ASCENSION LUTHERAN CHURCH

THE LUTHERAN CHURCH—MISSOURI SYNOD LITTLETON, COLORADO

October 9, 2016

8:00 am

TWENY-FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

When given the chance to return to her own people, the widow Ruth pledged faithful love not just to her mother-in-law, Naomi, but to Naomi’s God. Paul urges his apprentice Timothy to respond with faithful love assuring him of the strength that is received through knowing Jesus. This strength produces the fruit of enduring hardships, running the race, and working in the Lord’s harvest. Yet even when we are weak and falter in our faithfulness, God is ever faithful to keep His promises. This faithful, loving God is the healer of all who suffer. Just as with His almighty Word, Jesus spoke healing to the ten lepers, so with His powerful Gospel promises He continues to speak healing from sin and death for us today.

Music for Meditation

O Land of Rest arr. Roger C. Wilson Pastoral Greeting PASTOR LARSON Tolling of the Bell

Congregation, please stand.

Hymn of Worship Lord, Open Now My Heart to Hear LSB 908

INVOCATION

P In the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit. C Amen.

OPENING SENTENCES

P Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, C in the company of the upright, in the congregation.

P Great are the works of the Lord, C studied by all who delight in them.

P Full of splendor and majesty is His work, C and His righteousness endures forever.

P The works of His hands are faithful and just; C all His precepts are trustworthy.

CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION

P Faithful and loving God, C we confess that we are sinners by nature as well as by choice. We have

willfully turned away from Your faithful love and embraced shadow and death instead. We admit our powerlessness to return to You, and we believe that in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, You have decisively acted to forgive, heal, and restore us to life. By Your Spirit, make what Jesus has done real in our lives this day.

P People dearly loved, God hears your cry for mercy and answers when you call. Therefore, as a called and ordained servant of Jesus and by His authority, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit. C Amen.

Divine Service

Kyrie (spoken)

P Lord God, who called Ruth from Moab into the life of Your family, C have mercy on us.

P Lord Jesus Christ, who strengthened Timothy to endure hardship by Your gracious favor, C have mercy on us.

P Great Physician, who healed the ten lepers by the power of Your spoken Word, C have mercy on us, and grant us peace. Amen.

Hymn of Praise Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation! O my soul, praise Him, for He is your health and salvation! Let all who hear now to His temple draw near, Joining in glad adoration! Praise to thee Lord! O let all that is in me adore Him! All that has life and breath, come now with praises before Him! Let the Amen sound from His people again; Gladly forever adore Him!

P The Lord be with you. C And also with you. P Let us pray.

Almighty God, You show mercy to Your people in all their troubles. Grant us al-ways to recognize Your goodness, give thanks for Your compassion, and praise Your holy name; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

C Amen.

Prayer of the Day

SERVICE OF THE WORD

Old Testament: Ruth 1:1-19a

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. The man's name was Elimelech, his wife's name Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. When she heard in Moab that the LORD had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, Naomi and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go back, each of you, to your mother's home. May the LORD show kindness to you, as you have shown to your dead and to me. May the LORD grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband." Then she kissed them and they wept aloud and said to her, "We will go back with you to your people." But Naomi said, "Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me--even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons-- would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD's hand has gone out against me!" At this they wept again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-by, but Ruth clung to her. "Look," said Naomi, "your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her." But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem.

L The Word of the Lord. C Thanks be to God!

Epistle: 2 Timothy 2:1-13

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in

P The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke the seventeenth chapter. C Glory to You, O Lord.

The Holy Gospel: Luke 17:11-19

Congregation, please stand.

civilian affairs--he wants to please his commanding officer. Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this. Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God's word is not chained. Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

L The Word of the Lord. C Thanks be to God!

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one

The Alleluia

P The Gospel of the Lord. C Praise to You, O Christ.

Nicene Creed LSB (Inside back-cover)

Sermon Can’t See, Won’t See PASTOR LARSON Text: Matthew 15:1-20

Hymn of the Day Lord Take My Hand and Lead Me LSB 722

found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

P Let us pray for the whole people of God in Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs.

Faithful and loving God, You have taken us like Ruth from being alone and brought us into the family of Your people. You continue to strengthen us like Timothy with Your favor that is ours through Baptism into Christ Jesus, renewing us again today with the promises of Your Gospel and the food of resurrection life that is the body and blood of Jesus.

C Hear us, O God!

P Faithful and loving God, remember all people in positions of civil authority in this world. Grant that they may come to know and to believe that You are good and You love Your whole creation, remembering especially before You Barack, our president, our governor, and our mayor, that trusting in Your faithful love, they may find strength to serve the people of the world in wisdom, justice, and peace.

C Hear us, O God!

P Faithful and loving God, remember all pastors and church workers, remembering especially before You Matthew, our Synod president, our district president, and our circuit visitor, as well as all the faithful baptized who speak of Jesus in our daily vocations and callings. Season our speech with grace that we may speak of Your truth lovingly and speak of Your faithful love truthfully.

C Hear us, O God!

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

THE OFFERING

Sharing of the Peace

P The peace of the Lord be with you always. C And also with you.

You may now greet one another in the name of the Lord using ...Peace be with you

Music for Meditation The Ascension Chorale One Hope, One Faith, One Lord Craig Courtney

P Faithful and loving God, remember all people who suffer with sickness, injury, or any afflictions of body, mind, or spirit, remembering especially before You.... Use Your strengthening favor and powerful Word to minister healing and peace according to Your will. For You are always good, and we are in Your hands.

C Hear us, O God!

P Faithful and loving God, remember all people who mourn and their loved ones who now rest in Your presence. Grant to each of us the strength of Your favor that we may run the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who will one day by His mighty Word call us out of our graves and into the glorious light of the reign of God.

C Hear us, O God!

P For all these things and whatever else You know that we need, we ask You, faithful and loving God, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

C Amen.

Offertory Prayer

P Let us pray, C Heavenly Father, receive these gifts, symbols of the time, abilities, and

resources we place at Your disposal in thanks for Your eternal grace, mercy, and peace. Receive them for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE GREAT THANKSGIVING

Preface

HOLY COMMUNION AT ASCENSION

The Lord, our Host, invites to his Supper those who are baptized into the Christian faith, confess him as Savior, have examined themselves, truly repent of sins, believe the Risen Lord is present in the sacrament with his true body and blood, and resolve to live faithfully and obediently. For those with an intolerance to alcohol, the center ring of the tray contains grape juice. Gluten free wafers are available to those with wheat allergies. Children who have not been instructed, yet desire a blessing, are invited to come forward with arms crossed. Come, for the Supper is ready! When receiving the bread and wine, the communicant may respond with “Amen!”, a word of affirmation and belief.

The Words of Consecration P 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. For as often as we eat of this bread and drink from this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

The Lord’s Prayer

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.

PROPER PREFACE

P It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to You, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who on this day overcame death and the grave and by His glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life. Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and singing:

Communion Benediction

P The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you in his grace.

C Amen.

Post Communion Prayer

P We give you thanks, almighty God, that you have refreshed us through the heal-ing power of this gift of life; and we pray that in your mercy you would strengthen us through this gift, in faith toward you and fervent love toward one another; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

C Amen.

Benediction

P The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favor and † give you peace.

C Amen.

Closing Hymn Jesus Shall Reign LSB 832

Congregational Concerns P Go in peace. Serve the Lord. C Thanks be to God! Organ Voluntary Lift Up Your Songs of Praise arr. Stewart Landon

Hymns during the Distribution The Lamb LSB 547 Your Table I Approach LSB 628 My Hope is Built on Nothing Less LSB 575 Children of the Heavenly Father LSB 725

Serving in Worship

OFFICIANT and CELEBRANT The Rev. John R. Larson, Pastor ELDER 8:00 Norm Finfrock 10:30 Don Loptien ORGANIST 8:00 Ann Kaneko PRAISE TEAM 10:30 Agapes LECTOR 8:00 Dana Thom 10:30 Margo Pasha ACOLYTE 8:00 Chrissy Coon 10:30 Lyla Dollar USHERS 8:00 Mary Farley, Joyce Wagner 10:30 Sharon Seible, Charlotte Wilkinson GREETERS 8:00 Annette Wolfer 10:30 Edna Achziger SERVER 10:30 Margo Pasha ALTAR GUILD Joyce Dowdy, Mary Farley, Sherry Hitztaler FLOWERS Wilma Bell, in loving memory of Henry

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