Open Arms Worship Service, March 29, 2020

Divine Service for Online Worship

Fifth Sunday in Lent
March 29, 2020

Welcome to Open Arms Lutheran Church.  God bless your worship today, as you receive His gifts of forgiveness and encouragement!

Worship service video:  worship service video   

Opening Song:  Great Are You Lord 

Invocation

V:    In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

C:    AMEN

Call to Worship      Psalm 130:5-8              

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

        and in his word I hope;

my soul waits for the Lord

        more than watchmen for the morning,

        more than watchmen for the morning.

O Israel, hope in the Lord!

For with the Lord there is steadfast love,

        and with him is plentiful redemption.

And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

Confession and Absolution

V:    Pray the first verses of Psalm 130 with me:

Out of the depths I cry to You, O Lord!  

        O Lord, hear my voice!

Let Your ears be attentive

         to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

If You, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

        O Lord, who could stand?

But with You there is forgiveness,

        that You may be feared.

       Brothers and sisters, we certainly cannot stand before God and argue our goodness.  We cannot explain away any of our sins.  But in Jesus Christ, there is forgiveness.  Because of Jesus, we can stand before God. He invites us into His presence to confess our sins.

Silent confession of your sins

V:    Let us pray…

C:    God our heavenly Father, we confess all our sins to You; our thoughts, our words and our actions.  Especially now, we confess our fear, our worry and our anxiety.  We place our trust in things which fail, rather than in You, who remains and does not change.  For these and all our sins, forgive us, good Lord.

V:    We cry to the Lord out of the depths of our sin…and He hears your voice!  God is always attentive to your pleas for mercy!  Wait no more, with God there is plentiful redemption!  God has forgiven your sins, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.   Amen. 

Prayer                             

Let us pray…   Amen.

Old Testament Reading              Ezekiel 37:1-14

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.   And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.   And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.”   Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.   Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.   And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.  And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them.  Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”  So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.

Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’  Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel.

And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.   And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.”

This is the Word of the Lord.      Thanks be to God.

Epistle Reading                               Romans 8:1-11

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.  For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.  For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.  For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.  Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.  But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

This is the Word of the Lord.      Thanks be to God.

Holy Gospel                                       John 11:1-45

V:    The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the 11^th chapter.

C:    Glory to You, O Lord.

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.  It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.  So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”  But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.  So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.  Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”  The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”  Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.  But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”  After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.”  The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”  Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.  Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”  So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.  Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.  So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.  Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”  Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”  Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”  She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”  And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him.  Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.  When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.  Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”  When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.  And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”  Jesus wept.  So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”  But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”

Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.  Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”  Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”  So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.  I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”  When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”  The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him.

This is the Word of the Lord.      Praise to You, O Christ.

Sermon

The 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.

Prayers of the Church

We pray for all people, and for all their needs.

The Lord’s Prayer  

Benediction

Jesus said:

        “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in Me,

                though he die, yet shall he live”

        Go and live!   Live in the peace that’s beyond our understanding

        In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,   Amen

Closing Song:    By His Wounds

Open Arms Worship Service, March 22, 2020

Divine Service for Online Worship

Fourth Sunday in Lent

March 22, 2020

Welcome to our first online worship service!  

If you would like to listen to the music tracks, please click on the links below.  If you would like to follow along and participate in the liturgy, please follow instructions below and speak the bold text sections.

I pray God will bless your worship today, as you receive His gifts of forgiveness for your sins and encouragement from His Word.   

Opening Songs:     God of Calvary 

Worship Service:  worship service video   

Invocation

V:    In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

C:    AMEN

Call to Worship     from Psalm 142

V:    With my voice I cry out to the LORD;

C:    with my voice I plead for mercy to the LORD.

V:    I pour out my complaint before Him;

C:    I tell my trouble before Him.

V:    I cry to you, O LORD;

C:    I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

Confession and Absolution

V:    Children of God, though we are separated today by time and space we come together as one family.  Each of us is coming from broken and sinful lives.  We live in the darkness of the world around us, and are blind to His will and ways.  Yet God calls us to confess our sins.  We ask His forgiveness in the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Silent confession of your sins

V:    God of God, Light of Light…

C:    we confess that by nature we are sinful and unclean, born in darkness.  We are often blind to Your Word.  We are often blind to Your work in our lives.  We sin against You, and against one another in thought, word, and deed.  For the sake of Jesus, who is the light of the world, forgive me all my sins, that my eyes may be opened to look to You in faith and hope.

V:    Almighty God, in His mercy has given His Son to die for you and for His sake forgives you all your sins.  Through His death on the cross, Jesus Christ has shined His eternal light of forgiveness, peace, and life on you.  Your heavenly Father has forgiven your sins, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

C:    Amen. 

Prayer

V:    Let us pray…  

C:    Amen.

Old Testament Reading               Isaiah 42:14-21

For a long time I have held my peace;

I have kept still and restrained myself;

now I will cry out like a woman in labor;

I will gasp and pant.

I will lay waste mountains and hills,

and dry up all their vegetation;

I will turn the rivers into islands,

and dry up the pools.

And I will lead the blind

in a way that they do not know,

in paths that they have not known

I will guide them.

I will turn the darkness before them into light,

the rough places into level ground.

These are the things I do,

and I do not forsake them.

They are turned back and utterly put to shame,

who trust in carved idols,

who say to metal images,

“You are our gods.”

Hear, you deaf,

and look, you blind, that you may see!

Who is blind but my servant,

or deaf as my messenger whom I send?

Who is blind as my dedicated one,

or blind as the servant of the Lord?

He sees many things, but does not observe them;

his ears are open, but he does not hear.

The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake,

              to magnify his law and make it glorious.

                    

A:    This is the Word of the Lord.

C:    Thanks be to God.

Epistle Reading                                Ephesians 5:8-14

…for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.  Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.  For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.  But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,

      and arise from the dead,

          and Christ will shine on you.”

A:    This is the Word of the Lord.

C:    Thanks be to God.

Holy Gospel                                        Mark 1:40-45

V:    The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark, the 1^st chapter.

C:    Glory to You, O Lord.

 And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.”  Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.”  And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.  And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”  But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter.

V:    This is the Word of the Lord.

C:    Praise to You, O Christ.

Sermon

The Nicene Creed 

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church, I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

Prayers of the Church

V:    Let’s pray for all people, and for all their needs.

The Lord’s Prayer  

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in 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, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Benediction

Closing Song:  How Great Is Your Love