The Third Sunday in Lent
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Prelude, Welcome, and Information Hymn
#647 Glorious
Things of You Are Spoken |
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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. Psalm: Psalm 63 1O God, you are my God, I seek
you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where
there is no water. So I have
looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will
bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name. My soul is satisfied as with a
rich feast, and my mouth praises you with
joyful lips when I think
of you on my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings
I sing for joy. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. |
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The Lord be with you. And
also with you. Let us pray. Eternal God, your kingdom has
broken into our troubled world through the life, death, and resurrection of
your Son. Help us to hear your word and obey it, and bring your saving love
to fruition in our lives, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. |
Reading:
Isaiah 55:1-9
A reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah
Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money,
come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without
price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your
labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is
good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to
me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David. See, I made him a witness to the
peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. See, you shall call
nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to
you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has
glorified you.
Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is
near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their
thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and
to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my
thoughts than your thoughts.
The Word of the Lord
Reading:
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
A reading from the first letter to the Corinthians
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors
were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were
baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same
spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank
from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was
Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were
struck down in the wilderness.
Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire
evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is
written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to
play.” We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and
twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the
test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not
complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These
things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to
instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you
are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you
that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be
tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way
out so that you may be able to endure it.
The Word of the Lord.
Gospel
Verse:
Jesus began to proclaim,
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near. (Matt. 4: 17)
Gospel Reading: Luke 13:1-9
A reading from the Gospel of Luke
At that very time there were some present who told him about the
Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked
them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were
worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you
repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed
when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse
offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but
unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard;
and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the
gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig
tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the
soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig
around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and
good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise
to you, O Christ.
Sermon
(added at the end of the document)
Hymn
#618 Guide Me
Ever, Great Redeemer
Thanks and Offertory
Prayers of the Church:
God’s ways are mysterious and beyond our
understanding. Yet we know of God’s love and mercy for God’s people, so we offer
our prayers for the world, the church, and for all people according to their
needs.
[Short
pause]
Saving God,
grant us the grace of repentance as well as the gift of trust in your mercy. Lord,
in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Saving
God, grant us both the desire and time to come closer to you and hear your
voice. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Saving God, keep
safe our families, loved ones and friends in all situations. Help us all to
follow your will and way. Lord, in your mercy, Hear
our prayer.
Saving God,
let peace grow in our homes and our town. Help us to show your own mercy and remember
those in need around us. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Saving God,
grant peace to the people of Ukraine and Russia and to the people of Iraq. Grant
their leaders wisdom and a desire for peace. Lord, in your mercy, Hear
our prayer.
Saving God, grant
us all the gift of good health. Bless doctors, nurses, medical technicians,
ambulance crews, fire fighters, peace officers, and all who work for the good
of the community. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Saving God,
look with favor on all who minister in the name of your Son. Bless the congregation
of St. Peter’s,
Brodhagen, and their pastor, Pastor Laura Sauder.
Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Saving God,
we trust in your grace and mercy all around us. Hear the prayers we keep in our
hearts… * … Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
{*Rose Gotzmeister, Gail Mauer, Bill Ungar,
Deb Kirschner, Pr. Bob Zimmerman}
Into your
hands we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in your mercy and grace, through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hymn #623 Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me
The
Lord’s Prayer
Finally let
us pray for all things as our Lord would have us ask:
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.
Closing prayer & Benediction
O God, you
have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by
paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with
good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us
and your love supporting; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hymn
#543 Go, My
Children, with My Blessing
Sending
May the Lord
bless us and keep us.
May the
Lord’s face shine upon us with grace and mercy.
May the Lord
look upon us with favor and X give us peace.
Amen.
Go in peace.
Walk humbly with God. Thanks be to
God.
Services for the next few months will be on YouTube and accessible from
an email link or our church Facebook page, except for the following:
April 10 Saxonia Hall (Palm
Sunday), 11:00am
April 15 Church (Good
Friday), 11:00am
April 17 Church (Easter Sunday), 11:00am
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For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
·
There can be
no stranger thought than this, that we will never understand God and possibly
will only know what God has planned until it comes to pass. It can be
frustrating, because we want to know and we also want things our
way.
·
It’s always
that, isn’t it? The desire to have our own way was the primary temptation in
the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. It’s also part of the temptation of Jesus
while he was in the wilderness. It might just be the basic temptation of all human
beings. After all, we very often what to be God.
·
Since that is
the eternal temptation of humanity, it’s best to remember that my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor
are your ways my ways… We can’t always see where things are going
and we can’t see where things will end up. As Jesus said to Jairus when they
were told of Jairus’ daughter’s death (Luke 8:50) “Do not fear. Only believe, and she will be saved.”
Another translation puts it this way: “Fear is useless. What is needed is
trust.”
·
God’s ways are
not our ways and we’d do well not to confuse the two, as hard as it is. This is
why the parable of the fig tree in today’s Gospel seems incomplete and oddly
unsatisfying. The tree has born not fruit and the landowner wants to cut it
down. (“Why should it be wasting
the soil?”) The gardener convinces him to let it grow another
season. This has always sounded ominous to me, but as I thought about it, it is
gracious and merciful. We don’t know what happened at the end of the growing
season that saw the gardener take special care of the tree. For us the lesson
has to do with the grace, mercy, and patience of God. We don’t know the outcome
and we’ll have to trust that such special care is being taken for the tree that
we are. After all, Jesus was not talking about agriculture and vine-dressing.
If we are still troubled by this parable and the possibility of the tree being
removed, we could think of how long a growing season is; 6 months? A year? 70
years? We don’t know because My
thoughts are not your thoughts…
·
If we hear
what Isaiah proclaims, we know that God is up to something. (everyone who thirsts, come to the water.)If
we hear the words of the Gospel, we know that God is up to something. (Sir, let it alone for one more year…)
The invitation to eat and drink and the thought of letting the tree grow all
include the presence, coaxing, prodding, and action of grace all around us. The
prophet says let them return to
the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will
abundantly pardon. We are invited and promised and we are never
left to our own devices as it were. That would truly mean failure.
·
No, God is up
to something and it includes us, deserving or not. God’s promises will be
fulfilled even in the face of sin, failure, war, and pandemic. There is too
much going on for God not to be at work, even if we can’t see it… or
refuse to see it. Sins are forgiven and salvation is offered. The feast will be
set, For… nor are your ways my
ways.
·
Finally, if
we believe that we have messed everything up and that we have somehow botched
God’s entire thing, think on this:
If you think you’ve blown God’s plan for
your life, rest in this. You, my beautiful friend, are not that powerful.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
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