PRELUDE
“There In God’s Garden” ELW 342
Gathering
The Holy Spirit calls us together as people of God.
WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS
For safety reasons, we ask that the congregation follow along with all spoken and sung responses silently.
The Assisting Minister and the Cantor will respond for the congregation to all spoken and sung responses.
CONFESSION
Let us confess our sin.
Silence for self-reflection
Most merciful God, We confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.
We have sinned against you in thought word and deed,
By what we have done and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
We have not loved our neighbors or families or friends as ourselves.
For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, Have mercy on us.
Forgive us, renew us, and lead us. Free us from the urge to speak with
haste, offending those we fail to fully understand. Let our words always
honor your wondrous love so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your holy name. Amen
ABSOLUTION
In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us; and for his sake God forgives us all our sins. As a called and ordained minister of the church of Christ, and by his authority I therefore declare to each of you the entire forgiveness of all your sins; In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen
GREETING
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.
KYRIE
Lord, Have Mercy. Christ, Have Mercy. Lord, Have Mercy.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
The presiding minister leads the prayer of the day.
Let us pray,…
Word
God speaks to us in scripture, preaching and song.
CHILDREN’S TIME
FIRST READING Isaiah 5:1-7
Response after the conclusion: Thanks be to God.
1Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. 2He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. 3And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4What more was there to do for my vine-yard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?
5And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. 6I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 7For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!
PSALM 80:7-15
7Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine upon us, and we shall be saved. 8You have brought a vine out of Egypt; you cast out the nations and planted it. 9You cleared the ground for it; it took root and |filled the land. 10The mountains were covered by its shadow and the towering cedar trees by its boughs. 11You stretched out its tendrils to the sea and its branches to the river. 12Why have you broken down its wall, so that all who pass by pluck off its grapes? 13The wild boar of the forest has ravaged it, and the beasts of the field have grazed upon it. 14Turn now, O God of hosts, look down from heaven; 15behold and tend this vine; preserve what your right hand has planted.
SECOND READING Philippians 3:4b-14
Response after the conclusion: Thanks be to God.
4bIf anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I regard eve-rything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his suffer-ings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, be-cause Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
GOSPEL Matthew 21:33-46
Response after the announcement: Glory to you, O Lord.
Response after the conclusion: Praise to you, O Christ.
Jesus said to the people:] 33“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 34When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. 35But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. 36Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. 37Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.’ 39So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. 40Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” 41They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time.” 42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? 43Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. 44The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.” 45When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. 46They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
SERMON PASTOR ERIC
HYMN OF THE DAY “My Song Is Love Unknown” ELW 343
(Congregation is invited to silently follow along with the text below)
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
Each portion of the prayers ends with these or similar words:
Lord in your mercy…Hear our prayer.
PEACE
The presiding minister and the assembly greet each other in the peace of the risen Christ.
The peace of Christ be with you always.
And also with you.
The people may greet one another using their cell phones texting “Peace be with you” or similar words. The assembly is then seated.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Together as Jesus taught us using the more familiar words
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
God blesses us and sends us into the world to serve our neighbor.
BLESSING
Live your lives in Christ, rooted and built up in him, and abound in thanksgiving; and the blessing of the Holy Trinity + one God, be upon you and remain with you forever. Amen.
DISMISSAL
Go in peace. Christ is with you. Thanks be to God. Alleluia.
POSTLUDE
“Lord, Christ When First You Came to Earth” ELW 727
What’s Happening!
Worship Assistants
- Pastor: The Reverend Dr. Eric J. Trozzo
- Assisting Minister: Faith Steinfort
- Cantor: David D. Harp
- Soloist: Doreen Lawrence
- Greeter: Pam Bowen
- Usher: Michael Rieker
Zoom Events
For more info, please refer to October Messenger
- Sunday, Oct. 4 9:30AM Live Streaming Worship Followed by Coffee Hour & Adult Forum via Zoom
“Environmental Justice and Compassionate Voting” Led by Brian Lestini, Green Team chair - Sunday, Oct. 4 11:15AM Virtual Sunday School with Cross Roads
- Sunday, Oct. 4 5PM Outdoor Holy Communion