THE ORDER OF WORSHIP
Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday
March 25th, 2018
Holy Communion (ELW 5)
INTRODUCTION
The contrasts in this Sunday’s ritual are unsurpassable. Christ’s joyful
entry into Jerusalem as Messiah turns to lament for his suffering and
death.. But Christians always gather for worship in faithful expectation of
Christ’s final vindication and the promise of his unconquerable love.
Mark's account for the Easter story will begin with women going to anoint
Jesus for burial, only to find that he has been raised, God's living Anointed
One.
CHILDREN are always welcome to our Worship Service. Rainbow bags
and a cry room are available. A staffed nursery is also available if needed.
An usher will gladly provide you with assistance.
As a worship courtesy, we ask that you please turn off or set to vibrate
all cellular telephones and pagers during the worship service.
We ask that all present today please fill out the Attendance and Communion
registration card found in your bulletin and place it in the offering plate so
that we may record your presence with us.
PRAYER UPON ENTERING THE PEW
O God of mercy and might, in the mystery of the passion of your Son you
offer your infinite life to me and to all people. Gather me with all the
baptized around the cross of Christ, draw all people everywhere by the light
of your love in the cross, and preserve us until the resurrection, through
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
PRELUDE Fantasia on Theodulph Wells
A MESSAGE FOR OUR CHILDREN
The congregation is invited to stand.
GATHERING
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
PROCESSIONAL GOSPEL: Mark 11:1-11
The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.
Glory to you, O Lord.
When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and
Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples 2and said to
them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately as you enter it,
you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden; untie it and bring
it. 3If anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' just say this, 'The Lord
needs it and will send it back here immediately.'" 4They went away and
found a colt tied near a door, outside in the street. As they were untying it,
5
some of the bystanders said to them, "What are you doing, untying the
colt?" 6They told them what Jesus had said; and they allowed them to take
it. 7Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he
sat on it. 8Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread
leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. 9Then those who went ahead
and those who followed were shouting,
"Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!10
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!"11
Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple; and when he had
looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany
with the twelve.
The Gospel of the Lord!
Praise to you, O Christ.
BLESSING OF PALMS CONGREGATIONAL SONG: All Glory, Laud, and Honor (ELW 344)

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Let us pray.
We praise you, O God, for redeeming the world through our Savior Jesus
Christ. Today he entered the holy city in triumph and was proclaimed
messiah and king by those who spread garments and branches along his
way. Bless these branches and those who carry them. Grant us grace to
follow our Lord in the way of the cross, so that, joined to his death and
resurrection, we enter into life with you; through the same Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
forever.
Amen.

PROCESSION

Let us go forth in peace,

in the name of Christ.
Amen.

All are invited to join in the procession…

After the procession, the presiding minister continues:

Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

Let us pray.
Everlasting God, in your endless love for the human race you sent our Lord
Jesus Christ to take on our nature and to suffer death on the cross. In your
mercy enable us to share in his obedience to your will and in the glorious
victory of his resurrection, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
FIRST READING: Isaiah 50:4–9a PSALM: Psalm 31:9–16

A reading from Isaiah. Refrain:

4
The Lord GOD has given me
the tongue of a teacher,
that I may know how to sustain
the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens —
wakens my ear Tone:
to listen as those who are taught.
5
The Lord GOD has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
I did not turn backward. 9
Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I | am in trouble;
6
I gave my back to those who struck me, my eye is consumed with sorrow, and also my throat | and my
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; belly.
I did not hide my face 10
For my life is wasted with grief, and my | years with sighing;
from insult and spitting.
7 my strength fails me because of affliction, and my bones | are
The Lord GOD helps me;
consumed.
therefore I have not been disgraced; 11
I am the scorn of my enemies, a disgrace to my neighbors, a dismay to |
therefore I have set my face like flint, my acquaintances;
and I know that I shall not be put to shame; when they see me in the street | they avoid me.
8
he who vindicates me is near. 12
Like the dead I am forgotten, | out of mind;
Who will contend with me?
I am as useless as a | broken pot. R
Let us stand up together.
Who are my adversaries? 13
For I have heard the whispering of the crowd; fear is | all around;
Let them confront me. they put their heads together against me; they plot to | take my life.
9
It is the Lord GOD who helps me; 14
But as for me, I have trusted in | you, O LORD.
who will declare me guilty?
I have said, "You | are my God.
15
My times are | in your hand;
The word of the Lord. rescue me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who |
Thanks be to God. persecute me.
16
Let your face shine up- | on your servant;
Silence for reflection follows the reading.
save me in your | steadfast love." R

SECOND READING: Philippians 2:5–11

5
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7
but emptied himself,
 taking the form of a slave, GOSPEL: Mark 14:1—15:47
being born in human likeness. As the Gospel is announced, worshippers are invited to trace a cross upon
And being found in human form, their forehead, then over their lips, and then over their hearts, silently
8
he humbled himself praying, “May the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ be ever on my mind, on
and became obedient to the point of death — my lips, and in my heart.”
even death on a cross.
9
Therefore God also highly exalted him The holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.
and gave him the name Glory to you, O Lord.
that is above every name,
10
so that at the name of Jesus The congregation may be seated as the reading of the passion of Christ is
every knee should bend, begun. The narrator will invite the congregation to participate by reading
in heaven and on earth and under the earth, the lines printed below, following the prompts provided by the narrator.
11
and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, It was two days before the Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread.
to the glory of God the Father. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by
stealth and kill him; for they said,
The word of the Lord. Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.
Thanks be to God.
While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the
REFLECTION Pastor Charles Peterson table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard,
and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. But some
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION were there who said to one another in anger,
Please stand. Why was this ointment wasted in this way? For this ointment
could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and
All sing the response, the cantor will sing the verse the money given to the poor.
then all repeat “Glory and praise…”
…On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is
sacrificed, his disciples said to him,
Where do you want us to go and make preparations for the
Passover?

…Some stood up and gave false testimony against him, saying,

We heard him say, “I will destroy this temple that is made with
hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with
hands.”
Verse:
Christ humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even ...Then after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter,
death/ on a cross* Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the Certainly you are one of them; for you are a Galilean.
name that is above/ every name. (Philippians 2:8-9)
…They shouted back,
Crucify him!
…But they shouted all the more,
Crucify him!
…And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns
into a crown, they put it on him. And they began saluting him,
Hail, King of the Jews!
…Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying,
Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three
days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!
…In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also
mocking him among themselves and saying,
He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the messiah, the
King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may
see and believe.
Please stand.
…When some of the bystanders heard it, they said,
Listen, he is calling for Elijah.
The gospel concludes:
The gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Silence for reflection follows the reading.
HYMN OF THE DAY: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded (ELW 351)
CREED
As they recite the creed, worshippers are invited to bow beginning with the
words “born of the Virgin Mary,” until the words “he descended to the
dead.”
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and
earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally
begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God
from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he
came down from heaven, as incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin
Mary and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under
Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he
rose again in accordance with the scriptures; he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in
glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no
end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds
from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is
worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We
believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church. We acknowledge one
baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the
dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
The service continues with the prayers.
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
Let us join our hearts and minds with all the people of God in Christ Jesus
as we pray for the church, those in need, and all of God’s creation.
Please kneel or sit as you are able.
Each petition ends with:
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Into your hands, living God, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in
your mercy; through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
PEACE
Please rise and greet one another in the peace of Christ.
The peace of Christ be with you always.
And also with you.
Please be seated.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
OFFERTORY Were You There

We invite you to please stand and sing:

OFFERTORY HYMN Create in Me a Clean Heart (ELW 188)

PREFACE

HOLY, HOLY, HOLY (ELW 190)

OFFERING PRAYER

God our provider, you have not fed us with bread alone, but with words of
grace and life. Bless us and these your gifts, which we receive from your
bounty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

DIALOGUE

EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
Worshippers are invited to bow with the consecration of the Lord’s body
and blood, each time the words “Do this for the remembrance of me,” are
spoken.
Holy God, our living Water and our merciful Guide…Through him, with
him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory are yours,
almighty Father, now and forever. Amen.
LORD'S PRAYER
INVITATION TO COMMUNION
Come to Christ, broken and poured out for you.
Please be seated.
All baptized people are welcome to the table to receive Christ’s body and
blood. If you have not been baptized, you are also welcome to the table as
God’s guest; we are honored by your presence. We recognize the Body of
Christ as the community of the baptized, so if you would like to become part
of the Body of Christ, we encourage you to seek baptism. If you can’t or
don’t wish to receive today, we encourage you to hold your hands over
your chest for a blessing as you come forward.
LAMB OF GOD
HYMNS DURING DISTRIBUTION PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed (ELW 337) Merciful God, accompany our journey through these forty days. Renew us
in the gift of baptism, that we may provide for those who are poor, pray for
those in need, fast from self-indulgence, and above all that we may find our
treasure in the life of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

BLESSING

The God of all grace, Father, +Son, and Holy Spirit bless you now and
forever. Amen.

SENDING SONG: Go to Dark Gethsemane (ELW 347)

DISMISSAL

Go in peace. Remember the poor.

Thanks be to God.

Jesus, Remember Me (ELW 616) POSTLUDE Toccata Johann Pachelbel

Today’s bulletin cover is given to the glory of God and in memory of

Richard Heinlein. Presented by Sharon Heinlein

UPCOMING COMMEMORATIONS

Annunciation of Our Lord Sunday, March 25, 2018

Nine months before Christmas we celebrate the annunciation, in which the
angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would give birth to the Son of
God. The ancient church believed that this was also the date of the world's
creation and of Jesus' death on the cross.

Hans Nielsen Hauge, renewer of the church, died 1824

Thursday, March 29, 2018
Hauge was a layperson who wished to revitalize the church in Norway. As
a result of a mystical experience, he felt called to preach. Many
professionals in the church feared his motives and influence, and he was
imprisoned for leading unauthorized gatherings.
Once the altar is cleared and the hymn is sung, the congregation stands.