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.

TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, AUGUST 31, 2025

St. Ansgar Lutheran Church, Outline for Worship (with sermon)
Sunday, August 31, 2025 Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
Based on ELW Setting Four

GATHERING

WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS

BRIEF ORDER FOR CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
P: In the name of the Father, and of the ☩ Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.

P: Baptized into Christ, let us confess our sin.

Silence is kept for reflection.

P: Merciful God,
C: you free us to love others, but we neglect our neighbours and follow
our own way.
You lead us by the Spirit of joy and peace, but we turn away from the
abundant life you offer.
You surround us with patience, kindness, and generosity, but we grow
weary in doing what is right.
In your mercy, forgive us. Do not give up on us.
Heal us, break our bonds, and show us the path of life.
Amen.

P: You belong to Christ Jesus and you are God’s children through faith.
In the cross of ☩ Christ, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, your sins are
forgiven. Clothed with Christ, you are a new creation.
C: Amen.

ENTRANCE HYMN - Gather Us In (ELW #532)

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, you resist those who are proud and give grace to those who
are humble. Give us the humility of your Son, that we may embody the
generosity of Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.
C: Amen

WORD

FIRST READING: Proverbs 25:6-7
6 Do not put yourself forward in the king's presence or stand in the place
of the great; 7 for it is better to be told, "Come up here," than to be put
lower in the presence of a noble.

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

PSALM: 112
1 Hallelujah! Happy are they who fear the Lord
and have great delight in God’s commandments!
2 Their descendants will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches will be in their house,
and their righteousness will last forever.
4 Light shines in the darkness for the upright;
the righteous are merciful and full of compassion.
5 It is good for them to be generous in lending
and to manage their affairs with justice.
6 For they will never be shaken;
the righteous will be kept in everlasting remembrance.
7 They will not be afraid of any evil rumours;
their heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
8 Their heart is established and will not shrink,
until they see their desire upon their enemies.
9 They have given freely to the poor,
and their righteousness stands fast forever;
they will hold up their head with honour.
10 The wicked will see it and be angry;
they will gnash their teeth and pine away;
the desires of the wicked will perish.

SECOND READING: Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
1 Let mutual love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality
to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without
knowing it. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though you were
in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you
yourselves were being tortured. 4 Let marriage be held in honour by all,
and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators
and adulterers. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be
content with what you have; for he has said, "I will never leave you or
forsake you." 6 So we can say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper;
I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?" 7 Remember your leaders,
those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their
way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday
and today and forever.
15 Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God,
that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16 Do not neglect to do
good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

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 14:1, 7-14
C: Glory to you, O Lord.

1 On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the
Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.
7 When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honour, he told
them a parable. 8 "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet,
do not sit down at the place of honour, in case someone more distinguished
than you has been invited by your host; 9 and the host who invited both
of you may come and say to you, 'Give this person your place,' and then
in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. 10 But when you are
invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes,
he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honoured in
the presence of all who sit at the table with you. 11 For all who exalt
themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be
exalted." 12 He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you
give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers
or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return,
and you would be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor,
the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 And you will be blessed, because they
cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

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

SERMON
Rev. Dr. Larry Kochendorfer
National Bishop-Elect of the ELCIC
Luke 14:1, 7-14
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

Welcome to this summer sermon series that our Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Canada is providing for congregations. It is great to be with you this Sunday.
I am Larry Kochendorfer. My preferred pronouns are he/him. I currently serve as
the 1⁄2 Interim Pastor at Our Redeemer Lutheran in Penticton, British Columbia,
and 1⁄2 Assistant to the Bishop for Special Service in the BC Synod. Soon,
tomorrow, September 1, I begin a new calling as your National Bishop.
Thank you for your prayers for Cathy and me, and our family, for our National
Staff and Council, and for Bishop Susan in this season of transition.
Tomorrow is also the beginning of the annual Season of Creation ecumenical
initiative observed September 1 to October 4. This year’s theme is “Peace with
Creation” and there are many helpful resources on the Lutheran World
Federation website. I encourage you to use them.
Canadian Lutheran World Relief has provided wonderful resources, too,
for a 4-week “Friends of Creation” challenge helping to restore the ecosystem
around Lake Chad. I encourage you to use CLWR’s incredible resources
available on the CLWR website.
It’s the Sabbath day and Jesus is at the home of a Pharisee, a leader of
the Pharisees’ – for a meal.
This isn’t a nice August, ‘sit in the backyard on a lawn chair in the bright
Holy Land sun with an iced tea in hand’ kind of party. No, I imagine it as
a ‘mind your manners, sit-down dinner for a hundred at the leader of the
Pharisees’ air-conditioned estate’ kind of party.
And it’s quite a party.
In my mind’s eye – I know I might be stretching it a bit but come along with
me anyway – I see a mammoth dining room. There’s a brilliantly lit chandelier
in the centre of the room and a table the length of a bowling alley loaded with
the finest china and crystal, and candles and floral arrangements, and food
piled high on silver platters and in magnificent serving bowls, and the best
wines chilled to perfection next to the specially ordered fancy waters, and so
many sparkling forks and knives and spoons that we almost need sun glasses
to shield our eyes.
And the guests are the crème de la crème in town. The politically powerful,
the religiously powerful, the culturally powerful. The CEOs of the Royal
Jerusalem Bank and the JSE – the Jerusalem Stock Exchange. Lawyers and
business tycoons and city council members. And the leaders of the Pharisees
and those who contributed substantially to the temple coffers. And the day’s
rock stars and the art critics and the movie giants and a carefully screened
group of media journalists.
And Jesus, right in the middle of them.
Listen in on the conversation. There is polite chit-chat about the weather
at the Mediterranean coast during the recent holiday season, and the latest
international box office success, and about how Jerusalem just isn’t the
same since Pontius Pilate came to town.
And there’s Jesus, right in the middle of them, and “...they were watching
him closely.”
Unfortunately, those who set the reading for this morning jumped over several
verses which are important to this reading: “...they were watching him closely.
Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had edema. And Jesus asked
the experts in the law and Pharisees, ‘Is it lawful to cure people on the
Sabbath or not?’ But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him
and sent him away. Then he said to them, ‘If one of you has a child or an ox
that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a Sabbath day?’
And they could not reply to this.”
Suddenly, in this mammoth dining room, as if appearing from nowhere,
there is a man who is ill and Jesus asks the crème de la crème, “Is it lawful to
cure people on the Sabbath or not?” Yes, or no? And all conversation stopped.
The polite, social niceties came to an end. “They were silent.”
Jesus pushes back the crab-filled mushroom caps, he moves the arrangement
of pastel orchids to the side, careful not to tip the silver platter of creamed
cauliflower – and he heals the man.
Well, there are gasps around the table. Guest looks at guest. The hostess says
something like, “Well, I’ve never,” clutches her brooch and falls into her chair.
The host is completely dumbfounded. They’ve never seen anything like it.
How dare he!
“If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not
immediately pull it out on a Sabbath day?” They were silent.
Jesus’ healing on the Sabbath isn’t just about a violation of a religious rule,
it is a violation of civility, a social outrage, a breaking of the social fabric.
And what may alarm them most is the presence among them of someone
who is apparently so free from the religious and social restrictions –
the unbending borders and rigid boundaries – that he doesn’t give a hoot
about public opinions, or Miss Manners – or even death itself.
And Jesus confirms this. Standing in front of the seafood linguine and the
fresh croissants and the melt-in-your mouth Beef Wellington, he turns to
the host and guests, “You call this a party? This man was in pain.”
You see, just as they were watching Jesus closely, Jesus has been doing
some watching of his own. And he casts a vision of an alternative world
through a stark, challenging parable. Those at the dinner party hear it.
And we hear this alternative vision too, two millennia later.
“When you are invited by someone to a party, don’t sit at the best place,
because somebody with a better pedigree may have been invited. You’ll be
embarrassed when asked to move down a couple of chairs. Sit down at the
lowest place, and the host may come to you saying, “Friend, I’ve got a chair
up next to me, come and join me.”
The dinner crowd mulls it over. Of course, it is hard to trust Jesus with important
issues like dinner hierarchy because he is known to have terrible taste in dinner
companions. He always sits at the tacky end of the table with those who do not
have place cards and are not even on the seating charts. He sits with the low
and the left-out and – what is worse – he seems to have a ball.
And Jesus isn’t finished yet. Sure enough, while they are chatting about his
suggestion of a new, potentially dramatic and useful approach to dining
entrances – an alternate vision – “After you”; “No, after you”; “No, really...,”
Jesus calls out to the host, “And the next time you have people to dinner,
don’t ask those who can pay you back. Don’t ask anybody who can do you
any favours. Ask the poor who won’t know how much money you spent on the
hors d’oeuvres, only that they are delicious. Ask the crippled and the lame who
won’t be dancing around worrying about which chair to choose but will be
grateful to sit down. Ask the blind, who won’t be watching over your shoulder to
see who else is coming. Ask the powerless. Ask the empty. You won’t believe
the party you will have.”
The sophisticated crowd, the ones in the black ties and shimmering gowns
using the right forks and saying, “Oh, no more for me...I don’t care for any,”
are appalled. The elegant ones who know their place and know the rules –
people – perhaps like us are appalled. People like us who’ve bought into
the game too – people who feed on the notion that life is about winning,
and being at the head of the class, the top of the heap, with the best seat
at the dining room table. People who live their whole lives not only by the
book but, by keeping the books, keeping account, keeping score.
Together with the dinner guests we look way down the table at Jesus in the
centre of a ragtag party of hungry people feasting, enjoying every morsel,
singing, telling stories, crying, and laughing until the tears stream down
their faces.
The dinner guests and we who know just what to do and where to be and
how not to make fools of ourselves, watch, and wonder. What in heaven’s
name is going on at the other end of the table?
Communion is going on. The deaf are buttering the biscuits for the blind.
The leper shifts to get more strawberry shortcake for the lame. The poor toast
the broken-hearted with fine, full-bodied wine. And the host becomes guest.
The evening grows late. Etiquette lessons are over. Time to move on.
Jesus stands up, and the one-eyed, crooked-legged, gap-toothed crowd
stands with him. They are having a ball, the time of their lives, and they will
follow him on and on because everywhere Jesus is – everywhere Jesus is –
there is a party – a feast of bread and wine. And there is room for
everyone at the table, nobody cares who sits where, and everybody
shares in the abundance.
This, dear church – sisters, brothers, siblings in Christ – this alternate vision,
is gospel for us today. Good news for the world, and for all creation.
Follow him, dear church. Follow him, to the table and beyond, to the party
and the feast, where there is room for all and where are all are invited.
Follow in mission and action.
Follow him, dear church, knowing that Jesus – love – is at our side.
AMEN

Silence is kept for reflection.

HYMN OF THE DAY – O Christ the Same (ELW #760)

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: Let us pray for the church, the creation, and the whole people of God,
for God is near.
A: God of our church, send forth your Spirit as we pray for our Bishops Susan
and Carla and our National Bishop-Elect Larry. Empower them with your
wisdom to lead the church. We also pray for the Thames Ministry area,
especially the people of St. John’s, Aylmer, in their time of pastoral vacancy.
Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: For the leaders of the church, we pray. Inspire deacons, pastors,
Sunday school teachers, and Christian education directors with a passion
for speaking the word of God. Equip all the baptized to share your word
of grace. Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: For the well-being of creation, we pray. Sustain farm workers and all
who labour in fields and vineyards to grow the food we eat. Revive plains
and pastures, and provide food for the cattle and creatures who rely on the
land for their sustenance. Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: For the leaders of towns, cities, provinces, states, and nations, we pray.
Guide them to enact equitable laws and policies for all. On this Labour Day
weekend, make us mindful of workers whose labour often goes unnoticed.
Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: For the lowly and those who are ignored, we pray. Provide for the needs
of vulnerable communities, those who are unemployed, burdened by debt,
or struggle to make ends meet. Accompany all who need reassurance of your
loving presence. We pray especially for Beth, Jean, Mary Margaret, Kristine,
Karen, Emma, Cathy, Lene, Heather, Grethe, Lyra, and those others who are
in our hearts. Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: For the hospitality ministries of this congregation, we pray. Give ushers
and greeters a spirit of welcome for visitors, and bless the work of those
who who feed and nourish us. 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: For all the saints who from their labours rest, we give thanks. With them,
we offer our sacrifice of praise to you, O God, the same yesterday and today
and forever. Hear us, O God.
C: Your mercy is great.

A: Confident in God’s presence and promise, we entrust our prayers to the one
who always receives them, through Jesus Christ, our wisdom and companion.
C: Amen.

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

OFFERING PRAYER
A: Creator God, in your wisdom you bring forth all that is good and the
harvest is plentiful. Strengthen us at your table with these gifts of the earth
and our labour, that we may work for the good of all, through Jesus Christ,
our Saviour.
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 abound in you; the grace of our Saviour Jesus Christ
fill your hearts; and the life of the Spirit ☩ bless you and give you peace.
C: Amen.

SENDING HYMN – How Firm a Foundation (ELW #796)

DISMISSAL
A: Go in peace. Live by the Spirit.
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)