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.

SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT, MARCH 16, 2025.

St. Ansgar Lutheran Church, Outline for Worship (with Sermon)
Sunday, March 16, 2025 – Second Sunday in Lent
ELW Holy Communion Setting 5

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 return to God, confessing our sin in the assurance of God’s
abiding love.

Silence is kept for reflection.

P: Compassionate One,
C: you are slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love,
but our lives do not always reflect you and your love for the world.
We do not show others the tender compassion you have shown to us.
We do not welcome others with the radical hospitality you grant to
all people.
We oppress others, even though you have set us free again and again.
We squander the abundant gifts of the earth.
Transform our lives and guide us again in the way of the cross.
Amen.

P: Beloved in Christ, God’s arms are always stretched wide to welcome the
wandering ones home.
In ☩ Christ, our sins are forgiven. You have a place in God’s house forever.
C: Amen.

ENTRANCE HYMN – Lead On, O King Eternal! (ELW #805)

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.

PRAYER OF THE DAY
P: Let us pray.
P: God of the covenant, in the mystery of the cross you promise everlasting life
to the world. Gather all peoples into your arms, and shelter us with your mercy,
that we may rejoice in the life we share in your Son, Jesus Christ, our Saviour and
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.

WORD

FIRST READING: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision,
"Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great."
2 But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue
childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 And Abram
said, "You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house
is to be my heir." 4 But the word of the LORD came to him, "This man
shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir."
5 He brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven and count the
stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your
descendants be." 6 And he believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned
it to him as righteousness. 7 Then he said to him, "I am the LORD who
brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess."
8 But he said, "O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?"
9 He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three
years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon."
10 He brought him all these and cut them in two, laying each half over
against the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. 11 And when birds
of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. 12 As the
sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a deep and
terrifying darkness descended upon him. 17 When the sun had gone down
and it was dark, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between
these pieces. 18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram,
saying, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to
the great river, the river Euphrates...."

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

Psalm 27
1The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
2When evildoers close in against me to devour my flesh,
they, my foes and my enemies, will stumble and fall.
3Though an army encamp against me, my heart will not fear.
Though war rise up against me, my trust will not be shaken.
4One thing I ask of the Lord; one thing I seek;
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life;
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek God in the temple.
5For in the day of trouble God will give me shelter,
hide me in the hidden places of the sanctuary, and raise me high upon a rock.
6Even now my head is lifted up above my enemies who surround me.
Therefore I will offer sacrifice in the sanctuary, sacrifices of rejoicing;
I will sing and make music to the Lord.
7Hear my voice, O Lord, when I call;
have mercy on me and answer me.
8My heart speaks your message – “Seek my face.”
Your face, O Lord, I will seek.
9Hide not your face from me, turn not away from your servant in anger.
Cast me not away – you have been my helper; forsake me not,
O God of my salvation.
10Though my father and my mother forsake me,
the Lord will take me in.
11Teach me your way, O Lord;
lead me on a level path, because of my oppressors.
12Subject me not to the will of my foes,
for they rise up against me, false witnesses breathing violence.
13This I believe – that I will see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living!
14Wait for the Lord and be strong.
Take heart and wait for the Lord!

SECOND READING: Philippians 3:17 – 4:1
17 Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live
according to the example you have in us. 18 For many live as enemies of
the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even
with tears. 19 Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory
is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship
is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Saviour, the Lord
Jesus Christ. 21 He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be
conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to
make all things subject to himself.
1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and
crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

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

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
C: Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

GOSPEL
P: The Holy Gospel according to Luke 13:31-35
C: Glory to you, O Lord.

31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away
from here, for Herod wants to kill you." 32 He said to them, "Go and tell
that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today
and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. 33 Yet today, tomorrow,
and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet
to be killed outside of Jerusalem.' 34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills
the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired
to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings,
and you were not willing! 35 See, your house is left to you. And I tell you,
you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one
who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

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

SERMON
Luke 13:31-35
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
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills prophets and stones those who are
sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen
gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house
is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when
you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”
These are four sentences from Jesus that are dense with meaning. I think
what sticks out to me first is the juxtaposition of two, on their own, well-
known lines. Jesus refers to Jerusalem as “the city that kills the prophets,”
a sentiment repeated in several Gospel accounts. It is a stark and violent
accusation, to the point of malice and murder. And immediately, it is followed
with one of the most well-known tender lines in the Gospels: “How often
have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood
under her wings, and you were not willing!” The language Jesus uses
sticks out as quite intimate, loving, caring. When taken on its own, we might
have in mind the sentimentalized image of a mother with her cranky child.
But when placed in the context of killing the prophets, there is nothing to
be sentimentalized. The stakes here are life and death. Jesus is frustrated
and exhausted, but more deeply than that, Jesus is heartbroken. What we
have before us is a lament, a prayer expressing sorrow and pain.
I am reminded of so many stories of people falling prey to conspiratorial
thinking, lured down a social-media-fueled rabbit hole by algorithms
efficiently and profitably showing people more and more inflammatory content,
until their mind is so thoroughly warped as to see nothing but lurking evil in
every corner. We recently witnessed an entire election south of the border in
which such brainwashing elected an unfit candidate to be president, as well as
the election of many other public officials. I have witnessed their heartbroken
friends and family, children, spouses, parents, watching people they love descend
into lives of constant fear, constant watching for the next big exposure that will
justify what they have been led to believe. I have witnessed how unbending,
how incurable, these victims are. One thing is clear: logical arguments and
empirical evidence do not seem to work; they did not fall into this trap through
logic and evidence, and it will not get them out. The antidote, as difficult and
as costly as this can be, is love. Not merely keeping the peace, not agreeing
with their conspiracies, but accepting them, being respectful but earnest
about one’s own beliefs, and providing a supportive exit ramp, so that the
person in question can slowly descend from the fury without fear of shame,
without fear of being rejected, ridiculed, or ostracized. In short, to swallow
one’s own pride and to love, even if it is frustrating, embarrassing, humiliating,
neither denying the truth nor forcefully imposing it, seeking not triumph and
being proven right, but reconciliation. Christ, I think, knows something of this,
as he looks upon the beloved who will surely put him to death.
But it is not just a few people, the crazies beyond the reach of reason,
who are subject to this kind of twisted reasoning. We all are. It is us.
Even if we are entirely conscious of our weaknesses, our biases, our
tendency to sin, we still do it. As Paul writes, “I do not understand my
own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
This dissonance is the sort of clear mindedness, the coming out of the fog,
that happens upon realizing our own attachments, before we are, for a
moment or a lifetime, pulled back under into the deception. We all turn to
things that are destructive, self-centred, or something created by our
imagination as means of escaping reality: “Their end is destruction;
their god is the belly; and the glory is in their shame; their minds are set
on earthly things.” There are different versions, of course. Food or drink,
money or status, power or judgement, we all have our resources to
feeling better, our quick fixes to make sense of a world that often does
not make sense. We build our own little dwellings here, and run to them
to escape, if only for a moment.
It is common, though, after the immediate danger has passed to realize the
inadequacy of these lonely little dwellings. As Jesus says, “See, your house
is left to you.” We can recognize, with clearer minds, that running to these
places did not fix the problem. Safe for now, but empty, and isolated, and like
all that we build, they eventually collapse. So, what can we do?
This seems to me where the final line of Christ’s lament is instructive:
“And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say,
“Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” Psalm 27 speaks
of God as a refuge, a sure dwelling; the psalmist declares, “One thing I asked
of the Lord, that I seek after; that I live in the house of the Lord all the days
of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.”
This language weaves a connection between dwelling with God and seeing
God with our mind and our heart, both being a central, fundamental desire
of the life of God’s people.
In a way, we could see this like the conspiratorial thinking I criticized earlier,
the constant looking for the payoff of one’s belief. But the key difference,
I think, is that what is being asked of us is not faith that we were right about
the malice and destruction of the world, all the things we think are evil and
bad, all the ways we can exalt ourselves in triumph over the world’s wrongs.
Rather, this faith is an assurance of the fundamental goodness of existence,
the assurance that, through all the misery and wrong, enduring it in flesh
and blood, is the one who comes, reconciling the broken pieces of a
lamentable world, gathering them up as a hen gathers her brood. This faith,
then, is the response to the lament of Jesus, because his primary heartbreak
is that we were not willing to be gathered. Despite everything that harms,
destroys and scatters, this faith, our faith, is the willingness to be reconciled.
AMEN

Silence is kept for reflection.

HYMN OF THE DAY – How Firm a Foundation (ELW #796)

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: Led by the Spirit, let us turn to God in prayer for the church, the world,
and all those in need.
A: God of our church, send forth your Spirit as we pray for our Bishops Susan
and Carla. Empower them with your wisdom to lead the church. We also pray
for the Thames Ministry area, especially Pastor Rob Wiesner and the people
of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Brodhagen. God, in your mercy,
C: receive our prayer.

A: Holy God, you long to gather your church under your wings. Bless the
churches of Jerusalem, and all persecuted churches, that your people may
take heart and stand firm as they witness and minister in your name.
God, in your mercy,
C: receive our prayer.

A: Holy God, you give shelter to living things as numerous as the stars.
Strengthen the voice of prophets who call humanity to faithful care for
the planet, that they would not be silenced but heeded as your messengers.
God, in your mercy,
C: receive our prayer.

A: Holy God, you raised up leaders like Abram, Sarai, and Paul to show your
people what it means to rely on your promises. Guide today’s leaders to work
for justice and safeguard the world for future generations. God, in your mercy,
C: receive our prayer.

A: Holy God, you are the stronghold of our life. Care tenderly for those who
are ill in body or mind, and for people living in fear or need, especially Beth,
Jean, Mary Margaret, Kristine, Shirley, Karen, Debbie, Emma, Cathy, and those
others who are in our hearts. God, in your mercy,
C: receive our prayer.

A: Holy God, you offer us citizenship in heaven. Unite communities of faith
who are divided over earthly things, that following the way of your Son, they
may set aside grudges and serve their neighbours with generosity and love.
God, in your mercy,
C: receive our prayer.

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. God, in your mercy,
C: receive our prayer.

A: Holy God, you are our light and our salvation. We give thanks for the saints
who have gone before us. Help us to trust in you as they did and to live according
to their example. God, in your mercy,
C: receive our prayer.

A: Receive the prayers of your people and draw all things together in your love,
in the name of Jesus, who leads us from death to life.
C: Amen.

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

OFFERING PRAYER
A: Gracious Provider, you set your immense treasures among us, opening
your heart to the world. As we prepare to feast on your bountiful love, deepen
our commitment to sharing these treasures with others, through our Saviour.
Jesus Christ.
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.

BLESSING
P: God our tender parent, God the crucified one,
God the reconciling Spirit, + bless you now and forever.
C: Amen.

SENDING HYMN - Faith of Our Fathers (ELW #813)

DISMISSAL
A: Go in peace. Care for others as God cares for you.
C: Thanks be to God.

DISMISSAL HYMN – Go Now in Peace
Go now in peace, never be afraid.
God will go with you each hour of every day.
Go now in faith, steadfast, strong and true.
Know He will guide you in all you do.
Go now in love, and show you believe.
Reach out to others, so all the world can see.
God will be there, watching from above.
Go now in peace, in faith, and in love.