4th Sunday after Pentecost – June 28th Service

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost                                 June 28, 2020

WELCOME/ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Communion is offered today, Monday and Tuesday. See Sign Up Genius email.
• Covid Update – still watching the numbers as more businesses and churches are beginning to open up. In the event we do open our doors in coming weeks, the rules are the same:

  1. If you have any symptoms, stay home.
  2. If you have underlying health issues, stay at home until we get the “all clear” sign.

INVOCATION

P: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.

OPENING SENTENCES

P: I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever;
with my mouth I will make known Your faithfulness to all generations. Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,
C: who walk, O LORD, in the light of Your face,

P: who exult in Your name all the day
C: and in Your righteousness are exalted.

P: For You are the glory of their strength;
C: by Your favor our horn is exalted.

P: For our shield belongs to the LORD,
C: our king to the Holy One of Israel.

All: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

All: I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever;
with my mouth I will make known Your faithfulness to all generations.

CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION

P: Soiled from our sins over the past week and still carrying burdens from our past, our Lord invites us to release from the bondage of the law so that we might live under a new law, the law of freedom in Christ. So let us silently confess our sins and wait expectantly for the grace that frees us to live for Him.

(A moment of silence is observed)

P: Our help is in the name of the Lord,
C: who made heaven and earth.

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: Because we cannot free ourselves from our sinful condition and have sinned in thought, word, and deed, let us employ the faith the Holy Spirit has given us and go to our gracious heavenly Father, asking His forgiveness for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
C: Almighty God, have mercy upon us, forgive us our sins, and lead us to everlasting life. Amen.

P: Brothers and sisters in Christ, the severity of the Law, which ought to have been meted out against us, was poured out on our Lord on the cross. The freedom we have now is to “bear fruit for God,” who raised Him from the dead. Because of Christ’s victory over sin, death and hell, you are forgiven; in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen. Thanks be to God.

SHARING THE PEACE

SONG OF PRAISE

“Way Maker” Kristen Lintvedt & Zach Allen

PRAYER OF THE DAY

P: Let us pray.
Almighty God, by the working of Your Holy Spirit, grant that we may gladly hear Your Word proclaimed among us and follow its directing; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.

OLD TESTAMENT READING

 Jeremiah 28:5–9

Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD, and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the LORD do so; may the LORD make the words that you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the LORD, and all the exiles.  Yet hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people.  The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms.  As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet.”

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.

EPISTLE

Ephesians 2:14-18
(The purpose of the Law is to show the gravity of our sin.)

For he (Jesus Christ) himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one, and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.

VERSE

Matthew 10:39
L: Alleluia, alleluia! Whoever finds his life will lose it,
C: and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Alleluia, alleluia!

HYMN No. 738

“Lord of All Hopefulness”

SERMON

“The Dividing Wall of Hostility…Racism”
Ephesians 2:14-18

CONFESSION OF FAITH – THE APOSTLES’ CREED

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And 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 sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From thence 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

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

LORD’S PRAYER

(Matthew 6:9-13)

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. Amen.

BLESSING OF THE LORD

Numbers 6:24–26

P: The LORD bless you and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.
The LORD look upon you with favor and + give you peace.
C: Amen.

CLOSING SONG