Tenth Sunday after Pentecost –August 1, 2021

Today’s Theme for Worship: Jesus is the Prophet, promised in ancient times, who feeds his people and atones for their sins.

Order of Service: Service of Word and Sacrament

Opening Hymn: 538 The Church’s One Foundation

1 The Church’s one foundation Is Jesus Christ, her Lord;

She is his new creation By water and the Word.

From heav’n he came and sought her To be his holy bride;

With his own blood he bought her, And for her life he died.

2 Elect from ev’ry nation, Yet one o’er all the earth;

Her charter of salvation: One Lord, one faith, one birth.

One holy name she blesses, Partakes one holy food,

And to one hope she presses, With ev’ry grace endued.

3 The Church shall never perish. Her dear Lord, to defend,

To guide, sustain, and cherish, Is with her to the end.

Though there be those that hate her And strive to see her fail,

Against both foe and traitor She ever shall prevail.

4 Though with a scornful wonder The world sees her oppressed,

By schisms rent asunder, By heresies distressed,

Yet saints their watch are keeping; Their cry goes up, “How long?”

And soon the night of weeping Shall be the morn of song.

5 Mid toil and tribulation And tumult of her war

She waits the consummation Of peace forevermore

Till with the vision glorious Her longing eyes are blest

And the great Church victorious Shall be the Church at rest.

Text: Samuel J. Stone, 1839-1900, abr., alt.

Order of Service: Service of Word and Sacrament

P: The grace of our Lord + Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you.

C: And also with you.

Confession of Sins

P: God invites us to come into his presence and worship him with humble and penitent hearts. Therefore, let us acknowledge our sinfulness and ask him to forgive us.

C: Holy and merciful Father, I confess that I am by nature sinful, and that I have disobeyed you in my thoughts, words, and actions. I have done what is evil and failed to do what is good. For this I deserve your punishment both now and in eternity. But I am truly sorry for my sins, and trusting in my Savior Jesus Christ, I pray: Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.

P: God, our heavenly Father, has been merciful to us and has given his only Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Therefore, as a called servant of Christ 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.

Lord, Have Mercy

P: For all that we need in life and for the wisdom to use all your gifts with gratitude and joy, hear our prayer, O Lord.

C: ♬ Lord, have mer-cy.

P: For the steadfast assurance that nothing can separate us from your love and for the courage to stand firm against the assaults of Satan and every evil, hear our prayer, O Christ.

C: ♬ Christ, have mer-cy.

P: For the well-being of your holy Church in all the world and for those who offer here their worship and praise, hear our prayer, O Lord.

C: ♬ Lord, have mer-cy.

P: Merciful God, maker and preserver of life, uphold us by your power and keep us in your tender care:

C: ♬ A-men.

P: The works of the Lord are great and glorious; his name is worthy of praise.

♬ O Lord, Our Lord

O Lord, our Lord, how glo-rious is your name in all the earth.

Al-might-y God, mer-ci-ful Father,

you crown our life with your love.

You take a-way our sin; you com-fort our spir-it;

you make us pure and ho-ly in your sight.

You did not spare your on-ly Son, but gave him up for us all.

O Lord, our Lord, how glo-rious is your name in all the earth.

O Son of God, e-ter-nal Word of the Fa-ther,

you came to live with us;

you made your Fa-ther known;

you washed us from our sins in your own blood.

You are the King of glo-ry; you are the Lord!

O Lord, our Lord, how glo-rious is your name in all the earth.

Prayer of the Day

P: Let us Pray.

O Lord, your ears are always open to the prayers of your humble servants, who come to you in Jesus’ name. Teach us always to ask according to your will that we may never fail to obtain the blessings you have promised; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. C: ♬ A-men.

First Lesson: Exodus 24:3-11

Moses served as mediator between God and the people.

³Moses came and reported to the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do.” ⁴Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord.

He got up early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain. He set up twelve memorial stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵He sent young Israelite men, who offered whole burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings of cattle to the Lord. ⁶Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and he splashed half of the blood on the altar. ⁷He took the Book of the Covenant and read it out loud to the people and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do. We will obey.”

⁸Moses took the blood and splashed it on the people. He said, “Look, here is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord made with you by means of all these words.”

⁹Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. ¹⁰They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet they saw what looked like a pavement of sapphire as clear as the sky. ¹¹The Lord did not lay his hand on the dignitaries of the people of Israel. They gazed at God, and they ate and drank.

Psalm of the Day: 84

Refrain

Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

How lovely is your dwelling place,*

O LORD Almighty!

My soul yearns, even faints,*

for the courts of the LORD.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house;*

they are ever praising you.

Refrain

Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

Better is one day in your courts*

than a thousand elsewhere;

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God*

than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

O LORD Almighty,*

blessed are they who trust in you.

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.

Refrain

Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.

Second Lesson: Ephesians 4:1-7, 11-16

Paul calls on us to live according to God’s commandments.

As a prisoner in the Lord, therefore, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. ²Live with all humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another in love.

³Make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in the one hope of your calling. ⁵There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all.

⁷But to each one of us grace was given, according to the measure of the gift from Christ.

¹¹He himself gave the apostles, as well as the prophets, as well as the evangelists, as well as the pastors and teachers, ¹²for the purpose of training the saints for the work of serving, in order to build up the body of Christ. ¹³This is to continue until we all reach unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God, resulting in a mature man with a stature reaching to the measure of the fullness of Christ. ¹⁴The goal is that we would no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, when people use tricks and invent clever ways to lead us astray. ¹⁵Instead, speaking the truth in love, we would in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head. ¹⁶From him the whole body, being joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows in accordance with Christ’s activity when he measured out each individual part. He causes the growth of the body so that it builds itself up in love.

Verse:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

These words are written that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Gospel Lesson: John 6:1-15

Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5,000 convinces many that he is “the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
After this, Jesus crossed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). ²A large crowd followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he was performing on those who were sick. ³Jesus went up on the hillside and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

⁵When Jesus looked up and saw a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶But Jesus was saying this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.

⁷Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to have just a little.”

⁸One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ⁹“There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what is that for so many people?”

¹⁰Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, so they sat down. There were about five thousand men.

¹¹Then Jesus took the loaves and, after giving thanks, he distributed pieces to those who were seated. He also did the same with the fish—as much as they wanted.

¹²When the people were full, he told his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over so that nothing is wasted.” ¹³So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with pieces from the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴When the people saw the miraculous sign Jesus did, they said, “This really is the Prophet who is coming into the world.”

¹⁵When Jesus realized that they intended to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Hymn of the Day: 492 Son of God, Eternal Savior

1 Son of God, eternal Savior, Source of life and truth and grace,

Word made flesh, whose birth among us, Honors all our human race,

You our head, who, throned in glory, For your own will ever plead:

Fill us with your love and pity; Heal our wrongs and help our need.

2 Come, O Christ, and reign among us, King of love and Prince of Peace;

Hush the storm of strife and passion; Bid its cruel discords cease.

By your patient years of toiling, By your silent hours of pain,

Quench our fevered thirst for pleasure; Stem our selfish greed for gain.

3 Bind us all as one together In your Church’s sacred fold,

Weak and healthy, poor and wealthy, Sad and joyful, young and old.

Is there want or pain or sorrow? Make us all the burden share.

Are there spirits crushed and broken? Teach us, Lord, to soothe their care.

4 As you, Lord, have lived for others, So may we for others live.

Freely have your gifts been granted; Freely may your servants give.

Yours the gold and yours the silver, Yours the wealth of land and sea;

We but stewards of your bounty Held in solemn trust will be.

Text: Somerset T. C. Lowry, 1855-1932, abr., alt.

Sermon

Nicene Creed

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, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and became fully 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 in unity with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy Christian 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.

Offering Prayer

Offering

Electronic Giving! You can give your offerings from your smartphone with the GivePlusChurch app, which can be downloaded for free at Google Play or the App Store. You can also give at holytrinitylutheranwyoming.com by clicking the Offerings link at the top of the page or scan the QR code below. If you have any questions about any of these options, please contact Dave Conrad at dconrad765@gmail.com or 616-406-7172

Prayer of the Church

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.

The Sacrament

P: The Lord be with you.

C: ♬ And also with you.

P: Lift up your hearts.

C: ♬ We lift them up to the Lord.

P: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

C: ♬ It is right to give him thanks and praise.

P: Praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In love he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing. He sends the Holy Spirit to testify that we are his children and to strengthen us when we are weak. Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ. To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and thanks and honor and glory for ever and ever.

♬ Holy, Holy, Holy

Ho-ly, ho-ly, ho-ly is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of your glo-ry.

You are my God, and I will ex-alt you.

I will give you thanks, for you have be-come my sal-va-tion.

Ho-ly, ho-ly, ho-ly is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of your glo-ry.

Words of Institution

P: Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night he was betrayed, took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying “Take and eat; this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

P: The peace of the Lord be with you always.

C: ♬ A-men.

♬ O Christ, Lamb Of God

O Christ, Lamb of God,

you take a-way the sin of the world;

have mer-cy on us.

O Christ, Lamb of God,

you take a-way the sin of the world;

have mer-cy on us.

O Christ, Lamb of God,

you take a-way the sin of the world;

grant us your peace.

A-men.

Distribution Hymn: 511 O Lord, Our God, Your Gracious Hand

1 O Lord, our God, your gracious hand Has crowned our lives with blessing;

Your goodness has enriched our land With gifts for our possessing.

Our homes, our food, And ev’ry good For earthly work and living,

Abundant wealth And life and health Your faithful love is giving.

2 For ev’ry earthly grace and gift We thank you, dearest Father.

Now teach us, Lord; our thoughts uplift That heav’nly fruit we gather.

Our fathers knew And kept in view True wisdom’s worth and pleasure;

They prized as jewels Their Christian schools And left a lasting treasure.

3 We thank you, Lord, and sing your praise For blessings you have given;

Be with us still in future days To guide our youth to heaven.

Lord, grant that we May clearly see The worth of Christian training

That youth may grow Your love to know, Eternal riches gaining.

4 Your Word alone, great God of pow’r, Can feed our soul and spirit.

Christ’s love gives strength for ev’ry hour Without our deeds or merit.

Grant schools that teach And men who preach True Christian education.

Let youth grow strong By Word and song In ev’ry land and nation.

Used by permission.

Thank the Lord

Thank the Lord and sing his praise.

Tell ev-'ry-one what he has done.

Let all who seek the Lord re-joice

And proud-ly bear his name.

He re-news his prom-is-es and leads his peo-ple forth

in joy with shouts of thanks-giv-ing.

Al-le-lu-ia! Al-le-lu-ia!

Prayer

P: Hear the prayer of your people, O Lord, that the lips which have praised you here may glorify you in the world, that the eyes which have seen the coming of your Son may long for his coming again, and that all who have received in his true body and blood the pledge of your forgiveness may be restored to live a new and holy life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

C: A-men.

Blessing

M: Brothers and sisters, go in peace. Live in harmony with one another. Serve the Lord with gladness.

The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you.

The Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.

C: (sing) Amen. Amen. Amen.

Closing Hymn: 616 Feed Your Children, God Most Holy

Feed your children, God most holy;

Comfort sinners poor and lowly.

Jesus, bread of life from heaven,

Bless the food you here have given.

As these gifts the body nourish,

May our souls in graces flourish

Till with saints in heav’nly splendor

At your feast due thanks we render.

Text: Johann Heermann, 1585-1647; tr. The Lutheran Hymnal, St. Louis, 1941, alt.