The Fifth Sunday in Lent
also known as Judica Sunday
(Latin for “Judge/Vindicate”) March 22, 2026
Jesus Died in My Place,
That I Might Live in His Place
It was May 21, 1946. The place was the US Government Nuclear Laboratory at Los Alamos, New Mexico. A young scientist was carrying out a necessary experiment in preparation for an upcoming atomic bomb test that was going to be conducted in the waters of the South Pacific, at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Island group.
He had successfully performed experiments like this many times before. In order to determine the amount of U-235 necessary for a chain reaction–scientists call it the critical mass–he had to push two hemispheres of uranium together. Then, just as the mass became critical, he would have push them apart with his screwdriver, instantly stopping the chain reaction. But that day, just as the material became critical, the screwdriver slipped from his hand! The hemispheres of uranium came too close together. Instantly the room was filled with a dazzling bluish haze. Young Louis Slotin, instead of ducking and possibly saving himself, tore the two hemispheres apart with his bare hands and interrupted the chain reaction.
By an instant, self-sacrificing act, Louis saved the lives of the seven other people in that room that day. . . As he waited for the car that would take him to the hospital, he said quietly to his companion, “You’ll come through all right. But I’m afraid I haven’t the faintest chance of surviving.” What Slotin said was all too true. Nine days later he died in agony because he had chosen to expose himself to that lethal dose of radiation……in order to save the lives of every other man in the laboratory.
20 centuries ago the Son of the God walked directly into sin’s most concentrated radiation, allowing Himself to be killed because of its curse, so that sinful humanity would be spared hell and given life eternal in heaven. It was the ultimate act of substitutionary selflessness and sacrifice. Because Jesus chose to give up His sinless life for our sakes, He permanently stopped sin’s chain reaction from disobedience to damnation for us, earning – through His sinless life, death and resurrection — forgiveness for all our sins and the guarantee of eternal life through faith in Him, our Substitute, our Savior and our Lord.
The Last Two Weeks of Lent are
traditionally known as “Passiontide”
Although as a congregation, our preparation for Easter began with “Ash Wednesday” back on February 18th,
with this morning’s service our preparation and anticipation intensify as we enter into the final two weeks of Lent…..a time traditionally known by the term “Passiontide.” This early period of fourteen days’ duration, starting on the fifth Sunday in Lent, was the Church’s first formal effort to commemorate our Lord’s Passion. Eventually, the fourteen days of Passiontide were incorporated into the season of Lent when the latter was “officially” defined as a 40 day period of preparation in the 9th century A.D. “Passiontide’s” purpose is to recall, in a more vivid way than is usually done during the preceding days of the season of Lent, the variety and viciousness of the persecutions and the intensity of the sufferings our Lord endured for our eternal deliverance.
The Fifth Sunday in Lent: Judica Sunday
This morning, the first day of this final two week period, is sometimes referred to as “Passion Sunday” and also by its traditional name of “Judica Sunday” (taken from the Latin language [it means “vindicate/judge”] from the first word of the Psalm appointed to be read during worship on this day, Psalm 43). This Psalm is a prayer for deliverance from the enemy of our souls and for our restoration to the presence of God. Spiritually-speaking that is precisely what Christ has accomplished for us through His substitutionary, redemptive work: His sinless life, passion, and conquest of death by His resurrection. He delivered us from the power of our greatest enemy, Satan, restoring us to the status of being righteous again, and reconciling us to God. Through His Passion, Jesus has vindicated us – forever!
Today’s Scripture Lessons
Our worship service for this Judica/”Vindicate” Sunday has been developed around three Scripture lessons which all concentrate on the substitutionary, sacrificial, saving work of Christ our Savior.
In our opening reading, our Old Testament Lesson, we are going to consider Moses’ account of Abraham’s supreme test of faith…..when the Lord during the night commanded the patriarch to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac, as an offering to Him. Obediently the next morning Abraham took his son Isaac and began the journey that he was certain would end – not in Isaac’s death, but – in his son’s resurrection (see Hebrews 11:17-19). In addition to the exemplary faith of Abraham, we also want to take notice this morning of the obedience of Isaac, who – like Jesus some 2200 years later – willingly submitted himself to his father’s will even though that submission all but guaranteed his death. In that sense, Isaac serves as an Old Testament “type” of Christ, a very limited example of Jesus’ redeeming work. Incidentally, the ram that was eventually sacrificed by Abraham also is a “type” of Christ insofar as its life was given up as a substitute for Isaac’s.
Today’s second reading is our Epistle Lesson for this morning. Peter opened his first letter with an extended expression of joy over their faith and the certainty of heaven that is theirs. He then encourages his readers to stand firm in the face of opposition, persecution, and ever-present worldliness. Peter also lays out the “reason” for their (and our) eternal confidence: the substitutionary life and death of Jesus Christ for all sinners. Finally, Peter calls us all to respond properly and positively to God’s grace by leading reverent, obedient, and loving lives dedicated to serving others and to glorifying the Lord.
This morning’s third reading, the Gospel Lesson and Sermon Text, records for us an unseemly event that occurred immediately after Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead. The news about Lazarus had filtered back to the chief priests and Pharisees in Jerusalem, and instead of finally putting their trust in Him as the Promised Messiah, they opted to convene a special meeting of the Jewish religious/legislative body – known as the Sanhedrin. Their goal was to find an answer to the question, “What should we do with Jesus?” Unfortunately, their intentions were anything but honorable. Their fear was that the masses would be drawn more and more to Jesus until their own religious and political influence over the nation might be lost. The Sanhedrin was also afraid that the Romans eventually would feel compelled to powerfully intervene in what they expected would ultimately be a political upheaval led by Jesus, and that the nation might be destroyed by Rome as a result. Caiaphas, their leader, recommended that Jesus should somehow be eliminated. “It would be better for you [the leaders of the nation],” he suggested “that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” What Caiaphas was considering from a hateful viewpoint – eliminating Jesus as a threat to them – God wonderfully and graciously used, not to deliver the Sanhedrin from Jesus, but to sacrifice His Son for the forgiveness of the world’s sins (even the Sanhedrin’s) and for the salvation all who would believe in Him.
Finally, in today’s fourth reading, our Children’s Lesson, we are going to hear some very familiar words of the Apostle Paul, which encapsulate Jesus’ work of redemption. We are accustomed to saying that in this passage Paul is describing “God’s Great Exchange.” It refers to God transferring our sins to Christ, making Jesus entirely, exclusively responsible for the world’s sins as if He had actually committed them all. At the same time the Lord credited Christ’s sinlessness to every sinner – effectively meaning that, for Jesus’ sake, we had never sinned. In theological terms, we say that Jesus was our “Vicarious Substitute;” that He completely took our place at the cross and in the grave, suffering everything we deserved because of our sins, so that we might be spared the eternal curse of sin and, instead, we might be given everlasting life in heaven through faith in Him.
Background Information on Our Sermon Hymn:
When the Portuguese colonists five centuries ago first settled in Macao, along the coast of South China, they erected a massive cathedral high on the crest of a hill overlooking both the city and the sea coast. However, in time a violent China Sea typhoon proved too severe a test for even such a massive building, and three centuries ago that cathedral fell — all of it, that is, except the front wall. The cathedral has never been rebuilt, and that remaining wall has stood ever since as a memorial of sorts. At the very top of the wall standing out against the sky stands the cathedral’s original, large bronze cross – defying time, rain, lightning and typhoon.
It was such an impressive sight that when Sir John Bowring, then governor of Hong Kong, visited Macao in 1825, he was deeply impressed by that cross which towers over the ruins of its cathedral. Returning to his home, Bowring penned the words of the famous hymn, which serves as our Sermon Hymn for this morning” “In the Cross of Christ I Glory, Towering O’er the Wrecks of Time.”
Sir John went to his eternal rest over a century and a half ago, but his hymn lives on and remains one of Christianity’s most beloved and well-used hymns. Likewise, the builders of that distant cathedral are long since forgotten, but the cross they erected there in memory of and out of love for the Crucified One continues to stand tall for all to see to this very day. Even more significant, the forgiveness and salvation for sinners, which Jesus secured through His cross, will endure for all eternity. Because we believe in Jesus as our God and Savior, and because we trust in all that He accomplished for us on that cross, we can be sure that forgiveness and salvation belong to every one of us. And that’s why we “glory…..in the cross of Christ!”
Welcome to Grace Lutheran Church
We welcome you this day in the name of our living Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. May you find abiding peace and renewed strength for your faith and Christian life in His Word of truth today.
The chief purpose of our ministry, as our Lord enables us, is to serve all people with the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ, revealed to us in the verbally inspired, inerrant Scriptures. To that end, it is our privilege and responsibility:
To proclaim the Law and Gospel keenly and clearly, in order to convict sinners of their sins, to lead them to repentance, to comfort penitent souls, and to build each other up in our faith in the one, true, Triune God through the Means of Grace (the Word and Sacraments of our Lord). and…..
B. To equip believers, through that same Means of Grace, to grow in their Christian lives as faithful servants, stewards, and witnesses to others of the redeeming grace of our God in Christ Jesus.
Grace Lutheran Church is a fellowship of individuals and families who have found Jesus Christ to be the only safe and reliable answer to all of life’s problems and critical questions. We are members of the WELS, that is, the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.
Wisconsin indicates the geographical beginnings of a group of Christians who, over a century and a half ago, because of their comprehensive commitment to all that God’s Word teaches, united themselves in a join public ministry which we in the WELS carry on, by God’s grace, to this day.
Evangelical declares that we believe and proclaim the great, foundational principles of the Christian faith: namely, that we are saved by God’s free grace alone (His undeserved love), through faith alone in Jesus Christ. And that this truth is found in Scripture alone (that is, the 66 “canonical” books of the Bible).
Lutheran affirms that we believe, teach, and confess all the doctrines of the historic Christian faith as taught by Jesus to His Apostles, now contained in the written Word of God. Those truths, once all but lost to the Church because of the influences of false teachers, were – by God’s grace and blessing – restored to the Christian Church through the 16th century Lutheran Reformation led by Dr. Martin Luther. We humbly remain today, the grateful heirs of that Lutheran Reformation, Apostolic legacy.
And, finally, Synod states that we, as a congregation, have united in a shared ministry together with 1259 other like-minded WELS congregations across this country, as well as like-teaching Lutherans in 23 other nations. We join them in working together for the purposes of growing in our Christian faith, serving our glorious Lord, and proclaiming His gracious salvation in Christ to the world.
Pre-Service Prayer – Heavenly Father, hallowed by Your name. Help me on this Lord’s Day to come into Your presence with thanksgiving and to join my fellow Christians in hymns of praise and adoration. In this hour of worship, enable me to grow in grace and knowledge. Help me to give You the glory that is due Your holy name. Graciously accept also the offerings of my hands, and use my gifts in the service of my congregation and of Your Church everywhere. Fill my pastor with a rich measure of Your grace. Help him to speak Your word courageously, clearly, and convincingly, that the hearts of the hearers may be drawn closer to You. Send Your Holy Spirit into the hearts of people everywhere, that they may believe and be saved from sin and eternal damnation through faith in You, the One True God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You have sent. Give me and my church the grace to believe and teach Your Word in all its truth and purity, and help me and all Christians to pattern our lives according to it. By Your Holy Spirit, make me pure in heart and mind, help me to worship You in the genuine reverence, and grant that in word and deed I might always seek to please You. Above all else, grant me life eternal through Your Son, My Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The portions of God’s Word used in this worship flyer have been taken from The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version Copyright 2019, The Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission Music and lyrics, as needed, are used with permission via OneLicense.net #A712831
Silent Prayer Pre-service Music
We Praise Our God
The Introduction and Invitation To Worship
following which, the Congregation will rise for the invocation
The Invocation
Pastor We begin this service in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Psalm for Today Psalm 43
P: Judge me justly, O God and plead my cause against an ungodly nation; rescue me from deceitful and wicked men.
C: You are God my stronghold. Why have You rejected me? Why must I go about mourning, oppressed by the enemy?
P: Send forth Your light and Your truth, let them guide me;
C: let them bring me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You dwell.
P: Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my Joy and my Delight.
C: I will praise You, with the harp, O God, my God.
P: Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?
C: Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.
P: Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord, for I hide myself in You.
C: Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from violent men You rescued me.
P: For Your name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life;
C: in Your righteousness, bring me out of trouble, for I am Your servant.
after which the Congregation will be seated for
Opening Hymn Hymn 125 “When I Survey The Wond’rous Cross”
1 When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.
2 Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast
Save in the death of Christ, my God.
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.
3 See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
4 Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a tribute far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
After which the Congregation will rise
We Make Confession Of Our Sins To the LORD
P: Brothers and sisters in Christ, in preparation for confessing our sins together, please join me in examining our lives according to God’s Ten Commandments, along with Martin Luther’s explanations for each of those commandments:
C: You shall have no other gods.
P: We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
C: You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God.
P: We should fear and love God that we do not use His name to curse, swear, lie or deceive, or use witchcraft, but call upon God’s name in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.
C: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
P: We should fear and love God that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but regard it as holy, and gladly hear and learn it.
C: Honor your father and mother, that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.
P: We should fear and love God that we do not dishonor or anger our parents and others in authority, but honor, serve, and obey them, and give them love and respect.
C: You shall not murder.
P: We should fear and love God that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and befriend him in every bodily need.
C: You shall not commit adultery.
P: We should fear and love God that we lead a pure and decent life in words and actions, and that husband and wife love and honor each other.
C: You shall not steal.
P: We should fear and love God that we do not take our neighbor’s money or property or get it by dishonest dealing, but help him to improve and protect his property and means of income.
C: You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
P: We should fear and love God that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, or give him a bad name, but defend him, speak well of him, and take his words and actions in the kindest possible way.
C: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.
P: We should fear and love God that we do not scheme to get our neighbor’s inheritance or house or obtain it by a show of right, but do all we can to help him keep it.
C: You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, workers, animals, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
P: We should fear and love God that we do not force or entice away our neighbor’s spouse, workers, or animals, but urge them to stay and do their duty.
Pastor: And now, beloved in the Lord, let us draw near to the Lord with sincere hearts and confess all our sins to God, our Father, pleading that He might, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, grant us the forgiveness of all our sins.
Congregation: Miserable person that I am, I confess and lament to You, O most holy God, that I am a weak and sinful creature, guilty of every sin, of unbelief, and of blasphemy. I also confess that Your Word has not brought forth good fruit in me. I hear it, but do not receive it earnestly. I do not show works of love toward my neighbor. I am full of anger, hate, and envy. I am impatient, greedy, and bent on every evil. Therefore my heart and conscience are heavy. Lord, I ask You, free me from my sins, strengthen my faith, and comfort my weak conscience by Your divine Word, that I may obtain Your promised grace.
The Assurance of God’s Forgiveness
Having just heard your sincere confession of sins and plea for pardon may these words of our Savior in Matthew 8:31 comfort and encourage you: “It will be done for you as you believe.” And now, in the place of and according to the command of my Lord, Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sin, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. God be gracious unto you and strengthen your faith. Go in peace. Amen.
The Order of Matins
Pastor O LORD, open my lips.
Congregation (Sung) And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
Pastor Hasten, O God, to deliver me.
Congregation (sung) Hasten to help me, O LORD.
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.
The Prayer for the Morning
O Gracious Lord God, + drive out every trace of spiritual darkness from our hearts + that we may see Your Son as our one and only Redeemer + and that we may confidently call on Him + to deliver us from all our troubles of body and soul. + Bless our worship of You this morning + that through our meditation on Your Word + our faith might grow stronger + and our love for Your truth might increase. + All this we seek in the name + and for the sake of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior + Who lives and rules with You and the Holy Spirit, + as the One true God, + forever and ever. + Amen.
After which the Congregation will be seated as
We Hear God’s Word
The Old Testament Lesson Genesis 22:1-18
Some time later God tested Abraham. He called to him, “Abraham!”
Abraham answered, “I am here.”
2 God said, “Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains there, the one to which I direct you.”
3 Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, along with Isaac his son. Abraham split the wood for the burnt offering. Then he set out to go to the place that God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.
5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go on over there. We will worship, and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and loaded it on Isaac his son. He took the firepot and the knife in his hand. The two of them went on together.
7 Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father?”
He said, “I am here, my son.”
He said, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
8 Abraham said, “God Himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them went on together. 9 They came to the place that God had told him about. Abraham built the altar there. He arranged the wood, tied up Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
11 The Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!”
Abraham said, “I am here.”
12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
13 Abraham looked around and saw that behind him there was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 Abraham called the name of that place “The Lord Will Provide.” So it is said to this day, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.”
15 The Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven 16 and said, “I have sworn by Myself, declares the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, 17 I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your descendants greatly, like the stars of the sky and like the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the city gates of their enemies. 18 In your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
The Children’s Lesson II Corinthians 5:21
(from the NT in Everyday American English)
God made Him to be sin itself as our Substitute, so that by what Christ did He could make us just as perfect and without sin as He is.
He Took Our Place
The Epistle Lesson I Peter 1:17-25
17 If you call on the Father Who judges impartially, according to the work of each person, conduct yourselves during the time of your pilgrimage in reverence, 18 because you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, not with things that pass away, such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like a lamb without blemish or spot. 20 He was chosen before the foundation of the world but revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through Him you are believers in God, Who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
22 Since you have purified your souls by obeying the truth, resulting in sincere brotherly love, love one another constantly from a pure heart. 23 For you have been born again, not from perishable seed but from imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For:
All flesh is like grass,
and all its glory is like a flower of the field.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.
And this is the word that was preached to you.
after which the Congregation will rise for
Today’s Gospel Lesson John 11:45-57
45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in Him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. They asked, “What are we going to do, because this Man is doing many miraculous signs? 48 If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him. Then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 You do not even consider that it is better for us that one Man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” 51 He did not say this on his own, but, as high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, 52 and not only for that nation, but also in order to gather into one the scattered children of God.
53 So from that day on they plotted to kill Him. 54 Therefore Jesus no longer walked about openly among the Jews. Instead He withdrew into a region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim. And He stayed there with His disciples.
55 The Jewish Passover was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the country to purify themselves before the Passover. 56 They kept looking for Jesus and asking one another as they stood in the temple area, “What do you think? He certainly won’t come to the Festival, will He?” 57 The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he should report it so that they could arrest Jesus.
after which the Congregation may be seated as
We Confess our Christian Faith
to the words of 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 Ghost; + Born of the Virgin Mary; + Suffered under Pontius Pilate; + Was crucified, dead and buried; + He descended into hell; + The third day He rose again from the dead; + He ascended into heaven + And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; + From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. + I believe in the Holy Ghost; + The Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints; + The forgiveness of sins; + The resurrection of the body; + And the life everlasting. Amen.
after which the Congregation will be seated for
The Hymn of the Day Hymn 345 “In the Cross of Christ I Glory”
1 In the cross of Christ I glory,
Tow’ring o’er the wrecks of time.
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its head sublime.
2 When the woes of life o’ertake me,
Hopes deceive and fears annoy,
Never shall the cross forsake me;
Lo, it glows with peace and joy.
3 When the sun of bliss is beaming
Light and love upon my way,
From the cross the radiance streaming
Adds more luster to the day.
4 Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure
By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
Joys that through all time abide.
after which the Congregation will REMAIN SEATED for
The Pre-Sermon Salutation
Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, our Lord! Amen
Sermon Text John 11:45-57
(today’s Gospel Lesson)
Speaking the Substitutionary Truth
after the Sermon, the Congregation
will REMAIN SEATED for the post-sermon blessing
The Post-Sermon Blessing
May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father, Who loved us and by His grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word. Amen.
We Offer Our Gifts to the Lord
We offer you the following suggestions for providing God with Your thank-offerings through our ministry:
1) Those in the chapel can place their offerings in the offering plates
2) You can send a check (no cash) in the mail to Grace Lutheran Church (415 N. 6th Place, Lowell, AR 72745)
3) Or, go online to our website (www.gracelutherannwa.com) and use the giving option there
The Offerings are gathered and presented to our Lord
After which the Congregation will be invited to rise for
The Prayers for this Day
Included in our prayers this morning are prayers of thanksgiving
for the following couples celebrating their wedding anniversaries this week:
March 23 Helen and Kent Mayer
March 23 Amanda and Chris Tart
March 24 Emily and Murray Mansch
The 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.
We Leave With The Lord’s Blessing
The Blessing
The LORD bless you and keep you.
The LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.
The LORD look with favor upon you, and give you His peace. Amen.
Closing Hymn Hymn 114 “Christ, The Life Of All The Living”
verses 1, 2, 6, & 7
1 Christ, the Life of all the living,
Christ, the Death of death, our foe,
Who, thyself for me once giving
To the darkest depths of woe —
Through thy suff’rings, death, and merit
I eternal life inherit.
Thousand, thousand thanks shall be,
Dearest Jesus, unto thee.
2 Thou, ah, thou hast taken on thee
Bonds and stripes, a cruel rod;
Pain and scorn were heaped upon thee,
O thou sinless Son of God!
Thus didst thou my soul deliver
From the bonds of sin forever.
Thousand, thousand thanks shall be,
Dearest Jesus, unto thee.
6 Thou has suffered great affliction
And hast borne it patiently,
Even death by crucifixion,
Fully to atone for me.
Thou didst choose to be tormented
That my doom should be prevented.
Thousand, thousand thanks shall be,
Dearest Jesus, unto thee.
7 Then, for all that wrought my pardon,
For thy sorrows deep and sore,
For thine anguish in the garden,
I will thank thee evermore,
Thank thee for thy groaning, sighing,
For thy bleeding and thy dying,
For that last triumphant cry
And shall praise thee, Lord, on high.
Silent prayer
Announcements
Post-service music