Reformation Sunday Worship Bulletin
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Reformation Sunday – Coronavirus
10-31-2021 10:00AM Zoom Worship
OPENING SONG: “A MIGHTY FORTRESS IS OUR GOD” Brown #133
THE OPENING RITE (based on PSALM 46):
L Our great and gracious God is still our Refuge and still our Strength.
God knows all about our troubles and our fears, our sin and our sorrow,
the hells that surround us and the hells that inhabit our minds…
C But God will not abandon us!
God is right there with us, still our Refuge, still our Strength.
L When we feel like we’ve got nowhere to go, no place to call home…
C God is right there with us, still our Refuge, still our Strength.
L The earth shakes and trembles, the mountains rattle and roll, storms rage and winds swirl, waters crash and rise…
C But God is still our Refuge, a very present help when we feel adrift.
L Nations in an uproar, kingdoms seeking to annihilate one another, and peace is only a fleeting dream…
C It doesn’t matter… God is still our Strength when everything seems so wrong.
L Violence in our communities, violence in our world, hurt and hate seem out of control…
C God is our Refuge, God is our Strength even when we are in a moment of terror.
L The pandemic of COVID, the pandemic of systemic racism, so many broken lives and broken dreams…
C But I will not stop believing that God is with us, still our Refuge, still our Strength.
L Depressed, distressed, disturbed, and desperate…
C I trust that God will be my Refuge.
L Troubled and tried, guilty and afraid, and empty of chances…
C I still hold on to God as my Strength.
L I’m gonna calm myself down for a minute or two, take a deep breath, and think on God.
I’m going to remember God’s love and consider God’s promises
C I will not fear, I will not panic, I will not give in or give up,
because God is here among us, our refuge, our strength, and our salvation! HALLELUJAH
THE PRAYER OF THE DAY (together):
Gracious God, we thank you for the gift of our life,
we thank you for the gift of your mercy and love,
we thank you for the gift of Jesus Christ,
we thank you for saving us, for freeing us,
we thank you for the gift of your community of faith, the Church,
we thank you for the unity, power, and guidance of the Holy Spirit in and among us,
and we pray that we may stay free and faithful and fervent in the gospel of Christ,
living in his truth, today and tomorrow, always and forever, Amen.
FIRST READING: JEREMIAH 31:31-34 [God’s new covenant – abiding love written on the hearts of the people.]
31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord.
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
SECOND READING: ROMANS 3:19-28 [God’s salvation – unearned grace to undeserving sinners, received by faith.]
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
20 For “no human being will be justified in his sight” by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
21 But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets,
22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ[a] for all who believe. For there is no distinction,
23 since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
24 they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
25 whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed;
26 it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith.
28 For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.
GOSPEL VERSE:
“To God be the glory… to God be the glory…
to God be the glory for the thing he has done!
With his blood God has saved me…
with his power God has raised me…
to God be the glory for the things he has done!”
HOLY GOSPEL: JOHN 8:31-36 [God’s liberation – freed by Christ, no longer slaves to sin.]
31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples;
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.
35 The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever.
36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
THE SERMON: Pastor Neil or Pastor Gwen
SONG SELECTION
AN AFFIRMATION OF OUR FAITH:
We believe that God has created this world,
has created humanity,
has created each of us.
We believe that God so loved the world,
so loved all people,
so loved us,
that God gave Jesus, the Son, to save us from sin and death,
to save us from the ways of this world and the Devil in it,
to save us from ourselves.
We believe that Jesus suffered for us in his living,
sacrificed for us in his dying, and
was raised for us in resurrection victory.
We believe that the resurrection victory of Jesus is our resurrection victory,
our only hope and salvation, and
our invitation to new, abundant, and everlasting life.
We believe that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
OFFERING… By God’s grace and our response of gratitude and generosity, we are by nature a sharing people. So let us bless others both near and far away with our gifts of time, talent, and treasure.
THE OFFERTORY SONG:
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 your 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!”
OFFERING PRAYER:
O Lord our God,
it is a great privilege and a great responsibility to be your people, and we thank you for loving and calling us! As one family of faith, we offer our various gifts in the service of Christ. Transform our self-centeredness into compassionate outreach. Help us to rejoice with those who rejoice, to weep with those who weep, and to overcome evil with good. Amen.
MUSIC SELECTION: “THE CHURCH’S ONE FOUNDATION”, verses 1,2,4 Dennis Fortune
THE PRAYERS… We pray for NEW LIFE in the Spirit and for the MISSION of the Church to the world!
THE LORD’S PRAYER
SONG SELECTION
THE BENEDICTION… We are sent forth to be and become the BODY OF CHRIST for the world!