THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD, United with Christ Online Bulletin

THE BAPTISM OF OUR LORD

United with Christ

Online Church at Home Service Bulletin

January 10, 2021

Today we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus. Such a day is also a good time to remember our own Baptism. In Baptism, we are buried with Christ. We are united with Him in a death like His. In Baptism, we are also raised to new life as re-creations. As we are united to Christ in death, we will also be united with Him in resurrection when He returns and raises the dead.

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+ PREPARATION +

OPENING HYMN: As with Gladness Men of Old

INVOCATION

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

People: Amen.

OPENING SENTENCES Genesis 1:1–2; Psalm 29:3–4

Pastor: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

People: And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Pastor: And God said, “Let there be light.”

People: The voice of the Lord is over the waters.

Pastor: The voice of the Lord is powerful.

People: The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

Pastor: The voice of the Lord reveals Jesus as His Son.

People: The voice of the Lord reveals we are His children too.

CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION

Pastor: In Holy Baptism, each of us was baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In Baptism, we were united with Christ. Yet, we have often lived as if we were entirely independent and autonomous. We have lived as if our identity were not in Jesus, but in our own selfish desires. Yet, our heavenly Father invites us to turn back to Him and ask for His forgiveness.

Silence for reflection.

Pastor: Heavenly Father,

People: we confess that we are by nature sinful and have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed. On account of Jesus, forgive us, renew us, and unite us to Your name.

Pastor: Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son to die and rise for you. In Baptism, you were united to Christ in both His death and resurrection. You were buried with Him, but also raised to walk in newness of life. 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 X Son and of the Holy Spirit.

People: Amen. We are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

+WORD +

PSALM Psalm 29

¹Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,

ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

²Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.

³The voice of the Lord is over the waters;

the God of glory thunders,

the Lord, over many waters.

⁴The voice of the Lord is powerful;

the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

⁵The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;

the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,

and Sirion like a young wild ox.

⁷The voice of the Lord

flashes forth flames of fire.

⁸The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;

the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

⁹The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth

and strips the forests bare,

and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

¹⁰The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;

the Lord sits enthroned as king forever.

¹¹May the Lord give strength to his people!

May the Lord bless his people with peace!

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.

SALUTATION and PRAYER OF THE DAY

Pastor: The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Pastor: Let us pray.
Father in heaven, at the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River, You proclaimed Him Your beloved Son and anointed Him with the Holy Spirit. Make all who are baptized in His name faithful in their calling as Your children and inheritors with Him of everlasting life; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

People: Amen.

OLD TESTAMENT READING Genesis 1:1–5

(God creates the heavens and the earth.)

¹In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. ²The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

³And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.

People: Thanks be to God.

GRADUAL Psalm 117:1–2a; 96:8

Praise the Lord, all nations!
   Extol Him, all peoples!
For great is His steadfast love toward us,
   and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name;
   bring an offering, and come into His courts!

EPISTLE Romans 6:1–11

(We are baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection.)

¹What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ²By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

⁵For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷For one who has died has been set free from sin. ⁸Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.

People: Thanks be to God.

VERSE Mark 1:11b

Alleluia. You are My beloved Son; with You I am well pleased. Alleluia.

HOLY GOSPEL Mark 1:4–11

(Jesus is baptized by John.)

Pastor: The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the first chapter.

People: Glory to You, O Lord.

⁴John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opening and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Pastor: This is the Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to You, O Christ.

HYMN OF THE DAY: God’s Own Child, I Gladly Say It

SERMON

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: … in the name of Your beloved Son, Jesus.
People: Amen.

LORD’S PRAYER Matthew 6:9–13

People: 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.
Heavenly Father, at the Baptism of Jesus, You revealed Him as Your beloved Son. Unite us to Christ, that we may daily die to sin and arise to newness of life, so that we might share the truth of Your Gospel; 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

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. Numbers 6:24–26
People: Amen.