GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH

(Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod)

LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS
March 23, 2011

THE ORDER OF VESPERS

FOR
THE WEEK OF THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT

Lighting of the Chancel Candles

Psalmody
Prelude What Wondrous Love is This - Jeffrey Blersch
Psalm Psalm 98:1–9
Ringing of the Church Bell
P Oh sing to the LORD a new song,
Hymn: Glory Be to Jesus LSB 433 C for he has done marvelous things!
Stand P His right hand and his holy arm
C have worked salvation for him.
Versicles P The LORD has made known his salvation;
C he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
P He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
C to the house of Israel.
P All the ends of the earth have seen
C the salvation of our God.’
P Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth;
C break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
P Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre,
C with the lyre and the sound of melody!
P With trumpets and the sound of the horn
C make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!
P Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
C the world and those who dwell in it!
P Let the rivers clap their hands;
C let the hills sing for joy together

-2-
 P before the LORD, for he comes
C to judge the earth.
P He will judge the world with righteousness,
C and the peoples with equity.
C Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
Sit
The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ:
Office Hymn: On My Heart Imprint Your Image
Readings
Old Testament Reading
“But now hear, O Jacob my servant,
Israel whom I have chosen!
Thus says the LORD who made you,
who formed you from the womb and will help you:
Fear not, O Jacob my servant,
Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
For I will pour water on the thirsty land,
and streams on the dry ground;
I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring,
and my blessing on your descendants.
They shall spring up among the grass
like willows by flowing streams.
This one will say, ‘I am the LORD’s,’
another will call on the name of Jacob,
and another will write on his hand, ‘The LORD’s,’
and name himself by the name of Israel.”
P This is the Word of the Lord.
C Thanks be to God.
-3-
Epistle 1 Peter 2:4–12
As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and
precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy
priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in
Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,” and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
II. Gethsemane But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own
possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once
LSB 422 you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which
wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when
they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day
of visitation.
Isaiah 44:1–5 P This is the Word of the Lord.
C Thanks be to God.
Holy Gospel John 17:1–26
P The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the seventeenth chapter.
C Glory to You, O Lord.
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the
hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him
authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is
eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I
glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now,
Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world
existed.
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours
they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that
everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you
gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you;
and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the
-4-
 world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and Sermon Isaiah 44:5
yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in “Marked”
the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have
given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in
your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost
except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to Canticle
you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, Stand
just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you
keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify
them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into Antiphon Psalm 141:2
the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
[Jesus said:] “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through
their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also
may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are
one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may
know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also,
whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given
me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even
though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I
made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with
Nunc Dimittis
which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

P This is the Gospel of the Lord.

C Praise to You, O Christ.

Responsory for Lent Psalm 51:14; Psalm 59:1; Psalm 141:8

-5- -6-
 Salutation 2 Timothy 4:22

Sit

Offering On My Heart Imprint Your Image - Kenneth Kosche Collect of the Day
P O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy, be gracious to all who have gone astray
Prayer from your ways and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace
and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Stand

Kyrie Mark 10:47

Prayer of the Church

Lord's Prayer Matthew 6:9–13 P Let us pray for the whole Church of God in Christ Jesus and for all people according to
their needs.
C Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be Thy name, Each petition ends with the following:
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; P Lord, in Your mercy,
give us this day our daily bread; C hear our prayer.
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us; The prayers conclude with the following:
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. P Into Your hands, O Lord, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy;
For Thine is the kingdom through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
and the power and the glory C Amen
forever and ever. Amen

-7- -8-
Collect for Peace Postlude Now Rest beneath Night's Shadow - Paul Manz

P Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with Your most gracious favor, and further us with
Your continual help that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in You we may
glorify Your holy name and finally by Your mercy obtain eternal salvation; through
Jesus Christ, our Lord.

T T T

Benedicamus Psalm 103:1

Acknowledgments
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version,
copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights
reserved. Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.

Benediction 2 Corinthians 13:14

THOSE WHO SERVE

Pastor: Rev. James C. Walter

Director of Parish Music: Nathan Beethe
Acolyte: Erich Cline
Reader: Sherry Bischof
Choir: Adult Choir
Ushers: Rudy Bischof, Rick Camacho
Jason Camacho, Richard Sanders
Altar Guild: Suzanne Raddle and Wilma Richter
Nursery Attendant: Mary Ann Dyer
Closing Hymn: Now Rest beneath Night's Shadow LSB 880
Our thanks to the LWML Evening Guild for serving the Lenten dinner this evening.

-9- - 10 -