March 12 online worship

Preparations for Worship:

• Do your best to eliminate distractions like the phone, TV, etc.
• Worship actively! Whether you are by yourself or with others, try reading the parts of the service aloud (responses, lessons, and prayers).
• This service is for children too. Help them participate. Ask those who have that ability to read a prayer or lesson aloud. Take a moment to describe what’s happening. Ask questions. Encourage little ones to draw what they are hearing while you all listen. Unlike our more typical Sunday worship at church, you can pause at any time for questions and discussion.
• Before you begin, load each of the videos below. (You might first have to get past a distracting ad.)
• Pause for a moment of quiet meditation. Then pray:
  “Heavenly Father, I have come to worship you. Draw near to me in your gracious Word, and assure me of your loving kindness. Curb my wandering thoughts, that with undivided attention I may hear your voice and speak your praise. Through Jesus Christ. Amen.”

CONFESSION OF SINS

The grace of our Lord (+) Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. And also with you.

We have come into the presence of God, who created us to love and serve him as his dear children.  But we have disobeyed him and deserve only his wrath and punishment.  Therefore, let us confess our sins to him and plead for his mercy.

Merciful Father in heaven, I am altogether sinful from birth.  In countless ways I have sinned against you and do not deserve to be called your child.  But trusting in Jesus, my Savior, I pray: Have mercy on me according to your unfailing love.  Cleanse me from my sin, and take away my guilt.

God, our heavenly Father, has forgiven all your sins.  By the perfect life and innocent death of our Lord Jesus Christ, he has removed your guilt forever.  You are his own dear child.  May God give you strength to live according to his will. Amen.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy, be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

LESSON – ROMANS 5:1-8

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ²Through him we also have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice confidently on the basis of our hope for the glory of God.  ³Not only this, but we also rejoice confidently in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces patient endurance, ⁴and patient endurance produces tested character, and tested character produces hope. ⁵And hope will not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us.  ⁶For at the appointed time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷It is rare indeed that someone will die for a righteous person. Perhaps someone might actually go so far as to die for a person who has been good to him. ⁸But God shows his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

GOSPEL – JOHN 4:5-26

⁵So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the piece of land Jacob gave to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob’s well was there. Then Jesus, being tired from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about the sixth hour.  ⁷A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸(His disciples had gone into town to buy food.)  ⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)  ¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”  ¹¹“Sir,” she said, “you don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do you get this living water? ¹²You are not greater than our father Jacob, are you? He gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his animals.”  ¹³Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty ever again. Rather, the water I will give him will become in him a spring of water, bubbling up to eternal life.”  ¹⁵“Sir, give me this water,” the woman said to him, “so I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”  ¹⁶Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband, and come back here.”  ¹⁷“I have no husband,” the woman answered.  Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say, ‘I have no husband.’ ¹⁸In fact, you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.”  ¹⁹“Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews insist that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”  ²¹Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will not worship the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. ²²You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. ²³But a time is coming and now is here when the real worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for those are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”  ²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ). “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”  ²⁶Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”

DEVOTION – EXODUS 17:1-7

CONFESSION OF FAITH

I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.  He descended into hell.  The third day he rose again from the dead.  He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.  From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.  Amen.

OFFERING

Offerings may be given on-line at tithe.ly/risensavior, mailed to the church, or dropped off at the church.

Our members have joined together in faith and love to do the Lord’s work in this community and around the world.  Guests need not feel obligated to participate in this offering which supports our ministry.

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

Lord of hosts, You have brought us to dwell in Your house and called us to worship You in spirit and truth.

Receive our praise and hear our prayers, that we would leave this place satisfied with Your living water.

Lord of hosts, You led Your ancient people by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Lead us through the wilderness of this world that we would be refreshed by the living water flowing from the stricken side of Christ.

Lord of hosts, You have made us righteous through Jesus Christ and made peace with us by His cross.

Lead us to embrace our suffering in faith, as they shape us in His image, and prepare us to behold Your glory in heaven.

Lord of hosts, help the sick and suffering, especially those who desire our prayers especially friends of Lisa Schultz who are experiencing health issues and Denise Falewitch whose brother in law died yesterday.

Surround them with Your love in Christ and, according to Your gracious will, heal them. Comfort all those who mourn and fill their hearts with the certain hope of the resurrection.

Lord of the Church, you have entrusted us with the responsibility of making disciples of all nations with your gospel. Open our eyes to see the need for workers in our church. Inspire young people to consider a career as a pastor, teacher, staff minister, or missionary. Provide parents with the words to encourage their children to consider full-time ministry. Help our synod and congregations to best utilize the workers with whom we are blessed and move us to value them and their ministries.

Use us, Lord, to share the good news of salvation in Christ Jesus in our communities and to the ends of the earth. Lord God, heavenly Father, strengthen our hearts by Your grace; through Jesus who taught us to pray…

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.

THE LORD’S BLESSING

Brothers and sisters, go in peace.  Live in harmony with one another.  Serve the Lord with gladness.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with favor and give you peace. Amen

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