March 5, 2014

Lenten Service

PRELUDE Dr. Stephen Burnaman

From Depths of Woe I Cry to Thee – Friedrich Wilhelm Zachau From depths of woe I cry to thee the voice of lamentation; Lord, turn a gracious ear to me and hear my supplication:

If thou iniquities dost mark, our secret sins and misdeeds dark, O who shall stand before thee?

WORDS OF PREPARATION

Psalm 51:1-19

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

(KJV)

COLLECT FOR THE DAY

Almighty and everlasting God, you despise nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

SILENT PRAYER

Following the prelude, please observe silence in final preparation for gathered worship.

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CHORAL INTROIT Cast Thy Burden upon the Lord (from Elijah) – Felix Mendelssohn

Cast thy burden upon the Lord; and he shall sustain thee: He never will suffer the righteous to fall; he is at thy right hand.

Thy mercy, Lord, is great, and far above the heavens. Let none be made ashamed, that wait upon thee!

v HYMN OF INVOCATION �

v PRAYER

Minister: Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

People: A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish. Minister: In the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

People: Amen. Minister: Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, you despise nothing you have made and forgive the sins of

all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

People: Amen.

THE EPISTLE LESSON 2 Corinthians 5:20b—6:10

Leader: This is the Word of the Lord. People: Thanks be to God.

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THE CHORAL PSALTER Psalm 51:1-3, 16-19 Miserere Mei, Deus – Gregorio Allegri

Miserere mei Deus Have mercy upon me, O God, Have mercy on me God, according to thy great loving kindness. And according to the multitude of your

secundum magnam misericordiam tuam mercies, blot out my iniquity. according to great loving kindness your.

Et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum And according to multitude of mercies your,

dele iniquitatem meam. blot out iniquity my.

Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea: Wash me yet more from my iniquity, More wash me from iniquity my, and cleanse me from my sin.

et a peccato meo munda me: and from sin my cleanse me.

Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco: For I acknowledge my transgression; Because iniquity my I acknowledge; and my sin is ever before me.

et peccatum meum contra me est semper. and sin my before me is always.

Quoniam si voluisses sacrificium, For if you had desired sacrifice, Because if you had desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it: You will not delight in burnt offerings. dedissem utique: I would have given indeed;

holocaustis non delectaberis. burnt offerings not you will delight in.

Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus: A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit: Sacrifice to God spirit broken; a humble and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. cor contritum et humiliatum, heart contrite and humble,

Deus, non despicies. God not will despise.

Benigne fac, Domine, Grant kindness to Zion, O Lord, Kindness grant, Lord, according to your good pleasure: that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up. in bona voluntate tua Sion: in good pleasure your to Zion;

ut aedificentur muri Jerusalem. that may be built up walls of Jerusalem.

Tunc acceptabis sacrificium justitiae Then you will accept Then you will accept sacrifice of righteousness, the sacrifice of righteousness, the oblations and the whole-burnt offerings; oblationes et holocausta: then they will lay bullocks upon your altar. Oblations and whole-burnt offerings;

tunc imponent super then they will lay upon

altare tuum vitulos. altar your bullocks.

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THE GOSPEL LESSON Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

Leader: This is the Gospel of the Lord. People: Praise be to you, O Christ.

v OUR RESPONSE �

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THE OLD TESTAMENT LESSON Joel 2:12-19

Minister: This is the Word of the Lord. People: Thanks be to God.

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

EVENING SERMON Rev. Greg Ward

Who Knows? Joel 2:12-19

12“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. 14Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God? 15Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; 16gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. 17Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, “Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” 18Then the LORD became jealous for his land and had pity on his people. 19The LORD answered and said to his people, “Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.” (ESV)

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v OUR RESPONSE

THE OBSERVATION OF LENT

Dear People of God: The first Christians observed with great devotion the days of our Lord’s passion and resurrection, and it became the custom of the Church to prepare for them by a season of penitence and fasting. This season of Lent provided a time in which converts to the faith were prepared for Holy Baptism. It was also a time when those who, because of notorious sins, had been separated from the body of the faithful were reconciled by penitence and forgiveness, and restored to the fellowship of the Church. Thereby, the whole congregation was put in mind of the message of pardon and absolution set forth in the Gospel of our Savior, and of the need which all Christians continually have to renew their repentance and faith. I invite you, therefore, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer and fasting; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word. And, to make a right beginning of repentance, and as a mark of our mortal nature, let us now come before the Lord, our maker and redeemer, confessing our sins silently before him and embracing the gospel promises of Christ in faith.

SILENCE

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LITANY OF PENITENCE

Minister: Let us pray. People: Most holy and merciful Father: we confess to you and to one another and to the whole communion

of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

Minister: We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors

as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven. People: Have mercy on us, Lord. We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ.

We have grieved your Holy Spirit. Have mercy on us, Lord. We confess to you, Lord, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives, We confess to you, Lord. Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people, We confess to you, Lord. Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves, We confess to you, Lord. Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work, We confess to you, Lord. Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is in us, We confess to you, Lord. Accept our repentance, Lord, for the wrongs we have done: for our blindness to human need and

suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty, Accept our repentance, Lord. For all false judgments, for uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and for our prejudice and

contempt toward those who differ from us, Accept our repentance, Lord. For our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us, Accept our repentance, Lord. Restore us, Lord, and let your anger depart from us; Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great. Accomplish in us the work of your salvation, That we may show forth your glory in the world. By the cross and passion of your Son, our Lord, Bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection! Amen.

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THE DECLARATION OF ABSOLUTION Minister: Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who desires not the death of sinners, but rather that

they may turn from their wickedness and live, has given power and commandment to his ministers to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the absolution and remission of their sins. He pardons and absolves all those who truly repent, and with sincere hearts believe his holy Gospel.

Therefore we beseech him to grant us true repentance and his Holy Spirit, that those things may please him which we do on this day, and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy, so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

People: Amen.

THE PASSING OF THE PEACE

v Minister: The peace of the Lord be always with you. People: And also with you! Minister: Let us offer one another a sign of peace.

Members of the congregation greet one another with a sign of friendship such as the ancient words which the church has used over the centuries, “The peace of Christ be with you,” and the response, “And also with you.”

v THE BENEDICTION

v THE DEPARTING HYMN