Welcome

Opening Litany^[1]:
No one is an island. We are all joined in Christ Jesus.

Who else is like you, loving God? Who is like you: beautiful in holiness, awesome in all the things you do for us.

No one lives by themselves, no one dies by themselves. Whether we live or die we are the Lord’s.

The Lord is our strength and our song. The Lord has become our salvation.

Confession and Forgiveness:
Blessed be the holy Trinity, + one God, who creates, redeems, and sustains us and all creation.
Amen.

Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another.

Silence is held for reflection.

Faithful God,
have mercy on us.  We confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.  We turn from your loving embrace and go our own ways.  We pass judgment on one another before examining ourselves.  We place our needs before those of our neighbors.  We keep your gift of salvation to ourselves.  Make us humble, cast away our transgressions, and turn us again to life in you through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.  Amen.

God hears the cries of all who call out in need, and through his death and resurrection, Christ has made us his own. Hear the truth that God proclaims: Your sins are forgiven in the name of + Jesus Christ. Led by the Holy Spirit, live in freedom and newness to do God’s work in the world.
Amen.

Prayer of the Day:
Let us pray.
O Lord God, merciful judge, you are the inexhaustible fountain of forgiveness. Replace our hearts of stone with hearts that love and adore you, that we may delight in doing your will, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.

First Reading: Romans 14:1-12
¹   Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. ² Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. ³ Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them. ⁴ Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

⁵   Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. ⁶ Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.

⁷   We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. ⁸ If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. ⁹ For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

¹⁰    Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. ¹¹ For it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall give praise to God.”
¹² So then, each of us will be accountable to God.

The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Gospel: Matthew 18:21-3
²¹   Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

²³   “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. ²⁴ When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; ²⁵ and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. ²⁶ So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ ²⁷ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. ²⁸ But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ ²⁹ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ ³⁰ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. ³¹ When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. ³² Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³ Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. ³⁵ So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Children’s Sermon

Sermon:

Hymn of the Day:

Apostle’s Creed:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
       creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s 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 to the dead.*
On the third day he rose again;
       he ascended into heaven,
       he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
       and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

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

Prayers of Intercession:
http://www.pilgrimpaths.co.uk/Finger%20Labyrinth%20and%20Prayer%20Guide%20Leaflet.pdf

Confident of your care and helped by the Holy Spirit, we pray for the church, the world, and all who are in need.

. . .  Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.

In the certain hope that nothing can separate us from your love, we offer these prayers to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Sharing of the Peace

Announcements

Offering
https://tithe.ly/give_new/www/#/tithely/give-one-time/468062

Sending Litany[2]:
To forgive any more than the once sounds tough and seven times seems crazy.

Yet to stretch the score to seventy times seven becomes profoundly easy.

We only travel well on the paths of mercy, when we have made the choice to break from the prison of “our own rights” and to find pleasure in the unfenced grounds of love.

Lord’s Prayer:
Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray as Jesus taught us saying:
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.

Benediction:
As you go from here, remember to love.
For love is what God asks of us; it is the very heart and soul of what it means to follow Jesus Christ. So, go from here to love and serve God by loving and serving those you meet.

May Almighty God, Father, + Son, and Holy Spirit, bless you and lead you into the way of truth and life.
Amen

Dismissal:
Go in peace. Remember the poor.
Thanks be to God!

Prayer Requests:
Bob Keifer, Celia Warren, Frank Danowsky, Marie Tanner, Irene Stark, Peg Swinehart, Alice Snyder, Brock Baker, the family and friends of Robert Koch, Greg Seibert, Harold Snyder, Colette Richards, Pat Thomas, Gladys Guffey, Terry Funk, Darv Krouse, Terry Smith, Rodney Heckert, and Rebecca Otuszewski.

Portions reprinted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, copyright 2006.  Used by permission of Augsburg Fortress, license #SBL09796L.  Music reprinted from the ELW, by permission of OneLicense, license #A712349.  Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.   Used by permission.

[1] Adapted from Bruce Prewer, on Bruce Prewer’s Homepage

[2] Copyright © B.D. Prewer 1995, posted on Bruce Prewer’s Homepage.