Sunday, March 14, 2021 – Fourth Sunday in Lent

Gathering

Confession and Forgiveness

P:         Blessed be the Holy Trinity, + one God, the keeper of the covenant, the source of steadfast love, our rock and our redeemer. Amen

God hears us when we cry, and draws us close in Jesus Christ.  Let us return to the one who is full of compassion.

Silence is kept for reflection

Fountain of living water,

Pour your mercy over us.  Our sin is heavy and we long to be free.  Rebuild what we have ruined and mend what we have torn.  Wash us in your cleansing flood of love and grace.  Make us alive in the Spirit to follow in the way of Jesus, as healers and restorers of the world you have made.  Amen

P:         Beloved, God’s word never fails.  The promise rests on grace: by the saving love of Jesus Christ, the wisdom and power of God, your sin is + forgiven.  Journey in the way of Jesus.

Amen

Adapted from Sundays & Seasons, © 2020 Augsburg Fortress

Gathering Song            “Amazing Grace”         # 779     (verses 1, 2, and 3)

1.  Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!
   I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.

•  ‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved;
  how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!

•  Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come:
  ’tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.

Greeting

P:         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.

Prayer of the Day

Word

A reading from the letter to the Ephesians, the 2^nd chapter.

You were dead through the trespasses and sins ²in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. ³All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. ⁴But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us ⁵even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— ⁹not the result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Word of God.  Word of Life.  Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation for Lent

Return to the Lord your God,

for God is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Gospel

P:         The holy gospel according to John, the 3^rd chapter.

Glory to you, O Lord.

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶ ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

¹⁷ ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. ²¹But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.’

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

Hymn of the Day                          “Lift High the Cross”                            # 660

Refrain:
Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim
till all the world adore his sacred name.

1 Come, Christians, follow where our captain trod,
our king victorious, Christ, the Son of God. [Refrain]

2 All newborn servants of the Crucified
bear on their brows the seal of him who died. [Refrain]

3 O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree,
as thou hast promised, draw us all to thee. [Refrain]

4 So shall our song of triumph ever be:
praise to the Crucified for victory! [Refrain]

Text: George W. Kitchin, 1827-1912; rev. Michael R. Newbolt, 1874-1956 © 1974 Hope Publishing Company.  Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-736296. All rights reserved.

Moment of Silence to Remember All Who Those Whose Lives Have Been Affected by the Pandemic in the Past Year

Prayers

God of grace and mercy, hear our prayer.

Sharing of the Peace

Meal

Offertory                             “Now We Join in Celebration”                    # 462

Now we join in celebration at our Saviour’s invitation,

dressed no more in spirit somber, clothed instead in joy and wonder,

for the Lord of all existence, putting off divine transcendence,

stoops again in love to meet us, with his very life to feed us.

Lord, as round this feast we gather, fill our hearts with holy rapture!

For, this bread and cup of blessing, are for us the sure possessing

of your loving deed on Calvary, of your living self, our victory,

pledge of your unfailing presence, foretaste here of heavenly gladness.

Text: Joel W. Lundeen, 1918-1990 © Joel We. Lundeen, admin. Augsburg Fortress.  Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-736296. All rights reserved.

Offertory Prayer

The Great Thanksgiving

P:         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 our thanks and praise.

Eucharistic Prayer

Holy God, our living Water and our merciful Guide,

together with rivers and seas, wells and springs, we bless and magnify you.

You led your people Israel through the desert, and provided them water from the rock.

We praise you for Christ, our Rock and our Water, who joined us in our desert, pouring out his life for the world.

A plate of bread in each home may be lifted up.

In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying: This is my body given for you.  Do this for the remembrance of me.

A cup of wine in each home may be lifted up.

Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.  Do this for the remembrance of me.

Remembering, therefore, his life, death, and resurrection, we await your salvation for all this thirsty world.

Pour out your Spirit on this holy food and on all who are gathered for this feast.  Wash away our sin, that we may be revived for our journey by the love of Christ,

through whom all glory and honour are yours, Almighty God, with the Holy Spirit, in your holy Church, both now and forever.  Amen

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

Distribution

If you are in a group, you may serve one another.  If you are alone, you may serve yourself.  All use these or similar words:

The body of Christ, given for you.

The blood of Christ, shed for you.

Blessing

Post-Communion Canticle                     “Now We Join in Celebration”  

Lord, we share in this communion as one family of God’s children,

reconciled through you our brother, one in you with God our Father.

Give us grace to live for others, servig all, both friends and strangers,

seeking justice, love, and mercy till you come in final glory.

Text: Joel W. Lundeen, 1918-1990 © Joel We. Lundeen, admin. Augsburg Fortress.  Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-736296. All rights reserved.

Post-Communion Prayer

Sending

Announcements may be made.

Benediction

Sending Hymn                    “Christ, the Life of All the Living”                               # 339       

1 Christ, the life of all the living, Christ, the death of death, our foe,
Christ, yourself for me once giving to the darkest depths of woe:
through your suff’ring, death, and merit life eternal I inherit.
Thousand, thousand thanks are due, dearest Jesus, unto you.

2 You have suffered great affliction and have borne it patiently,
even death by crucifixion, fully to atone for me;
for you chose to be tormented that my doom should be prevented.
Thousand, thousand thanks are due, dearest Jesus, unto you.

3 Then, for all that bought our pardon, for the sorrows deep and sore,
for the anguish in the garden, I will thank you evermore;
thank you for the groaning, sighing, for the bleeding and the dying,
for that last triumphant cry, praise you evermore on high.

Dismissal

            A:         Go in peace.  Share the good news!

Thanks be to God!