Pentecost Twenty Worship Service Bulletin
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
PENTECOST 20.
10-23-2022 10:00AM Hybrid Worship
+ We Are Called to Worship +
OPENING SONG: “Amazing Grace” Tan #271
AN OPENING RITE OF CONFESSION:
L In the glory of the God who has gifted us with life,
In the grace of Jesus (+) who has saved our lives,
In the glow of the Holy Spirit who lives within us and among us,
C Amen! We gather to worship God with humble hearts, ready minds, and willing hands.
L God, whose love is everlasting, welcomes heartless “saints” and hopeless “sinners” into new faith and new life.
Let us prepare to worship God by telling the truth about our lives.
C Gracious God, it’s difficult for me to admit sometimes, but I confess that I am a sinner.
I might not always look like a sinner, but I am a sinner.
I might not always talk like a sinner, but I am a sinner.
I might not always act like a sinner, but I am a sinner.
Forgive me for the evil I have done and for the good I have failed to do.
Forgive me my faulty attitudes, thoughts, and values that pervert and oppose your will.
Forgive me for thinking that I am either too worthy or too worthless to beg for your mercy.
God, be merciful to me, a sinner! Amen.
L Brothers and sisters, we are saved, justified, and made right with God, not by our own efforts at righteousness, but rather by God’s grace. God is gracious to all those who have no means of helping themselves, who are utterly dependent upon God’s mercy ~ and aren’t we all? Your sins are forgiven through (+) the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now live as God’s humble and obedient child. Amen.
THE PRAYER OF THE DAY:
Let us pray.
Dear God, your grace truly is AMAZINNG!
Help us to trust in your power and not our own.
Like the prophet Jeremiah, we want to set our hope on you.
We offer you our humility, our gratitude, our faithful living, our fervent loving. Amen.
+ We Open Ears and Hearts to God’s Word +
FIRST READING: JEREMIAH 14:7-10, 19-22 [True confessions… a plea for mercy… hope that is set in God.]
14:7 Although our iniquities testify against us, act, O LORD, for your name’s sake; our apostasies indeed are many, and we have sinned against you.
14:8 O hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler turning aside for the night?
14:9 Why should you be like someone confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot give help? Yet you, O LORD, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not forsake us!
14:10 Thus says the LORD concerning this people: Truly they have loved to wander, they have not restrained their feet; therefore the LORD does not accept them, now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.
14:19 Have you completely rejected Judah? Does your heart loathe Zion? Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us? We look for peace, but find no good; for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.
14:20 We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, the iniquity of our ancestors, for we have sinned against you.
14:21 Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us.
14:22 Can any idols of the nations bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Is it not you, O LORD our God? We set our hope on you, for it is you who do all this.
SONG SELECTION: All Saints Choir
SECOND READING: 2 TIMOTHY 4:6-8, 16-18 [Final words in the face of death: “I tried to be faithful, I trust God.”]
4:6 As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come.
4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
4:8 From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
4:16 At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them!
4:17 But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.
4:18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
GOSPEL VERSE:
“I really love the Lord… I really love the Lord!
You don’t know what He’s done for me, gave me the victory.
I love Him, I love Him… I really love the Lord!” (repeat)
THE HOLY GOSPEL: LUKE 18:9-14 [NO ONE deserves God’s mercy… NO ONE earns it.]
18:9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:
18:10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
18:11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
18:12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’
18:13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
THE SERMON: Pastor Neil or Pastor Gwen
SONG RESPONSE: “Until I Found the Lord” Tan #454
THE PRAYERS… We pray for NEW LIFE in the Spirit and the MISSION of the Church in the world!
+ We Share God’s Holy Meal +
OFFERING OF TITHES (10% giving) AND GIFTS… Transformed by God’s loving grace, we no longer think only of ourselves. Instead, we learn to give of ourselves on behalf of others.
SONG SELECTION: All Saints Choir
THE OFFERTORY SONG: (Tan #565)
“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):
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 AND THE EUCHARISTIC WORDS:
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!
THE EUCHARISTIC WORDS by the Celebrant, who recalls and re-enacts Jesus’ Holy Meal.
THE LORD’S PRAYER (together)
COMMUNION AND BLESSINGS… All believers in Jesus Christ are welcome at the Lord’s Table! We will have “continuous distribution” with wafers and either wine or grape juice. Praise the Lord for this community meal that renews our spirits, powers our faith, and reminds us of the future heavenly banquet that awaits us!
COMMUNION SONG: “I Will Bless Thee, O Lord” Tan #530
COMMUNION SONG: “Just As I Am” Tan #345
THE COMMUNION BLESSING by the Celebrant after all have communed.
POST-COMMUNION PRAYER by the Communion Assistant.
+ We Are Sent into God’s World +
THE BENEDICTION by the Pastor… We are sent forth in the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT to testify, baptize, and teach!
CLOSING SONG: “Walking Up the King’s Highway” Tan #402
+
We welcome all who have come to worship!
Join our family, share God’s love, and grow in discipleship.