Join us for our service on March 22nd – even if you cannot attend in person – via our website. Both audio and video tracks are available, and the bulletin is incorporated and attached.
We pray for your continued health and safety during this challenging time!
WELCOME/ANNOUNCEMENTS
Welcome saints of God, to our second Sunday morning video broadcast of the service for the Fourth Sunday in Lent. At the time of this recording, our government authorities have put a quarantine order out, basically asking people to stay at home while the Corona virus passes over us. While this quarantine is in effect we will continue to videotape the Lenten Midweek Services on the Book of Job and our Sunday morning services. We are praying for a quick end to this quarantine so that we can celebrate Holy Week which culminates with celebration of the Day of the Resurrection on April 12. It doesn’t look promising at this time but we will be re-evaluating the situation in the coming weeks.
The pastors and elders are discussing a way to distribute Holy Communion to you. During this coming week, we would like you to purchase a wine of your choice and bread (or crackers – unleavened) if possible, and set the table for Communion in your home. Pastor Vern and I will consecrate the elements during the service. We will send out instructions regarding our practice on Holy Communion so that it will be done with the greatest respect. This is a temporary solution to our current situation. There is no precedent of which we are aware for this action but we all felt that it was important enough to find a way to bring not only the Word of God to you, but the Sacrament as well.
Please refer to your emails for UPDATES on the Corona Virus or check out the church’s website: www.mybslc.org. We will do our best to stay current. If you need to reach us, call the church and leave a message with your name and number. We will be checking voice messages throughout the day.
INVOCATION
P: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
OPENING SENTENCES
Isaiah 42:5–7
P: Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
C: who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:
P: “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations,
C: to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.”
CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION
Joel 2:13; Isaiah 42:16
P: In the darkness of the world around us and amid our own blindness to His will and ways, God calls us to confess our sins.
C: Return to the LORD, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.
Silence for reflection and self-examination
P: God of God, Light of light,
C: we confess that by nature we are sinful and unclean, born in darkness. We are often blind to Your Word and Your work in our lives, sinning against You and against one another in thought, word, and deed. For the sake of Jesus, who is the light of the world, forgive me all my sins, that my eyes may be opened and my heart enlightened to look to You in faith and hope.
P: “And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.”
P: Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son to die for you and for His sake forgives you all your sins. Through His death on the cross, Jesus Christ has shined His eternal light of forgiveness, peace, and life on you. In the stead and by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ as a called and ordained servant of the Word, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
SONG OF PRAISE
“Jesus Strong and Kind”
Jesus said
That if I thirst
I should come to him
No one else can satisfy
I should come to him
Jesus said
If I am weak
I should come to him
No one else can be my strength
I should come to him
For the Lord is good and faithful
He will keep us day and night
We can always run to Jesus
Jesus strong and kind
Jesus said
That if I fear
I should come to him
No one else can be my shield
I should come to him
For the Lord is good and faithful
He will keep us day and night
We can always run to Jesus
Jesus strong and kind
Jesus said
If I am lost
He will come to me
And he showed me on that cross
He will come to me
For the Lord is good and faithful
He will keep us day and night
We can always run to Jesus
Jesus strong and kind
For the Lord is good and faithful
He will keep us day and night
We can always run to Jesus
Jesus strong and kind
Jesus strong and kind
PRAYER OF THE DAY
P: Let us pray. Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we remain in darkness without Your light, and we walk in blindness if You do not lead. Even in our times of comfort in the darkness and times of willful blindness, You shine Your light of truth and call us Your children of light that we may see and live in Your grace. Help us to acknowledge Your goodness, give thanks for all Your blessings, and with eyes of faith look to You always that we serve You and others in willing obedience; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
OLD TESTAMENT READING
Isaiah 42:14–21
(Amid the unbelief of His people, God will turn darkness to light.)
For a long time I have held my peace;
I have kept still and restrained myself;
now I will cry out like a woman in labor;
I will gasp and pant.
I will lay waste mountains and hills,
and dry up all their vegetation;
I will turn the rivers into islands,
and dry up the pools.
And I will lead the blind
in a way that they do not know,
in paths that they have not known
I will guide them.
I will turn the darkness before them into light,
the rough places into level ground.
These are the things I do,
and I do not forsake them.
They are turned back and utterly put to shame,
who trust in carved idols,
who say to metal images,
“You are our gods.”
Hear, you deaf,
and look, you blind, that you may see!
Who is blind but my servant,
or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as my dedicated one,
or blind as the servant of the LORD?
He sees many things, but does not observe them;
his ears are open, but he does not hear.
The LORD was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake,
to magnify his law and make it glorious.
L: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
EPISTLE
Ephesians 5:8–14
(Once in darkness, we are now children of light in the Lord.)
For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
L: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
VERSE
Psalm 36:9
P: With You is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light.
HOLY GOSPEL
John 9:1–41 (Jesus heals a man born blind.)
P: The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the ninth chapter.
C: Glory to You, O Lord.
As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.
P: This is the Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to You, O Christ.
HYMN No. 849
“Praise the One Who Breaks the Darkness”
SERMON
“Walk in the Light” – Ephesians 5:8-14 – Pastor Vern
CONFESSION OF FAITH THE APOSTLES’ CREED
stand
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.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
LORD’S PRAYER
(Matthew 6:9-13)
P: Remember us in Your kingdom, Lord, and teach us to pray:
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
Ephesians 5:8; Isaiah 42:16
P: At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. The Lord bless you and keep you.
C: I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them.
P: The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.
C: I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground.
P: The Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace.
C: These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.
SENDING
P: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
CLOSING SONG
“Walk in the Light”