Created, saved and gifted by God, we seek, serve and share Jesus Christ.
Fifth Sunday in Lent
April 3, 2022 – 10:30 am
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
901 East Stroop Road
Kettering, OH 45429-4688
(937) 298-0136
Introduction
Our God makes all things new. In the first reading God promises it. In the gospel Mary antici- pates it, anointing Jesus’ feet with costly perfume in preparation for the day of his burial. In the second reading Paul recalls his transformation from the persecutor Saul into an apostle. In baptism, God’s new person (you!) rises daily from the deadly mire of trespasses and sins.
Open Your Hand
“You always have the poor with you,” Jesus told the disciple who complained about the extravagance of Mary’s anointing (John 12:8). It’s not a callous dismissal. In fact, he is likely quoting Deuteronomy 15:11, which continues: “I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’”
No one has ever lived in a world that has solved the crisis of poverty. It can be disheartening to see the same social problems we have addressed for years continuing to grow.
Throughout Jesus’ life and teaching, he repeatedly offered examples of our ongoing responsi- bility to care for each other. “You will always have the poor with you” may feel deflating when we focus on always, but what if we put the emphasis on with? How are we with people who are poor, in diverse communities of various experiences, incomes, needs, and insights?
We live in a time and place of considerable financial instability without much room for error. One health crisis or job loss can sink us into poverty, so we need each other. Mary’s extravagant generosity shows us we are not on our own. As members of the body of Christ, we are in this together. We can let generosity flow through us because God pours life into us, fragrant and overflowing, bursting with possibility.
We pray not for “my daily bread” but for “our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11), so we must be with each other, to share, to give and receive, to love and be loved. We are children of a God who, like Mary with her perfume, does not hold back but lets love flow. This love flows richly through us, through the body of Christ that gathers together and cares for each other and for others. Together we have enough.
GATHERING
The Holy Spirit calls us together as the people of God.
PRELUDE
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
In remembrance of their baptism, all may make the sign of the cross.
Blessed be the holy Trinity, one God, the parent who rouses us from slumber, the shepherd who gathers us on the holy mountain, the deliverer who sets us free.
Amen.
Let us come before the living God in confession.
Silence is kept for reflection.
As we wait and watch for the promised day of salvation,
we open our hearts to you, O God. Search us and know us. Reveal all that we keep inside. To you, O God, we confess our sins, known and unknown. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us in your ways of justice and peace. Make us reflections of the radiant love of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Beloved children of the Most High, you are gathered before the righteous judge who has mercy on all. Splash exuberantly in the waters of baptism, where sin is washed away in the river of life. Dwell peacefully in the loving arms of the one who nurtures all creation. Go forth boldly in the assurance that your sins are forgiven in the name of the one who is coming and is already here, Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Amen.
GATHERING HYMN – “The Wonderful Cross”
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.
See from his head, his hands, his feet
Sorrow and love flow mingled down;
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
O the wonderful cross,
O the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find that I may truly live.
O the wonderful cross,
O the wonderful cross!
All who gather here by grace draw near and bless your name.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love — so amazing, so divine —
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
O the wonderful cross,
O the wonderful cross
Bids me come and die and find That I may truly live.
O the wonderful cross,
O the wonderful cross!
All who gather here by grace Draw near and bless your name.
GREETING
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.
KYRIE
In peace, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For the peace from above, and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord,
Lord have mercy.
For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the church of God, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
For this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the Lord.
Lord have mercy.
Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.
Amen, amen.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Creator God,
you prepare a new way in the wilderness, and your grace waters our desert. Open our hearts to be transformed by the new thing you are doing, that our lives may proclaim the extravagance of your love given to all through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
WORD
God speaks to us in scripture reading, preaching, and song.
FIRST READING Isaiah 43:16-21
The prophet declares that long ago God performed mighty deeds and delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage through the waters of the sea. Now, God is about to do a new thing, bringing the exiles out of Babylon and through the wilderness in a new Exodus.
A reading from the book of Isaiah.
Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches;
for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.
Word of God, word of life.
Thanks be to God.
SECOND READING Philippians 3:4b-14
Writing to Christians in Philippi, Paul admits that his heritage and reputation could give him more reason than most people to place confidence in his spiritual pedigree. But the overwhelming grace of God in Jesus calls Paul to a new set of values.
A reading from the book of Phillipians.
[Paul writes:] If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
Word of God, word of life.
Thanks be to God.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Let your steadfast love come to us, O Lord.
Save us as you promised; we will trust your word.
GOSPEL John 12:1-8
Judas willfully misinterprets as waste Mary’s extravagant act of anointing Jesus’ feet with costly perfume. Jesus recognizes that her lavish gift is both an expression of love and an anticipation of his burial.
A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John.
Glory to you, O Lord.
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.)
Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
The gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
YOUTH MESSAGE
MESSAGE – Pr. Jamie Vannoy
HYMN OF THE DAY – “Tree of Life and Awesome Mystery”
Tree of Life and awesome myst’ry,
in your death we are reborn;
though you die in all of hist’ry,
still you rise with ev’ry morn,
still you rise with ev’ry morn.
We remember truth once spoken,
love passed on through act and word;
ev’ry person lost and broken
wears the body of our Lord,
wears the body of our Lord.
Christ, you lead and we shall follow,
stumbling though our steps may be;
one with you in joy and sorrow,
we the river, you the sea,
we the river, you the sea.
APOSTLES’ CREED
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
Drawn close to the heart of God, we offer these prayers for the church, the world, and all who are in need.
A brief silence.
Each intercession concludes:
Merciful God.
Receive our prayer.
Accept the prayers we bring, O God, on behalf of a world in need, for the sake of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
MEAL
God feeds us with the presence of Jesus Christ.
DIALOGUE
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right, our duty and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God, through our Savior Jesus Christ. You comforted your people with the promise of the Redeemer, through whom you will also make all things new in the day when he comes to judge the world in righteousness. And so, with all the choirs of angels, with the church on earth and the hosts of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna, in the highest.
WORDS OF INSTITUTION
In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.
Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.
Let us proclaim the mystery of faith:
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
With this bread and cup we remember your Word dwelling among us, full of grace and truth. We remember our new birth in his death and resurrection. We look with hope for his coming.
Come, Lord Jesus.
Holy God, we long for your Spirit. Come among us. Bless this meal. May your Word take flesh in us. Awaken your people. Fill us with your light. Bring the gift of peace on earth.
Come, Holy Spirit.
All praise and glory are yours, Holy One of Israel, Word of God incarnate, Power of the Most High, one God, now and forever.
Amen, amen, amen.
LORD’S PRAYER
Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray as Jesus taught us.
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.
INVITATION TO COMMUNION
Here is food and drink for the journey. Take and be filled.
Amen.
LAMB OF GOD
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world; grant us peace, grant us peace.
COMMUNION HYMN – “In Christ Alone”
In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease.
My Comforter, my All in All,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.
In Christ alone who took on flesh:
Fullness of God in helpless Babe.
This gift of love and righteousness:
Scorned by the ones he came to save
Till on that cross, as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied.
For every sin on him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.
There in the ground his body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain.
Then, bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as he stands in victory,
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am his and he is mine,
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.
No guilt in life, no fear in death:
This is the power of Christ in me.
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from his hand
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.
HOLY COMMUNION
The body of Christ, given for you.
The blood of Christ, shed for you.
Each person may respond: Amen.
TABLE BLESSING
The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you always in his grace.
Amen.
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Blessed Jesus, in this rich meal of grace, you have fed us with your body, the bread of life. Now send us forth to bear your life-giving hope to a world in need.
Amen.
SENDING
God blesses us and sends us in mission to the world.
BLESSING
You are children of God, anointed with the oil of gladness and strengthened for the journey. Almighty God, motherly, majestic, and mighty, bless you this day and always.
Amen.
SENDING HYMN – “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross”
Jesus, keep me near the cross,
there’s a precious fountain;
free to all, a healing stream
flows from Calv’ry’s mountain.
In the cross, in the cross
be my glory ever;
till my ransomed soul shall find
rest beyond the river.
Near the cross, a trembling soul,
love and mercy found me;
there the bright and morning star
sheds its beams around me.
In the cross, in the cross
be my glory ever;
till my ransomed soul shall find
rest beyond the river.
Near the cross! O Lamb of God,
bring its scenes before me;
help me walk from day to day
with its shadow o’er me.
In the cross, in the cross
be my glory ever;
till my ransomed soul shall find
rest beyond the river.
Near the cross I’ll watch and wait,
hoping, trusting ever,
till I reach the golden strand
just beyond the river.
In the cross, in the cross
be my glory ever;
till my ransomed soul shall find
rest beyond the river.
DISMISSAL
Go in peace. Jesus meets you on the way.
Created, saved and gifted by God, we seek, serve and share Jesus Christ.
Thanks be to God!
POSTLUDE
“W + 2” = Worship Plus Two
Make a commitment to not only worship each week but also try to find a way to serve in the congregation and seek out a way to serve our community.
YOU ARE NOW ENTERING THE MISSION FIELD
From Sundays and Seasons.com. Copyright 2014 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License #22920.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Curches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.