Everything you need for worship online for Sunday March 29, 2020 is below
Preparations for Worship:
- Find a place in your home where you can eliminate distractions. Put phones on silent and turn off the TV.
- This order of service facilitates participation. If you are with others, we think you will get a lot more out of this service by reading the parts of this service aloud, the responses, lessons, and prayers.
- Families with children, this service is for them too. Children learn best by imitating. Lead them in this service. Help them participate. Maybe they are old enough to read one of the prayers or lessons. Take a moment to describe what’s happening. See if they have any questions. Encourage them to draw what they are hearing while you all listen. Take advantage of the opportunities to pause and encourage questions and discussions more so than an average Sunday in church.
- Load the YouTube video below and hit “pause” as soon as it starts. This will eliminate distracting ads when you get to that part of the service.
- Pause for a moment in private prayer and quietness.
INVOCATION
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
CONFESSION OF SINS AND ANNOUNCING FORGIVENESS
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:5-8)
Silence for personal confession
If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! Thanks be to God! (1 John 3:1)
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Eternal God and Father, help us to remember Jesus, who obeyed your will and bore the cross for our salvation that through his anguish, pain, and death we may receive forgiveness of sins and inherit eternal life, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
FIRST LESSON – ROMANS 8:11-19
And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit, who is dwelling in you. 12 So then, brothers, we do not owe it to the sinful flesh to live in harmony with it. 13 For if you live in harmony with the sinful flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the actions of the body, you will live. 14 Indeed, those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery so that you are afraid again, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom[a] we call out, “Abba, Father!” 16 The Spirit himself joins our spirit in testifying that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, we are also heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, since we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified with him. 18 For I conclude that our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. 19 In fact, creation is waiting with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed.
GOSPEL – John 11:17-27, 38-45
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19 Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, while Mary was sitting in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the Last Day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. 26 And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish. Do you believe this?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I believe[b] that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
38 Jesus was deeply moved again as he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said. Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, because it has been four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The man who had died came out with his feet and his hands bound with strips of linen and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus told them, “Loose him and let him go.” 45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him.
DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE
CONFESSION OF FAITH – The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
OFFERING
Offerings may be given on-line at tithe.ly/risensavior, mailed to the church, or dropped off at the church during regular hours.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
Almighty God, everlasting Father, You saw Israel in their despair and raised them up to hope by placing Your Spirit upon them. Join us together with the communion of saints in Christ, even though we must for a time stand apart.
Raise us up from our weariness and grant us Your Spirit, that we may be strong in faith, bold in witness, holy in life and steadfast in hope.
O God of power and might, You hold in Your hand all the might of man. Give to us good government and faithful leaders who will heed Your Word and pursue righteousness and justice.
Bless and defend us against all destruction, especially from this deadly pandemic, and teach us to be patient and faithful citizens of this land, using ourselves and our resources wisely for the good of all.
Lord God Almighty, thank you for providing our synod with a publishing house that creates Bible study materials and devotional resources that are faithful to the Holy Scriptures.. We especially praise you for the publication of Luther’s Catechism, the Evangelical Heritage Version of the Bible, as well as the production of the new hymnal and all its accompanying resources..
Let these tools be utilized in our congregations to honor you and to strengthen the faith of your people.
O merciful Lord, Your Son shed tears for Lazarus, whom He loved. Grant Your compassion, patience and endurance to all who suffer illness, who are troubled in mind or whose time on earth is short. Spare us from death now, but give us courage and comfort far stronger by Your power over death. Eternal God, You carry the grief of those who mourn and remember all who die in Christ.
Give comfort to the grieving and peace to the dying, and give that same comfort and peace to us who live in the shadow and fear of death, that we would neither live nor grieve as people without hope but trust in You at every hour.
O Lord, God Almighty, through Your Son You have kept the promise of the ages and rescued us from sin. You have raised up the dry bones of a people captive to death and made us alive in Christ forever. Sustain us in this hope, that we may endure the tests, trials and troubles of this life and be ready when our Savior comes again in His glory; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who taught us to pray.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
THE BLESSING
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen.
(2 Corinthians 13:14)