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Grace Lutheran Church Companion Congregation: Msindo Parish in Tanzania

Welcome to Worship Transfiguration of Our Lord

February 23, 2020

9:00 a.m.

Liturgical worship with organ

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OUR STATEMENT OF MISSION

Grace Lutheran Church is a community of faith, centered in worship, held in grace, strengthened in love, sent forth in mission, in Jesus’ name.

Welcome! If this is your first time worshiping at Grace Lutheran, the Visitor Center in the

Gathering Hall (right outside the sanctuary) has information for you about our congregation. Please ask questions of the greeters and say hello if you feel comfortable! We invite you to join us for coffee, tea, and donuts in the Gathering Hall after the service. Here at Grace we worship in two alternating styles, organ-led liturgy or piano-led liturgy. The style for today, as well as which liturgical setting is used, is listed on the front cover of your bulletin.

We worship together in many ways: Standing, sitting, singing, speaking, listening. You are invited to worship in as many (or few) ways as you are comfortable and able. When following along in the bulletin, the congregation is invited to read the items in bold (often marked with a C:) aloud. Large print bulletins are available from the ushers. Children belong and are welcome in worship! Children’s bulletins are available from the ushers, and activity bags are available outside the doors to the sanctuary. If needed, the Kids Corner in the Gathering Hall has Puzzles, books, coloring pages and Megablocks are all there! This space is intended to offer a place for children to be and play if they need to step of out of worship and during fellowship times.

Communion – We welcome all people to the Lord’s table to receive Holy Communion. Children ages 3 and above are welcome at the parents’ discretion, after meeting for instruction with the pastor. Children not instructed are invited to come forward for a blessing. If you are not able to come forward to take communion, please notify an usher before the service. Then try to sit by the aisle and the pastor will commune you in your pew.

Prayer Request Cards are available in the pews, behind the offering envelopes. You can list a prayer concern and note how private you would like that concern to be. All prayer concerns will be kept confidential by Pastor unless you request it be shared. Simply fold the card and place in the offering plate. The other side is for giving the office contact information and requesting in-formation.

If you are interested in finding out more about membership at Grace, please contact Pastor Mike at Mike@gracedm.org, 515-276-6873.

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Prelude "A New Creation" from the collection "Three Church Windows" Behnke

Welcome

Centering Ourselves in Prayer

Please stand as you are able

Confession and Forgiveness P: Blessed be the holy Trinity, one God, the eternal voice from heaven,

the anointed and beloved one, the Spirit moving over the waters. C: Amen. P: As we approach the mystery of God, let us come in confession,

trusting the love of Christ crucified and risen.

Pause for silence and reflection. P: God who searches us and knows us, C: you have shown us what is good, but we have looked to other lights to find our way. We have not been just in our dealings with others. We have chosen revenge over mercy. We have promoted ourselves instead of walking humbly with you. With what shall we come before you? Forgive us our sin, and show us your salvation

in the face of Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

P: In the mercy of almighty God... the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen. Gathering Hymn “Beautiful Savior” #838 Sacrament of Holy Baptism Page 227 This morning we celebrate the Holy Baptism of Zeppelin James Brown. Parents are Kelley and Gabe Brown. Sponsors are Joseph Brown and Jennifer Appenzeller, Welcome P: Let us welcome this brother in Christ. C: We welcome you into the body of Christ and into the mission we share: join us in giving thanks and praise to God and bearing God's creative and redeeming word to all the world. Passing of the Peace P: The peace of the Lord be with you all, C: And also with you!

Gathering Hymn We are a “singing church,” so we follow the advice of the apostle Paul to teach and admonish “one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).

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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.

Kyrie

Kyrie In Mark 10 we hear of Jesus’ journey through Jericho to Jerusalem where he encounters Bartimaeus, a blind man, who hears this is Jesus and shouts, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” From that time to the present, Jesus’ followers have prayed that same prayer to God: “Kyrie Eleison” (“Lord, have mercy”). We are totally depend-ent upon God, so we pray for mercy in every aspect of life.

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Canticle of Praise

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P: The Lord be with you. C: And also with you.

Prayer of the Day P: Let us pray, C: O God, in the transfiguration of your Son you confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the witness of Moses and Elijah, and in the voice from the bright cloud declaring Jesus your beloved Son, you foreshadowed our adoption as your children. Make us heirs with Christ of your glory, and bring us to enjoy its fullness, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Please be seated

Reading Exodus 24:12-18 12The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” 13So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 14To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.” 15Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. 17Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

Reading Notes: At Mount Sinai, Mo-ses experienced the presence of God for forty days and forty nights. The “glory of the Lord” settled on the mountain, and on the seventh day God called out to Moses. On the mountain God gave Moses the stone tablets inscribed with the ten command-ments.

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L: The Word of the Lord

C: Thanks be to God

Anthem “I Sing the Mighty Power of God”

Chancel Choir with Elly Hartebecke, flute Michael Bedford Psalm 2

You are invited to sing the response and read the lines in bold

responsively.

1Why are the nations in an uproar? Why do the peoples mutter empty threats? 2Why do the kings of the earth rise up in revolt, and the princes plot together, against the Lord and against the Lord‘s anointed? 3“Let us break their yoke,” they say; “let us cast off their bonds from us.” 4God whose throne is in heaven is laughing; the Lord holds them

in derision. R 5Then in wrath God speaks to them, and in rage fills them with terror. 6“As for me, I have anointed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain.” 7Let me announce the decree of the Lord, who said to me, “You are my son; this day have I begotten you. 8Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession. R 9You shall crush them with an iron rod and shatter them like a piece of pottery.” 10And now, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. 11Submit to the Lord with fear, and with trembling bow in worship; 12lest the Lord be angry, and you perish in a sudden blaze of wrath. Happy are all who take refuge in God! R

Please stand as you are able

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Gospel Acclamation

Gospel Acclamation

P: The Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew the Seventeenth Chapter.

C: Glory to you, O Lord.

Gospel Matthew 17:1-9 1Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” 6When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8And when they looked up, they saw no one ex-cept Jesus himself alone. 9As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

P: The Gospel of the Lord

C: Praise to you, O Christ

Please be seated

Sermon “Is This Heaven?”

Please stand as you are able

Gospel The Gospel Lesson is a selection from the accounts of the life of our Lord recorded by the four evangelists, St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John. Because Christ is with us in the Gos-pel reading, we stand to honor his pres-ence. We also sing short verses before and after the reading of the Gospel.

Gospel Notes Shortly before he en-ters Jerusalem, where he will be crucified, Jesus is revealed to Peter, James, and John in a mountaintop experience of divine glory called the trans-figuration.

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Hymn of the Day “How Good, Lord, to Be Here!” #315 Prayers of the People

P: Hear us, O God. C: Your mercy is great. P: Confident that you are able to accomplish more than we even dare to ask, we bring these prayers before you, believing in your saving grace revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord. C: Amen. All: God of love, have mercy on us. Pour out your Spirit upon us. Center us in worship. Hold us in grace. Strengthen us in love. Send us forth in mission. In Jesus’ holy name. Amen. Please be seated Announcements Active Grace Slideshow The Offering Offertory Setting of “Beautiful Savior” Engel Please stand as you are able

Offering Prayer P: God of wonder, you formed us in our mother’s womb, and from mother earth you bring forth this bread and wine...We wait for your mercy; we long for your peace; we hunger and thirst for Jesus Christ, our banquet of life. C: Amen Great Thanksgiving

Prayers of the People This prayer in the service follows the directive of the Apostle Paul to young Timothy, a pastor: “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for Kings and all those in authority, that we may live in peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holi-ness.”

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Preface Holy, Holy, Holy

Thanksgiving at the Table P: In the night in which he was betrayed… P: Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray. 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 Invitation to Communion P: Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! Come to the table of mercy and joy. Please be seated

Preface Preface means “introduction.” The pastor and people get ready to celebrate the Holy Meal by greeting each other and with an exhortation as how to celebrate the meal. These words state why we should give thanks using words and ideas appropriate for the season of the church year.

Holy, Holy, Holy Sanctus is a Latin word meaning “Holy.” The Sanctus contains words from Isaiah’s vision of God (Isaiah 6:3) and the crowd’s response on Palm Sunday when Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem. We join them in spirit by singing their words as we anticipate Christ’s coming in the sacrament.

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Lamb of God

Distribution Hymns 616(3x), 471, 515, 522, 674

Please stand as you are able

Prayer after Communion P: Faithful God, you have kept your promise to us in this meal, nourishing us with the gift of salvation. Now send your servants forth in peace, that we may testify to your goodness and share the hope that is ours in Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. C: Amen

Blessing

P: The Lord bless you… in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. C: Amen. Sending Hymn “Alleluia, Song of Gladness” #318

Dismissal

P: Go in peace. Let your light shine.

C: Thanks be to God. Postlude Improvisation on “Alleluia, Song of Gladness” Burkhardt

We will receive by pouring chalice this morning: Receive a cup. Receive and eat the bread. Proceed to the wine or grape juice. Communion bread is gluten free.

Blessing Here as we leave to continue our journey through the wilderness to the Promised Land, God uses the pastor to say words that were said first through Aaron in the wilderness more than 3,000 years ago.

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Grace Lutheran Church

5201 Urbandale Avenue

Des Moines, Iowa 50310

Pastor Michael Schmidt

515-276-6873

www.gracedm.org

Welcome to Grace!

Ministers —the people of Grace

Pastor –

The Rev. Michael Schmidt ............................ mike@gracedm.org

Minister for Worship and Music –

Emma Stammer ........................................... emma@gracedm.org

Minister for Youth and Family –

Ellen Rothweiler ............................................. ellen@gracedm.org

Organist –

Rich Snyder ...................................................... rich@gracedm.org

Grace Kids’ Care Director – Mary Edwards……………………………….mary@gracedm.org

Minister for Administration –

Denise Friesth ............................................... denise@gracedm.org

Minister for Communications –

Michelle Voelker ..................................... michelle@gracedm.org

Office Assistant for Worship

Jessica Flannery…..………………………..jessica@gracedm.org

Custodian – Todd Haugen

Ushers – Dave Gronert, Bruce Bergman, Jim Rundle, & Jay Wangerin

Greeter – Nancy Crowfoot

Acolyte –

Liturgist – Mary Freimuth Helt

Lector – Carol Woodruff

Altar Guild – Gail Peterson & Cindy Peeler Communion – Julie Honsey, Alex Davik, Mike Hilsabeck

Counters – Jon Rissman & Mike Carney Coffee – Tammy Denton