Pentecost 15 Worship Service | 9-10-23
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
PENTECOST 15
09-10-2023 10:00AM “Hybrid” Worship
+ We Rejoice in the Spirit +
THE OPENING RITE OF CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS:
L Where two or three gather in the name of Jesus…
C He’s right here with us!
L He’s right here with us to remind us of God’s love for us…
C He’s right here with us to tell us to love one another!
L Especially when we seek to hear God’s Word and to put that Word into practice…
C He’s right here with us!
L Even when feathers are ruffled and egos are bruised and some of us are angry and alienated…
C He’s right here with us!
L Especially when we are genuine in giving our words and our embraces when we share our Lord’s peace…
C He’s right here with us!
L Whenever we refuse to nurse a grudge, keep a score, seek a payback, or walk away forever…
C He’s right here with us!
L Especially when we offer and ask forgiveness, when we seek and practice reconciliation…
C He’s right here with us!
L Even when our lives are crumbled in disarray and our world is reeling and vulnerable…
C He’s right here with us!
L Whenever we seek to show and tell the Good News of God’s love to all our neighbors, near and far…
C He’s right here with us!
L In our believing, in our thanking and our praising, in our obeying and our serving, in our living and even our dying…
C He’s right here with us!
L Praise the Lord, glory to God, right here, right now, as we gather together in the Body of Christ, the family of faith…
C He’s right here with us, Alleluia!
OPENING SONG: “O HOW I LOVE JESUS” Brown #250
PRAYER OF THE DAY:
O Lord, St. Paul writes that the main quality of a Christian is this:
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
God loved us to save us, and God saved us to love others.
Help us to live for God and for others rather than for ourselves.
In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
+ We Rejoice in God’s Saving Word +
FIRST READING: EZEKIEL 33:7-11
[The prophetic responsibility is to “tell it like it is” and to live it how “it oughta be”. It is not a choice whether to be right, think right, say right, and do right!]
33:7 So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.
33:8 If I say to the wicked, “O wicked ones, you shall surely die,” and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand.
33:9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.
33:10 Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: “Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?”
33:11 Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?
SONG SELECTION
SECOND READING: ROMANS 13:8-14
[The Christian obligation is to love one another, seeking the highest good for our neighbor, staying centered in our love for Christ. Keep on loving because there’s nothing else to live for!]
13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
13:9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.
13:11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;
13:12 the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;
13:13 let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.
13:14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
WOMEN’S DAY TEMPLE TALK: Our theme will be “Breaking the Chains of Silence!”
GOSPEL VERSE:
“There is strength in the name of the Lord…
There is power in the name of the Lord…
There is hope in the name of the Lord…
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
HOLY GOSPEL: MATTHEW 18:15-20
[The vital ministry of reconciliation within the faith community. Keep learning and trying to love!]
18:15 “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.
18:16 But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.
18:17 If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
18:18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
18:19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.
18:20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
THE SERMON: Pastor Neil or Pastor Gwen
SONG RESPONSE: “JESUS LOVES ME” Brown #248
THE PRAYERS… We pray for NEW LIFE in the Spirit and for the MISSION of the Church to the world!
+ We Rejoice in God’s Nourishing Meal +
THE OFFERING… May the Spirit of God within us guide us to grateful, generous, and fruitful discipleship!
SONG SELECTION
THE OFFERTORY SONG:
“More about Jesus would I know, more of his grace to others show,
More of his saving fullness see, more of his love who died for me.
MORE, MORE ABOUT JESUS… MORE, MORE ABOUT JESUS…
MORE OF HIS SAVING FULLNESS SEE, MORE OF HIS LOVE WHO DIED FOR ME.
More about Jesus let me learn, more of his holy will discern;
Spirit of God, my Teacher be, showing the things of Christ to me.”
OFFERING PRAYER (see PHILIPPIANS 3:10-11) led by the Communion Assistant.
Dear God, I want to know Christ inside and out. I want to experience the power of his resurrection and join him in his suffering. I want to be like him in his death and be raised like him from death. As I grow in the grace of Christ, make me strong in my faith, bold in my witness, and fervent in my servant-love. There is no better life than life in Christ! Amen.
THE PREFACE:
L The Lord be with you. C And also with you.
L Lift up your hearts! C We lift them up in love for God!
L Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. C It is right to give God our thanks and praise.
L We are the Body of Christ! C His Spirit is in us! Alleluia!
L [continues the Preface]… we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
C [singing…] “Holy, holy, holy, holy,
holy, holy, Lord God Almighty!
and we lift our hearts before you as a token of our love,
holy, holy, holy, holy.
Precious Jesus, precious Jesus,
We’re so glad that you redeemed us, precious Jesus…
Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit,
come and fill our hearts anew, O Holy Spirit…”
THE EUCHARISTIC WORDS by the Celebrant, who recalls and re-enacts Jesus’ Holy Meal.
THE LORD’S PRAYER (spoken)
COMMUNION AND BLESSINGS… All believers in Jesus Christ are welcome at the Lord’s Table! The wine may be received from the pouring chalice; we also have grape juice on the tray. You can receive God’s peace, power, and promises for true life!
COMMUNION SONGS: Brown #119 Brown #155
THE COMMUNION BLESSING by the Celebrant after all have communed.
POST-COMMUNION PRAYER by the Communion Assistant.
+ We Rejoice in Our Mission +
THE BENEDICTION by the Pastor…We are sent forth to be and become the BODY OF CHRIST for the world!
CLOSING SONG: “I LOVE TO TELL THE STORY” Brown #228