• Welcome to Living Grace Lutheran Church
  • The Rev. David E. Hardy, D.D., Pastor of Living Grace Lutheran
  • Boxes filled with 89 quilts, 31 school bags, and 16 fabric kits going to the Lutheran World Relief trucks to be shipped
  • God's Work, Our Hands - digging the pollunated garden
  • Working on the pollunated garden - God's Work, Our Hands
  • Pollunated garden - God's Work, Our Hands
  • Pollunated garden - God's Work, Our Hands
  • Good work - Pollunated Garden finished - God's Work, Our Hands
  • Live Music at the Community BBQ
  • Community BBQ-Cooking
  • Honey Samples from Heifer International

LIVING GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH

WELCOMES YOU

 

 

MAUNDY THURSDAY

28 MARCH 2024

Service at 7:00 p.m.

This evening our Lenten observance comes to an end, and we gather with Christians around the world to celebrate the Three Days of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Tonight we remember Christ’s last meal with his disciples, but the central focus is his commandment that we live out the promise embodied in this meal. As Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, so we are called to give and receive love in humble service to one another. Formed into a new body in Christ through this holy meal, we are transformed by the mercy we have received and carry it into the world. Departing worship in solemn silence, we anticipate the coming days.

Prayer of the Day

Holy God, source of all love, on the night of his betrayal, Jesus gave us a new commandment, to love one another as he loves us. Write this commandment in our hearts, and give us the will to serve others as he was the servant of all, your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

First Reading: Exodus 12:1-4 [5-10] 11-14

Israel remembered its deliverance from slavery in Egypt by celebrating the festival of Passover. This festival featured the Passover lamb, whose blood was used as a sign to protect God’s people from the threat of death. The early church described the Lord’s supper using imagery from the Passover, especially in portraying Jesus as the lamb who delivers God’s people from sin and death.

Psalm: Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19

I will lift the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. (Ps. 116:13)

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

In the bread and cup of the Lord’s supper, we experience intimate fellowship with Christ and with one another because it involves his body given for us and the new covenant in his blood. Faithful participation in this meal is a living proclamation of Christ’s death until he comes in the future..

Gospel: John 13:1-17, 31b-35

The story of the last supper in John’s gospel recalls a remarkable event not mentioned elsewhere: Jesus performs the duty of a slave, washing the feet of his disciples and urging them to do the same for one another.

 

GOOD FRIDAY

29 MARCH 2024

Service at 7 p.m.

Life and death stand side by side as we enter into Good Friday. In John’s passion account, Jesus reveals the power and glory of God, even as he is put on trial and sentenced to death. Standing with the disciples at the foot of the cross, we pray for the whole world in the ancient bidding prayer, as Christ’s death offers life to all. We gather in solemn devotion, but always with the promise that the tree around which we assemble is indeed a tree of life. We depart silently, and we anticipate the culmination of the Three Days in the Easter Vigil.

Prayer of the Day

Almighty God, look with loving mercy on your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, to be given over to the hands of sinners, and to suffer death on the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen

First Reading: Isaiah 52:13--53:12

The fourth servant poem promises ultimate vindication for the servant, who made his life an offering for sin. The servant pours himself out to death and is numbered with the transgressors, images that the early church saw as important keys for understanding the death of Jesus.

Psalm: Psalm 22

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Ps. 22:1)

Second Reading: Hebrews 10:16-25

In the death of Jesus, forgiveness of sins is accomplished and access to God is established. Hence, when we gather together for worship and when we love others, we experience anew the benefits of Jesus’ death.

Gospel: John 18:1--19:42

On Good Friday, the story of Jesus’ passion—from his arrest to his burial—is read in its entirety from the Gospel of John.

 

 

(from 2024 sundaysandseasons.com)