“Our Savior Christ Jesus has broken the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel!” (2.Ti.1,10b)

Collect for this 16th Sunday after Trinity

Almighty and everlasting God, comfort of the sad and strength to those who suffer: Let the prayers of Your children who are in any trouble rise to You. To everyone in distress grant mercy, grant relief, grant refreshment; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Dobberstein Pg. 114

The Introit invites us to sing God´s praises

Sing to God! Sing praises to his name.
Exalt the one who rides on the clouds.
For the Lord is his name.
Rejoice before him.
He is a father to the fatherless and an advocate for widows.
God rules from his holy dwelling place.
God settles in their own homes those who have been deserted;
he frees prisoners and grants them prosperity.
But sinful rebels live in the desert.
O God, when you lead your people into battle,
when you march through the wastelands, (Selah) the earth shakes.

… Our God is a God who delivers; the Lord, the Sovereign Lord, can rescue from death.
Indeed, God strikes the heads of his enemies, the hairy foreheads of those who persist in rebellion.

…Acknowledge God’s power, his sovereignty over Israel,
and the power he reveals in the skies.
You are awe-inspiring, O God, as you emerge from your holy temple.
It is the God of Israel who gives the people power and strength.
God deserves praise!

Psalm 68,4-7.20f.35f.

It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the Lord

The Lord’s loyal kindness never ceases; his compassions never end.
They are fresh every morning; your faithfulness is abundant!
“My portion is the Lord,” I have said to myself, so I will put my hope in him.

The Lord is good to those who trust in him, to the one who seeks him.
It is good to wait patiently for deliverance from the Lord…

For the Lord will not reject us forever.
Though he causes us grief, he then has compassion on us according to the abundance of his loyal kindness. For he is not predisposed to afflict or to grieve people.

Lamentations 3,22-26.31f

The holy apostle St. Paul writes to Bishop Timothy:

For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, a prisoner for his sake, but by God’s power accept your share of suffering for the gospel. He is the one who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not based on our works but on his own purpose and grace, granted to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but now made visible through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus. He has broken the power of death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel!

2. Timothy 1,7-10

The holy Gospel according to the holy evangelist St. John

Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived… So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, look, the one you love is sick.” … When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had been in the tomb four days already. (Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, so many of the Jewish people of the region had come to Martha and Mary to console them[al] over the loss of their brother.) So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will grant you.”

Jesus replied, “Your brother will come back to life again.”Martha said, “I know that he will come back to life again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live[av] even if he dies, and the one who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She replied, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who comes into the world.”… Jesus, intensely moved again, came to the tomb. (Now it was a cave, and a stone was placed across it.) Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, replied, “Lord, by this time the body will have a bad smell, because he has been buried four days.” Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you that you have listened to me. I knew that you always listen to me, but I said this for the sake of the crowd standing around here, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he shouted in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth, and a cloth wrapped around his face. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.” Then many of the people, who had come with Mary and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in him.

John 11,1.3.17-27.38b-45

The Sermon is based on these verses:

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. ³⁶ For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. ³⁷ For,

“Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

Hebrew 10,35f (37f) 39

Together with the Christian church we sing:

Jesus lives! The vict’ry’s won! Death no longer can appall me;
Jesus lives! Death’s reign is done! From the grave will Christ recall me.
Brighter scenes will then commence; This shall be my confidence.

Jesus lives! To Him the throne High o’er all the world is given.
I shall go where He is gone, Live and reign with Him in heaven.
God is faithful. Doubtings, hence! This shall be my confidence.

Jesus lives! Who now despairs Naught but blasphemy’s asserted.
Grace toward sinful men He bears, That to Him they be converted.
God in Christ makes no pretense; This shall be my confidence.

Jesus lives! For me He died, Hence will I, to Jesus living,
Pure in heart and act abide, Praise to Him and glory giving.
Freely God doth aid dispense; This shall be my confidence.

Jesus lives! I know full well Naught from me His love shall sever;
Life nor death nor pow’rs of hell Part me now from Christ forever.
God will be a sure Defense; This shall be my confidence.

Jesus lives! and now is death But the gate of life immortal;
This shall calm my trembling breath When I pass its gloomy portal.
Faith shall cry, as fails each sense, Jesus is my confidence!

Lutheran Service Book 490

Let us pray for the whole Church of God in Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs:

O Lord, Father of all, we bow before You in all confidence and beg You: strengthen us by Your Spirit, ground us in Your love and fill up what we lack out of Your own abundance. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

O Great Physician, lend Your own power to the works of mercy done in the name of Your Son, that they may increase faith in the words Your servants speak. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

Faithful Father, when loss and heartache invade our homes and tempt us to doubt Your divine care, hear our cries and renew our faith and life in You. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

Lord of life and death, You have given all things into the hands of Your Son. Inspire those who bear the sword in His stead to do so in faithfulness and love for their fellow man. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

Merciful Lord, You lead us, as St. Paul before us, through many tribulations to know the fullness of Your love. Strengthen, uplift and encourage June, Karin, Ingrid, Angelika, Friederike & Oly, Detlev & Biljana, Gerry & Carmela, Matthias, Katharina, Magereth, Michael, Christoph, Gert, Matthew, Peter, Hans-Jörg, Markus, Mark, Mindy, Abigail, Gert, Michael, Jochen, Vazlav, Mario, Micheline, Maria, Tamara, Peggy & Jeremy and all who suffer – especially in Ukraine, Crimea, Georgia and Armenians in Nagorny Karabach– prisoners of war, exiles, refugees, wounded, invalids, widows and orphans, soldiers, defenders, special and armed forces on land and sea and in the air, that they may praise You for Your faithfulness and saving mercy. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

Lord of the harvest, grant that in true faith we may worthily go to Your altar to receive the very body and the true blood that Your Son has given for our redemption. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

Lord of hosts, Your saints in heaven now know as they are known and comprehend the fullness of Your love in Christ. Conduct our way through this fallen world to join them in Your heavenly presence. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.

All these things and whatever else You know that we need, grant us, Father, for the sake of Him who died and rose again and now lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God forever. Amen.

One year series prayers of the LCMS

+ Dominum vobiscum +

The Lord bless Thee, and keep Thee;

The Lord make his face shine upon Thee, and be gracious unto Thee;

The Lord lift up his countenance upon Thee + give Thee peace.

Numbers 6,24-26