TheMaundy Second Thursday Sunday in Lent STUNDAYHURSDAY, 28, 9F EBRUARYAPRIL 2009 2021 110:301:00 AM SAINT PAUL LUTHERAN AND CATHOLIC COMMUNITY OF FAITH 303.839.1432 WWW.STPAULDENVER.ORG Welcome to Saint Paul Church, an open, affirming, and diverse community of faith representing two Christian traditions, that of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and that of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion. Each tradition maintains and honors its own heritage, and each worships according to its own liturgical practices. As one community of faith, the members of the respective traditions work together in social outreach and shared hospitality. Together we rejoice in the manner in which diversity has enriched, nurtured, and challenged the life and ministry we share in Christ, and we regret actions and attitudes throughout the Church that may have inhibited or prevented access to Word and Sacrament because of age, race, socio-economic or marital status, physical or mental capacities, gender identity, or sexual orientation. We are a Reconciling in Christ community. C=Congregation P=Presiding Minister A=Assisting Minister The Entrance Rite _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ PRELUDE Would You Share My Passion? Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (preceded by a Johann Sebastian Bach harmonization of the chorale) INVOCATION P: Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God, the keeper of the covenant, the source of steadfast love, our rock and our redeemer. C: Amen. CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS P: God hears us when we cry, and draws us close in Jesus Christ. Let us return to the one who is full of compassion. Silence for Reflection P: Fountain of living water, C: pour out your mercy over us. Our sin is heavy, and we long to be free. Rebuild what we have ruined and mend what we have torn. Wash us in your cleansing flood. Make us alive in the Spirit to follow in the way of Jesus, as healers and restorers of the world you so love. Amen. P: Beloved, God’s word never fails. The promise rests on grace: by the saving love of Jesus Christ, the wisdom and power of God, your sins are ☩ forgiven, and God remembers them no more. Journey in the way of Jesus. C: Amen. OPENING HYMN The God of Abraham Praise YIGDAL Today we hear God tell Abram (Abraham), “I will make my covenant between me and you,” and we hear the Apostle Paul say, “The promise . did not come to Abraham . through the law but through the righteousness of faith . in order that the promise may rest on grace . .” In this “Christianized” version of the 14th-century Yigdal, or Hebrew Creed, we join with the “whole triumphant host” in praising “the God of Abraham” for that “all-sufficient grace.” 1 The God of A – br’ham praise, who reigns en – throned a – bove, 2 The God of A – br’ham praise, at whose su – preme com – mand, 3 The God of A – br’ham praise, whose all – suf – fi – cient grace, 4 Be – fore the Sav – ior’s face the ran – somed na – tions bow, 5 The whole tri – um–phant host gives thanks to God on high; 1 the an – cient of e – ter – nal days, and God of love. 2 from earth we rise and seek the joys at God’s right hand. 3 shall guide us all our pil – grim days in all our ways. 4 o’ er – whelmed at God’s re – deem – ing grace, for – ev – er new. 5 ―Hail Fa – ther, Son, and Ho – ly Ghost,‖ they ev – er cry. 1 Al – might – y, great I AM! By earth and heav’n con – fessed; 2 We all on earth for – sake, its wis – dom, fame, and pow’r, 3 God deigns to call us friend, though God is ev – er God, 4 Christ’s glow – ing wounds of love now kin – dle to a flame 5 Hail A–br’ham’s God and ours! With heav’n we now pro – claim: 1 we bow and bless the sa – cred name for – ev – er blest. 2 and God our on – ly por – tion make, our shield and tow’r. 3 and God shall save us to the end through Je – sus’ blood. 4 a – ris – ing to ex – alt a – bove the Pasch – al Lamb. 5 All might and maj – es – ty are yours, O great I AM! Text: Thomas Olivers, 1725-1799, alt. Music: Hebrew melody; arr. Meyer Lyon, 1751-1797. GREETING P: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. C: And also with you. 2 KYRIE Lord, Have Mercy Franz Schubert (from Deutsche Messe, D. 872) SALUTATION P: The Lord be with you. C: And also with you. PRAYER OF THE DAY P: Let us pray. O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life. Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. C: Amen. 3 The Liturgy of the Word ________________________________________________________________________________________________ FIRST READING Genesis17.1-7, 15-16 As with Noah, God makes an everlasting covenant with Abraham and Sarah. God promises this old couple that they will be the ancestors of nations, though they have no child together. God will miraculously bring forth new life from Sarah’s womb. The name changes emphasize the firmness of God’s promise. Before the reading: A: A reading from Genesis. When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said to him, ―I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.‖ Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, ―As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. God said to Abraham, ―As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.‖ After the reading: D: The word of the Lord. C: Thanks be to God. PSALMODY Psalm 22:23-30 Tone 4 Cantor: ANTIPHON C: ANTIPHON Cantor: Praise the LORD, you that fear him; stand in awe of him, O offspring of Israel; all you of Jacob’s line, give glory. For he does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty; neither does he hide his face from them; but when they cry to him, he hears them. My praise is of him in the great assembly; I will perform my vows in the presence of those who worship him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and those who seek the LORD shall praise him: May your heart live forever! C: ANTIPHON Cantor: All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall bow before him. For kingship belongs to the LORD; he rules over the nations. To him alone all who sleep in the earth bow down in worship; all who go down to the dust fall before him. My soul shall live for him; my descendants shall serve him; they shall be known as the LORD’S forever. They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn the saving deeds that he has done. C: ANTIPHON Psalm text reprinted from Book of Common Prayer (1979) in the public domain. Music from The Plainsong Psalter, Copyright © 1988 by The Church Pension Fund; admin. Church Publishing Incorporated, New York. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under OneLicense.net License #A-705779. 4 SECOND READING Romans 4.13-25 Paul presents Abraham as the example for how a person comes into a right relationship with God not through works of the law but through faith. Though Abraham and Sarah were far too old for bearing children, Abraham trusted that God would accomplish what God had promised to accomplish. Before the reading: A: A reading from Paul’s Letter to the Romans. For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, ―I have made you the father of many nations‖)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.