March 26, 2025 - Mid-week Lenten service

WELCOME It is a joy to worship with all of you! May God bless our time together. Reflections on Repentance: Realizing Our Need for Repentance OPENING HYMN: 302 - Lord, to You I Make Confession OPENING LITURGY P: In the name of the Father and of the Son f and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. All:i thank you my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, that you have graciously kept me this day. Forgive me all my sins, and graciously keep me this night. Into your hands I commend my body and soul and all things. Let your holy angel be with me, that the wicked foe may have no power over me. Amen. CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION P: This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: C: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. P: If we claim to have fellows hip with him yet walk in the darkness, C: We lie and do not live by the truth. P: If we claim to be without sin, C: We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. All: Father, I have sinned against you and am no longer worthy to be called your child. Yet in mercy you sacrificed your only Son to purge away my guilt. For his sake, O God, be merciful to me, a sinner, and in the joy of the Holy Spirit let m e serve you all my days. Silence for private confession. P: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Upon this, your confession, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. c: Thanks be to God. Amen. PRAYER M: Lord God, we thank you for this day of grace now drawing to a close. Stay with us and warm our hearts with your forgiving love in Christ. May your Word keep our faith burning brightly that we may walk in the light of your pres ence through the darkness of this world! Come and bless us as we worship you: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. C: Amen. RESPONSIVE PSALM: Psalm 130 P: Out of the depths I cry to you, O lord, O Lord, hear my voice. C: Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. P: If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? C: But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. P: I wait for the Lord and in his Word I put my hope, My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning. C: O Israel, put your hope in the lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. All: Remember your mercy, O Lord; remember your mercy and love. PSALM PRAYER P: God of might and compassion, open your ears to the prayers of your people, who wait for you. Do not leave us in the depths of our sins, but listen to your Church pleading for the fullness of your redemption; through Jesus Christ our Lord. C: Amen. PASSION READING: P: The Gospel of our Lord. C: We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. HYMN: 739 Baptismal Waters Cover Me SERMON: Psalm 51:1-2 - Realizing Our Need for Repentance For the choir director. A psalm by David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had gone to Bathsheba. David's Plea for Forgiveness 1 Be gracious to me, God, according to your mercy. Erase my acts of rebellion according to the greatness of your compassion. 2 Scrub me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. OFFERING PRAYER AND THE LORD'S PRAYER All: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. CLOSING PRAYER AND BLESSING P: Lord God, all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works come from you. Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey your commandments. Defend us also from the fear of our enemies that we may live in peace and quietness, through the merits of Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. C. Amen P: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. C: Amen. CLOSING HYMN: 714 vs. 1-3 — The Lamb Used with permission through our CCLI Copyright License #21115061 and Streaming License #21115078. Streamed with permission under OneLicense #A-700000.