FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT

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March 6, 2022

Jesus Won the War So We Can Have Peace

Lent is the whole of our Christian lives in summary. Our lives in Christ are a journey from the wilderness of sin into the promised land of God’s mercy and from slavery into freedom through forgiveness. Remembering how God delivered the children of Israel, we are pointed to Christ, our Savior, through whom we are delivered from the tyranny of sin, strengthened in the face of temptation, and equipped to do the good works we were created to do. Remembering our Baptism into Christ, we daily repent of our sin and rejoice in His forgiveness. Though we often do not see the progress, God is ever guiding us through daily repentance and the Means of Grace until we are brought to everlasting life.

+ PREPARATION +

OPENING HYMN: #657 –A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

INVOCATION

Pastor: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

People: Amen.

CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION Based on Psalm 91:15–16

Pastor: When you call to Me, I will answer you, says the Lord.

People: I will be with you in trouble; I will rescue you and honor you.

Pastor: With long life the Lord will satisfy you

People: and show you His salvation.

Silence for meditation and reflection

Pastor: Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another.

People: I confess to God Almighty, before the whole company of heaven and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned in thought, word, and deed by my fault, by my own fault, by my own most grievous fault; wherefore I pray God Almighty to have mercy on me, forgive me all my sins, and bring me to everlasting life. Amen.

Pastor: Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son to die for you and for His sake forgives you all your sins. As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. To the impenitent and unbelieving I declare that so long as you continue in your impenitence, God will not forgive your sins and will visit your iniquity upon you until you turn from your sinful ways, come to repentance, and trust in the merits of Jesus Christ alone.

People: Amen.

Pastor: May the Lord, who has begun this good work in us, bring it to completion in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

People: Amen.

+ WORD +

PSALM Psalm 91:1–13 (spoken responsively by verse)

(The Lord is our refuge and fortress who will deliver His people from all their enemies.)

¹He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

²I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust.”

³For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler

and from the deadly pestilence.

⁴He will cover you with his pinions,

and under his wings you will find refuge;

his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.

⁵You will not fear the terror of the night,

nor the arrow that flies by day,

⁶nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,

nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

⁷A thousand may fall at your side,

ten thousand at your right hand,

but it will not come near you.

⁸You will only look with your eyes

and see the recompense of the wicked.

⁹Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—

the Most High, who is my refuge—

¹⁰no evil shall be allowed to befall you,

no plague come near your tent.

¹¹For he will command his angels concerning you

to guard you in all your ways.

¹²On their hands they will bear you up,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.

¹³You will tread on the lion and the adder;

the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

LITANY OF REPENTANCE

Pastor: O Lord, who came to call sinners to repentance,

People: call them still that they may yet answer.

Pastor: Be merciful even to those who have no excuse for their sins

People: but have hated You and the Father who sent You.

Pastor: Lord, who met the hardness of the thief,

People: soften the hearts of all who are impenitent.

Pastor: You who did restore the woman caught in sin,

People: restore all those who have fallen away from You.

Pastor: You who called Zacchaeus from the sycamore tree,

People: arouse the careless and arrest the curious.

Pastor: You who spoke words of spirit and life,

People: enlighten the ignorant and teach them Your way.

Pastor: Dispel the darkness of prejudice and correct all error;

People: establish Your people in the truth of Your Gospel.

Pastor: You who called St. Matthew from the love of money,

People: deliver all who live in slavery to the world.

Pastor: You who prayed for those who crucified You,

People: look in compassion upon those who persecute Your servants.

Pastor: You who called out many devils,

People: set free by Your grace all who are victims of their lies and ways.

Pastor: You who met with mercy the doubts of St. Thomas,

People: deal gently with those who can scarcely believe.

Pastor: You who saved St. Peter from drowning,

People: rescue all those who are weak and fearful.

Pastor: You who proclaimed deliverance to the captives,

People: release the prisoners from the bonds of their sins.

Pastor: You who made the deaf to hear and the mute to speak,

People: open deaf ears to the voice of Your Word and loosen our tongues to confess.

Pastor: You who raised the dead to life,

People: quicken our souls by Your Holy Spirit to lives of faith and righteousness.

Pastor: You who came to save Your people from their sins,

People: save us, O Lord, who put our trust in You.

Pastor: Lord, have mercy upon us.

People: Christ, have mercy upon us.

Pastor: Lord, have mercy upon us.

People: Save us, O Lord, for the sake of Your name. Amen.

SALUTATION and PRAYER OF THE DAY

Pastor: The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Pastor: Let us pray.
Almighty God, Your Son was led by the Spirit to fast forty days in the wilderness and was tempted as we are, yet without sin. Give us Your grace and Spirit that we may be faithful before temptation and delivered from slavery to sin through forgiveness to serve You faithfully all our days; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

People: Amen.

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DAY

Pastor: With the First Sunday in Lent, we mark the first week of our journey to the cross. Remembering how God delivered His people of old from their slavery to freedom, we are called to stand in the strength of Jesus and the Word of God before the tempter’s power. From Deuteronomy, we hear how Israel recalled their journey in the wilderness and their deliverance at the hand of the Lord. In Romans, Paul describes how near the Word of the Lord is to us and how all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. In the Gospel, we hear how Jesus went from the Jordan into the wilderness where He was tempted by the devil and answered him with the Word of the Lord.

OLD TESTAMENT READING Deuteronomy 26:1–11

(God’s people recall His mighty deliverance from the slavery of Egypt into the land of promise.)

¹“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, ²you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. ³And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come into the land that the Lord swore to our fathers to give us.’ ⁴Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.

⁵“And you shall make response before the Lord your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. ⁶And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. ⁷Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. ⁸And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. ⁹And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. ¹¹And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.”

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.

People: Thanks be to God.

EPISTLE Romans 10:8b–13

(The Word of the Lord is always near us, and all who call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.)

“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); ⁹because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. ¹¹For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” ¹²For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. ¹³For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.

People: Thanks be to God.

VERSE Ephesians 6:11(spoken together)

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

HOLY GOSPEL Luke 4:1–13

(Our Lord is tempted in the wilderness by Satan.)

Pastor: The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the fourth chapter.

People: Glory to You, O Lord.

¹Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness ²for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. ³The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” ⁴And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” ⁵And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, ⁶and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. ⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” ⁸And Jesus answered him, “It is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God,
and him only shall you serve.’”

⁹And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,
to guard you,’

¹¹and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

¹²And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ¹³And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Pastor: This is the Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to You, O Christ.

HYMN OF THE DAY: #424 –O Christ, You Walked the Road

SERMON Jesus Won the War So We Can Have Peace

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 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

After each petition:

Pastor: … Lord, in Your mercy:

People: hear our prayer.

At conclusion:

Pastor: … through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

People: Amen.

LORD’S PRAYER Matthew 6:9–13

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.

CLOSING PRAYER

Pastor: Let us pray.
O Lord God, You led Your ancient people through the wilderness and brought them to the Promised Land. Guide the people of Your Church that following our Savior we may walk through the wilderness of this world toward the glory of the world to come; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

People: Amen.

BENEDICAMUS and BENEDICTION Numbers 6:24–26

Pastor: The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you with favor and + give you peace.

People: Amen.

DISMISSAL

Pastor: Go in peace! Serve the Lord!

People: Thanks be to God.

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT – Online Church at Home Service Bulletin