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Ishmael
As We Gather
Who is the son of Abraham? Like Adam and Eve before them, Abram and Sarai also received a promise from the Lord concerning their descendants. God pledged that Abram’s offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. But as this childless couple grew older, their patience with God’s promise grew thinner. Having decided to take matters into their own hands, Abram has a son by Hagar, a servant who was not his wife. Yet, in His grace and mercy, God still fulfills the promise of another son, Isaac, born to impatient Abram and Sarai. Through him, in God’s perfect timing, the Lord would finally send the true Son of Abraham, Jesus Christ, into the world.
OPENING HYMN: #350 – Come, Thou Precious Ransom, Come
INVOCATION
P In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C Amen.
OPENING SENTENCES Psalm 146:3–5
P Put not your trust in princes,
C in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
P When his breath departs
C he returns to the earth;
P on that very day
C his plans perish.
P Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
C whose hope is in the Lord his God.
SERVICE OF LIGHT
P The Sprit and the Church cry out:
C Come, Lord Jesus.
P All those who await His appearance pray:
C Come, Lord Jesus.
P The whole creation pleads:
C Come, Lord Jesus.
P Awaiting the Son of Man and the Son of God, we implore:
C Come, Lord Jesus.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
P Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
C It is right to give Him thanks and praise.
P Blessed are You, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who in spite of the impatience of Abram and Sarai still graciously kept Your promise to them of a son and countless descendants. Enlighten our darkness by the light of Your Christ; may His Word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path; for You are merciful, and You love Your whole creation and we, Your creatures, glorify You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
C Amen.
PSALM 141
P Let my prayer rise before You as incense,
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
C O Lord, I call to You; come to me quickly;
hear my voice when I cry to You.
P Let my prayer rise before You as incense,
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
C Set a watch before my mouth, O Lord,
and guard the door of my lips.
P Let not my heart incline to any evil thing;
let me not be occupied in wickedness with evildoers.
C But my eyes are turned to You, O God;
in You I take refuge.
Strip me not of my life.
C 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.
Let my prayer rise before You as incense,
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
FIRST READING Genesis 16
P A reading from Genesis, the sixteenth chapter.
1Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 2And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!” 6But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.
7The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8And He said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” 9The angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” 10The angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” 11And the angel of the Lord said to her,
“Behold, you are pregnant
and shall bear a son.
You shall call his name Ishmael,
because the Lord has listened to your affliction.
12He shall be a wild donkey of a man,
his hand against everyone
and everyone’s hand against him,
and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”
13So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen Him who looks after me.” 14Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.
15And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.
P O Lord, have mercy on us.
C Thanks be to God.
SECOND READING Galatians 4:21–5:1
P A reading from Galatians, the fourth and fifth chapters.
4:21Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. 24Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. 25Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. 27For it is written,
“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;
break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!
For the children of the desolate one will be more
than those of the one who has a husband.”
28Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. 30But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” 31So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
5:1For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
P O Lord, have mercy on us.
C Thanks be to God.
THIRD READING Luke 3:1–9
P A reading from Luke, the third chapter.
1In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make His paths straight.
5Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
6and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”
7He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
P O Lord, have mercy on us.
C Thanks be to God.
READINGS RESPONSE
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.
HYMN: #798 – The God of Abraham Praise (vs. 1-4)
SERMON
LITANY
After each petition:
P …let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
The prayers then continue:
P For the faithful who have gone before us and are with Christ, let us give thanks to the Lord:
C Alleluia.
P Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.
Silence for individual prayer may follow.
P Rejoicing in the fellowship of the saints, let us commend ourselves, one another, and our whole life to Christ, our Lord:
C To You, O Lord.
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.
C Amen.
LORD’S PRAYER
P Lord, remember us in Your kingdom and teach us 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.
PRAYER
P During this season of Advent, we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.” True Son of Adam,
C come, Lord Jesus.
P True Son of Abraham,
C come, Lord Jesus.
P True Son of David,
C come, Lord Jesus.
P True Son of God,
C come, Lord Jesus.
P True Son of Man,
C come, Lord Jesus.
P That we might receive adoption as sons,
C come, Lord Jesus. Amen.
BENEDICTION Psalm 146:5
P Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
C whose hope is in the Lord his God.
P The almighty and merciful Lord, the Father, the T Son, and the Holy Spirit, bless and preserve you.
C Amen.
HYMN: #345 – Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding
Creative Worship for the Lutheran Parish, Series C, Quarter 3. Copyright © 2022 Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
