Second Sunday of Lent Worship Bulletin | 3-5-23

St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church 

SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT

Women’s History Month

03-05-2023     10:00AM “Hybrid” Worship

 

+   Repentance Through God’s Mercy   +

CONFESSION OF OUR SINS:    Pastor Gwen + Congregation

L   In the name of the Father, (+) the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

My sisters and brothers, sometimes we are just like Nicodemus, the Jewish Pharisee who went to meet Jesus in the night… sometimes our religion is stale, boring, and lifeless… sometimes we realize that we have drifted away from God.

Do you sincerely want to get back on track? If so, God will help you. With humility and honesty, let us pray…

C     Gracious God, I am going through the motions but don’t always have the inner motivation.

I have the patterns of religion but not the power of faith.

I have the ritual of the same old liturgies, hymns, sermons, and sanctuary seat but not the Spirit.

I sense that something is not right in my relationship with You.

I need a personal re-introduction to Jesus Christ.

O God, open my wilting heart to the fresh winds of your Holy Spirit.

O God, revitalize my dryness with the wet drops of your grace.

I want to be reborn, renewed, refreshed, and rededicated in my walk with Christ.  Amen.

L   Brothers and sisters, the God who has given us life offers us a new birth, a new way to live. God so loved the world that Jesus came to live among us and was willing to die for us. In the name and for the sake of (+) Christ, I say to you who repent: All your sins are forgiven. Be re-born! Come alive! Live as God’s people in the world. And make your love for God your first priority. Today. Right now. Amen.

OPENING SONG:     “To God Be the Glory”       Brown #264

THE PRAYER OF THE DAY: Congregation

Let us pray. O God, I am both excited and scared by your invitation to trust You enough to follow You, and to love You enough to serve You. May I always look to Jesus for strength, for courage, and for new life.  Amen.

+   Renewal Through God’s Word   +

FIRST READINGGenesis 12:1 – 4a  [Abram and Sarai begin a journey in the promise of God – with trust!]     Madison

12:1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

12:2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

12:4a So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him.

SECOND READING:  Romans 4:1-5, 13-17  [Abraham did not earn a prize but received a gift – by faith!] Valerie Taylor Samuel

4:1 What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh?

4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

4:3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.”

4:4 Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due.

4:5 But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.

4:13 For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith.

4:14 If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.

4:15 For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.

4:16 For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us,

4:17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”) — in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

SONG VERSE:  

“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 GOSPELJohn 3:1-17  [God’s wind/spirit of a new birth to new life – in Christ!]        Riana

3:1 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.

3:2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.”

3:3 Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”

3:4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”

3:5 Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.

3:6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

3:7 Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’

3:8 The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

3:9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”

3:10 Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

3:11 “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony.

3:12 If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?

3:13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.

3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

3:15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

3:17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

SONG SELECTION: All Saints Choir 

THE SERMON:       Pastor Gwen or Pastor Neil

SONG RESPONSE: “Lift Him Up”                   Brown #227

A CONFESSION OF FAITH (PSALM 121):   Congregation

I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come?

My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

The Lord will not let your foot be moved, nor will the one who watched over you fall asleep.

Behold, the keeper of Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you; the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord will preserve you from all evil and will keep your life.

The Lord will watch over your going out and your coming in, from this time forth forevermore.  Amen.

THE PRAYERS…  We pray that THE WAY OF THE CROSS will continue to impact our lives and transform the world! Micah Gillum

+   Revival Through God’s Meal   +

THE OFFERING   [Are you ready to be led into the adventure of a deeper faith that trusts enough to respond to God’s challenge of living and giving?]

SONG SELECTION: All Saints Choir

THE OFFERTORY SONG: “I Know It Was the Blood”         Brown #75

  • I know it was the blood… I know it was the blood… I know it was the blood for me.

One day when I was lost, he died upon the cross… I know it was the blood for me.

  1. It was my Savior’s blood…      (3)   They pierced him in the side…      (4)   He’s coming back again…

OFFERING PRAYER (from PSALM 51) led by the Communion Assistant:      Linda Gillum

     Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

     Do not cast me away from your presence, or take your Holy Spirit from me.

     Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain me with your bountiful spirit.

     Then I will teach other sinners your ways; and I will eagerly sing of your goodness.  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   The Lord delivers us from sin and death… C   … and grants us salvation and eternal life!                  

THE EUCHARISTIC WORDS by the Celebrant, who recalls and re-enacts Jesus’ Holy Meal.

THE LORD’S PRAYER  (spoken)

COMMUNION AND BLESSINGSAll believers in Christ are welcome at the Lord’s Table!  We will have       “continuous distribution” with wafers and either wine or grape juice. CHRIST IS PRESENT IN BREAD AND WINE – HIS OWN BODY AND BLOOD – TO SAVE YOU FROM YOURSELF! 

    COMMUNION SONGS:        Brown #128        Brown #195       

THE COMMUNION BLESSING by the Celebrant after all have communed.

POST-COMMUNION PRAYER by the Communion Assistant.     Lisa Tillison

+   Righteousness Through God’s Spirit   +

THE BENEDICTION by the Pastor… God calls us to “return home” to faithful discipleship! 

CLOSING SONG: “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me”         Brown #66

  • I want Jesus to walk with me… I want Jesus to walk with me.

All along my pilgrim journey, Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.

  1. In my trials, Lord, walk with me… In my trials, Lord, walk with me.

When my heart is almost breaking, Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.

  • When I’m in trouble, Lord, walk with me… When I’m in trouble, Lord, walk with me.

When my head is bowed in sorrow, Lord, I want Jesus to walk with me.

       GIVE…    to realign yourself with others.

                          PRAY…   to realign yourself with God.

                                      FAST…    to realign yourself with self.