BULLETIN – SUNDAY, MARCH 26, 2023

BULLETIN – SUNDAY, MARCH 26, 2023

WELCOME to MESSIAH & ST. PETER LUTHERAN CHURCHES

Reverend Nancy Brody, Pastor

Greta Wright, Music Director

Sunday,  March 26, 2023

Fifth Sunday in Lent

GREETING AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS 

Blessed be the holy Trinity, [+] one God, who journeys with us these forty days, and sustains us with the gift of grace. 

Amen.

Let us acknowledge before God and one another our need for repentance and God’s mercy. Silence is kept for reflection.

Holy God, we confess our faults and failings. Too often we neglect and do not trust; we take instead of give, overindulge rather than practice discipline; without meaning to, we cause hurt. Our tendency is to become concerned for ourselves and forget compassion for others. Forgive, renew, and heal us from within, for we truly seek to follow you. Amen. 

Because of Jesus Christ, there’s no chasm or barrier between us and God. Forgiveness is a sign and promise that God is full of life, not death, about mercy, not imposing penalties. Jesus, too, was tempted, and overcame all things by trusting God’s mighty power to love. Be forgiven by all three persons of the Holy Trinity, [+] Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Amen.

ENTRANCE HYMN     In the Hour of Trial     #106

KYRIE and HYMN OF PRAISE     Pages 57-60

PRAYER of the DAY

Almighty God, your Son came into the world to free us all from sin and death. Breathe upon us the power of your Spirit, that we may be raised to new life in Christ and serve you in righteousness all our days, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  

Amen.

FIRST READING     EZEKIEL 37:1-14

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus, says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.” So, I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”

PSALM     130

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord

Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. 

If you were to keep watch over sins, O Lord, who could stand? 

Yet with you is forgiveness, in order that you may be feared. 

I wait for you, O Lord; my soul waits; in your word is my hope. 

My soul waits for the Lord more than those who keep watch for the morning, more than those who keep watch for the morning. 

O Israel, wait for the Lord, for with the Lord there is steadfast love; with the Lord there is plenteous redemption. 

For the LORD shall redeem Israel from all their sins. 

SECOND READING     ROMANS 8:6-11

To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason, the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

LENTEN VERSE

Return to The Lord…     Page 63 

GOSPEL     JOHN 11:1-45

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

SERMON

HYMN of the DAY     Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling     WOV 734

PROFESSION of FAITH/APOSTLES’ CREED     Page 65

PRAYERS of INTERCESSION

Sustained by God’s abundant mercy, let us pray for the church, the world, and all of creation. A brief silence.

Enliven your church and its people with the breath of life. Deepen partnerships between churches and organizations in the community and around the globe. Bless the work of lay persons who support and accompany them. Merciful God, receive our prayer.

Your ever-present spirit brings creation to life and sustains it. Enliven the natural world and ecosystems in need of restoration: soil, air, creatures, elements, all things upon which life depends and with which it hangs in the balance. Merciful God, receive our prayer.

Redeem the world, its people and the relationships between them. Free those trapped in cycles of helplessness, hopelessness, ignorance, or dependency. Feed those who hunger to be filled with what we enjoy. Raise up managers, officers and leaders throughout society who understand how to promote the dignity of every human life. Merciful God, receive our prayer.

You weep when we weep. Be present with those who grieve or who are troubled by illness (especially those on our prayer list). You love and hear us when we call to you. Deliver us from the depths of our despair, and free us from worries that bind us. Merciful God, receive our prayer.

Your Spirit of life dwells within and among us. Bless all who lead and worship with us in hymns of praise and thanksgiving, songs of lament and prayer. Merciful God, receive our prayer.

You are the resurrection and the life. Even though we die, we will live. With thanksgiving, we remember all your saints who now live in your eternal love. Merciful God, receive our prayer.

We lift our prayers to you, O God, trusting in your steadfast love and promise to renew all of creation through Jesus Christ, our friend and Savior, who along with your Holy Spirit reigns in glory and continues to reach toward us with compassion. Amen.

PEACE 

OFFERING

OFFERTORY

Create in me…     Page 75

THE LORD’S PRAYER                                                            

BENEDICTION     Page 74 

CLOSING HYMN

DISMISSAL     Page 74

POSTLUDE

Revised Common Lectionary copyright © 1992 Consultation on Common Texts. Used by permission. Prayers adapted from Sundays and Seasons, copyright © 2019, Augsburg Fortress. Used with permission. Psalm readings from Lutheran Book of Worship, copyright © 1978. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual Subscription #SB160715 Other quotations from Scripture from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989, National Council of Churches in Christ in the United States of America. Used with permission. All rights reserved

Altar flowers at St Peter have been presented by Ron and Doris Rode in memory of our parents.

Altar flowers at Messiah have been presented by Ernie and Marilee Beinhaur in memory of loved ones.