Fourteenth Sunday a. Pentecost 8/25
Pentecost 14 8.24-25.24. PDF Alt Set
FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
AUGUST 24/25, 2024
IN THE NAME OF JESUS, WELCOME TO ST. PAUL’S!
✠ ✠ ✠
THE ENTRANCE RITE
PRELUDE Lord, This Day We’ve Come to Worship Setting: Ruth Mackie
WELCOME
ENTRANCE HYMN Lord, This Day We’ve Come to Worship LSB 911
1 Lord, this day we’ve come to worship;
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
Grace us with Your blessèd presence;
Blessèd Savior, be our host. Refrain
Refrain
Alleluia, alleluia,
Alleluia, praise the Lord!
Alleluia, alleluia,
Alleluia, praise the Lord!
2 In the pow’r of resurrection
We have come to praise the Lord,
Celebrate His blessèd supper,
And to learn His holy Word. Refrain
3 May Your Word enrich our spirit,
Give us strength to do Your will,
Show the kingdom we’ll inherit,
When at last our voice is still. Refrain
4 As we meet our blessèd Savior
At the Table of the Lord,
May this body broken for us
Strength and comfort, Lord, afford. Refrain
5 Celebrate the resurrection
In the church and sing His praise,
Till we come to true perfection:
Serve the Lord through all our days. Refrain
INVOCATION
In the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
God of all mercy and consolation, come to the aid of your people, turning us from our sin to live for you alone. Give us the power of your Holy Spirit that, attentive to your Word, we may confess our sins, receive your forgiveness, and grow into the fullness of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another.
Kneel. Silence is observed for reflection and self-examination.
Gracious God,
have mercy upon us. In your compassion, forgive us our sins, known and unknown, things done and left undone. Uphold us by your Spirit so that we may live and serve you in newness of life, to the honor and glory of your holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life.
Amen.
KYRIE (Stand) LSB 944
For the peace from above and for our salvation; and for the peace of the whole world and the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord:
Kyrie Eleison; Christe Eleison; Kyrie Eleison.
For the well-being of the Church of God; and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the Lord:
Kyrie Eleison; Christe Eleison; Kyrie Eleison.
Help, save, comfort and defend us, gracious Lord.
Kyrie Eleison; Christe Eleison; Kyrie Eleison.
GLORIA IN EXCELSIS Splendor and Honor LSB 950
1 Splendor and honor, majesty and power
Are Yours, O Lord God, fount of ev’ry blessing,
For by Your bidding was the whole creation
Called into being.
2 Praised be the true Lamb, slain for our redemption,
By whose self-off’ring we are made God’s people:
A priestly kingdom, from all tongues and nations,
Called to God’s service.
3 To the Almighty, throned in heav’nly splendor,
And to the Savior, Christ our Lamb and Shepherd,
Be adoration, praise, and glory given,
Now and forever.
THE PRAYER OF THE DAY
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray. Almighty and merciful God,
defend Your Church from all false teaching and error that Your faithful people may confess You to be the only true God and rejoice in Your good gifts of life and salvation; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
✠ ✠ ✠
THE LITURGY OF THE WORD
FIRST LESSON (Be seated) Isaiah 29:11-19
The vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”
And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
therefore, behold, I will again
do wonderful things with this people,
with wonder upon wonder;
and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”
Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
whose deeds are in the dark,
and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
“He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
“He has no understanding”?
Is it not yet a very little while
until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
In that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
PSALM 14 (Sung responsively)
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
there is none who does good.
The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,
who seek after God.
They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
not even one.
Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the Lord?
There they are in great terror,
for God is with the generation of the righteous.
You would shame the plans of the poor,
but the Lord is his refuge.
Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
SECOND LESSON Ephesians 5:22-33
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
(10:00) CHILDREN’S SERMON
ALLELUIA VERSE (Stand) LSB 952
Alleluia, alleluia! Alleluia, alleluia!
GOSPEL Mark 7:1-13
The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the 7th chapter.
Glory to You, O Lord.
When the Pharisees gathered to [Jesus], with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
“‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to You, O Christ.
SERMON (Be seated)
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus. Amen. Dear friends in Christ:
In the Gospel lesson just read, Jesus shows again that he is not afraid to buck the system. He has come into the world to bring change, and he will not let the system stand in his way.
Beyond this, the response he gave to those leaders of the system that day also gives valuable help to us. This is the help given as Jesus teaches us to distinguish between commandments and traditions. Life is filled with both of these, and understanding the difference between them is critical as we seek to live with both freedom and responsibility.
Jesus teaches us that the essence of religion is not a set of rules but a relationship of faith with God. The rules that God gives in his commandments are meant to maintain and strengthen this relationship. As well, they also serve to maintain and strengthen our relationships with others.
The traditions of men can help toward these goals too. But not always. Sometimes they become a burden, while at other times they become a means of control. In Jesus’ day, the religious leaders believed that the keeping of extra traditions served as a “fence around the law” – meaning that they helped provide an extra measure of security. But Jesus disagreed.
In previous years I’ve preached full sermons on this text. And I’m pretty sure that one or more can be found archived on our website if you’d like to read them. But today I’d like us to examine our assigned psalm. Over the past few years at St. Paul’s we’ve been incorporating the psalms more regularly in our worship, and I thought it would be good for us to unpack a couple of them. We’ll do this today and next Sunday as well. It may be helpful for you at this point to turn again to today’s psalm – Psalm 14 – in the hymnal or in your Bible.
Let me begin by saying a few words about the psalms in general. The psalms are the prayer book of the Bible. They are a collection of 150 poems that can be either read or sung. Scholars often group the psalms into different kinds of categories based on their form or purpose – calling them things such as psalms of lament, psalms of praise, royal psalms, etc. But these categories are not hard and fast, for many of the psalms exhibit characteristics of more than one category.
I think it’s safe to say that not all Christians are drawn to the psalms with the same fervor. And I assume that’s because some prefer the straightforward prose that is found in other books.
For me, I find that the older I get the more I love the psalms. They speak to me personally and also serve me well as I seek to help others. Often when I visit people in their times of need – whether it be at a time of sickness or at death or even a time of joyful celebration – I find myself turning to the psalms. Last year at Dolly Coker’s 99th birthday party I read Psalm 100. I was going to read Psalm 99, but I decided I liked 100 better for the occasion. And I reminded everyone that she was entering her 100th year anyway. So it worked out well.
Martin Luther was one who loved the psalms. He wrote short descriptions of each of them; and also long comments on quite a few.
The church has assigned a psalm to be read at each of our worship services, with the particular psalm chosen to correspond with the Gospel reading. I didn’t take the time to count, but I’m guessing the church’s list of assigned readings, called the lectionary, includes about one hundred of the psalms in its three-year cycle. If you’ve ever noticed that not all the psalms are included in the front of our hymnal, that’s because it contains only those found in the lectionary. All the psalms are worth reading of course, but I’m guessing that the church has found some psalms to be a little complex for use in public worship, while others contain thoughts which bear repeating.
Most of the time we will engage with the psalm in worship by singing it. Reading the psalm may make it easier to catch the meaning, but singing it helps connect the psalm with our emotions. And that is something the psalms are certainly meant to do.
The psalms have always been sung in worship, which we know because of the musical notations that many of them contain. Singing the psalms also helps us to memorize them and to delight in them.
The musical notations that we see in our hymnal’s version of the psalms are not original to the text. These are called “pointings” and simply indicate when the end of a chant line commences. They’ve been added by the church.
As for those original notations, we don’t always include them in our books because we’ve lost the meaning of most of them anyway. We can’t incorporate their directions in our worship. But they still witness clearly to the psalm’s musical nature. Today’s psalm, for example, has a note at the beginning saying that it is “to the choirmaster.” We don’t know if this notation is a dedication or an instruction. But either way, it speaks to the presence of music.
In looking at today’s psalm, Psalm 14, let’s begin by noting that it is often classified as a psalm of individual lament. And that is mostly because of its form, though also because of its content. In other ways, however, the psalm is better thought of as a psalm of wisdom.
As you may know, wisdom is an extremely important concept in the psalms. A great number of them have wisdom as their main focus. This includes the very first psalm, Psalm 1, which begins by saying: “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Here we see that wisdom is found in shunning the ways of the wicked and embracing the ways of God.
Our psalm today speaks of wisdom in a different way – putting a unique twist on the subject. Instead of telling us what is wise, it tells instead of wisdom’s opposite: that which is foolish. Noting this difference, one commentator labels the psalm: “A meditation on the fool.”
Indeed, as we read through the psalm, we start to ask ourselves: “Who are these fools?” And to this question, the psalm leads us to some definite answers.
The first thing it says about fools is that they are atheists. It does this by declaring: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’
And here we should note that this atheism is a practical one as opposed to a theoretical one. A theoretical atheism uses logic and reason – wrongly, we would say – to claim that no god exists. A practical atheism, on the other hand, embraces an atheistic view because of what it accommodates. This kind of atheist doesn’t want there to be a God. And that’s because he doesn’t want his sins to be judged. By saying “there is no God” (which, notice, he says only in his heart, not in public) he avoids the worry and discomfort of having to face God’s judgment upon him. This is the same line of thinking exhibited by the fool in Psalm 10.
The evidence for this description of atheism is found in what comes next. There the psalm tells us that these fools “are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.”
Examples of this corruption are found later in the psalm. There the fools are said to be: “evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon the LORD.” They are also ones who “shame the plans of the poor.”
But before mentioning these things, notice what the psalm does first. It asks us to consider, as an important measure of wisdom, whether fools are a breed apart from us or whether we might actually belong in their ranks as well.
“The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.” Here the phrase “children of man” speaks to all who have been born in the world and not just those considered to be “worldly” in a negative way.
The Lord’s examination leads to a clear and sad conclusion. He says: “They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.”
And this observation of the Lord is certainly true. For we all do our share of foolish things, including many which are sinful violations of God’s Law. And because of this, we must all wear the label of fool.
This is important for us to remember. Otherwise we will place too much confidence in ourselves. Even worse, we will start thinking we are better than others.
True wisdom, we must remember, means to embrace reality no matter how much it humbles us. Humility, in fact, is an essential component of wisdom.
St. Paul once made the point about humanity’s corruption by quoting these same verses from Psalm 14. In his letter to the Romans, the third chapter, Paul strings the verses together with similar psalm verses and produces a powerful poem emphasizing humanity’s fallenness. The poem leaves no doubt about its point.
And this poem, we should note, is right before the section of his letter where Paul begins to speak with great clarity and detail about Jesus overcoming our corruption and sin. Right after the poem if finished, Paul makes the concluding statement: “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” And then he launches into the Good News, saying: “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.”
Paul then summarizes this with one of his most succinct and famous statements, saying: “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:20-24).
Looking back at Psalm 14, we see that it not only speaks to Paul’s first point – about humanity’s corruption – but also about this second point of his as well. For the psalm points also to the redemption God will bring about.
One way it does this is by explaining that the means of God’s redemption will come sometime in the future. It leads us to anticipate this redemption by saying: “Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!” Notice that this also speaks to how God will bring about his redemption… from within the nation.
The psalm then leads us to speak confidently of his promise’s fulfillment. “When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people,” it says. “Let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.”
As stated in this psalm, the Lord’s redemption is always his last and greatest word. Still, the psalm also urges us to be wise in knowing this message, and to live according to it.
All people may be corrupt because of their sin, but they don’t need to remain fools. Today’s psalm calls us to the wisdom of placing our faith in the one who brings salvation and restores our fortunes. And, at the same time, it also calls us to the wisdom of living according to God’s laws. We are – in the words of the psalm – to both “call on the name of the Lord” and to resist the urge to “eat up others as one eats bread.” God does not want us to live foolishly.
At the beginning of the sermon I explained that I would preach on the psalm and not today’s Gospel reading. But I also explained how the psalms are chosen to correspond with the Gospel. And I discovered that Martin Luther, in his brief introduction to this psalm, makes a point about it which echoes one made in our Gospel reading too. Let me share it.
While speaking to how certain people are fools because of their hypocrisy, Luther says: “Against such characters as these we must fight by prayer; which prayer will certainly be heard, as is intimated in the last verse of this Psalm, which promises the kingdom and dominion of Christ. For this Psalm especially strikes at those seemingly holy pharisees, those teachers of the law, who, before the coming of Christ, by enforcing works and the righteousness of the law, were cruel torturers, and tormented men’s consciences. And this Psalm promises that wished-for day of Christ, and the redemption that should be wrought by his coming. For the gospel was revealed from Zion, and the Spirit was poured out upon the apostles at Jerusalem.”
God sent Jesus Christ to save us from the full consequences of our foolishness. And he continues to work in our hearts to save us from our foolishness today, as well as from the fools around us.
Knowing this, may we be led to say in our hearts and before others: “I believe that there is a God.” And with this faith, may we then learn to live in God’s wisdom and put all foolishness behind us.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
HYMN OF THE DAY (Stand) Lord, Help Us Ever to Retain LSB 865
1 Lord, help us ever to retain
The Catechism’s doctrine plain
As Luther taught the Word of truth
In simple style to tender youth.
2 Help us Your holy Law to learn,
To mourn our sin and from it turn
In faith to You and to Your Son
And Holy Spirit, Three in One.
3 Hear us, dear Father, when we pray
For needed help from day to day
That as Your children we may live,
Whom You baptized and so received.
4 Lord, when we fall or go astray,
Absolve and lift us up, we pray;
And through the Sacrament increase
Our faith till we depart in peace.
APOSTLES’ CREED LSB, Back cover
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth.
And 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 sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From thence 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 support the church’s mission work – both here and through our many partners. Offerings may be placed in the box at the sanctuary entrance or sent to the church through our website or the mail. Fellowship Cards help us welcome new people and track participation. Please fill one out and place it in the offering box following the service.
PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH
In peace, let us pray to the Lord: Lord, have mercy.
For a true faith, that we would honor God not just with our lips but with all our heart, mind and strength, let us pray to the Lord: Lord, have mercy.
For the whole church of God in Christ; and for all servants of the Church, that they may teach the Word of God honestly and clearly, never setting forth as divine truth what is only human tradition, let us pray to the Lord: Lord, have mercy.
For all of us who seek to follow Christ, that we would receive his power to keep God’s commandments in thought, word and deed, and honor Him in all that we say and do, let us pray to the Lord: Lord, have mercy.
For the holy estate of marriage, that wives would submit to their husbands as to the Lord, and that husbands would love their wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, let us pray to the Lord: Lord, have mercy.
For our nation and its leaders, for all civil servants, and for those whose work imperils them for the sake of their neighbor, let us pray to the Lord: Lord, have mercy.
For those receiving treatments for illness or injury, for those facing the challenge of loneliness or imprisonment, for all on our prayer list, and for those we name in our hearts at this time… that in meekness each hurting heart would obtain fresh joy in the Lord and exult in the Holy One of Israel, let us pray to the Lord: Lord, have mercy.
For those who partake in the fellowship of this altar and receive Christ’s body and blood this day, that God would strengthen their faith and sustain them by this Holy Communion unto life everlasting, let us pray to the Lord: Lord, have mercy.
Hear us, heavenly Father, for the sake of Christ Jesus, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
OFFERTORY Create in Me (LSB 956)
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from Thy presence;
and take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation;
and uphold me with Thy free spirit. Amen.
✠ ✠ ✠
SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT
PREFACE (Stand)
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give him thanks and praise.
It is truly good, right and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ our Lord…
Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify your glorious name, evermore praising you and saying:
SANCTUS (LSB 961)
Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth;
heav’n and earth are full of Your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessèd, blessèd, blessèd is He
who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
Blessed are you, Lord of heaven and earth. In mercy for our fallen world you gave your only Son, that all those who believe in him should not perish but have eternal life. We give thanks to you for the salvation you have prepared for us through Jesus Christ. Send now your Holy Spirit into our hearts, that we may receive our Lord with a living faith as he comes to us in his holy supper.
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
THE WORDS OF OUR LORD
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 peace of the Lord be with you always.
Amen.
AGNUS DEI (LSB 962)
Lamb of God, You take away the sin of the world;
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, You take away the sin of the world;
have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, You take away the sin of the world;
grant us Your peace,
grant us Your peace,
grant us Your peace.
THE COMMUNION (Be seated)
Those wishing to commune at the foot of the steps should come forward first. Those wishing to commune at the altar rail should come forward after these, front rows first, from both sides of the aisle. After receiving, all should return to their seats. A common dismissal will be given at the end.
DISTRIBUTION HYMN Baptismal Waters Cover Me LSB 616
1 Baptismal waters cover me
As I approach on bended knee;
My Father’s mercy here I plead,
For grievous sins of thought and deed.
2 I look to Christ upon the tree,
His body broken there for me;
I lay before Him all my sin,
My darkest secrets from within.
3 Lord, may Your wounded hand impart
Your healing to my broken heart;
Your love alone can form in me
A heart that serves You joyfully.
4 From Your own mouth comes forth a word;
Your shepherd speaks, but You are heard;
Through him Your hand now stretches out,
Forgiving sin, destroying doubt.
5 Baptismal waters cover me;
Christ’s wounded hand has set me free.
Held in my Father’s strong embrace,
With joy I praise Him for His grace.
NUNC DIMITTIS (LSB 937)
1 Lord, bid Your servant go in peace,
Your word is now fulfilled.
These eyes have seen salvation’s dawn,
This child so long foretold.
2 This is the Savior of the world,
The Gentiles’ promised light,
God’s glory dwelling in our midst,
The joy of Israel.
3 With saints of old, with saints to come,
To You we lift our voice;
To Father, Son, and Spirit blest
Be honor, love, and praise.
PRAYER (Stand)
BENEDICTION
SENDING HYMN Lord, Dismiss Us with Your Blessing LSB 924
1 Lord, dismiss us with Your blessing,
Fill our hearts with joy and peace;
Let us each, Your love possessing,
Triumph in redeeming grace.
O refresh us; O refresh us,
Trav’ling through this wilderness.
2 Thanks we give and adoration
For Your Gospel’s joyful sound.
May the fruits of Your salvation
In our hearts and lives abound.
Ever faithful, ever faithful
To Your truth may we be found.
3 Savior, when Your love shall call us
From our struggling pilgrim way,
Let not fear of death appall us,
Glad Your summons to obey.
May we ever, may we ever
Reign with You in endless day.
ANNOUNCEMENTS (Be seated)
DISMISSAL
Go in peace. Serve the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
POSTLUDE Lord, Dismiss Us with Your Blessing Setting: Tim Shewmaker
FLOWERS: In thankfulness for God’s blessings. By St. Paul’s Congregation
FELLOWSHIP CONTRIBUTORS: Board of Youth
Those serving:
Saturday, 5:00 p.m.:
Greeter: Bob Juenger
Comm. Assist.: Jim Easterly
Reader: Rich Kauzlarich
Sunday, 10:00 a.m.:
Greeter: Jason Starck
Comm. assist: Dede Dixon
Reader: Janice Sebring
Acolyte: Noah Starck
AV Assistants: Hannes Buuck, Andreas Buuck
Acknowledgments
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2024 Concordia Publishing House. LSB Hymn License no. 110005326
911 Lord, This Day We’ve Come to Worship Text: Richard C. Dickinson, 1925–2010
Tune: B. B. McKinney, 1886–1952, alt. Text: © 1995 Richard C. Dickinson. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License no. 110005326 Tune: © 1942, 1970 Broadman Press, admin. Genevox Publishing. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License no. 110005326
865 Lord, Help Us Ever to Retain Text: Ludwig Helmbold, 1532–98; tr. Matthias Loy, 1828–1915, alt.Tune: As hymnodus sacer, 1625, Leipzig
Text and tune: Public domain
616 Baptismal Waters Cover Me Text: Kurt E. Reinhardt, 1969 Tune: Sammlung alter und neuer . . . Melodien, 1742 Text: © 2003 Kurt E. Reinhardt. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License no. 110005326 Tune: Public domain
924 Lord, Dismiss Us with Your Blessing Text (sts. 1–2): attr. John Fawcett, 1740–1817, alt.; (st. 3): Godfrey Thring, 1823–1903, alt. Tune: Henry T. Smart, 1813–79 Text and tune: Public domain
