GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH (Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod) Little Rock, Arkansas

March 16, 2014

THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT Evening Prayer

PRAYER UPON ENTERING THE CHURCH
Gracious God and Lord, You teach me to number and order my days. In so doing You remind me that You govern the day, its light and its darkness, even as You grant me provision for my day to day life. Grant me to use the time that You have given me for my well-being and enjoyment, as well as to Your glory and the good of my neighbor. Bless me in this time as I hear Your Word read, sung and preached, so that I may grow in my faith and joyfully receive Your gifts of forgiveness of sins and everlasting life, timeless eternity in Your presence. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen

WELCOME
Welcome! It is good for you to be here this evening for this time of Evening Prayer as we gather around Gods Word to be strengthened in our faith through the forgiveness of sins and thereby resolve, by the Holy Spirits power, to live as Gods people in our day to day lives. Lent is a season in our Church year, a time of prayerful reflection upon the Passion of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We are given to remember with thanksgiving, the suffering and death of Jesus for the sins of the world as we also prepare to celebrate His resurrection on Easter Sunday. We are also given to know that this Gospel is the power unto salvation. It is also a time of reflection and growth in the faith and in the life of faith. Remembering our Baptisms we seek to live as Gods children. From ancient times the season of Lent has been kept as a time of special devotion, self denial, and humble repentance born of a faithful heart that dwells confidently on Gods Word and draws from it life and hope. Restrooms are located on the lower level of this building or across the bridge on this floor level before entering the fellowship hall. If you have any questions please ask one of our ushers.

EVENING PRAYER
This evenings Service is led by the Central Arkansas Kantorei. Participants in this group are under the direction of Mr. Nathan Beethe, Director of Parish Music here at Grace. The men of this choir are from Lutheran congregations in Central Arkansas. Parts of the liturgy marked P are for the Pastor. Those parts marked C are for the Congregants. There are those sections which are reserved for the choir, or introduced by them, and they are noted in the various Service Notes that may precede each of those sections.

Pre-Service Music Prelude Ringing of the Church Bell

Jesu, meine Freude [BWV 1105] - Johann Sebastian Bach Triptych on "Herzlich tut mich verlangen" - Johann Gottfried Walther

Service of Light
Stand

Versicles

Phos Hilaron

Gladsome Light Dcn. Sergius Trubachov

Choir: Gladsome Light of the holy glory of the Immortal Father, Heavenly, Holy, Blessed: O Jesus Christ! Now that we have come to the setting of the sun and behold the light of evening, We praise God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For meet it is at all times to worship You with voices of praise, O Son of God and Giver of Life; Therefore all the world glorifies You!

Thanksgiving for Light

Sit

Psalmody
Psalm 141
Service Note: The congregation will sing the parts marked C, while the choir will sing the parts marked ! and @. Psalm 141:14, 8

Psalm Prayer
P Let us pray. Let the incense of our repentant prayer ascend before You, O Lord, and let Your lovingkindness descend on us that, with purified minds, we may sing Your praises with the Church on earth and the whole heavenly host and may glorify You forever. C Amen

Psalm

Psalm 121:18 (antiphon: vs. 8, setting by Phillip Magness) Service Note: The choir will sing the antiphon first, then the congregation will repeat it. The choir will chant the text of the Psalm, with the congregation joining for each antiphon.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. 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

Office Hymn: God Loved the World So That He Gave

LSB 571

If you are sick, if death is near, This truth your troubled heart can cheer: Christ Jesus saves your soul from death; That is the firmest ground of faith.

Please rise D 6 Glory to God the Father, Son, And Holy Spirit, Three in One! To You, O blessd Trinity, Be praise now and eternally!

Public domain

Sit

Readings
Old Testament Reading
Genesis 12:19

Now the LORD said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your fathers house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. So Abram went, as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brothers son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, To your offspring I will give this land. So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb. P O Lord, have mercy on us. C Thanks be to God.

Anthem Epistle

Christ the Life of All the Living - Henry Gerike Romans 4:18, 1317

What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. The promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspringnot only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, I have made you the father of many nationsin the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. P O Lord, have mercy on us. C Thanks be to God.

Anthem
Stand

God So Loved the World - Donald Petering

Holy Gospel
P The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the third chapter. C Glory to You, O Lord.

John 3:117

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mothers womb and be born? Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be? Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. [Jesus said:] For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. P This is the Gospel of the Lord. C Praise to You, O Christ.

Hebrews 1:12a

P In many and various ways, God spoke to His people of old by the prophets. C But now in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son.

Homily

Canticle
Stand

Magnificat

Luke 1:4655 Service Note: The choir chants the verses. The congregation joins in singing each refrain.

Prayer
Litany
Service Note: The congregation's response begins just as the leader's petition ends so that the word "Lord" is sung simultaneously by leader and congregation.

P
P For the peace from above and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord: C Lord, have mercy. P For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the Church of God, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord: C Lord, have mercy. P For this holy house and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the Lord: C Lord, have mercy. P For Matthew, our Synodical president, for Roger, our District president, for all pastors in Christ, for all servants of the Church, and for all the people, let us pray to the Lord: C Lord, have mercy. P For Barack, our president, for all public servants, for the government and those who protect us, that they may be upheld and strengthened in every good deed, let us pray to the Lord: C Lord, have mercy. P For those who work to bring peace, justice, health, and protection in this and every place, let us pray to the Lord: C Lord, have mercy. P For those who bring offerings, those who do good works in this congregation, those who toil, those who sing, and all the people here present who await from the Lord great and abundant mercy, let us pray to the Lord: C Lord, have mercy. P For favorable weather, for an abundance of the fruits of the earth, and for peaceful times, let us pray to the Lord: C Lord, have mercy. P For our deliverance from all affliction, wrath, danger, and need, let us pray to the Lord: C Lord, have mercy. P For . . . [additional bids for prayer may be inserted here] . . . let us pray to the Lord: C Lord, have mercy. The prayers then continue:

P
Silence for individual prayer may follow.

Collect For Peace

P O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works, give to us, Your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey Your commandments and also that we, being defended from the fear of our enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Lord's Prayer
P Taught by our Lord and trusting in His promises, we are bold to pray: C 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

Benedicamus

[Psalm 103:1]

Benediction

Closing Hymn: Christ, Mighty Savior

LSB 881

Service Note: The Choir will sing the first two stanzas, with the congregation joining on Stanza 3.

1982 The United Methodist Publishing House; admin. The Copyright Company, Nashville, TN. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License .NET, no. 100011479. 1984 Washington National Cathedral. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License .NET, no. 100011479.

Postlude
T
Acknowledgments

Christ, Mighty Savior - Stephen P. Johnson

Evening Prayer from Lutheran Service Book. Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Created by Lutheran Service Builder 2006 Concordia Publishing House.

RECEPTION Following the service, please join us for a reception in Parker Hall hosted by women of Grace Congregation.

THOSE WHO SERVE

Pastor: Director of Parish Music: Acolyte: Choir: Ushers:

Rev. James C. Walter Nathan Beethe Maxwell Baker Central Arkansas Kantorei
Participants are men from Lutheran Churches in Central Arkansas

Shaun Baker, John Ketcher, Robert Nichols, Robert Wilimzig