Everything you need for March 26 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.”
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Eternal God and Father, help us to remember Jesus, who obeyed your will and bore the cross for our salvation, that through his anguish, pain, and death we may receive the forgiveness of sins, victory over the grave, and finally inherit eternal life; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
LESSON – 2 KINGS 4:17-37
17But the woman conceived, and she gave birth to a son at that same time of year, just as Elisha said to her. 18The boy grew up, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the reapers. 19Then he said to his father, “My head! My head!” His father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” 20So he picked him up and carried him to his mother, and the boy sat on her lap until noon. Then he died. 21Then she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God. She shut the door behind her and went out. 22Then she called to her husband and said, “Send one of the servants to me with one of the donkeys, so that I can run to the man of God and come back.” 23He said, “Why are you going to him today? It’s not the new moon, and it’s not the Sabbath.” But she said, “It’s all right.” 24Then she saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Lead the way. Don’t slow down for me unless I tell you.” 25So she went to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her from a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look! That’s the woman from Shunem! 26Now run to meet her and say, ‘Are you all right? Is your husband all right? Is your son all right?’ ” She answered, “We’re all right.” 27Then she came to the man of God at the mountain, and she grasped his feet. Gehazi stepped forward to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is in distress, but the Lord has hidden it from me. He has not told me.” 28Then she said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn’t I say, ‘Don’t give me false hope’?” 29Then Elisha said to Gehazi, “Hike up your garments for travel, and take my staff in your hand and go! If you meet someone, do not greet him, and if someone greets you, do not answer. Put my staff on the boy’s face.” 30But the boy’s mother said, “As surely as the Lord lives and your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her. 31Gehazi went ahead of them and put the staff on the boy’s face. But there was no sound, and there was no response. So he went back to Elisha and told him, “The boy did not wake up.” 32When Elisha came to the house, there the boy was—dead, lying on his bed. 33So he went in and he shut the door behind the two of them. Then he prayed to the Lord. 34He got up and lay down on top of the boy. He put his mouth to the boy’s mouth, his eyes to the boy’s eyes, his palms to the boy’s palms. Then he bent down over him, and the boy’s flesh became warm. 35He went back into the house and paced back and forth. Then he went up and bent down over him, and the boy sneezed seven times. Then the boy opened his eyes. 36Then Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call the woman of Shunem!” So he called her, and she came in. He said, “Pick up your son.” 37So she came in and fell at Elisha’s feet and bowed down to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out.
GOSPEL – JOHN 11:17-27, 38-45
17When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. 20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, while Mary was sitting in the house. 21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” 23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the Last Day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. 26And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish. Do you believe this?” 27“Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” 38Jesus was deeply moved again as he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39“Take away the stone,” he said. Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, because it has been four days.” 40Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41So they took away the stone. Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The man who had died came out with his feet and his hands bound with strips of linen and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus told them, “Loose him and let him go.” 45Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him.
DEVOTION – ROMANS 8:11-19
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, You raised Your Son and sent Your Spirit. Sustain us while we await Christ’s attention to our present needs. Give strength to our prayers, heal our weaknesses and restore all our losses.
Give us faith throughout our days in Jesus, who is the resurrection and the life.
Lord of all, You are the true source of life, which You give through the power of Your Spirit.
Humble those who are given authority over the lives of our people, that they would discharge this duty honorably in accord with Your will.
Lord of hosts, breathe Your life into Your Church, that she may stand by Your strength and live according to Your Word.
Lay Your hand on men of every era to proclaim Your Word and to bring life to the downtrodden, the faithless, the fearful and the outcast.
O Lord, the ones You love are ill and need Your holy care especially Curt Marti recovering from surgery. Make haste to help them. Spare their lives.
On the Last Day, call them from their graves and unite them to You and all Your saints.
Holy Father, in Baptism You have given the new birth of water and the Spirit.
Make Your children strong in Your Spirit, that they may shun the works of the flesh and live in this world expecting the resurrection and the life of the world to come.
Dear Lord, by your grace you opened the door to home mission work at The Refuge in Durham, NC. Be with your people in that setting and remove obstacles that stand in the way of their work. Provide wisdom in their decision-making and help them further the sharing of your good news in their community. Bless them with all the resources they need to fulfill their God-pleasing plans.
Motivate members with the joy of salvation in Christ their Savior and bless them with your Spirit. Remind them that your Word never returns to you empty, so their efforts are never in vain.
Into Your hands, O Lord, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy; through Jesus Christ 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.
O Lord, our heavenly Father, almighty and everlasting God, you have brought us safely to this new day. Defend us with your mighty power, and grant that this day we neither fall into sin nor run into any kind of danger; and in all we do, direct us to what is right in your sight, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. Amen.
Let us praise the Lord. Thanks be to God.
THE LORD’S BLESSING
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.