November 22nd: Christ the King Sunday

First Lutheran Church

Our mission is to know Jesus and to make Jesus known. -John 17

PRELUDE by Beth Ray 

WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS

PSALM: 95:1-7a Come, let us sing to the LORD; let us shout for joy to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and raise a loud shout to him with psalms. For the LORD is a great God, and a great king above all gods. In his hand are the caverns of the earth, and the heights of the hills are his also.  The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands have molded the dry land. Come, let us bow down and bend the knee, and kneel before the LORD our maker. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.

CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS Trusting in God’s Word of Life, we are gathered in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen Before God, our rock and our refuge, let us keep silence, and then confess our sin. Silence for reflection and self-examination. Most merciful God, you know our failings better than we do; our sins are revealed in the light of your face. Our days and years pass by; the things we trust fade like grass. Be gracious to us, O God. Guide us again to the water of life, and renew in us the grace of holy baptism; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen You are all children of the light and of the day; you are God's children now. In the mercy of God, Jesus Christ was given to die for you, and for his sake, God forgives you all your sin. With all the faithful in heaven and on earth, rejoice and be glad! Amen

HYMN: NOW THANK WE ALL OUR GOD Green 534

GREETING May the hope to which God has called you, the power of God at work in Christ, and the Spirit of wisdom and revelation be with you all. And also with you.      Green p.57 Kyie

MUSIC BY BETH

The Lord be with you.  And also with you. 

PRAYER OF THE DAY: Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things to your beloved Son, whom you anointed priest forever and king of all creation: Grant that all the people of the earth, now divided by the power of sin, may be united under the glorious and gentle rule of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 The term "shepherd," which was another image for "king" in the ancient Near East, was suggestive of the care, concern, and protection that a shepherd/king was to show on behalf of his flock of citizens. When Israel's kings prove to be bad shepherds, Ezekiel declares from exile in Babylon that the Lord will assume the role of shepherd.

Thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice. Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken. 

LIZ TIME: For those that are young and young at heart

GOSPEL: Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus tells three stories about the second coming in this chapter. The final story--today's gospel--contains a surprise: when he does return, people will discover he has come to them before, in ways they did not recognize. [Jesus said to the disciples:] "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?' And the king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

APOSTLES’ CREED

SERMON

PRAYERS

CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

THE LORD’S PRAYER

MUSIC BY BETH

BLESSING God's blessing be with you, Christ's peace be with you, the Spirit's outpouring be with you, now and always. Amen

Go in peace. Live the gospel. Thanks be to God.