Pentecost Seven Worship Bulletin | 7-16-23
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
PENTECOST 7
07-16-2023 10:00AM “Hybrid” Worship
+ We Rejoice in the Spirit +
OPENING SONG: “COME, THOU FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING” Brown #108
THE OPENING RITE:
L Church, today we are invited to think about God as a Great Sower and Life-Giver who lovingly, patiently, and hopefully drops a tiny kernel of his word upon each of us. God looks and longs for us to be good soil for the seed that is offered. God waits and hopes for us to respond with strong roots, healthy growth, and fruitful results. But it doesn’t always develop as it might. And so let us confess…
C O Lord, I am sometimes like hardened ground and sometimes like shallow ground and sometimes like thorny ground when your word arrives in my life. Life’s troubles and tribulations dry up my faith, and my attraction to this world’s fading treasures and fleeting pleasures choke my faith out. So I don’t always think, speak, or act in a way that accepts and responds to your love. Forgive my frail and human ways, and cultivate in me a spirit of greater trust and faithfulness. Give me new birth, new life, a message to tell, and a witness to show as one who is full of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
L The good news is this, offered by St. Paul: “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
God forgives you (+) for your past failings and fears, and God waters your soul in its parched and hardened places.
Come alive once more! Shout and sing your praises! Be fruitful in thought, word, and deed! Amen now, Amen always!
PRAYER OF THE DAY (together):
Gardener of Creation, we offer you our thanks for planting the seed of your word in us.
Help us to be open to your Holy Spirit as you till, fertilize, and water us.
We want to be part of your beautiful garden of love, justice, and mercy.
Nurture and guide us to bear much fruit in the seasons of life you have given each and all of us. Amen.
+ We Rejoice in God’s Saving Word +
FIRST READING: ISAIAH 55:10-13
[God’s Word is like rain watering the dry earth – restoring and renewing us.]
55:10 For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
55:11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
55:12 For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
55:13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
SECOND READING: ROMANS 8:1-11
[God’s Living Word, Jesus, is freedom from condemnation, new life for us sinners.]
8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
8:3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
8:4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
8:6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
8:7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law–indeed it cannot,
8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
8:9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
8:10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
8:11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
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 13:1-9, 18-23
[God’s Word is a seed of good news bearing good results – when we are the right soil.]
13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.
13:2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach.
13:3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow.
13:4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up.
13:5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil.
13:6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away.
13:7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
13:8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
13:9 Let anyone with ears listen!”
13:18 “Hear then the parable of the sower.
13:19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path.
13:20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
13:21 yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away.
13:22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.
13:23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
SONG SELECTION: ALL SAINTS CHOIR
THE SERMON: Pastor Gwen or Pastor Neil
SONG RESPONSE: “LORD, LET MY HEART BE GOOD SOIL” Brown #131
Lord, let my heart be good soil, open to the seed of your Word.
Lord, let my heart be good soil, where love can grow and peace is understood.
When my heart is hard, break the stone away.
When my heart is cold, warm it with the day.
When my heart is lost, lead me on your way.
Lord, let my heart, Lord, let my heart, Lord, let my heart be good soil.
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: 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: Brown #234 Brown #283
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: “JESUS IN THE MORNING” Brown #167