The Gathering
Welcome
Hymn The Robe of Calvary
Leader: In many and various ways God spoke of old to
our fathers by the prophets,
All: but in these last days he has spoken to
us by a Son.
Christ the Life of all the
Living,
Christ,
the death of death our foe,
Christ,
yourself for me once giving
To
the darkest depths of woe:
Through
your suff’ring, death and merit
Life
eternal I inherit.
Thousand,
thousand thanks are due,
Dearest
Jesus, unto you.
Leader: No one has
ever seen God
All: The
only Son, who is in the bosom of the father, he has made God known.
Leader: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full
of grace and truth.
All: We
have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the father.
Leader: Therefore we
must pay close attention to what we have heard.
All It
was declared at the first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who
heard him
Leader While God himself also bore witness by signs
and wonders and various miracles
All and
by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his own will
Leader Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great
a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so
closely,
All and let us run with perseverance the
race that is set before us
Leader: Looking
unto Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith
All For
the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and
is seated at the right hand of the throne of God
You, O Lord have taken on you
Bonds and stripes, a cruel rod;
Pain and scorn were heaped upon
you,
Pure and sinless Son of God.
Thus you did my soul deliver
From the bonds of sin forever.
Thousand, thousand thanks are
due,
Dearest Jesus, unto you!
Leader These are my words which I spoke to you while
I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and
the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled
All: We
are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to
those who obey him
Leader When we cry ``Abba Father,`` it is the Spirit
himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God
All and
if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ
Leader This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached
throughout the whole world, as a testimony all nations.
All We
are witnesses to these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to
those who obey him
Leader You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes upon you and you shall be my witnesses.
All We
are witnesses to all that he did. They
put him to death by hanging him on a tree:
Leader but God raised him up on the third day and
made him manifest,
All not
to all people, but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses.
Christ, the faithful Witness,
sharing
Living words from God above:
Christ, yourself the Word
declaring
All the wonders of God`s love:
Let your Word, rich fruit now
bearing,
Be the seed of my declaring.
Grant, O Lord, that I may too
Faithful witness bear for you
Prayer of the Day (Bread for the
Journey)
Compassionate God, your Christ wept for the people because of the
hardness of their hearts. Warm
our hearts with your love so that we
may care deeply for the people of our nation and world. Transform our
caring into bread for the
hungry, healing for the sick, and hope for those
who hunger and thirst after justice, to the glory of your name. Amen
First Lesson Isaiah 53:1-3
Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him of no account.
Psalmody from Psalm 22
Leader: The Lord has clothed me with the garments of
salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.
All: But
I am no longer a man; I am a worm, despised and scorned by everyone! All who see me mock me; they stick out their
tongues and shake their heads.
Leader: “You relied on the Lord,” they say. “Why doesn’t he save you? If the Lord likes you, why doesn’t he help
you?
All: It
was you who brought me safely through birth, and when I was a baby, you kept me
safe. I have relied on you since I was
born, and you have always been my God.
Do not stay away from me! Trouble is near and no one will help.
Leader: The Lord has clothed me with the garments of
salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.
Second
Lesson 1 Peter 1:13-21
If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God.
Theme Hymn Were You There (ELW #353)
The Robe
**This sermon is a dialogue between two persons and is from the “Silent Witness” series.**
Excuse me, I didn’t mean to disturb you. I guess you were resting in that pile along with the other discarded…I mean, old…what I mean to say is…Let me start over. I understand that you witnessed the events leading to the crucifixion of the one called Jesus Christ. Would you be so kind as to tell us what you saw?
I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised that you would come to me for information about the mockery of a trial of that humble man. After all, I’ve stopped being surprised since the events of that day.
Would you mind telling us about them?
If I may, I’d like to tell you a bit about myself first, and then tell you how I fit into the unusual events.
That would be just fine.
I didn’t used to have to ask permission of anyone. At one time I was almost as close to royalty as their skin. I was as close as you can get without being born into the royal family. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
That’s quite all right.
As you can tell, I’m sure, I am not a run-of-the-mill piece of fabric which became a common article of clothing for an average person. First of all, I am made of the finest quality materials ever woven into cloth. The greatest care was taken when I was made, to be sure that there were no flaws in me, so that I would be acceptable, even to royalty. I was cared for and given the finest texture, the softest sheen, and the smoothness of delicate skin. After that, I was soaked in the solution which would give me the deepest of royal scarlet color. Then I was handed over to the best tailors to be found, and they shaped me artistically into a royal robe, fit for a king – or in my case, a governor. That’s how I began.
I see. Quite Impressive.
Life, however, takes some unusual twists as we travel the pathway. Oh, to be sure, I was discovered immediately to be the finest garment available in the province. I was picked from scores of others to serve as the outer skin of the most noble ruler. I was carefully wrapped and gently delivered to the palace. Following the careful scrutiny of many servants – and then of the ruler himself, and his wife – I was given a position of honor in the royal closet. I had it made!
So it would appear.
Being the finest of my kind, I was chosen to attend most all of the fine and fancy functions royalty are privilege to. I went to parties, banquets, affairs of state, and was even worn around the palace because I made the governor feel so grand. I felt sorry for robes of lesser quality because they were feeling neglected when I was chosen and they weren’t. But, that is the privilege of being the best. It’s not my fault.
It sounds as though you really did have it made. I mean, to be so appreciated and valued, by the governor himself! That must have made you feel like royalty too.
Oh dear, I sound dreadfully stuffy, don’t I? It’s so easy to get caught up in the glory of the past and forget who you really are. Well, just like any bubble, you must expect the burst to come along some time. My ego swelled all out of proportion. I was really shattered when my bubble finally did burst. You see, there came that day when a finer robe was brought to the governor. A robe that was imported from an exotic country. A robe that was fresh and new. A robe that was free of any signs of wear. A robe that had no stains on it. A robe that took the governor’s attention away from me.
You must have been bothered.
I was devastated! I was hung in the closet next to the other unused clothing. It felt as if I hung there forever. One day, one of the governor’s servants came and did some spring cleaning. Guess who got tossed aside!
You ended up in a pile of rags?
I ended up in a pile with other discarded clothing…well, yes, I might as well admit it, rags. (When you are in a pile together, you notice that you have more in common than you thought you did.) As I became more and more wrinkled from being shoved about the pile, I began to observe some stains on me which I had never noticed before. The governor was not the neatest person in the world; he’d spill just about everything he laid his hands on. I hadn’t realized how visible those stains were; I guess I just didn’t want to see them. But now they seemed to jump out in front of my eyes as if they were haunting me…or taunting me.
Could we please get to the point?
Oh, please forgive me; I didn’t realize how much time I was spending on myself. Please, let me tell you what happened to me that is far more important than anything I have mentioned so far. It has to do with the event you asked me about, the trial and crucifixion of the prophet.
Right.
Well, the other rags – I mean clothes – and I were gossiping in our pile in the storeroom when we all quieted down because of the commotion outside.
Commotion?
We could hear an angry crowd yelling, “Crucify him!” We could hear the governor saying he could find no reason to execute the man, but the crowd just got angrier and louder. We were glad to be safe in the pile instead of out there in front of that crowd. Who knows what might have been splattered on us if the mob got angry enough! Anyway, the noise went on for quite a while. Then there was a silence for a time, and then it started again. During this free-for-all, a soldier came in and began talking to one of the servants. The servant came over to the pile of us discards and fumbled around. All of a sudden, I felt her hand tighten around my hem. She pulled and tugged until she set me free from the middle of the pile. I was shaken violently.
Shaken?
It seems that the servant was trying to shake out my wrinkles. Goodness, it had taken a lot of abuse to get those wrinkles in; how could one expect that more abuse would get them out? Anyway, the solider was smiling as though he had found the prize he had been seeking. He began to laugh. He said something about leaving the wrinkles in, because they looked like they belong to this “king.”
I see.
I was taken outside into the courtyard and held tightly for a few moments behind the soldier’s back. Then he leaned over to another guard and showed me to him. They both laughed loudly. Others gathered around to see what was so funny, and they began to laugh too.
You must have been embarrassed.
I was humiliated! I couldn’t help it that I was wrinkled and stained. The governor did that to me; it wasn’t my own fault! Why was I being made a fool of?
Go on, please.
As I looked around, my eyes caught a glimpse of the one on trial. He was standing in the center of the courtyard facing the throne. His head was down as if he was either worn out or praying. Maybe he was both. At any rate, I noticed that he wore simple sandals, a common garment, but the most hideous head covering I had ever seen: he was wearing a crudely woven crown – made out of thorns! His forehead was stained with the blood that flowed from the puncture wounds caused by those thorns. Hos hands were bound. He stood still…both his body and his voice were still. All the while, the crowd yelled, “Crucify him!” And then someone would walk by and spit on him, or beat him, or mock him. What he was going through made the rag pile look like a Garden of Eden! As the temp picked u p, the soldier holding me took me out to the center of the courtyard. He undraped me so that all could see I was a royal scarlet robe. They could also see that I was stained and worn and wrinkled.
How embarrassing.
I was humiliated beyond my wildest nightmare.
That must have been difficult. Once you were the pride of the governor, and now you were being degraded in front of him and all his subjects.
Oh, I don’t want you to fee sorry for me. If you have any feelings, concentrate them on the humble figure standing before me. You see, he was more than a governor; he was a king, the pride of his Father, and he was being degraded in from of all his subjects. Well, I was wrapped around him to give the appearance of stained, worn, and wrinkled royalty. You can’t imagine how funny people thought that was. The laughter was deafening. I wished that I could curl up in the pile of rags and hide, but I was powerless; after all, I’m only a robe.
You were feeling sorry for yourself?
As I was draped about his shoulders, I was feeling sorry for myself…and for him, of course. But that self-indulgent pity lasted only a short moment. I have been draped over the shoulders of royalty and formed myself to their bodies without wrinkle, wear, or stain; but I have never known what the real feeling of true royalty was until that moment. You know how some older people say that they feel young inside even though they are old and wrinkled on the outside?
Yes?
And how doctors even say that an old-timer has “the heart of a twenty-year-old”?
Uh huh?
Well, now I know what that means. As I was wrapped around this humble man’s body, the wrinkles on the outside disappeared on the inside. The worn spots showed on the outside, but on the inside the weave of the fabric was as perfect as the day I was set free from the loom.
And the stains?
Let me tell you about the stains. This is the hardest part to believe, I know, but please hear me out. Listen to what I have to say and then I will prove to you what I mean.
Go ahead, please.
As I told you, I had collected a lifetime’s worth of stains. I was covered with every imaginable dirt, grit, and grime. Oh, I had fooled my myself into ignoring the existence of these stains for years, but all the while they were there, whether I admitted seeing them or not. The irony is that even though the wrinkles and the worn parts of me now seemed better – as if healed – the stains seemed to showup twice as clearly when I was on the shoulders of the man on trial.
I don’t understand.
That’s what makes it even more fascinating. Remember, I told you about the hideous crown, the one made of thorns? Well, those puncture wounds were deep and the bleeding wouldn’t stop flowing from his head. While he stood there, drops of blood fell on me and splattered as they hit my once-fine fabric. That’s when it happened.
What happened?
When the blood touched the parts of me that were stained from a lifetime of abuse and neglect, the stains disappeared as though they had never existed. My color returned in a brilliance beyond that of my original royal splendor. And each time a drop of blood reached a blemish in my being, I could feel the transforming power that removed every hint of stain. Oh, what a marvelous feeling! What a marvelous reality! Here, look at me. Do you see any attains on me? Do you? Oh, sure, I’m still wrinkled and worn in places; that’s because I’m old and getting older. But there are no stains on me at all! The blood of the humble man who was crucified, even though he was found innocent, has washed me beyond clean; his blood has washed me pure!
Yes, you’re right. There is not one spot on you. His Blood has made you completely free from any stains. Even the oldest and most difficult ones. What power there was in that blood!
Please, don’t spend time looking at me. Yes, I am cleansed with his blood, but so are you! That is what this whole incident was all about. You see, I was once again cast aside after the soldiers had made their point and mocked the one called Jesus. But his blood was shed to cleanse all people for all time. His blood was shed to make pure the people who were stained with grit and grime, old and new. His blood has spilled onto all people of all time who accept his cleansing by faith. And there’s even more than that; after he has cleansed you, you needn’t worry about being cast into the corner “rag pile” of life, for the people whom he cleanses, he takes with him to live as royalty in the palace of his Father. You have been washed with the blood of the King of Kings!
Thank you for your stirring witness!
Oh, be careful not to
get any more stains on you. But if you do, ask him to wash them away with his
blood. He will, you know!
Hymn - Saviour
when in Dust to You (ELW #601)
Apostles’ Creed
Let us confess the
faith of our baptism, as we say the Apostles’ Creed:
I
believe in God, the Father 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.
Prayer
Leader: Lord
Jesus Christ we come to you as those whose lives are stained.
All: By our own fault we have disfigured and
made ugly what You created to be beautiful
Leader: Truly
we deserve to be discarded, cast forever form your presence, lost to your
concern.
All: Our
pride has brought us low.
Leader: But
your most precious blood was shed, O gracious Lord, to make us clean and pure
again, forgiven by your boundless grace.
All: Forgive
us, Lord we pray! Wash all our sins
away.
Leader: Accept us once again as precious in your sight,
All: and find some way for us to serve you
as your witnesses, adorning your most precious name with all the reawakened
beauty of our deeds and lives, made precious by your love.
Leader: Open
our eyes to those around us then, those whom we are tempted to despise or
overlook
All: and give us your own vision of their
worth, that we may love and treasure them as You, O Lord, love us.
Leader: All
this we pray in your beloved name, and as you, Lord have taught us to….
Lord’s Prayer
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those
who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.
The Great Thanksgiving
The Invitation
He was always the guest.
In the homes of Peter and Jarius, Martha and Mary, Joanna and Susanna,
he was always the guest.
At the meal tables of the wealthy where he pled the case of the poor, he was always the guest.
Upsetting polite company, befriending isolated people, welcoming the stranger, he was always the guest.
But here, at this table, he is the host.
Those who wish to serve him must first be served by him, those who want to follow him must first be fed by him, those who would wash his feet must first let him make them clean.
For this is the table where God intends us to be
nourished; this is the time when Christ can make us new.
So come, you who
hunger and thirst for a deeper faith, for a better life, for a fairer world.
Jesus Christ who has sat at our tables, now invites us to be guests at his table.
Hymn – Eat This Bread (ELW #472)
The Story
What we do here, we do in imitation of what Christ
did. To his followers in every age Jesus
gave us an example and command rooted in the experience he shared with his
disciples in an upstairs room in Jerusalem.
Reader:
On the night on which we he was betrayed, and as they
were sitting at a meal, Jesus took a piece of bread and broke it. He gave it to his disciples saying, “This is
my body. It is broken for you. Do this to remember me.” Later, after they had eaten, he took a cup of
wine and said, “This cup is the new relationship with God made possible because
of my death. Drink this all of you, to
remember me.”
Presider:
So, now we do as Jesus did. We take this bread and this wine, the produce
of the earth and fruit of human labour.
In these, Jesus has promised to be present; through these, Christ can make us whole.
Eucharistic Prayer
Presider Let
us Pray
The
Lord be with you
All And also with you
Presider Lift up your hearts.
All We lift them to the
Lord
Presider Let
us give thanks to the Lord our God
All It is right to give
our thanks and praise
Presider It is indeed right, for you made us, and before us, you made the world we inhabit, and before the world, you made the eternal home in which, through Christ, we have a place.
All that is
spectacular, all that is plain have their origin in you; all that is lovely,
all who are loving point to you as their fulfillment.
And grateful as
we are for the world we know and the universe beyond our knowing, we particularly
praise you, whom eternity cannot contain, for coming to earth and entering time
in Jesus.
For his life
which informs our living, for his compassion which changes our hearts, for his
clear speaking which contradicts our harmless generalities, for his disturbing
presence, his innocent suffering, his fearless dying, his rising to life
breathing forgiveness. We praise you and we worship him.
Here too our
gratitude rises for the promise of the Holy Spirit, who even yet, even now,
confronts us with your claims and attracts us to your goodness.
Therefore we
gladly join our voices to the son of the church on earth and in heaven:
Sanctus Holy,
Holy, Holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and earth are full of your
glory. Hosanna in the highest
Benedictus Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest
Presider And now, lest we believe that our
praise alone fulfils your purpose we fall silent and remember him who came
because words weren’t enough.
Setting our
wisdom, our will, our words aside, emptying our hearts, and bringing nothing in
our hands, we yearn for the healing, the holding, the accepting, the forgiving
which Christ alone can offer
Silence
Merciful God, send now, in
kindness, your Holy Spirit to settle on this bread and wine and fill them with
the fullness of Jesus.
And let that same Spirit rest
on us, converting us from the patterns of this passing world, until we conform
to the shape of him whose food we now share.
Amen
Fraction (Taking and breaking bread)
Among friends gathered around
a table, Jesus took bread, and broke it, and said, “This is my body – broken
for you.”
(Holding up a cup of wine)
Later he took a cup of wine
and said “This is the new relationship with God made possible because of my
death. Take it, all of you, to remember
me.”
Jesus , firstborn of Mary
All Have mercy on us
Jesus
Saviour of the world
All Have mercy on us
Jesus,
monarch of heaven
All Have mercy on us
He who has suffered for our
injustices is now present in this bread. He whose body was hung on a cross is now
offered to us in this cup.
So take this bread and this
wine. In them God comes to us so that we
may come to God.
The sharing of the bread and the wine
The Peace
Leader: Please Stand
Christ
who has nourished us, is our peace.
Strangers and friends, male
and female, old and young, he has broken down the barriers to bind us to him
and to each other. Having tasted his goodness,
let us share his peace.
The peace of the Lord be
always with you.
All And Also with you
Closing Blessing
As we go now
from this moment,
as we leave
behind our time together.
May we walk
with one another,
may we help
each other on the way.
As we go now
from this moment,
as we go into
the future together.
May we
treasure one another,
may we realize
how precious we are.
May we realize
how precious we are.
May we realize
how precious we are.
Sending Hymn - In the Cross Of Christ I Glory (ELW #324)
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