Service Outline for Sunday, March 23, 2025

                                                         St. Paul’s Lutheran Church

Alliance, Ohio

Sunday, March 9, 2025

9:30 AM

PRELUDE             Trust and Obey                arr. Charles Callahan

CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS

Blessed be the holy Trinity, + one God, who brings us safely through the sea, who gives us water from the rock, who leads us into the land of milk and honey.

Amen.

Silence is kept for reflection.

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal,

have mercy on us.

For self-centered living, and for failing to walk with humility and gentleness:

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us.

For longing to have what is not ours, and for hearts that are not at rest with ourselves:

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us.

For misuse of human relationships, and for unwillingness to see the image of God in others:

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us.

For jealousies that divide families and nations, and for rivalries that create strife and warfare:

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us.

For reluctance in sharing the gifts of God, and for carelessness with the fruits of creation:

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us.

For hurtful words that condemn, and for angry deeds that harm:

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us.

For idleness in witnessing to Jesus Christ, and for squandering the gifts of love and grace:

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal, have mercy on us.

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 your Son, our Savior,

bring us with all your saints to the joy of his resurrection.

In the mercy of almighty God, our Lord Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake, God forgives us all our sin.  As a call and ordained minister of the church of Christ and by his authority, I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

 

HYMN                What God Ordains Is Good Indeed                    #776

GREETING

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

PRAYER OF THE DAY, CHIldren’s Sermon

First Reading: First Reading: Isaiah 55:1-9

¹ Hear, everyone who thirsts; come to the waters; and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
² Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your earnings for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. ³ Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. ⁴ See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples.⁵ Now you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. ⁶ Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; ⁷ let the wicked forsake their way
and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. ⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. ⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

The Word of the Lord.  Thanks be to God.

Psalm 63:1-8

¹ O God, you are my God; eager- ^| ly I seek you;
 my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land  where there ^| is no water.

² Therefore I have gazed upon you in your ^| holy place,
  that I might behold your power ^| and your glory.
³ For your steadfast love is better than ^| life itself; my lips shall ^| give you praise.
⁴ So will I bless you as long ^| as I live and lift up my hands ^| in your name. 
⁵ My spirit is content, as with the richest of foods, and my mouth praises you with ^| joyful lips,
⁶ when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in ^| the night watches.
⁷ For you have ^| been my helper, and under the shadow of your wings I ^| will rejoice.
⁸ My whole being ^| clings to you; your right hand ^| holds me fast. 

 

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

¹ I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, ² and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³ and all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. ⁵ Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.  ⁶ Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. ⁷ Do not become idolaters as some of them did, as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” ⁸ We must not engage in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. ⁹ We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. ¹⁰ And do not complain, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. ¹¹ These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. ¹² So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. ¹³ No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

The Word of the Lord.  Thanks be to God.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Gospel:   Luke 13:1-9

The Holy Gospel, according to Saint Luke, the 13th chapter.  Glory to you, O Lord

¹ At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.² [Jesus] asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?³ No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. ⁴ Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the other people living in Jerusalem? ⁵ No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish just as they did.”  ⁶ Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. ⁷ So he said to the man working the vineyard, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ ⁸ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. ⁹ If it bears fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down The Gospel of the Lord.  Praise to you, O Christ.

SERMON

HYMN                           As the Deer Runs to the River                              #331 

 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, PEACE, OFFERING, special music

LORD'S PRAYER

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      

DISTRIBUTION OF COMMUNION

 

HYMN                           Rock of Ages, Cleft to Me                            #623

PRAYER, BLESSING

HYMN                  O Living Bread From Heaven                                      #542

 

DISMISSAL 

POSTLUDE              Bless Now , O God the Journey                  Walter Pelz

Liturgy and hymns printed and streamed with permission through OneLicense. A-710659