Welcome & Announcements
Prelude
Opening Dialogue:
Behold, now is the acceptable time. Today is the day of God’s salvation.
We tremble in fear and anticipation at the nearness of a God so great and powerful.
Return with all your heart, with weeping, fasting, and mourning.
God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Be reconciled to God, through Christ Jesus, and receive a new and right spirit within.
We will fast and pray as an inner discipline, preparing ourselves for faithful discipleship.
Prayer of the Day:
Let us pray.
Gracious God, our of your love and mercy you breathed into dust the breath of life, creating us to serve you and our neighbors. Call forth our prayers and acts of kindness, and strengthen us to face our mortality with confidence in the mercy of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
First Reading: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming, it is near—
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness spread upon the mountains
a great and powerful army comes;
their like has never been from of old,
nor will be again after them
in ages to come.
12 Yet even now, says the LORD,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the LORD, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing.
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the LORD, your God?
5 Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sanctify a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16 gather the people.
Sanctify the congregation;
assemble the aged;
gather the children,
even infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her canopy.
17 Between the vestibule and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep.
Let them say, “Spare your people, O LORD,
and do not make your heritage a mockery,
a byword among the nations.
Why should it be said among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”
This is the Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God!
Gospel Reading: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
This is the Holy Gospel according to Matthew, the 6th chapter.
Glory to you, O Lord.
1 [Jesus said:] “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
5 “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
16 “And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Sermon
Hymn of the Day: ELW 801 “Change My Heart, O God”
Change my heart, O God, make it ever true.
Change my heart, O God, may I be like You.
You are the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me, this is what I pray.
Change my heart, O God, make it ever true.
Change my heart, O God, may I be like You.
Invitation to Lent:
Friends in Christ, today with the whole church we enter the time of remembering Jesus’ Passover from death to life, and our life in Christ is renewed.
We begin this holy season by acknowledging our need for repentance and for God’s mercy. We are created to experience joy in communion with God, to love one another, and to live in harmony with creation. But our sinful rebellion separates us from God, our neighbors, and creation, so that we do not enjoy the life our creator intended.
As disciples of Jesus, we are called to a discipline that contends against evil and resists whatever leads us away from love of God and neighbor. I invite you, therefore, to the discipline of Lent – self-examination and repentance, prayer and fasting, sacrificial giving and works of love – strengthened by the gifts of word and sacrament. Let us continue our journey these forty days to the great Three Days of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Confession of Sin:
Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another.
Most holy and merciful God,
we confess to you and to one another, and before the whole company of heaven, that we have sinned by our fault, by our own fault, by our own most grievous fault, in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, O God.
We have shut our ears to your call to serve as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.
Have mercy on us, O God.
Our past unfaithfulness, the pride, envy, hypocrisy, and apathy that have infected our lives, we confess to you.
Have mercy on us, O God.
Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people, we confess to you.
Have mercy on us, O God.
Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to share the faith that is in us, we confess to you.
Have mercy on us, O God.
Our neglect of human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty, we confess to you.
Have mercy on us, O God.
Our false judgments, our uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and our prejudice and contempt toward those who differ from us, we confess to you.
Have mercy on us, O God.
Our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us, we confess to you.
Have mercy on us, O God.
Restore us, O God, and let your anger depart from us.
Hear us, O God, for your mercy is great.
Imposition of Ashes:
Almighty God, you have created us out of the dust of the earth. May these ashes be a sign of our mortality and penitence, reminding us that only by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ are we given eternal life; through the same Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.
Accomplish in us, O God, the work of your salvation,
that we may show forth your glory in the world.
By the cross and passion of you Son, our Savior,
bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.
Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sin through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life.
Amen.
Prayers of Intercession:
Sustained by God’s abundant mercy, let us pray for the church, the world, and all of creation.
Prayers continue with each petition ending:
Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
We lift our prayers to you, O God, trusting in your steadfast love and your promise to renew your whole creation; through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Amen.
Sharing of the Peace:
May the peace of the Lord be with you always.
And also with you.
Offering:
https://tithe.ly/give_new/www/#/tithely/give-one-time/468062
Offertory Hymn:
Let the vineyards be fruitful, Lord, and fill to the brim our cups of blessing.
Gather a harvest from the seeds that were sown, that we may be fed with the bread of life.
Gather the hopes and dreams of all; united them with the prayers we offer now.
Grace our table with your presence, and give us a foretaste of the feast to come.
Offering Prayer:
Let us pray.
God of good gifts, receive these and all our offerings as we present them in faithful service for the sake of your gospel. Prepare our hearts to receive you in this meal as you pour out your presence through Christ Jesus, the wellspring of eternal life.
Amen.
The Great Thanksgiving:
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right, our duty and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God, through our Savior Jesus Christ. You call your people to cleanse their hearts and prepare with joy for the paschal feast, that, renewed in the gift of baptism, we may come to the fullness of your grace. And so, with all the choirs of angels, with the church on earth and the hosts of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, Lord God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed are you, O God of the universe. Your mercy is everlasting and your faithfulness endures from age to age.
Praise to you for creating the heavens and the earth. Praise to you for saving the earth from the waters of the flood. Praise to you for bringing the Israelites safely through the sea. Praise to you for leading your people through the wilderness to the land of milk and honey. Praise to you for the words and deeds of Jesus, your anointed one. Praise to you for the death and resurrection of Christ. Praise to you for your Spirit poured out on all nations.
In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.
Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.
With this bread and cup we remember our Lord’s passover from death to life as we proclaim the mystery of faith:
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
O God of resurrection and new life: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on these gifts of bread and wine. Bless this feast. Grace our table with your presence.
Come, Holy Spirit.
Reveal yourself to us in the breaking of the bread. Raise us up as the body of Christ for the world. Breathe new life into us. Send us forth, burning with justice, peace, and love.
Come, Holy Spirit.
With your holy ones of all times and places, with the earth and all its creatures, with sun and moon and stars, we praise you, O God, blessed and holy Trinity, now and forever.
Amen.
Lord’s Prayer:
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.
O Lamb of God, you bear the sin of all the world away; you suffered death our lives to save: have mercy now, we pray. O Lamb of God, you bear the sin of all the world away; you set us free from guilt and grave: have mercy now, we pray. O Lamb of God, you bear the sin of all the world away; eternal peace with God you made: give us your peace, we pray.
Communion
Table Blessing:
The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you in his grace.
Amen.
Post-Communion Canticle:
O Lord, now let your servant depart in heavenly peace, for I have seen the glory of your redeeming grace: a light to lead the nations unto your holy hill, the glory of your people, your chosen Israel.
Post-Communion Prayer:
Let us pray.
Embodied God, at your table we have tasted the goodness of Jesus. With the eyes of our hearts open to your promise, empower us to hear the needs of our neighbors and touch the world with your love.
Amen.
Benediction:
God the giver of love, + Christ, the resurrection and the life, and the Holy Spirit of rebirth bless you in this Lenten journey.
Amen.
Sending Hymn: ELW 319 “O Lord Throughout These Forty Days”
O Lord, throughout these forty days you prayed and kept the fast;
inspire repentance for our sin, and free us from our past.
You strove with Satan, and you won; your faithfulness endured;
lend us your nerve, your skill and trust in God’s eternal word.
Though parched and hungry, yet you prayed and fixed your mind above;
so teach us to deny ourselves that we may know God’s love.
Be with us through this season, Lord, and all our earthly days,
that when the final Easter dawns, we join in heaven’s praise.
Dismissal:
Go forth into the world to serve God with gladness; be of good courage; hold fast to that which is good; render to no one evil for evil; strengthen the fainthearted; support the weak; help the afflicted; honor all people; love and serve God, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thanks be to God.
Postlude
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.