; if the evil repent, they live;

 If the righteous sin, they die; if you don’t warn, their blood is on you)

RCL: Isaiah 55:1-9: (Listen to God, eat what is good; he makes everlasting covenant;

seek him while he may be found; his Word returns fruitfully to him)

Psalm 85 (Restore us; show us your steadfast love; save us from our sin)

RCL: Psalm 63:1-8 (My soul hungers and thirsts for you; you have helped me;

 I sing for joy)

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 (avoid sin; do not put Christ to the test; God provides a means of escape

when you are tested)

Luke 13:1-9 (tower didn’t fall because the people were worse sinners than you; but if you

 do not repent, worse will happen to you. Parable of unfruitful fig tree)

Opening Hymn: LSB #614, “As Surely As I Live,” God Said (if tune is unfamiliar, this can be sung

                        to “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast”)

 OR LBW #312, Once He Came in Blessing (LSB #333)

OR ELW #733, Great is Thy Faithfulness (WOV #771, LSB #809)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #291, Jesus Sinners Will Receive (if the tune has you coughing up hairballs, you can use “Grosser Gott,” Holy God, We Praise Your Name!)

OR ELW #335, Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross

Communion Hymn #1:  LBW #304, Today Your Mercy Calls Us (LSB #915)

Communion Hymn #2:  LBW #343, Guide Me Ever, Great Redeemer (ELW #618, LSB #918)

Closing Hymn: LBW #341, Jesus, Still Lead On  (ELW #624) (LSB #718, Jesus, Lead Thou On)

 

March 31, 2019: 4th Sunday in Lent

Isaiah 12:1-6 (With joy you will draw from waters of salvation and praise the Lord)

RCL: Joshua 5:9-12 (After circumcision, Israelites keep first Passover in Promised Land)

Psalm 32 (happy are they whose transgression is forgiven & whose sin God covers; accept his instruction and live)

2 Corinthians 5:16-21 (God has given us the ministry of reconciliation in Christ)

Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 (Parable of the Prodigal Son)

Opening Hymn: LBW #465, Evening and Morning (ELW #761, LSB #726)

Hymn of the Day: WOV #733, Our Father, We Have Wandered (ELW #606)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #448, Amazing Grace (ELW #779, LSB #744)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #385, What Wondrous Love Is This (ELW #666, LSB #543)

Closing Hymn: LBW #447, All Depends on Our Possessing (ELW #589, LSB #732)

 

April 7, 2019: 5^th Sunday in Lent

Isaiah 43:16-21(God announces his new work; the wilderness shall be a place of refreshment) Psalm 126 (God restored fortunes of Zion; those who sowed with weeping shall harvest with joy)

Philippians 3:4b-14 (All is rubbish, compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ my God)

Luke 20:9-20 (Parable of the wicked tenants of the vineyard)

            RCL: John 12:1-8 (Mary, Lazarus’s sister, anoints Jesus with oil)

Opening Hymn: LBW #369, The Church’s One Foundation (ELW #654)

Hymn of the Day: : LBW #482, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (ELW #803, LSB #435, 426)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #104, In the Cross of Christ I Glory (ELW #324, LSB #427)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #298, One There Is, Above All Others

 OR LBW #514, O Savior, Precious Savior (ELW #820, LSB #527)

Closing Hymn: LBW #294, My Hope is Built on Nothing Less (ELW #596, 597; LSB #575, 576)

 

April 14, 2019: Palm/Passion Sunday

Processional Gospel: John 12:12-19 (Triumphal entry into Jerusalem)

            RCL: Luke 19:28-40 (Triumphal entry into Jerusalem)

Deuteronomy 32:36-39 (There is no god apart from Me who can save you)

            RCL: Isaiah 50: 4-9a (The Lord opens my ear, helped me. Who will contend with me?)

Psalm 31:9-16 (Psalm of deep lament and distress – and trust in God)

Philippians 2:5-11 (Christ has humbled himself and become obedient unto death,

even death on a Cross)

Luke 22:39-23:56 (from Gethsemane to Golgotha; Passion narrative)

Opening Hymn: LBW #108, All Glory, Laud and Honor (ELW #344, LSB #442)

Hymn Prior to Reading of Passion: LBW #115, Jesus, I Will Ponder Now (ELW #345, #440)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #117, O Sacred Head, Now Wounded (ELW #351, LSB #449)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #114, There Is A Green Hill Far Away

OR ELW #341, Now Behold the Lamb

Communion Hymn #2: WOV #740, Jesus, Remember Me (ELW #616, LSB #767)

Closing Hymn: LBW #121, Ride On, Ride On in Majesty (ELW #346, LSB #441)

 

Thursday, April 18, 2019: Maundy Thursday

Jeremiah 31:31-34 (new covenant; God writes his law upon the heart)

            RCL: Exodus 12:1-14 (The Passover)

Psalm 116:12-19(I will take up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord;

 precious in his sight is the death of his faithful servant)

Hebrews 10:15-25 (we have confidence through blood of Jesus to enter God’s holy sanctuary)

            RCL: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (Holy Communion; words of institution)

Luke 22:7-20 (the Last Supper)

Opening Hymn, or During Foot-washing: LBW #126, Where Charity and Love Prevail

(ELW #359, LSB #845)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #199, Thee We Adore, O Hidden Savior (LSB #640)

            (ELW #476, Thee We Adore, O Savior, God Most True)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #109, Go to Dark Gethsemane (ELW #347, LSB #436)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #226, Draw Near and Take the Body of the Lord

            OR LBW #224, Soul Adorn Yourself With Gladness (ELW #488, LSB #636)

Closing Hymn: if there is one, consider LBW #106, In the Hour of Trial; otherwise,

if the altar is being stripped, chant Psalm 22

 

Friday, April 19, 2019: Good Friday

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 (the Suffering Servant, by whose wounds we are healed)

Psalm 22 (My God, My God, why have you forsaken me….)

Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9 (we have a great High Priest, tested as we are in all things

yet without sin; by his perfect obedience and suffering, we receive salvation)

John 18:1-19:42 (the Passion)

Hymn of the Day: WOV #668, There in God’s Garden (ELW #342)

            OR LBW #111, Lamb of God, Pure and Sinless (ELW #357)

Other hymn: LBW #123, Ah, Holy Jesus (ELW #349)

 

Saturday, April 20, 2019: The Vigil of Easter

Service of Readings: There are twelve all together. If you decide to do seven or four, choose from the following; however, those in boldface must be read; and the final canticle, “All you works of the Lord” is always read after the final lesson. Where appointed, a responsorial psalm/canticle is also noted in parentheses. Where one is not noted, I have indicated a hymn that may be sung instead.

1. Genesis 1:1-2:2 or Genesis 1:1-3:24

Hymn:LBW #540, Praise the Lord! O Heavens adore him (ELW #823)

OR LBW # 372, In Adam We Have All Been One (LSB #569)

1. Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18; 8:6-18; 9:8-13

Hymn: WOV #741, Thy Holy Wings (ELW #613)

OR LBW #334. Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me, (ELW #755, LSB #715)

1. Exodus 14:10-15:1a or Exodus 13:17-15:1a

LBW Canticle 19, The Song of Moses and Miriam

1. Isaiah 55:1-11

Psalm 33:1-11 OR LBW #232, Thy Word, O Lord, Like Gentle Dew

OR ELW #510, Word of God, Come Down on Earth (WOV #716, LSB #545)

1. Ezekiel 37

 Psalm 30

1. Isaiah 4:2-6

The Song of the Vineyard, from Isaiah 5

1. Daniel 3:1-29

LBW Canticle 18: All You Works of the Lord, Bless the Lord

OR LBW #527, All Creatures of Our God and King

(ELW #835, All Creatures, Worship God Most High)

Readings for the Service of Holy Communion:

Romans 6:1-11 (we are baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection)

Luke 24:1-12 (the women come to the empty tomb)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #189, We Know That Christ is Raised and Dies No More

(ELW #449, LSB #603)

Communion Hymn #1: LBW #148, Now the Green Blade Rises (ELW #379)

Communion Hymn #2: WOV #671, Alleluia, Alleluia, Give Thanks to the Living Lord

            OR ELW #377, Alleluia! Jesus is Risen! (WOV #674, LSB #474)

Closing Hymn: WOV #676, This Joyful Eastertide (ELW #391, LSB #482)

 

April 21, 2019: Easter Day, the Resurrection of Our Lord

Easter Sunrise Lessons:

Job 19:23-27 (I know that my Redeemer lives!)

Psalm 118:15-29 (The right hand of the Lord has triumphed; this is the Lord’s doing;

 this is the day the Lord has made)

1 Corinthians 15:51-57 (we shall not all die, but we shall all be changed;

the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible)

John 20:1-18 (the women at the tomb; Peter and John; Mary Magdalene and Jesus)

 

Easter Day Lessons:

Isaiah 65:17-25 (God promises new heaven and earth; people will live long and prosper;

  nothing shall hurt or destroy on his holy mountain)

Psalm 16 (you do not give me up to Sheol, nor let your holy one see the Pit)

RCL: Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 (Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; I shall not die but live,

and declare the works of the Lord)

1 Corinthians 15:19-26 (if Christ not raised, we are pitiable fools; but he has been raised,

as shall we be!)

Luke 24:1-12 (the women at the empty tomb)

 

Hymn selections are for main services of the day, not the sunrise service

 

Opening Hymn: LBW #151, Jesus Christ is Risen Today (ELW #365, LSB #457)

Hymn of the Day: LBW #134, Christ Jesus Lay in Death’s Strong Bands (ELW #370, LSB #458)

Communion Hymn #1: WOV #671, Alleluia, Alleluia, Give Thanks to the Living Lord

            OR ELW #377, Alleluia! Jesus is Risen! (WOV #674, LSB #474)

Communion Hymn #2: LBW #352, I Know that My Redeemer Lives (ELW #619, LSB #461)

Closing Hymn: LBW #145, Thine is the Glory (ELW #376)