Forgive. Forgive. Forgive.

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Reign of Christ Sunday

**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.

Introduction to the day

Jeremiah’s promise of the execution of “justice and righteousness in the land” finds ironic fulfillment in the execution of Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. It appears utterly contradictory that a king should be crucified with a criminal. This victory appears for all the world as humiliating defeat. Yet through the gate of death Jesus opens the door to paradise.

Confession and Forgiveness

Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God,

who redeems us in Christ Jesus,

whose steadfast love endures forever.

Amen.

Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another.

Most merciful God,

we confess that we have sinned against you

and our neighbors.

We have ignored voices

that call for your justice.

We have neglected actions

that witness to your righteousness.

We have spoken and acted

in ways that disrupt your beloved community.

We truly repent of things we have done

and left undone.

For the sake of Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Restore our troubled spirits,

so that we may live in newness,

follow the way of the Spirit,

and build up the body of Christ.

Amen.

Rejoice and be glad!

God hears the prayers of all who cry out,

and restores us to life through the death

and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Therefore, I declare to you the forgiveness of all your sins,

in the name of the Father,

and of the ☩ Son,

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Gathering Song – A Mighty Fortress Is Our God (ELW #504)

            Listen Here

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.

Kyrie

            Listen Here

Canticle of Praise

            Listen Here

Prayer of the Day

Let us pray.

O God, our true life, to serve you is freedom, and to know you is unending joy. We worship you, we glorify you, we give thanks to you for your great glory. Abide with us, reign in us, and make this world into a fit habitation for your divine majesty, through Jesus Christ, our Savior 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 Jeremiah. (23:1-6)

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.
         The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Canticle 19: The Song of Zechariah

                Listen Here

Blessed are you, Lord, the God of Israel,
  you have come to your people and set them free.
 You have raised up for us a mighty Savior,
  born of the house of your servant David.
 Through your holy prophets, you promised of old to save us from our enemies,
  from the hands of all who hate us,
 to show mercy to our forebears,
  and to remember your holy covenant.
 This was the oath you swore to our father Abraham:
  to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
 free to worship you without fear,
  holy and righteous before you, all the days of our life.
 And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High,
  for you will go before the Lord to prepare the way,
 to give God’s people knowledge of salvation
  by the forgiveness of their sins.
 In the tender compassion of our God
  the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
 to shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death,
  and to guide our feet into the way of peace. 

A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Colossians. (1:11-20)

May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
         He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation

                Listen Here

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke. (23:33-43)

Glory to you, O Lord.

When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. ⟦Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”⟧ And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”
                 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

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. Amen.

 

Today is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday of the Church year.

 

And since last Christ the King, we have waited for Jesus in Advent, sung with the Angels at Christmas, marked ourselves with ash and wandered the wilderness in Lent, walked the way of the cross in Holy Week, and been terrified by the empty tomb with the women on Easter morning.

 

We have heard Jesus preach, and teach, and heal, and exorcize demons. We have commemorated the anniversary of the Reformation, remembered the saints and all along the way we have listened for God at work through prophets and parables, psalmists and songs, the voices of young and old.

 

And then next week we start it all over again as we begin our Advent journey anew.

 

In preparation for sermon writing, the first couple of days of my week are spent simply reading the passages over and over again, pondering them, seeing what pulls at me that week, jotting down my initial thoughts.

 

I was all set to continue my pattern of talking about what it means for us to call Christ our king in an age where the king doesn’t hold the same power as it did then. But something in the readings hit me differently this year.

 

For the last couple of weeks, I have begun research for an article that I will be writing for Faith and Lead. The topic? Faith and forgiveness in TV and/or movies. (Watch for it in February if I get it done.)

 

Anyway, I’ve had forgiveness on my mind lately. So, when I was reading the passage from Luke, verse 34 really stuck out, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

 

Forgiveness has to be one of the most difficult of human acts, not only to give but also to receive.

 

What is forgiveness?

 

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “forgive” as a ceasing of feeling resentment against an offender.

 

Psychologists generally define forgiveness as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness.

 

Some synonyms include to pardon, to exonerate, and to absolve.

 

As difficult as it may be, forgiveness is central to our Christian lives. The word forgive, in one form or another, shows up in the NRSV translation of the bible 132 times – 61 times in the Hebrew bible, 58 times in the Christian bible, and 13 times in the apocrypha.

 

For a word to show up that many times, it must be important!

 

The biblical definition of forgiveness is defined as the letting go of sin. This includes forgiving everyone, every time, of everything, as an act of obedience and gratefulness to God. It acknowledges the sacrifice God made through His Son Jesus who died to restore the relationship between God and all of humanity.

 

Forgiveness is an act of love, and God calls us to love not only the people close to us but also the people around us, and even our enemies.

 

Forgiveness at heart is the restoration of relationship. But it is also letting go of the hope that the past can be changed.

 

That’s a big point right there and I think it deserves repeating. Forgiveness is letting go of the hope that the past can be changed.

 

How many of you have thought about past events and wondered what went wrong, or what could have been done differently, or why things happened the way the did?

 

How many of you feel bothered by these events in your life?

 

In high school, I had a group of people who I hung around with at lunch and after school. We would celebrate birthdays and Christmas’ together. We would stay up late on a Saturday night playing cards or watching movies. It felt like we were a pretty tight-knit group.

 

I knew I was the odd one out because I wasn’t as smart as them and I didn’t know what I wanted to do after high school. I followed them to university, but it was quickly obvious that I didn’t belong.

 

Slowly I was left out of an event here and there, and eventually we drifted completely apart. It broke my heart because in my head, I thought we were all best friends.

 

That was 25 or so years ago, and I still think about everything that happened, wondering where I went wrong. Did I say something or do something wrong? And I often think of them, wonder where they’re at, if they have families, things like that.

 

Thinking about forgiveness this week, I know that my work in this story is to forgive them for leaving my life, to forgive myself of these events, and to let go of the hope that the past will change or that these people will return to my life some day.

 

And a lesson that I have begun to learn is that when we fail to forgive, we are just torturing ourselves, bringing tension and bitterness into our lives.

 

When Jesus says, “Forgive them for they know not what they do,” he is acknowledging that our humanity makes us blind to what life will bring us.

 

We don’t know what the future will be, but forgiveness allows us to learn from the past and live in the moment.

 

And Jesus is showing us the way. From the cross, he forgives his enemies, the very ones who put him there to die the humiliating death of a criminal.

 

When we read that verse, we can hear Jesus crying out to us, as well. Christ knew we needed to be forgiven of all the junk that was in our lives. Christ cried out not only because he knew that we needed to be forgiven but also because he wanted us to be forgiven.

 

God wants us to experience the forgiveness.

 

God wants us to know that regardless of what we have done past, present, and future God yearns for us to experience the forgiveness that God has in store for us.

 

Christ wants us to accept the forgiveness offered because he knows that without the acceptance of forgiveness there can be no relationship with God.

 

God has forgiven us. Forgive others. Forgive. Forgive. Forgive. And go on forgiving.

Amen.

Hymn of the Day – All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name! (ELW #634)

            Listen Here

Nicene Creed

Let us declare the faith of our baptism as we say together the 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 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.

Prayers of Intercession

United with your saints across time and place, we pray for our shared world.

Silence

We pray for your church. Embolden denominations and faith-based organizations in creative and collaborative ministries and increase our work for the sake of the gospel.

Lord, in your mercy,

receive our prayer.

We pray for the earth. Protect waterways from pollution and animal habitats from destruction. Guide us in careful stewardship of waters, plant life, and animals.

Lord, in your mercy,

receive our prayer.

We pray for the nations of the world. Instill in every leader’s heart a desire for justice and peace. Support the work of international collaborations that seek the goals of health and joy for all people.

Lord, in your mercy,

receive our prayer.

We pray for all who are undermined or oppressed. Amplify the voices of the unheard and break open stubborn systems of injustice. Bring about your righteousness and fill us all with your redeeming light.

Lord, in your mercy,

receive our prayer.

We pray for this assembly. Guide our pastors, deacons, lay leaders, and council members in discernment, and nurture new leaders with fresh ideas. Give our congregations a spirit of discipleship and service.

Lord, in your mercy,

receive our prayer.

We give thanks for all who have died in the faith. Console us who mourn and comfort us with the beautiful promise of life in your kingdom.

Lord, in your mercy,

receive our prayer.

Accept these prayers, gracious God, and those known only to you; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Peace

The peace of Christ be with you always.

And also with you.

Offering Hymn – Beautiful Savior (ELW #838)

            Listen Here

Offering Prayer

Let us pray.

Blessed are you, Maker of all things.

As you have entrusted us with all that you have created,

now gather our gifts,

nourish us with this sacrament,

and send us to those who hunger and thirst,

for the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior.

Amen.

Dialogue

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Preface

It is indeed right, our duty and our joy,

that we should at all times and in all places

give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God,

through our Savior Jesus Christ;

who on this day overcame death and the grave,

and by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life.

And so, with all the choirs of angels,

with the church on earth and the hosts of heaven,

we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, Holy, Holy

            Listen Here

Thanksgiving at the Table

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and immortal:

surrounded by evil and bordered by death

we appeal to you,

our Sovereign, our Wisdom, and our Judge.

We praise you for Christ, who proclaimed your reign of peace

and promised an end to injustice and harm.

In the night in which he was betrayed,

our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks;

broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:

Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.

Do this for the remembrance of me.

Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks,

and gave it for all to drink, saying:

This cup is the new covenant in my blood,

shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.

Do this for the remembrance of me.

Remembering, therefore,

the sacrifice of his life and death

and the victory of his resurrection,

we await with all the saints

his loving redemption of our suffering world.

Send your Spirit on these gifts of bread and wine

and on all who share in the body and blood of your Son:

teach us your mercy and justice,

and make all things new in Christ.

Through him all glory and honor is yours,

Almighty Father, with the Holy Spirit,

in your holy Church,

both now and forever.

Amen

Lord’s Prayer

Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray as Jesus taught us.

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

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.

Invitation to Communion

This is the table of Christ. It is made ready for those who love him, and for those who want to love him more. Come, whether you have much faith or little, have tried to follow, or are afraid that you have failed. Come. Because it is Christ's will that those who want to meet him, might meet him here.

Christ invites you to this table.

Come, taste and see.

Sharing of the Eucharist

Table Blessing

The body and blood of our Lord

Jesus Christ strengthen you

and keep you in his grace.

Amen.

Prayer After Communion

As we have feasted around the table, let us pray.

We give you thanks, most gracious God,

that you have fed us with the bread of heaven

and given us a foretaste of Paradise.

Enliven us to be your body in the world

and to serve those who are in need;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Blessing

The God of peace,

who creates all things and calls them good,

who makes us alive in Jesus,

and who breathes on us the Spirit of hope,

☩ bless you now and forever.

Amen.

Sending Song – Jesus Shall Reign (ELW #434)

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Dismissal

Go in peace. Be a blessing in the world.

Thanks be to God.