SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST        September 19, 2021

ORDER OF SERVICE: LSB DS3, p. 184

THE HYMNS: 845, 851, 454

THE SERMON TEXT: James 3:13-4:10

OPENING HYMN: “Where Charity and Love Prevail” (LSB 845)

Where charity and love prevail

There God is ever found;

Brought here together by Christ’s love

By love are we thus bound.

With grateful joy and holy fear

His charity we learn;

Let us with heart and mind and soul

Now love Him in return.

Forgive we now each other’s faults

As we our faults confess,

And let us love each other well

In Christian holiness.

Let strife among us be unknown;

Let all contention cease;

Be God’s the glory that we seek;

Be ours His holy peace.

Let us recall that in our midst

Dwells Christ, His only Son;

As members of His body joined

We are in Him made one.

For love excludes no race or clan

That names the Savior’s name;

His family embraces all

Whose Father is the same.

 [Stand]

CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION

[The sign of the cross may be made by all in remembrance of their Baptism.]

P: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen

P: Beloved in the Lord!  Let us draw near with a true heart and confess our sins unto God our Father, beseeching Him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to grant us forgiveness.

P: Our help is in the name of the Lord

C: who made heaven and earth.

P: I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord,

C: and You forgave the iniquity of my sins.

[Silence for reflection on God’s Word and for self-examination.]

P: O almighty God, merciful Father,

C: I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended You and justly deserved Your temporal and eternal punishment.  But I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them, and I pray You of Your boundless mercy and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being.

P: Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God unto all of you, and in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen.

[Stand]

THE INTROIT (all): Psalm 37:5-7; Antiphon: Psalm 37:4

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! 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. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.             

GLORIA PATRI ~ Glory be to the Father (Sung)

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.

KYRIE ~ Lord Have Mercy (Sung)

Lord, have mercy upon us.

Christ, have mercy upon us.

Lord, have mercy upon us.

GLORIA IN EXCELSIS ~ Glory to God in the Highest (LSB 187) (Sung)

Glory be to God on high: and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. 

We praise Thee, we bless Thee, we worship Thee,

We glorify Thee, we give thanks to Thee, for Thy great glory.

O Lord God, heavn’ly King, God the Father Almighty,

O Lord, the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ;

O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father,

That takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us.

Thou that takest away the sin of the world, receive our prayer.

Thou that sittest at the right hand of God the Father, have mercy on us.

For thou only art holy; Thou only art the Lord.

Thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost,

Art most high in the glory of God the Father.  Amen.

SALUTATION and COLLECT OF THE DAY

P: The Lord be with you.

C: And with thy spirit.

P: Let us pray. O God, whose strength is made perfect in weakness, grant us humility and childlike faith that we may please You in both will and deed; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

C:  Amen.

[Sit]

OLD TESTAMENT READING: Jeremiah 11:18-20

¹⁸ The Lord made it known to me and I knew;
then you showed me their deeds.
¹⁹ But I was like a gentle lamb
led to the slaughter.
I did not know it was against me
they devised schemes, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
that his name be remembered no more.”
²⁰ But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously,
who tests the heart and the mind,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause.

P: This is the Word of the Lord.

C: Thanks be to God.

EPISTLE: James 3:13-4:10

¹³ Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. ¹⁵ This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. ¹⁷ But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸ And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

^4:1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? ² You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. ⁴ You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? ⁶ But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

P: This is the Word of the Lord.

C. Thanks be to God.

[Stand]

ALLELUIA (Sung)

C: Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.

P: The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the ninth chapter

C (Sung): Glory be to Thee, O Lord.

HOLY GOSPEL: Mark 9:30-37

³⁰ [The disciples] went on from there and passed through Galilee. And [Jesus] did not want anyone to know, ³¹ for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” ³² But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

³³ And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” ³⁴ But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. ³⁵ And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶ And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷ “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

P: This is the Gospel of the Lord.

C (Sung):  Praise be to Thee, O Christ.

[Sit]

HYMN OF THE DAY:  “Lord of Glory, You Have Bought Us” (LSB 851)

Lord of Glory, You have bought us
With Your life-blood as the price,
Never grudging for the lost ones
That tremendous sacrifice;
And with that have freely given
Blessings countless as the sand
To the unthankful and the evil
With Your own unsparing hand.

Grant us hearts, dear Lord, to give You
Gladly, freely of Your own.
With the sunshine of Your goodness
Melt our thankless hearts of stone
Till our cold and selfish natures,
Warmed by You, at length believe
That more happy and more blessed
'Tis to give than to receive.

Wondrous honor You have given
To our humblest charity
In Your own mysterious sentence,
"You have done it all to Me."
Can it be, O gracious Master,
That You deign for alms to sue,
Saying by Your poor and needy,
"Give as I have giv'n to you"?

Lord of glory, You have bought us
With Your life-blood as the price,
Never grudging for the lost ones
That tremendous sacrifice.
Give us faith to trust You boldly,
Hope, to stay our souls on You;
But, oh, best of all Your graces,
With Your love our love renew.

 [Stand]

SERMON

[Stand]

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 and 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.

OFFERING

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

After each petition:

P: Lord, in Your mercy,

C: Hear our prayer

LORD'S PRAYER

BENEDICTION

P: The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.

C: Amen. Amen. Amen.

CLOSING HYMN: “Sing, My Tongue, the Glorious Battle” (LSB 454)

Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle;
Sing the ending of the fray.
Now above the cross, the trophy,
Sound the loud triumphant lay:
Tell how Christ, the world's redeemer,
As a victim won the day.

Tell how, when at length the fullness
Of the appointed time was come,
He, the Word, was born of woman,
Left for us His Father's home,
Blazed the path of true obedience,
Shone as light amidst the gloom.

Thus, with thirty years accomplished,
He went forth from Nazareth,
Destined, dedicated, willing,
Did His work, and met His death;
Like a lamb He humbly yielded
On the cross His dying breath.

Faithful cross, true sign of triumph,
Be for all the noblest tree;
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit your equal be;
Symbol of the world's redemption,
For the weight that hung on thee!

[Stand]

Unto God be praise and glory:
To the Father and the Son,
To the eternal Spirit honor
Now and evermore be done;
Praise and glory in the highest
While the timeless ages run.