Pentecost 5 Worship Bulletin | 7-2-23
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
PENTECOST 5 / U.S. Independence Weekend
07-02-2023 10:00AM “Hybrid” Worship
+ We Rejoice in the Spirit +
OPENING SONG: “O GOD, OUR HELP IN AGES PAST” Tan #170
THE OPENING RITE (based on PSALM 89):
L Always and forever, O Lord!
Always and forever I will sing and shout about, I will praise and proclaim your steadfast love!
C Always and forever, O Lord!
Always and forever you are loving, you are kind, you are faithful to your people!
L Always and forever, O Lord!
Always and forever I will walk in the light of your presence, I will rejoice daily in your name!
C Always and forever, O Lord!
Always and forever you are my strength and my shield, my peace and my promise!
L Always and forever, O Lord!
Always and forever I will seek your will and serve you with an obedient heart!
C But sometimes, O Lord, I might not be so holy and righteous and obedient.
Sometimes, O Lord, I might sin and fail.
Will you be angry with me forever?
Will you punish me always?
L The Lord answers,
“If they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands,
I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with the whip.
But I will not take my love from them, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness.
I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that my lips have uttered.”
THE PRAYER OF THE DAY (together):
Almighty God, here we are, flesh and blood, spirit and life – created, redeemed, and empowered by your love! Because you have freed us from the power of sin and death, help us live faithful lives of mercy and justice. Teach us to overcome fear with hope, to meet hate with love, to welcome little ones with cups of cold water.
Amen.
+ We Rejoice in God’s Saving Word +
FIRST READING: JEREMIAH 28:5-9
[Jeremiah vs. Hananiah. Two prophets proclaiming the Word of the Lord. One speaks of God’s judgement, of submitting to the invaders and accepting the punishment it brings. The other speaks glowingly of God’s love and mercy and promises an imminent deliverance from the threat of Babylon, lasting peace, and a restoration to national greatness. Only one can be speaking truth – God’s word – for that moment in history.]
28:5 Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD;
28:6 and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the LORD do so; may the LORD fulfill the words that you have prophesied, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the LORD, and all the exiles.
28:7 But listen now to this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people.
28:8 The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms.
28:9 As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet.”
SECOND READING: ROMANS 6:12-23
[Paul asserts that sin is an enslaving power that motivates us to live self-serving and disobedient lives. Sin’s final payoff is death. In Christ, however, we have been set free from sin’s slavery to live obediently under God’s grace, whose end is the free gift of eternal life.]
6:12 Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.
6:13 No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.
6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
6:15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
6:17 But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted,
6:18 and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
6:19 I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.
6:20 When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
6:21 So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death.
6:22 But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life.
6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
GOSPEL VERSE:
“There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place, and I know that it’s the Spirit of the Lord.
There are sweet expressions on each face, and I know they feel the presence of the Lord.
SWEET HOLY SPIRIT, SWEET HEAVENLY DOVE, STAY RIGHT HERE WITH US, FILLING US WITH YOU LOVE.
AND FOR THESE BLESSINGS WE LIFT OUR HEARTS IN PRAISE. WITHOUT A DOUBT WE’LL KNOW THAT
WE HAVE BEEN REVIVED WHEN WE SHALL LEAVE THIS PLACE!”
HOLY GOSPEL: MATTHEW 10:40-42
[Last Sunday, Jesus warned his disciples then and now that their ministry in his name will surely meet with persecution and hardships. This week, he promises to reward those who aid his followers and support his ministry.]
10:40 “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
10:41 Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous;
10:42 and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple — truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
SONG SELECTION: ALL SAINTS CHOIR
THE SERMON: Pastor Gwen or Pastor Neil
SONG RESPONSE: “GOD IS A WONDER TO MY SOUL” Tan #132
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… Forgiven and blessed, let us be generous and compassionate in sharing God’s love in our world!
SONG SELECTION: ALL SAINTS CHOIR
THE OFFERTORY SONG:
“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.
THIS IS MY STORY, THIS IS MY SONG,
PRAISING MY SAVIOR ALL THE DAY LONG! [sing the chorus 2 times]
We are God’s people, we are Christ’s Church, called by God’s Spirit into the world.
We have God’s power from heaven above, we’ll share God’s justice, mercy and love!”
OFFERING PRAYER led by the Communion Assistant:
Lord God, we thank you for making a way out of no way in our life! During this summer may we dedicate our leisure and our work, our rest and our travel, our service and our spending, our health and our wealth, our worship and our witness to glorify You and to extend your Kingdom to others. Someone somewhere is in need of your Good News. 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 Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful… C … and set us on fire with your love! 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: Tan #686 Tan #441
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
CLOSING SONG: “GOD NEVER FAILS” Tan #159