St Ansgar Lutheran Church, London

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Sunday Morning

We invite you to join us for the following worship services:

Sundays
10:30 a.m. Worship service

Hand sanitizer will be available at the entrance and other locations in the church for
your use.

Washrooms will be available for use.

In the service: The service will be shown on the screen. The offering will not be gathered and presented, but there will be an offering plate at the back of the sanctuary where you can put your offering as you enter or leave. Pastor David distributes the communion wafers and an Assisting Minister distributes wine or grape juice in individual glasses.

We have coffee and fellowship time available again in Luther Hall after the service.

We will continue to evaluate our worship service procedures on a monthly basis.

TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, NOVEMBER 9, 2025

St. Ansgar Lutheran Church, Outline for Worship (with sermon)
Sunday, November 9, 2025 – Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost
Based on ELW Setting Four

GATHERING

WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS

BRIEF ORDER FOR CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
P: Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God, who forgives all our sin, whose
mercy endures forever.
C: Amen.

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

Silence is kept for reflection.

P: Faithful God,
C: you have shown us the ways of your heart, yet we stray from
your paths.
We are stuck in sinful systems of oppression and do not embrace
the freedom of your faithful promises.
We ignore our neighbours. We exploit the earth. We reject your
abundance, trusting our impulses instead of your steadfast love.
Repair our relationships, restore what we have broken,
renew our hearts, and bring us to new life.
Amen.

P: Hear the good news. God the Faithful One loves you, ☩ in Christ Jesus
your sins are forgiven, and by the power of the Holy Spirit you are set free.
C: Amen.

ENTRANCE HYMN - Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me (ELW #623)

GREETING
P: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion
of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
C: And also with you

KYRIE
A: In peace, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: For the peace from above, and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the Church of God,
and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: For this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and praise,
let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.
C: Amen.

HYMN OF PRAISE (ELW p. 149)
P: This is the feast of victory for our God. Alleluia.
C: Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain,
whose blood set us free to be people of God.
Power and riches and wisdom and strength,
and honour and blessing and glory are his.
This is the feast of victory for our God. Alleluia.
Sing with all the people of God
and join in the hymn of all creation:
Blessing and honour and glory and might
be to God and the Lamb forever. Amen.
This is the feast of victory for our God,
for the Lamb who was slain has begun his reign.
Alleluia. Alleluia.

PRAYER OF THE DAY
P: Let us pray.
P: O God, our eternal redeemer, by the presence of your Spirit you renew
and direct our hearts. Keep always in our mind the end of all things and the
day of judgement. Inspire us for a holy life here, and bring us to the joy of
the resurrection, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.
C: Amen

WORD

FIRST READING: Job 19:23-27a
23 "O that my words were written down! O that they were inscribed in a book!
24 O that with an iron pen and with lead they were engraved on a rock forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon
the earth; 26 and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh
I shall see God, 27a whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold,
and not another."

A: The word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.

PSALM: 17:1-9
1 Hear a just cause, O Lord; give heed to my cry;
listen to my prayer, which does not come from lying lips.
2 Let my vindication come forth from your presence;
let your eyes be fixed on justice.
3 Examine my heart, visit me by night;
melt me down; you will find no impurity in me.
4 I have not regarded what others do;
at the word of your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent.
5 My footsteps hold fast to your well-worn path;
and my feet do not slip.
6 I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me;
incline your ear to me and hear my words.
7 Show me your marvelous lovingkindness,
O Saviour of those who take refuge at your right hand,
from those who rise against them.
8 Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me under the shadow of your wings,
9 from the wicked who assault me,
from my deadly enemies who surround me.

SECOND READING: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
1 As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together
to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind
or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the
effect that the day of the Lord is already here. 3 Let no one deceive you in
any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the
lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. 4 He opposes
and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that
he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God.
5 Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?
13 But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters
beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation
through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14 For this
purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that
you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers and
sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us,
either by word of mouth or by our letter. 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ
himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal
comfort and good hope, 17 comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every
good work and word.

A: The word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
C: Alleluia. Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. Alleluia.

GOSPEL
P: The Holy Gospel according to Luke 20:27-38
C: Glory to you, O Lord.

27 Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him
28 and asked him a question, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's
brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow
and raise up children for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers;
the first married, and died childless; 30 then the second 31 and the
third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless.
32 Finally the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore,
whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her."
34 Jesus said to them, "Those who belong to this age marry and
are given in marriage; 35 but those who are considered worthy of
a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither
marry nor are given in marriage. 36 Indeed they cannot die anymore,
because they are like angels and are children of God, being children
of the resurrection. 37 And the fact that the dead are raised Moses
himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the
Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
38 Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of
them are alive."

P: The Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to you, O Christ.

SERMON
Luke 20:27-38
Let us pray: May the words of my mouth, and the prayers of our hearts,
always be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our Strength, and our Redeemer.
AMEN

In our Gospel lesson this morning and elsewhere, Jesus speaks about
our resurrection from the dead as a promise. Jesus speaks like a Pharisee,
who believed in bodily resurrection, unlike the Sadducees, “in the age
to come.” Meanwhile, there is something unique about Jesus’ teaching about
the resurrection. Our resurrection is not about a future event. Resurrection is
for now. Resurrection informs and reforms how we live today. Saint Paul,
in his letter to the Philippians, wrote, “I want to know Christ and the power
of his resurrection.” This resurrection power is about hope for the future
and about power for the present.
In the past 60 years or so, three novelists have captured the imagination of the
English-speaking world, and beyond: C. S. Lewis in the Narnia Chronicles, J. R. R.
Tolkien in his Lord of the Rings trilogy, and more recently J. K. Rowling in her
Harry Potter novels. All these stories have one theme in common, and that is
power: the exercise of power, the need for power, the source of power.
Why the power theme has so captured the attention of the young and old
alike is not because people are powerless. It is not because these tales
give us an imaginary respite from being overwhelmed by the existing
powers in our lives. It is much more the opposite of that. Power is of
our essence, though many people do not recognize or accept this:
their own power. We have been given power.
Carl Jung, who always challenges me when I read his work, spoke to this in
his writings about the shadow, what he calls the “Golden Shadow.” The golden
shadow comes from the positive qualities we do not recognize or accept in our
own self: our intelligence, our skills, our creativity, our charisma, our eloquence,
our beauty as a person, all of which is about our unique power. If we do not
claim our own power, we will project our power onto others and see these golden
qualities only in others instead of ourselves. These writers of imaginative fiction,
and the producers of so much that appears on television and in the theatre,
often capture attention because it is about power. We have been given power,
resurrection power. If you do not own your power, you will project your power
and watch it in others with fascination and resentment. We have been
given power. Power is of our essence. Jesus says endlessly. “Don’t be afraid.”
Jesus is not just talking about being afraid of bad stuff. He is saying don’t be
afraid of good stuff, and do not be afraid of your own power. When Paul said to
the Philippians, “I can do all things through him (Jesus) who strengthens me,”
he is claiming both his own powerlessness, and the provision of power that
Jesus promises us in the here and now. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid of
your own power.
Remember how Jesus’ disciples abandoned him and went and hid at the time
of his crucifixion. They were so afraid of those in power. And then something
happened. In Jesus’ resurrection, the women at the tomb, then the disciples,
and then so many others, received the resurrection power Jesus promised.
None of the external circumstances changed for the better. Things actually
got worse, much worse. Persecution of Jesus’ followers began and yet, look at
what happened. They claimed the power that Jesus promised. Paul, in the
worst of times, facing his own imminent sentence of death wrote in his letter
to the Romans, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship,
or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness or peril, or sword? As it
is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all day long: we are accounted
as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us.”
You have been given access to the power you need for the here and now.
Let me share a metaphor. Like a solar panel, you have been created with
the capacity to receive the light. It is of your essence. And with that light,
God’s light, you have the power to be transformed and to be transforming
of others. You have access to power. Be present to that power and be
receptive to it.
If you ask me, “So, what kind of power are you talking about?” I would
answer with the question, “What kind of power do you need.” Because God
is the source of the power you need; God is the source of your awareness
of need. Jesus gives us two promises: his presence, and the provision of
his power. The doorway to his power will be through your poverty, where you
are powerless. You have been given power, resurrection power, in the here
and now. Don’t just project power; claim it. It is of your essence. Is there
some area of your life where you feel powerless? Take Jesus at his word.
Resurrection power in the here and now. And that is real.
And then, looking ahead, we speak of resurrection as “the hope of heaven.”
What will heaven be like? We have several sources of information.
We can listen to reports of those who have had “near death experiences.”
Their concurring testimonies of the life to come are filled with goodness:
light, life, love, beauty, all quite amazing. We can look to the scriptures that
point to heaven. Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you.” That alone is
enormous comfort. How wonderful that heaven is a place where we are
expected, a place prepared for us where we can belong.
We read a reference to heaven in the revelation to John: “[Jesus will]
wipe away every tear from [our] eyes. Death will be no more; mourning
and crying and pain will be no more.” This is a picture of heaven as a
place of ultimate healing.
In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, he writers about the resurrection of our
body, not just the immortality of our soul. “Just as we have borne the image
of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven. We will
not all die, but we will be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at
the last trumpet. For the perishable body must put on imperishability, and this
mortal body puts on immortality.” What our age will be after this happens
who’s to say? Age is about time. We can only begin to imagine what eternal
time is about.
For now, we are invited to pray the prayer Jesus taught his disciples,
which includes us, known as “The Lord’s Prayer:” “Our Father, who art
in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on
earth as in heaven....” Heaven was on Jesus’ lips. We can only piece
together all of what Jesus would have had in mind when he named heaven,
but it is all for the good.
In the meantime, claim the promise and provision of Jesus’ power,
of resurrection power. If we feel powerless in some way we are in a perfect
place to receive Jesus’ resurrection power. Paul wrote to the Corinthians,
“My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.”
We must claim the power we need, embrace it, and share it with
great generosity. God has given us a mission. And then, we are to live
in hope, the hope of heaven, which will be glorious. Life on earth is just
a foretaste of the glory of heaven.
AMEN

Silence is kept for reflection.

HYMN OF THE DAY – Guide Me Ever, Great Redeemer (ELW #618)

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

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
A: Gathered with one voice, we offer our prayers for the church, the world,
and all who are in need.
A: God of our church, send forth your Spirit as we pray for our Bishops Larry
and Carla. Empower them with your wisdom to lead the church. We also
pray for the Thames Ministry area, especially retired Pastors Jack Dressler,
Jim Garey, John Goldsworthy, Tom Ristine, Glen Sellick, and Bob
Zimmerman. Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: God our Redeemer, bless your church universal and its leaders. Set all
hearts on you from generation to generation in anticipation of Christ’s return.
Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: God of life, we give thanks for the fruits and grains of harvest, for rivers
and streams, for all that is made of rock and iron. Renew the earth’s natural
resources and the lands from which they come. Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: God of justice, we give thanks for the service of our veterans and pray
for those needing support for wounds of any kind. Strengthen those charged
with the governance and protection of vulnerable populations. Bring an end
to war throughout the world. Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: God who leads us to belief and truth, we give thanks that you are always
and already here. Nurture and support those who are unsteady in mind,
unsafe in spirit, or unwell in body, especially Beth, Jean, Mary Margaret,
Kristine, Karen, Emma, Cathy, Lene, Heather, Grethe, Lyra, Donna, Adam,
Ahlan, Justin and those others who are in our hearts. Comfort those who
suffer from trauma and exposure to traumatic events. Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: God who gathers us together, we give thanks for our pastors and deacons,
teachers and musicians, administrators, and building caretakers. May they
find joy in leadership as we grow in faith together. Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: Merciful God, we pray for peace as war continues to rage in Ukraine and
in Israel and Gaza. Shelter all living in fear; protect those seeking refuge in
neighbouring countries; sustain families separated by the horrors of war;
tend to those who are injured; comfort all who mourn their dead. Direct your
people into the way of peace. Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: God of the saints, we give thanks for all who have died in faith. Uplift us
as we honour their memory and await your coming in glory. Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: We offer these and all our prayers to you, O God, trusting in your grace
and unyielding love; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
C: Amen.

PEACE
P: The peace of Christ be with you always.
C: And also with you.

OFFERING PRAYER
A: God of healing and hope, you bless those who are hungry, promising to
fill them with good things. Fulfill that promise through us and these your gifts.
Nourish us with the abundance of your feast and unite us into the blessed
body of Jesus Christ our Saviour, now and forever.
C: Amen.

LORD’S PRAYER
P: Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray.
C: 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.

SENDING

BLESSING
P: The love of God the Sovereign strengthen you, God the Son
save you, and God the Holy Spirit anoint you for the week ahead.
The holy Trinity bless you ☩ and grant you
a faithful and courageous heart now and forever.
C: Amen.

SENDING HYMN – Blessed Assurance (ELW #638)

DISMISSAL
A: Go in peace. Share the harvest.
C: Thanks be to God.

DISMISSAL HYMN – The Lord Now Sends Us Forth (ELW #538)
Verse 1
The Lord now sends us forth
with hands to serve and give,
to make of all the earth
a better place to live. Repeat (2X)

Verse 2
The angels are not sent
into our world of pain
to do what we were meant
to do in Jesus' name;
that falls to you and me
and all who are made free.
Help us, O Lord, we pray,
to do your will today. Repeat (2X)