The traditional Christian church calendar is comprised of seasons and special days. We are in the season of Pentecost. The season of Pentecost is the longest season of the church calendar and concludes with Christ the King Sunday. In this season let us consider how we are empowered to act for God.
Brief Order For Confession and Forgiveness
Music to accompany this worship is on Spotify at:
Entrance Hymn
God of Wonders
Kyrie
Hymn of Praise
Prayer of the Day
O God, you direct our lives by your grace, and your words of justice and mercy reshape the world. Mold us into a people who welcome your word and serve one another, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
The First Lesson
Jeremiah 28:5-9
5. Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD;
6. and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the LORD do so; may the LORD fulfill the words that you have prophesied, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the LORD, and all the exiles.
7. But listen now to this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people.
8. The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms.
9. As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet.”
Psalm
Psalm 13 (5)
1. [To the leader. A Psalm of David.] How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
2. How long must I bear pain in my soul, and have sorrow in my heart all day long? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3. Consider and answer me, O LORD my God! Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
4. and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”; my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
5. But I trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.
The Second Lesson
Romans 6:12-23
12. Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.
13. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.
14. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
15. What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
16. Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
17. But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted,
18. and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
19. I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.
20. When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
21. So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death.
22. But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life.
23. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a | holy nation,
in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of the one who called you out of darkness into his | marvelous light. Alleluia. (1 Peter 2:9)
The Gospel
Matthew 10:40-42
40. “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
41. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous;
42. and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple– truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
The Sermon
Is the prophesy of peace fulfilled in our lives?
The Hymn of the Day
We’re Here to Love
The Creed
The Peace
Look and See the Face of Christ
The Prayers
The Offering
Communion
The Lord’s Prayer
Communion Hymns
The Prayer
Communal Blessing
Dismissal
The Bible readings are from the New Revised Standard Version. I wish to thank the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, ELCA, and its predecessor bodies for all their teaching throughout the years. I’ve used the Lectionary published on the ELCA website at elca.org in preparation of this worship.