**Please note this service is based on the format of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada. Unless otherwise indicated, all prayers come from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW). Hymns and other prayers have been sourced to give appropriate credit.
**NRSV translation used for the readings, unless otherwise stated.
**This is for personal use at home as the church is unable to gather in our houses of worship but together we can worship in our own homes.
Introduction to the Day
The third covenant in this year’s Lenten readings is the central one of
Israel’s history: the gift of the law to those God freed from slavery. The
commandments begin with the statement that because God alone has freed us from
the powers that oppressed us, we are to let nothing else claim first place in
our lives. When Jesus throws the merchants out of the temple, he is defending
the worship of God alone and rejecting the ways commerce and profit-making can
become our gods. The Ten Commandments are essential to our baptismal call:
centered first in God’s liberating love, we strive to live out justice and
mercy in our communities and the world.
Confession and Forgiveness
Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God,
the keeper of the covenant,
the source of steadfast love,
our rock and our redeemer.
Amen.
God hears us when we cry, and draws us close in Jesus Christ. Let us return to the one who is full of compassion.
Fountain of living water,
pour out your mercy
over us.
Our sin is heavy, and
we long to be free.
Rebuild what we have
ruined
and mend what we have
torn.
Wash us in your
cleansing flood.
Make us alive in the
Spirit
to follow in the way
of Jesus,
as healers and
restorers of the world you so love.
Amen.
Beloved, God’s word never fails. The promise rests on grace: by the saving love of Jesus Christ, the wisdom and power of God, your sins are ☩ forgiven, and God remembers them no more. Journey in the way of Jesus.
Amen.
Gathering Song – In the Cross of Christ I Glory (ELW #324)
Greeting
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion
of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.
Canticle of Praise
Prayer of the Day
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray.
Holy God, through your Son you have called us to live faithfully and act
courageously. Keep us steadfast in your covenant of grace, and teach us the
wisdom that comes only through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
Readings
A reading from the Book of Exodus 20:1-17
Then God spoke all these words:
I am the Lord your God, who brought you
out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other
gods before me.
You shall not make for yourself an idol,
whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down
to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing
children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of
those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of
those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not make wrongful use of the
name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his
name.
Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it
holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath
to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter,
your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in
them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day
and consecrated it.
Honor your father and your mother, so
that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s
house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or
ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Psalm 19
The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims
his handiwork.
Day to day pours
forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes
out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
and like a strong man runs its
course with joy.
Its rising is from
the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them;
and nothing is hid from its heat.
The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the decrees of the
Lord are sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of
the Lord is clear,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the
Lord are true
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than
honey,
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great
reward.
But who can detect
their errors?
Clear me from hidden faults.
Keep back your servant also from the insolent;
do not let them have dominion
over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to you,
O Lord, my rock and my
redeemer.
A reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 1:18-25
For the message about the cross is
foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the
power of God. For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
Where is the one who is wise? Where is
the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the
wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know
God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation,
to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but
we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to
Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the
power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human
wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Children’s Message
(from sermon4kids.com)
How do you know
it's time to clean house? Here are some signs that will let you know.
·
It’s
time to clean house when your feet stick to the floor when you walk through the
kitchen.
·
It’s
time to clean house when your mother can't find you when she comes into your
room to wake you up in the morning.
·
It’s
time to clean house when the kids in the neighborhood use their fingers to
write "wash me" in the dirt on your windows.
·
It’s
time to clean house when there are more dishes in the kitchen sink than there
are in the cabinets.
·
It’s
time to clean house when you have enough dust bunnies under your bed to start a
bunny farm.
I think you get
the idea! Today we’re going to learn about a time Jesus did some house
cleaning. It was time for the annual Passover celebration, so Jesus traveled to
Jerusalem. When He went to the temple, He couldn't believe what He saw. People
were selling cattle, sheep, and doves to be used as sacrifices in the temple.
Some men were even charging people to change their money so they could pay their
temple taxes. It looked more like a flea market than a place to worship God.
Jesus was so
angry that He made a whip from rope, and drove the cattle, sheep, and those who
were selling them out of the temple. He also turned over the money changers’ tables.
To the ones who were selling the doves, He said, "Get out of here! How
dare you turn my Father's house into a market!." Jesus did some serious
house cleaning that day!
As we think
about Jesus cleansing the temple, we can also be reminded that there is some
other cleaning that needs to be done. The Bible tells us that we are the temple
of God and that the Spirit of God lives in us (1 Corinthians. 3:16). This
season of Lent is a good time for us to think about how our hearts might need
cleansing.
Let us pray.
Gospel Acclamation
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John 2:13-22
Glory to you, O Lord.
The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
The gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O
Christ.
Sermon
Let the words of my mouth and the
meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Amen.
The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical wording. They stand in contrast to John, whose content is largely distinct.
When you compare John’s gospel to the other three, you may notice that the synoptics appear to be written in somewhat chronological order whereas John seems to be written in theological order, based on John’s theology of Jesus’ life and ministry.
Many of the events that happened are in all four gospels but you will find them in a different order when reading John. Today’s story is an excellent example. Let’s take a closer look.
As an observant Jew, Jesus joined the throngs of pilgrims who trekked to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover at the temple. A bustling nexus of commercial activity, crowds of worshippers, nationalist aspirations, political identity, historical memory, architectural splendor, and of religious affiliation the temple constituted the essence of Jewish faith in both a literal and symbolic manner.
When Jesus entered the temple he encountered men selling cattle, sheep and doves to the pilgrims who needed them to make their obligatory sacrifices. They also needed to exchange their Roman currency into Jewish money in order to pay the temple tax in the coinage of the "sanctuary shekel", and thus we read that Jesus also met the money changers.
Then all hell broke loose. Incensed at the sacrilege of it all, Jesus improvised a whip, thrashed the animals from the temple, scattered the coffers of the money changers, and overturned their tables: "How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!" Later his disciples remembered Psalm 69:9 and attached a sense of prophetic fulfillment to the event: "Zeal for your house will consume me."
All three synoptic writers situate the cleansing of the temple at the end of Jesus' ministry, sandwiching it between his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the parable of the tenants. John places the story at the beginning of Jesus' ministry where, except for the wedding at Cana, it looms as Jesus' first public act.
Not only the timing of Jesus’ actions is different in John, but so is the accusation he levels at the moneychangers. Rather than accuse them of turning the Temple into a “den of robbers”, Jesus instead says they have turned the Temple into a market place.
If you consider, though, that the temple was a place where animal sacrifices were being made, wouldn’t it make sense that there would be a market on temple grounds where you could purchase the appropriate animal?
And people would have needed a place to exchange their money, so it is actually quite efficient to have a currency exchange booth on the premises.
I’m not sure that Jesus was opposed to any and all commercial activity in the temple out of principle, but, for me, there are definitely two takeaways from the Gospel reading today.
The first topic to consider is that prices were likely jacked up by the sellers because of the convenience of their location and the demand for their product. Think about a vendor selling their $0.50 hot dogs for $4.00 at a sports arena.
The fact that Jesus specifically chastised the seller of doves when he said, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” is interesting. The wealthier the person the better the animal purchased for sacrifice. Therefore, the doves were usually saved for those who couldn’t afford anything else.
When Jesus scolded these sellers specifically, I believe he was doing so because they should have known better than to gouge those who had nothing to begin with.
The second takeaway is that when Jesus drives the animals out of the Temple, overturns the tables of the moneychangers, and demands the end of buying and selling, he is really announcing the end of this way of relating to God.
Thinking back to the comparison of the synoptic gospels and the gospel of John, in the Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus arrives in Jerusalem for the third Passover during his ministry, and he still sees people buying and selling animals for sacrifice, he gets pissed off and trashes the place.
Whereas in John’s Gospel, Jesus is just starting out and provides his first lesson about a new way to praise God.
God is no longer available primarily, let alone exclusively, via the Temple. Instead, as John confesses in the opening verses of his account, Jesus invites us to experience God’s grace upon grace through our faith in him.
Picture a market bustling with people and animals, lots of talking, shouting, and bartering. Suddenly, the temple is cleaned out and there stand Jesus alone in the center.
Jesus cleaned house.
Jesus cleansing the temple is a demand for us to return to the Word, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the one whose body is the temple in which we can find God.
Jesus’ zealous rage reminds us that his body is our only temple, a body crucified by religious and political powers, and the economies of exchange that sustained them. Wherever sin, pain, and death haunt us, and the promise of resurrection brings new life – that is where God dwells among us.
Lent is a type of cleaning house, or a refocusing. As disciples of Christ, we need to take this time to refocus on the word of God and the promises that are given to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
We can also refocus on what the church is all about. What I mean is that we don’t come to church so that God will like us.
We come in order to receive the blessings of God and we move everything else out of the way to get to those promises.
And then, in turn, we go out into the world to share those blessings.
We come to church because in the proclamation of the Gospel and sharing of the sacraments we perceive God’s grace most clearly. But then we are sent out to look for God and, even more, to partner with God in our various roles and venues to love and bless the people God loves so much.
My prayer for you today is that you are able to clean house in order to see God’s grace present and revealed your daily lives, and that you may fully claim your baptismal identity as disciples of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Hymn of the Day – Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross (ELW #335)
Creed
Let us confess
the faith of our baptism, as we say the Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in
God, the almighty,
creator of
heaven and earth.
I believe in
Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived
by the Holy Spirit,
born of the
virgin Mary,
suffered under
Pontius Pilate,
was crucified,
died, and was buried;
he descended
to the dead.*
On the third
day he rose again;
he ascended
into heaven,
he is seated
at the right hand of the Father,
and he will
come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in
the Holy Spirit,
the holy
catholic church,
the communion
of saints,
the
forgiveness of sins,
the
resurrection of the body,
and the life
everlasting. Amen.
Prayers of Intercession
Relying on the promises of God, we pray boldly for the church, the
world, and all in need.
Silence
There is no God before you. Purify the faith of your church, that your people place their trust in nothing beside you. Your name is holy. Guide your church, that in every situation your people’s words and actions honor your name.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
The heavens declare your glory. Renew your creation. Provide leaders in the struggle for clean air and water; protect creatures and crops that rely on healthy ecosystems; give all people the willingness to repent when our way of life pollutes the earth and skies.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Your foolishness is wiser than human wisdom. Fill leaders with the foolishness of your peace and mercy. Your law defends the vulnerable. Work through legislators, judicial systems, and systems of law enforcement to protect the wellbeing and freedom of all.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Your weakness is stronger than human strength. Protect those who are vulnerable and give courage to all who are suffering (especially Debbie Mathers, Donald McKenzie, Darcy Oliver, Louis-Paul Poirier, Pastor Stan Richards, Ron Snider, and for all those we name aloud or in our hearts). Defend victims of crime and bring redemption to those who have harmed others. Give Sabbath rest to all who labor.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
You call us to proclaim Christ crucified. Give clarity to this congregation and our leaders, so that we might follow Christ beyond our own habits and comfort. Clear out anything in our common life that would obscure the gospel or that serves our own interests.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
The cross of Christ is your power for all who are being saved. Thank you for all the martyrs whose witness reveals the power of the cross. Give us the same trust in life and in death.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Please take time to offer your own intercessions or to pray in silence.
We entrust ourselves and all our prayers to you, O faithful God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Peace
The peace of Christ be with you always.
And also with you.
Hymn of Thanksgiving – Lamb of God (ELW #336)
**Although not physically at our church buildings to share our offering together I would encourage you to set your offering of money aside so that it can be dropped off or placed in the church once services resume, to mail your offering to the church, or to make donations online. Please remember ministry is still taking place.
Thanksgiving for the Word
Let us pray.
O God of justice and love, we give thanks to you that you illumine our
way through life with the words of your Son. Give us the light we need, awaken
us to the needs of others, and at the end bring all the world to your feast;
through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy
Spirit, be honor and glory forever.
Amen.
Lord’s Prayer
Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray as Jesus taught us.
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.
Blessing
You are what God made you to be: created in
Christ Jesus for good works, chosen as holy and beloved, freed to serve your
neighbor.
God bless you ☩ that you may be a blessing, in the name of the holy and life-giving Trinity.
Amen.
Sending Song – God Be with You Till We Meet Again (ELW #536)
Dismissal
Go in peace. Share the good news.
Thanks be to God.
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