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First Sunday of Lent
GATHERING
PRELUDE
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
RINGING OF THE BELL
Please rise as you are able
CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
Blessed be the holy Trinity, one God, our creator, our protector, our well-spring of life. Amen.
Trusting that God receives our words and the meditations of our hearts, let us confess our sin.
Silence is kept for reflection.
Merciful God, you speak blessing and compassion into the world. Forgive us for the ways we act with judgment, cruelty, or indifference. We ignore the needs of our neighbors; we resist your call to oppose injustice; we give in to scarcity and fear; we assume the worst about one another.
Cleanse us from our faults and release us from their grasp. Show us your lovingkindness. Restore our hearts and repair your world, that we may live in Christ’s ways. Amen.
God proclaims these words of assurance:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by name. You are mine.” In Christ, you are forgiven. In the Spirit, you are made free. Refreshed by the waters of mercy, live anew as beloved children of God. Amen.
GATHERING HYMN Hymn #319
“O Lord, Throughout These Forty Days”
GREETING
The grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
And also with you.
HYMN OF PRAISE
Refrain:
We pray for peace from above, We pray for our salvation.
Refrain:
We pray for peace in the world, We pray for wellness in your church, We pray for the unity of all.
Refrain:
We pray for this holy place. We pray for all who gather here.
Refrain:
Oh Lord help us, save us, Oh Lord comfort and defend us.
© 2005 Jonathan Rundman and Salt Lady Music (ASCAP). www.jonathanrudman.com All rights reserved. Used by permission CCLI 25611118.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Let us pray: O Lord God, you led your people through the wilderness and brought them to the promised land. Guide us now, so that, following your Son, we may walk safely through the wilderness of this world toward the life you alone can give, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen
Please be seated.
WORD
FIRST READING Deuteronomy 26: 1-11
The annual harvest festival, called the Feast of Weeks, provides the setting for this reading. This festival celebrates the first fruits of the produce of the land offered back to God in thanks. In this text, worshipers announce God’s gracious acts on behalf of Israel.
1 When you have come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, and you possess it, and settle in it, 2 you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwell-ing for his name. 3 You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time, and say to him, “Today I declare to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.” 4 When the priest takes the basket from your hand and sets it down before the altar of the Lord your God, 5 you shall make this response before the Lord your God: “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor; he went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien, few in number, and there he became a great nation, mighty and populous. 6 When the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, by imposing hard labor on us, 7 we cried to the Lord, the God of our ancestors; the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 The Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with a terrifying display of power, and with signs and wonders; 9 and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 So now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground that you, O Lord, have given me.” You shall set it down before the Lord your God and bow down before the Lord your God. 11 Then you, together with the Levites and the aliens who reside among you, shall cele-brate with all the bounty that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house.
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
PSALM: Psalm 91 “On Eagles Wings” Hymn # 787
The choir will sing the verses and the congregation will join on the refrain.
SECOND READING: Romans 10: 8b-13
Paul reminds the Christians at Rome of the foundation of their creed, the confession of faith in the risen Christ as Lord.
8b “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. 11 The scrip-ture says, “No one who believes in him will be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him.
13 For, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
CHILDREN’S SERMON Pastor Chris Steubing
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
The Gospel according to Luke.
Glory to you, O Lord.
GOSPEL READING Luke 4:1--13
After being filled with the Holy Spirit at his baptism, Jesus is led in the wilderness. Through his responses to the temptations of the devil, he defines what it means to be called “the Son of God.”
1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” 4 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’ ” 5 Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the king-doms of the world. 6 And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to any-one I please. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 Jesus an-swered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ”
9 Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinna-cle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ 11 and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ” 12 Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 13 When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.
The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
Please be seated.
SERMON Rev. Chris Steubing
HYMN OF THE DAY “When We Are Tested” (Insert)
Please rise as you are able.
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
Together with the whole church, we confess our faith
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s 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 to the dead.*
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
Please rise as you are able.
THE PRAYERS
. . .God of grace, Hear our prayer.
THE PEACE
The peace of Christ be with you always. And also with you.
Let us share the peace with one another.
OFFERING
OFFERING SONG “Beautiful Things” (insert)
OFFERING RESPONSE “Create in Me a lean Heart” Hymn #186
Please rise as we sing and the offering is brought forward.
OFFERING PRAYER
Let us pray. God of goodness and growth, all creation is yours, and your faithfulness is sure. Receive the gifts we bring, and nourish us to proclaim your abiding love in our communities and in the world, through Jesus Christ, our strength and our song. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer (Sung)
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 debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen
BENEDICTION
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
SENDING HYMN “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me” Hymn #325
DISMISSAL
Go in peace. Share the good news.
Thanks be to God.
POSTLUDE
Our thanks to those who serve as our worship leaders:
Our Liturgist—Don Gillett
Our Reader—Miranda Murphy
Organist/Pianist—Wendy Kuenemann
Choir/HandBell Director—Wendy Kuenemann
Pastor—Rev. Chris Steubing