Third Sunday in Lent Worship Service
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
THIRD SUNDAY IN LENT – Coronavirus
WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
03-07-2021 10:00AM Worship
+ Repentance Through God’s Mercy +
CONFESSION OF OUR SINS:
L Let us gather to ponder the wisdom and law of God.
Let us draw near to share in God’s strength and power.
Let us admit our failure to hear and obey God by what we have done and by what we have left undone.
[Silence for reflection.] Let us confess….
C Eternal God, I confess that I am only human, created by you.
I have come from dust, and someday I will return to dust. My physical life on earth will end.
Eternal God, I confess that I am also a sinner.
My thoughts and my words, my attitudes and my actions all reveal my failures. I pray for your mercy.
Eternal God, I confess that I am also an unsure saint.
I sometimes look for an easier gospel, a lighter cross, a less demanding Savior, and a cheaper ticket to heaven. I need your renewal as I seek to be faithful.
Here I am, Lord. Forgive my sins. Revive my spirit. Give me new life. Please! Amen.
L This is the truth: God has commanded “do not” and we have done. God has decreed “do” and we have not.
Yet it is always God who delivers us from our old habits and destructive ways, our sin and our failings.
And how has God saved us from our slavery to sin?
By the apparent foolishness of the cross of (+) Jesus Christ, we are gifted with forgiveness and grace and new life.
Thanks be to God!
OPENING SONG: “Come and Go with Me”
THE PRAYER OF THE DAY:
Steadfast, faithful, covenant God, through your Son you have overturned our old ways of believing and behaving, and his death, resurrection, and promised return call us to live faithfully and to love fervently. Let the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
+ Renewal Through God’s Word +
FIRST READING: EXODUS 20:1-17 [God’s third covenant: the gift of the law to a newly liberated community that is fresh from slavery and in need of guidance.]
20:1 Then God spoke all these words:
20:2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;
20:3 you shall have no other gods before me.
20:4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
20:5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,
20:6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
20:7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
20:8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.
20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work.
20:10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work–you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.
20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
20:12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
20:13 You shall not murder.
20:14 You shall not commit adultery.
20:15 You shall not steal.
20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
20:17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
SECOND READING: 1 CORINTHIANS 1:18-25 [Christ crucified: God’s foolish nonsense – revealed in weakness, humiliation, and death – is our amazing salvation!]
1:18 For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1:19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
1:20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.
1:22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom,
1:23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
1:24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1:25 For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
GOSPEL 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 GOSPEL: JOHN 2:13-22 [Jesus on a zealous rampage: cleansing and replacing the Temple.]
2:13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2:14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.
2:15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.
2:16 He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”
2:17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
2:18 The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”
2:19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
2:20 The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?”
2:21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body.
2:22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
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 [God’s law, God’s will, and God’s Son Jesus challenge us to examine our priorities and to turn away from self- centered values. Are we “foolish in the message of the cross” to boldly trust and to courageously tell of the saving power of God’s love?]
THE OFFERTORY SONG: “I Know It Was the Blood”
- 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.
- It was my Savior’s blood…
- They pierced him in the side…
- He’s coming back again…
OFFERING PRAYER (from PSALM 51):
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.
MUSIC SELECTION Dennis Fortune
THE PRAYERS… We pray that THE WAY OF THE CROSS will continue to impact our lives and transform the world!
THE LORD’S PRAYER
+ Righteousness Through God’s Spirit +
CLOSING SONG: “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me”
- 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.
- 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.
THE BENEDICTION by the Pastor… God calls us to “return home” to faithful discipleship!