Sample Confessions

Sample Confessions and Absolutions / Responses to the Word / Responsive Prayers of the Church LSB

Series A – Lutheran Service Book

PALM SUNDAY / SUNDAY OF THE PASSION

THE OLD TESTAMENT READING: Isaiah 50:4-9a

THE EPISTLE FOR THE DAY: Philippians 2:5-11

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Matthew 27:11-66

Theme of Our Worship: In Lowly Pomp Our King Rides on to Die

A PALM SUNDAY OBSERVANCE

Pastor: Hosanna to the Son of David!

ALL: Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!

THE HOLY GOSPEL FOR PALM SUNDAY: Matthew 21:1-11

PROCESSIONAL HYMN – All Glory, Laud and Honor – LW, #102

All glory, laud, and honor To You, Redeemer, King,

To whom the lips of children Made sweet Hosannas ring.

ALL: You are the King of Israel King David's royal Son,

Now in the Lord's name coming, Our King and Blessed One. (Refrain)

Men: The multitude of pilgrims With palms before You went;

Our praise and prayer and anthems Before You we present. (Refrain)

Women: To You, before Your Passion, They sang their hymns of praise.

To You, now high exalted, Our melody we raise. (Refrain)

ALL: Their praises You accepted; Accept the praise we bring,

Great Author of all goodness, O good and gracious King.

Pastor: Let us pray to the Lord.

ALL: O God, before his suffering Your Son was welcomed as King by those who shouted 'Hosanna!' and spread palm branches in his path! With our words and our songs of praise we, too, acknowledge that he is our King – and we rejoice that he is our Savior. His way led him to the cross for us. By Your Spirit, lead us to hear and to obey his call to deny ourselves, and take up our own crosses and follow him. We pray in his Name, who is both King and Suffering Servant, Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

PASTORAL GREETING

PASSION SUNDAY SERVICE

Pastor: O God, when we could not come to You because we were lost in sin, You came to us in Your Son, Jesus Christ. He humbled himself and became obedient even to death on the cross. His love encourages us now to approach You openly and honestly.

ALL: We need to come, because we know we are sinners. Your Word makes us see that in thought and word and deed we fall short of Your glory. Forgive us, Father, for Jesus' sake. Lift us up to live in faith and love as Your children ought to live.

Pastor: It is true. By ourselves we stand under God's judgment against sin. But for us God's Son made himself nothing and took on the very nature of a servant. He who knew no sin, became sin for us. He took on himself the death we deserve, atoning for our sin and redeeming us for life. In his Name, then, and at his command, I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

ALL: Amen! We praise God for his mercy to us in Christ, our Savior and King!

WE RESPOND TO THE WORD WITH THE WORD – Based on Jer. 31, Gal. 4 and 5

Pastor: "The time is coming," declared the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with my people Israel.

ALL: "It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers, the covenant which they broke.

Pastor: "This is the covenant I will make with them: I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

ALL: "No longer will a man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, "Know the Lord, for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more."

Pastor: When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as his sons and daughters.

ALL: Because we are his sons and daughters, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, enabling us to call God our Father, and making us heirs of eternal life.

Pastor: Since we have new life by the Spirit of Christ, let us do our best to keep in step with the Spirit.

ALL: As children of the heavenly Father we have been called to be free, but we are not to use our freedom to indulge our sinful natures. Instead, we are to serve one another in love.

THE PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

Pastor: Let us pray for the whole people of God in Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs.

Father in heaven, we praise You again that in Your Son Jesus Christ we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.

ALL: With him at our side nothing in the world can really harm us. We are his own, purchased by his blood shed on the cross – and because we are his we are Yours.

Pastor: We are ready to follow in his train, wherever he leads, accepting whatever task he may assign us in his Kingdom, ready to carry our own crosses and serve in his Name.

ALL: He is our King of Love, and we want nothing more than to live faithfully in his Kingdom throughout our earthly lives, and on into his eternal Kingdom. Bless us, then. With Your Holy Spirit, so all this will be true of us day by day.

Pastor: Father, we again remember our brothers and sisters in Christ whose devotion to him is being tested through the circumstances You have allowed to come into their lives. We also rejoice with those who are enjoying days of celebration. We hold them now before You for Your blessing . . . . In our hearts we commend to Your loving care also these who are near and dear to each of us . . . Keep them and us secure in Your kingdom.

ALL: Help all of us to live in daily awareness of the truth: that when Jesus is our Lord and King we have what makes a life-saving difference now and eternally. We ask it in his Name, rejoicing to follow him.

Pastor: Trusting his promise to be with us always, we look with joy to meeting our Lord and each other at his Table of blessing.

ALL: Nourish our spirits with the Body and Blood of our Lord, so we may grow in faith, gain his attitude toward life, and be strengthened in our ability to walk with him in active love. Amen.

(Ending of Prayer for use in Service without Holy Communion)

Pastor: All this we ask in Jesus' Name, confidently bringing to You all that is on our hearts in the words he taught us:

ALL: 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.

Series B – Lutheran Service Book

THE DAY OF PENTECOST

THE OLD TESTAMENT READING: Ezekiel 37:1-14

THE EPISTLE FOR THE DAY: Acts 2:1-21

THE HOLY GOSPEL: John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15

Theme of Our Worship: The Holy Spirit – Witness to Jesus and Guide into Truth

Pastor: Brothers and sisters in Christ, today God's prophet reminds us, as he did Israel of old, that of ourselves we are dry bones, lifeless and unable to renew ourselves.

ALL: Because of that, we rejoice to know that God's Spirit can make dry bones live. It is his witness about Jesus that guides us into the truth of salvation in God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Pastor: In that assurance, we come before our God, confessing our sin and need.

ALL: Father in heaven, we confess that we are by nature dead in sin, as Your Word says. It is also our sin that took Your Son to the cross as the Savior of the world. We need to hear Your Good Word to us again today. Assure us, Father, that for Jesus' sake You forgive our sins. Send Your Spirit to us anew. Strengthen us to walk in the Way of Truth in the Kingdom of our Lord.

Pastor: Hear the Good News again! The Son of God not only went to the cross for you, but also was raised from death, and now lives and rules all things. He sends his Spirit to bring you to new life in him. In his Name, and by his command, then, I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Live in that faith, so you can live up to his purpose for you as his disciples.

ALL: Amen! We also are to bear witness to salvation in Jesus Christ!.

OR – This Alternative form may be used for the Opening Liturgy.

OPENING HYMN – O Holy Spirit, Enter In – LW, #160

O Holy Spirit, enter in, And in our hearts Your work begin

And make our hearts Your dwelling.

Sun of the soul, O Light divine, Around and in us brightly shine,

Your strength in us upwelling.

In Your radiance Life from heaven Now is given Overflowing,

Gift of gifts beyond all knowing.

Left to ourselves, we surely stray. Oh, lead us on the narrow Way,

With wisest counsel guide us.

And give us steadfastness that we May follow You, forever free,

No matter who derides us.

Gently heal those Hearts now broken. Give some token You are near us,

Whom we trust to light and cheer us.

Pastor: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

ALL: Amen! It is he whom we worship; his Spirit brings light and life!

RESPONSIVE READING OF SCRIPTURE FOR PENTECOST

Pastor: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the Lord Almighty.

ALL: John the Baptist said, "I baptize you with water, but a greater One is coming who will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire."

Pastor: The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us in Christ.

ALL: God's Word is not words taught by human wisdom, but words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual terms.

Pastor: Those without the Spirit do not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to them. They cannot understand them, because such things are spiritually discerned.

ALL: No one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

Pastor: There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because through Christ the Spirit of life has set us free from the rule of sin and death.

ALL: What the law was powerless to do, in that its influence is weakened by our sinful nature, God did by sending his Son in the likeness of sinful man, to be an offering for our sins.

Pastor: Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

ALL: We who are led by the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God, for we have received the Spirit, and by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

Pastor: There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but they come from the same Spirit. There are different kinds of workings, but the same God works all of them in everyone.

ALL: To each one of us the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

Pastor: I pray that out of his glorious riches the Father may strengthen you with power by his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

ALL: Rooted and established in love, may we have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to get to know the love that surpasses knowledge – so that we may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

(Sung) O Mighty Rock, O Source of life, Let Your good Word in doubt and strife

Be in us strongly burning,

That we be faithful unto death, And live in love and holy faith,

From You true wisdom learning.

Lord, Your mercy On us shower; By Your power Christ confessing,

We will cherish all Your blessing.

(If the Alternative Liturgy is Not used:)

WE RESPOND TO THE WORD WITH THE WORD – Based on 1 Corinthians 1:18-25

Pastor: The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.

ALL: But to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Pastor: Where is the wise man, the scholar, the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

ALL: Since the world, through its wisdom, did not know him, God was pleased through the preaching of the Good News of Jesus to save those who believe.

Pastor: Religious people demand miraculous proofs, and secular people demand rational explanation.

ALL: But we are to proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to religious people, and foolishness to secular thinkers.

Pastor: But to all whom God has called, Christ Jesus is the power of God and the wisdom of God!

ALL: The foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom! The weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.

THE PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

Pastor: Let us pray for the whole people of God in Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs.

Father in heaven, You poured out Your promised Holy Spirit upon the apostles of Jesus on the first Day of Pentecost.

ALL: Grant us the gift of the same Spirit so we may firmly believe in the resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, and dedicate ourselves to his service.

Pastor: On that Day of Pentecost the apostle of Jesus boldly explained with Holy Scripture that what God was doing was declaring that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved!

ALL: Empower us by the same Spirit. Help us be ready and willing to use every opportunity the Holy Spirit give us to declare who Jesus is, and what he has done for us and for all.

Pastor: Our Lord said that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment – and that that happens as he bears witness about Jesus the Savior.

ALL: We too are to bear witness about Jesus in word and deed, trusting that the Spirit's power will accomplish what God wants to happen as a result of our testimony. Embolden us, Father, through the Spirit within us, to be links in the chain of testimony through which this will happen.

Pastor: We again come to You, Father, with loved ones and friends on our minds. Help and heal those in times of difficulty. Lift the hearts of those celebrating circumstances of blessing. We name before You . . . . In our hearts we commend to Your loving care also these who are near and dear to each of us. . . . Keep them in faith, and strengthen them in their discipleship.

ALL: Continue to look in grace and mercy on all of us, so we may live day by day in full assurance that we are Yours and are always safe in Your loving care.

Pastor: And now, Father, we look with joy to our intimate contact with our Lord Jesus at his Table of blessing.

ALL: Nourish our souls with his Body and Blood, so we may be continually motivated and empowered to be his disciples, receiving every blessing through him and withholding nothing from him. Amen.

(Ending for Prayer of the Church for Services without Holy Communion:)

Pastor: Lord, remember us in Your Kingdom, and teach us to pray:

ALL: 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.

Series C – Lutheran Service Book

Proper Twenty-five – C (October 23-29)

THE OLD TESTAMENT READING: Genesis 4:1-15

THE EPISTLE FOR THE DAY: 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18

THE HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 18:9-17

Theme of Our Worship: Receiving and Living in God's Grace

Pastor: Brothers and sisters in Christ, to the Lord our God belong the heavens, the earth, and everything in it, yet he has set his affection on us and loved us.

ALL: That's why we may come before him today as humble recipients of his grace – and we surely will not proudly list all that we are doing for him.

Pastor: Only with that attitude will we be honest with ourselves and with him, as we must be.

ALL: Father in heaven, we know we only deceive ourselves if we say we have no sin. Even as Your children in Christ, we tend to wander from your Way. We confess that we still do not love and serve You with all our heart and soul. Our selfish desires and our proud self-will keep on getting in the way. Standing before You, Father, each of us may only say, 'Have mercy on me, a sinner.' That is our prayer today. Hear us and bless us by speaking Your good word of gracious forgiveness to us again today.

Pastor: Hear the Good News! Our gracious God has that good word in mind for us even before we ask him. That's why he sent his Son to bear the consequences of our sin in our stead, and to rise in a victory he won also for us. In Jesus' Name I say to you: You are justified before God – made right with him through Christ's righteousness. God will bless you with his Spirit so you, as disciples of Jesus, can fight the good fight, finish the race, keep the faith.

ALL: Amen! The Lord will rescue us from every evil, and will bring us safely to his heavenly kingdom.

WE RESPOND TO THE WORD WITH THE WORD – Based on Ephesians two

Pastor: As for us, we were dead in our transgressions and sins. Like the rest of mankind, we were by nature objects of God’s wrath.

ALL: But God, who is rich in mercy, has made us alive with Christ – even when we were dead in transgressions and sins.

Pastor: By grace we have been saved! He has raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms.

ALL: He has done all of this so that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, which he has fully expressed to us in Christ Jesus.

Pastor: It is by grace we have been saved, through faith.

ALL: Every facet of this is the gift of God, not a result of our works, so we have no reason to boast.

Pastor: We are God’s workmanship from first to last.

ALL: He created us – and now he has recreated us in Christ Jesus to do good works. Why, he has even prepared in advance the works he wants us to do.

THE PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

Pastor: Let us pray for the whole people of God in Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs.

Father in heaven, we rejoice that we have come into Your temple, our church, and have been assured again of Your forgiving love in Jesus Christ Your Son.

ALL: We have no reason to boast in Your presence. All we have to offer You is our humble faith and love.

Pastor: Even if we have worked hard for You and Your kingdom, we know we have been unprofitable servants, doing only what has been expected of us.

ALL: Yet, we want to be able to say with Paul, 'We are fighting the good fight. We are keeping the faith. We are moving toward the finish of the race.'

Pastor: For all of this, our trusting Your Son as our Savior, our living daily under the blessing of Your presence, our privilege of serving in the Kingdom, we praise You.

ALL: That salvation has come to us and our loved ones is Your doing, Lord. You are the one who seeks and saves the lost. How could we not love and serve You?

Pastor: We come again, Father, with some of them on our minds, some who are experiencing times of difficulty, and other who are rejoicing in circumstances of blessing. We name before You . . . . In our hearts we commend to Your care also these who are near and dear to each of us . . . . Be their God and Father, guiding them always according to Your good will for them.

ALL: Grant them – and all of us – grace to look patiently to You in times of suffering, and to look to You in thanks and appreciation of Your blessings.

Pastor: And now, Father, we turn our thoughts to meeting our Lord and each other at his Table of blessing.

ALL: Enable us to approach in true repentance and faith – and to leave with the assurance that You will accompany us into our everydays. Amen.

(Ending for Prayer of the Church for Services without Holy Communion:)

Pastor: Into Your hands, O Lord, we commend ourselves and all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy through Jesus Christ our Lord. Accept our thanks and praise for all You mean to us as we pray together: