NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

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October 16, 2022

God Hears Our Prayers

How shall we pray? That question is the focus of today’s Readings. With Jacob as a model, our prayer might seem to be a struggle with God’s will. And Jesus’ parable teaches that prayer is a long-term effort. But prayer is more than a monologue; the Epistle reminds us that God started the conversation with His Word. The Spirit has used Word and Sacrament to awaken and guide our faith. Within that relationship, prayer is a conversation begun by God and continued each day. In worship, we do that with our brothers and sisters in Christ, moving from individual concerns to those of the Body of Christ, the Church. And in worship, we take the time to listen as God accuses and then excuses us by grace for Jesus’ sake. So let us pray and worship together.

+ Preparation +

OPENING HYMN: #700 – Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

INVOCATION

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

People: Amen.

OPENING SENTENCES Genesis 2:7; Ezekiel 37:5; John 20:22; 2 Timothy 3:16

Pastor: The Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,

People: and the man became a living creature.

Pastor: Thus says the Lord God to these bones:

People: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.

Pastor: And when [Jesus] had said this, He breathed on them and said to them,

People: “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

Pastor: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable

People: for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.

CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION

Pastor: Confident of His grace and mercy, let us confess our sins to our heavenly Father.

People: Merciful Father, we confess that we have erred and wandered from Your ways like stray sheep. We have followed the desires of our own hearts. We have offended against Your laws. We have left undone those things we ought to have done; we have done those things we ought not to have done; we cannot help ourselves.

O Lord, have mercy on us. Breathe new life upon us; teach, reprove, correct, and restore us through Your Word that we may live in praise of Your holy name.

Pastor: In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, all your sins were atoned for and your sinfulness forgiven. As a called and ordained servant of Christ, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

People: Amen.

+ SERVICE of the WORD +

PSALM Psalm 121 (spoken responsively by verse)

¹I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

²My help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

³He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

⁴Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵The Lord is your keeper;

the Lord is your shade on your right hand.

⁶The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

⁷The Lord will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

⁸The Lord will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore.

SALUTATION and PRAYER OF THE DAY

Pastor: The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Pastor: Let us pray.
Gracious God, You have given us Your Holy Word in Scripture, which reveals Your grace and mercy shown us in our Lord Jesus Christ. Mercifully grant that Your Holy Spirit guide our daily response as we pray, praise, and give thanks; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

People: Amen.

OLD TESTAMENT READING Genesis 32:22–30

(Jacob wrestles with God; his name becomes Israel.)

²²The same night [Jacob] arose and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³He took them and sent them across the stream, and everything else that he had. ²⁴And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. ²⁵When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. ²⁶Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” ²⁹Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him. ³⁰So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.

People: Thanks be to God.

GRADUAL Psalm 91:11; 103:1

Pastor: He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.

People: Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name!

EPISTLE 2 Timothy 3:14–4:5

(Scripture is God-breathed and makes us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.)

¹⁴As for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it ¹⁵and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

¹I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: ²preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. ³For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, ⁴and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. ⁵As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.

People: Thanks be to God.

VERSE Luke 18:8

Alleluia. I tell you, He will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth? Alleluia.

HOLY GOSPEL Luke 18:1–8

(In Jesus’ parable, a persistent widow is eventually granted her request from even a godless judge.)

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

People: Glory to You, O Lord.

¹[Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. ²He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. ³And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” ⁶And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? ⁸I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Pastor: This is the Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to You, O Christ.

HYMN OF THE DAY: #578 – Thy Strong Word

SERMON: God Hears Our Prayers

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 T everlasting. Amen.

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

After each petition:

Pastor: … Lord, in Your mercy:

People: hear our prayer.

At conclusion:

Pastor: Into Your hands we commend all for whom we pray, heavenly Father, through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

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 God, our refuge and strength, the author of all godliness, by Your grace hear the prayers of Your Church. Grant that those things which we ask in faith we may receive through Your bountiful mercy; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

People: Amen.

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 as you serve the Lord.

People: Thanks be to God!

NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST – Online Church at Home Bulletin