Sunday, March 15, 2020 - Order of Worship - Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Atlanta GA USA

Third Sunday in Lent – March 15, 2020 The Order of Worship at 8:15 and 11:00 am

To mitigate spread of COVID-19 in our community, for at least the next two Sundays—March 15 and March 22—on-site worship services, Sunday school and Confirmation classes are cancelled. We will Livestream a service at 11:00 am on Sunday morning and you may also view it later. We will also Livestream Wednesday Evening Lenten Prayer. Please use the links available on the viewing page to let us know that you are worshiping from home, to offer any prayer requests, to let us know if you need help or are available to help a neighbor, and to continue to give to support the ministries that continue, socially distant for the common good.

As always, we pray that worship at Redeemer is a blessing for you, even as your participation blesses us, even though we are not together in person.

As you are

comfortable, we encourage you to sing the hymns and to sing or speak the congregational portions of the liturgy in bold type.

This bulletin contains content protected by copyright and is provided only for you to participate in worship. Please delete or destroy any physical or digital copy of the material following the service.

PRELUDE

WELCOME 1

GATHERING The Holy Spirit gathers us in unity on the first day of the week, the day of Christ’s resurrection.

HYMN 647

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Glorious Things of You Are Spoken

CONFESSION During the season of Lent we are called to return to the Lord with all our heart. Let us confess our sin and seek reconciliation with God and neighbor.

Gracious God, | have mercy on us. We confess that we have turned away from you, knowingly and unknowingly. We have wandered from your resurrection life. We have strayed from your love for all people. Turn us back to you, O God. Give us new hearts and right spirits, that we may find what is pleasing to you and dwell in your house forever. Amen.

Receive good news: God turns to you in love. “I will put my spirit in you, and you shall live,� says our God. Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. | Amen.

GREETING The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. | And also with you.

KYRIE In peace let us pray to the Lord.

For the peace from above, and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.

For the peace from above, and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.

For this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the Lord.

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Help, save, comfort and defend us, gracious Lord.

The Hymn of Praise is omitted during the penitential season of Lent.

The Lord be with you. | And also with you.

PRAYER OF THE DAY After the prayer: Amen Please use the Prayer Request link on the webpage to submit your requests.

WORD God speaks to us in scriptures read, sung and preached.

CHILDREN’S SERMON THE FIRST READING

Exodus 17:1-7

Because the thirsty Israelites quarreled with Moses and put God to the test, Moses cried out in desperation to God. God commanded Moses to strike the rock to provide water for the people. The doubt-filled question—“Is the LORD among us or not?”—received a very positive answer.

After the reading: Word of God, word of life. | Thanks be to God. PSALM 95 Cantor with congregational refrain

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Come, let us sing to the LORD; let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation.

Let us come before God’s presence with thanksgiving and raise a loud shout to the LORD with psalms. | Refrain For you, LORD, are a great God, and a great ruler above all gods.

In your hand are the caverns of the earth; the heights of the hills are also yours.

The sea is yours, for you made it, and your hands have molded the dry land. | Refrain Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the LORD our maker.

For the LORD is our God, and we are the people of God’s pasture and the sheep of God’s hand. | Refrain Oh, that today you would hear God’s voice! “Harden not your hearts, as at Meribah, as on that day at Massah in the desert. There your ancestors tested me, they put me to the test, though they had seen my works. | Refrain Forty years I loathed that generation, saying, ‘The heart of this people goes astray; they do not know my ways.’ Indeed I swore in my anger, ‘They shall never come to my rest.’” | Refrain From sundaysandseasons.com

THE SECOND READING

Romans 5:1-11

Though we often hear that God helps those who help themselves, here Paul tells us that through Jesus’ death God helps utterly helpless sinners. Since we who had been enemies are reconciled to God in the cross, we now live in hope for our final salvation.

After the reading: Word of God, word of life. | Thanks be to God. GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Lord, you are truly the Savior of the world; give me this living water that I may never thirst again.

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GOSPEL

John 4:5-42

Jesus defies convention to engage a Samaritan woman in conversation. Her testimony, in turn, leads many others to faith.

Before the reading: The Holy Gospel according... | Glory to you, O Lord.

After the reading: The gospel of the Lord. | Praise to you, O Christ.

Please repeat the acclamation following the Gospel.

SERMON

HYMN 331

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Pastor Mark H. Larson

As the Deer Runs to the River

APOSTLES’ 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 Each petition concludes: …in prayer we sing:

At the conclusion of the prayers: Amen PEACE The peace of Christ be with you always. | And also with you.

Please let us know you worshiped with us today by using the I’m Worshiping link as you would the attendance pad at church.

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MISSION MOMENT

Bishop Kevin Strickland Southeastern Synod

MEAL God feeds us with the presence of Jesus Christ.

GATHERING OF GIFTS Please use the Help and Give links to support the ministry of Redeemer.

ANTHEM

O Come, Let Us Sing Unto the Lord The Redeemer Choir

Donald Swann

O come let us sing unto the Lord; let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and show ourselves glad in him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hands are all the corners of the earth; and the strength of the hills is his also.

The sea is his and he made it; and his hands prepared the dry land. O come let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our maker: For he is the Lord our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if you will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness.

When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation and said, "It is a people that do err in their hearts, For they have not known my ways." Unto whom I sware in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest.

Psalm 95

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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OFFERTORY HYMN

Let us pray. | Holy and generous host, you set a table where we feast as friends.

Prepare us to witness to your goodness with every gift you have given us to share, that all people may know your peace through Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen.

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

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EUCHARISTIC PRAYER

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THE LORD’S PRAYER

INVITATION TO COMMUNION God’s love is poured out in Christ for you. Open yourselves to receive it.

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HYMN 777

Come to Me, All Pilgrims Thirsty

The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you in his grace. | Amen

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HYMN

Let us pray. | We thank you, living God, for the body and blood of your Son, which sustains us in the wilderness and the garden alike. As Christ has loved us in this feast, so send us to love Christ in our neighbors. In Jesus’ name we pray.

Amen.

SENDING God blesses us and sends us in mission to the world.

ANNOUNCEMENTS BLESSING Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation. Holy God, speaking spoken, and inspiring, ☊ bless you, unbind you, and send you in love and in peace. | Amen.

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HYMN 618

Guide Me Ever, Great Redeemer

SENDING Go in peace. Share the good news. | Thanks be to God. POSTLUDE

Prelude in G minor

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Liturgy from Sundays and Seasons.com. Copyright 2013 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved.

Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License #21979.

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TODAY AT REDEEMER The Atrium flowers are given to the glory of God and in loving memory of my husband Mack by Bev Alden.

LAST WEEK AT REDEEMER Worship attendance for March 8: 338; Rejoicing Spirits: 51, Livestream 169; Facebook Live 196

WEDNESDAY EVENING LENTEN WORSHIP - MIDDAY PRAYER

NEXT WEEK AT REDEEMER Fourth Sunday in Lent Readings: 1 Samuel 16:1-13, Psalm 23, Ephesians 5:8-14, John 9:1-41

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