Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost November 19, 2017 10:30 A.M. 616 Lake St., Evanston, IL 60201 ● 847-864-4464 ● www.immanuelevanston.org E-mail: Church: [email protected] ● Pastor: [email protected] ● Parish Administrator: [email protected] Welcome! Immanuel Lutheran Church is a Reconciling in Christ congregation. We welcome people of every age and size, color and culture, every sexual orientation and gender identity, socio-economic status and marital status, every ability and challenge. We welcome believers and questioners, and questioning believers. We’re glad God has called you here today! If you’re a guest, please feel free to introduce yourself to our pastor or assisting minister. If you would, sign the guest book in the Gathering Area or fill in a guest card from the pew, and we’ll be happy to send information on how you can get involved at Immanuel. Facilities • Our parking lot is located on the south side of the church off Sherman Avenue. You may park in the lot at any time, whether for church events or for shopping or other errands in downtown Evanston; weekdays, see the church office at the Lake St. entrance to get a parking pass. On Sundays, additional parking is available across the street at the Holiday Inn or in Lot 6 on Lake St. across from the Police and Fire Headquarters. Parking meters are free on Sunday! • The parking lot entrance is an accessible entrance. An elevator is located just inside that door. • Restrooms are downstairs near the meeting of the two hallways. Accessible restrooms are located near the elevator on both upper and lower levels. A gender-neutral restroom is located on the lower level by the elevator. • We love having children in worship! There is a nursery and changing/crying room for parents to use, if needed, located downstairs. There are also changing tables in both restrooms on this level, by the elevator. An usher will be happy to direct you. • Hearing assistance is available. Ask an usher for equipment. • Wi-Fi is available throughout most of the building. The network is “Immanuel,” password “allarewelcome”. Please use the Internet responsibly! About Our Worship Our Sunday worship is organized around the proclamation of the Word of God and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. It has a familiar form each week, but the content changes for each service according to a calendar shared with many other Christians. Our hymnal, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, is organized so that page numbers for the liturgy are in the front part of the book, while hymn numbers are in the second part. The liturgy and hymns are printed in this bulletin, but page numbers are provided for those who wish to follow along in the hymnal. Receiving Holy Communion We invite you to share with us in the sacramental meal, because Christ himself invites you! At the direction of the usher, come forward and kneel at the altar rail, if you are able, beginning at the ends of the rail closest to the front wall, filling in toward the center. (If you cannot kneel, standing is fine!) Receive the bread in the palm of your hand. You may eat it immediately, then take the silver chalice and drink from it or, if you prefer, hold the bread and dip it in the ceramic chalice and then eat the moistened bread. Gluten-free wafers are available. Please indicate to the pastor if you need that. Return to your place via the side aisles after you have communed. If you need to have Communion brought to you, please sit on the aisle, and let either the pastor or an usher know before the service that you would like to commune at your seat. If you desire a blessing but not the sacrament, you are invited to come forward with everyone else and fold your arms over your chest to indicate this. 2 Gathering: The Holy Spirit assembles us as the People of God … Our readings during November speak of the end times. Zephaniah proclaims that the coming “Day of the Lord" will be filled with wrath and distress. Paul says it will come like a thief in the night and urges us to be awake and sober. Jesus tells the parable of the talents, calling us to use our gifts, while we still have time, for the greater and common good. In a world filled with violence and despair, we gather around signs of hope—word, water, bread and wine—eager to welcome the good news of Christ’s coming among us. P: Presiding Minister L: Leader/Assisting Minister R: Reader A: Assembly + All may make the sign of the cross. Pre-Service Music Selections from mature master works of Franck and Bach Confession and Forgiveness P Blessed be the + holy Trinity, the one who fashions us, the one who heals us, the one who reforms us again and again. A Amen. P Let us confess our sin, calling for God's transforming power. Silence for reflection and self-examination. P Source of all life, A we confess that we have not allowed your grace to set us free. We fear that we are not good enough. We hear your word of love freely given to us, yet we expect others to earn it. We turn the church inward, rather than moving it outward. Forgive us. Stir us. Reform us to be a church powered by love, willing to speak for what is right, act for what is just, and seek the healing of your whole creation. Amen. P God hears our cry and sends the Spirit to change us and to empower our lives in the world. Our sins are forgiven. God’s love is unconditional, and we are raised up as God’s people who will always be made new, in the name of + Jesus Christ. A Amen. 3 Gathering Song “Oh, Happy Day When We Shall Stand” Hymnal 441 Please turn to face the doors. You may reverence the cross as it passes you. Greeting P The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. A And also with you! 4 Kyrie Hymnal, p. 98 [cont.] 5 Canticle Hymnal, p. 99 [cont.] 6 Prayer of the Day P Let us pray. Righteous God, our merciful master, you own the earth and all its peoples, and you give us all that we have. Inspire us to serve you with justice and wisdom, and prepare us for the joy of the day of your coming, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. A Amen. Welcome and Announcements The Assembly is seated. 7 Word: God speaks to us in scripture, preaching, and song … Reading from the Hebrew Scriptures Zephaniah 1:7, 12–18 R A reading from the Prophet Zephaniah. 7Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is at hand; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice, he has consecrated his guests. 12At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the people who rest complacently on their dregs, those who say in their hearts, “The LORD will not do good, nor will he do harm.” 13Their wealth shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them. 14The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter, the warrior cries aloud there. 15That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. 17I will bring such distress upon people that they shall walk like the blind; because they have sinned against the LORD, their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. 18Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the LORD’s wrath; in the fire of his passion the whole earth shall be consumed; for a full, a terrible end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth. R Word of God, word of life. A Thanks be to God! 8 Psalm 90:1–12 “O God Our Help in Ages Past” Hymnal 632 9 Reading from the New Testament 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11 R A reading from the First Letter to the Thessalonians. 1Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. 2For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! 4But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; 5for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness. 6So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; 7for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. 8But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.