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                              “God Loved the World”                                        # 323

1 God loved the world so that he gave his only Son the lost to save,
that all who would in him believe should everlasting life receive.

2 Christ Jesus is the ground of faith, who was made flesh and suffered death;
all who confide in Christ alone are built on this chief cornerstone.

3 If you are ill, if death draws near, this truth your troubled heart can cheer:
Christ Jesus rescues us from death; that is the firmest ground of faith.

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

First Reading

As with Noah following the Flood, God makes an everlasting covenant with Abraham and Sarah, promising this couple – who are childless and well beyond their child-bearing years – that they will be the ancestors of nations.

A reading from Genesis, the 17^th chapter.

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am El Shaddai; walk before me, and be blameless. ²And I will make my covenant between me and you and will make you exceedingly numerous.’ ³Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ⁴‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. ⁷I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

¹⁵ God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’

The Word of the Lord. 

Thanks be to God.

Second Reading

Paul reflects on the story of Abraham and Sarah’s faith in God’s promise to help the Gentile Romans understand that they would come into right relationship with God, not by taking on Jewish law, but through faith.

A reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans, the 4^th chapter.

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.

¹⁶ For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, ¹⁷as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. ¹⁸Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations’, according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your descendants be.’ ¹⁹He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. ²⁰No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. ²²Therefore his faith ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ ²³Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him’, were written not for his sake alone, ²⁴but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

            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 Mark, the 8^th chapter.

Glory to you, O Lord.

After Peter confesses his faith that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus tells his disciples about his coming death and resurrection for the first time.

The reading:  Jesus began to teach the disciples that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

³⁴ He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

Hymn of the Day                          “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross”                               # 335

1 Jesus, keep me near the cross, there’s a precious fountain;
free to all, a healing stream flows from Calv’ry’s mountain.
In the cross, in the cross be my glory ever;
till my ransomed soul shall find rest beyond the river.

2 Near the cross, a trembling soul, love and mercy found me;
there the bright and morning star sheds its beams around me.

In the cross, in the cross be my glory ever;
till my ransomed soul shall find rest beyond the river.

3 Near the cross! O Lamb of God, bring its scenes before me;
help me walk from day to day with its shadow o’er me.

In the cross, in the cross be my glory ever;
till my ransomed soul shall find rest beyond the river.

4 Near the cross I’ll watch and wait, hoping, trusting ever,
till I reach the golden strand just beyond the river.

In the cross, in the cross be my glory ever;
till my ransomed soul shall find rest beyond the river.

Prayers

God, in your 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                                “Let Us Ever Walk With Jesus”                                   # 802        

Let us ever walk with Jesus, follow his example pure,

through a world that would deceive us and to sin our spirits lure.

Onward in his footsteps treading, travelers here, our home above,

full of faith and hope and love,

let us do our Saviour’s bidding.  Faithful Lord with me abide.

I shall follow where your guide.

Let us gladly die with Jesus.  Since by death he conquered death,

he will free us from destruction, give to us immortal breath.

Let us mortify all passion that would lead us into sin;

and the grave that shuts us in

shall but prove the gate of heaven.  Jesus, here with you I die,

there to live with you on high.

Let us also live with Jesus.  He has risen from the dead

that to life we may awaken.  Jesus, you are now our head,

we are your own living members; where you live there we shall be

in your presence constantly,

living there with you forever.  Jesus, let me faithful be;

life eternal grant to me.

Text: Sigismund von Birken, 1626-1681; tr. Lutheran Book of Worship, alt.  © 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship, admin. Augsburg Fortress.  Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-736296. All rights reserved.

Dismissal

            A:         Go in peace.  Share the good news!

Thanks be to God!