Welcome!
While we are practicing social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 there is also a need to imagine what worship could look like more creatively. We will have worship on Sunday mornings at 10:00am EST on our Facebook Page and our YouTube Channel. In-Person worship attendees must wear a mask while moving around the church. Masks can be removed at individual discretion when seated or if actively eating or drinking. Streaming will continue.
Below you will find interactive bulletins for our Sunday morning services. Bulletins will include music, prayers, scripture readings, and an audio recording of the sermon. You may choose to worship on your own schedule using the resources provided or use them to follow along in the service on Facebook. If for some reason the Facebook stream stops working you can find the video on Holy Trinity’s YouTube channel.
Licensing
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church is covered under the following licenses:
- CCLI: 1510407
- OneLicense: 732293-A
- Augsburg Fortress: SAS006846
+ Today we follow Christ from triumphal entry to the cross, each waypoint of the journey marked by Jesus’ compassion for those who would betray, mock, accuse, or do violence to him. Though persecuted and beaten, Jesus the Son of God is not disgraced; instead, he asks forgiveness for those who put him to death. We have walked the Lenten pathway these forty days, each of us invited through baptism to “let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” We enter this holy week accompanying Jesus to the cross with both grief and thanksgiving in our hearts, trusting in God’s redeeming love. +
BLESSING OF PALMS
Outside on Front Lawn
Blessing of Palms
This blessing
can be heard coming
from a long way off.
This blessing
is making
its steady way
up the road
toward you.
This blessing
blooms in the throats
of women,
springs from the hearts
of men,
tumbles out of the mouths
of children.
This blessing
is stitched into
the seams
of the cloaks
that line the road,
etched into
the branches
that trace the path,
echoes in
the breathing
of the willing colt,
the click
of the donkey’s hoof
against the stones.
Something is rising
beneath this blessing.
Something will try
to drown it out.
But this blessing
cannot be turned back,
cannot be made
to still its voice,
cannot cease
to sing its praise
of the One who comes
along the way
it makes.
—Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons
PALM PROCESSION
CONFESSION & FORGIVENESS
In the name of God,
who makes a way in the wilderness,
walks with us,
and guides us in our pilgrimage.
Amen.
+ Silence is kept for reflection. +
Holy One,
we confess that we have wandered far from you:
we have not trusted your promises,
we have ignored your prophets in our own day,
we have squandered our inheritance of grace,
we have failed to recognize you in our midst.
Have mercy on us!
Forgive us and turn us again to you.
Teach us to follow in your ways,
assure us again of your love,
and help us to love our neighbor.
Amen.
Beloved in Christ,
the Word draws near to you,
and all who call out to God shall be saved.
In Jesus, God comes to you again and again
and gathers you under wings of love.
In ☩ Jesus’ name, your sins are forgiven.
God journeys with you and teaches you how to live in love.
Amen.
GATHERING HYMN: All Glory, Laud, and Honor (ELW #344 + Verses 1, 3, & 5)
Refrain
All glory, laud, and honor
to you, redeemer, king,
to whom the lips of children
made sweet hosannas ring.
1 You are the king of Israel
and David’s royal Son,
now in the Lord’s name coming,
our King and Blessed One. Refrain
3 The multitude of pilgrims
with palms before you went;
our praise and prayer and anthems
before you we present. Refrain
5 Their praises you accepted;
accept the prayers we bring,
great author of all goodness,
O good and gracious King. Refrain
Text: Theodulph of Orleans, 760-821; tr. John Mason Neale, 1818-1866, alt.
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.
HYMN OF PRAISE: Songs of Thankfulness and Praise (ELW #310 + Verses 1 & 4)
1 Songs of thankfulness and praise,
Jesus, Lord, to thee we raise;
manifested by the star
to the sages from afar,
branch of royal David’s stem
in thy birth at Bethlehem:
anthems be to thee addressed,
God in flesh made manifest.
4 Grant us grace to see thee, Lord,
present in thy holy word;
grace to imitate thee now
and be pure, as pure art thou;
that we might become like thee
at thy great epiphany,
and may praise thee, ever blest,
God in flesh made manifest.
Text: Christopher Wordsworth, 1807-1885, alt.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Everlasting God, in your endless love for the human race you sent our Lord Jesus Christ to take on our nature and to suffer death on the cross. In your mercy enable us to share in his obedience to your will and in the glorious victory of his resurrection, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
READINGS
Isaiah 50:4-9a
+ This text, the third of the four Servant Songs in Isaiah, speaks of the servant’s obedience amid persecution. Though the servant has been variously understood as the prophet himself or a remnant of faithful Israel, Christians have often recognized the figure of Christ in these poems. +
The first reading comes from Isaiah beginning at the 50th chapter.
4The Lord God has given me
the tongue of a teacher,
that I may know how to sustain
the weary with a word.
Morning by morning he wakens—
wakens my ear
to listen as those who are taught.
5The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
I did not turn backward.
6I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I did not hide my face
from insult and spitting.
7The Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
8he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who are my adversaries?
Let them confront me.
9aIt is the Lord God who helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Word of God, Word of Life. Thanks be to God.
Psalm 126
+ Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. (Ps. 31:5) +
9Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble;
my eye is consumed with sorrow, and also my throat and my belly.
10For my life is wasted with grief, and my years with sighing;
my strength fails me because of affliction, and my bones are consumed.
11I am the scorn of all my enemies, a disgrace to my neighbors, a dismay to my acquaintances;
when they see me in the street they avoid me.
12Like the dead I am forgotten, out of mind;
I am as useless as a broken pot.
13For I have heard the whispering of the crowd; fear is all around;
they put their heads together against me; they plot to take my life.
14But as for me, I have trusted in you, O Lord.
I have said, “You are my God.
15My times are in your hand;
rescue me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
16Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your steadfast love.”
Philippians 2:5-11
+ Paul quotes from an early Christian hymn that describes Jesus’ humble obedience in his incarnation as a human being, even to death, and his exaltation and glory as Lord of all. +
The second reading comes from Philippians beginning at the 2nd chapter.
5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
6who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God
as something to be exploited,
7but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
8he humbled himself
and became obedient to the point of death—
even death on a cross.
9Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
10so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
Word of God, Word of Life. Thanks be to God.
Luke 19:28-40
+ Entrance into the final days. +
The Holy Gospel according to Luke beginning at the 19th chapter.
Glory to you, O Lord.
28After he had said this, [Jesus] went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’ ” 32So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34They said, “The Lord needs it.” 35Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, 38saying,
“Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!”
39Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” 40He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE
SERMON Pastor Analyse Triolo
HYMN OF THE DAY: My Song is Love Unknown ( LBW #94+ Verses 1 & 2 )
1 My song is love unknown,
my Savior’s love to me,
love to the loveless shown,
that they might lovely be.
Oh, who am I, that for my sake
my Lord should take frail flesh and die?
My Lord should take frail flesh and die?
2 He came from his blest throne,
salvation to bestow;
but men made strange, and none
the longed-for Christ would know.
But, oh, my friend, my friend indeed,
who at my need his life did spend;
who at my need his life did spend!
Text: Samuel Crossman, c. 1624-1683
THE NICENE CREED
Let us confess our faith saying the words of the Nicene Creed.
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven; by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Drawn close to the heart of God, we offer these prayers for the church, the world, and all who are in need.
A brief silence.
We pray for the church, called to follow Jesus in the way of the cross. Make us unflinching servants of the gospel. Deliver us from hardship as we confront the forces of injustice and practice radical compassion. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
For the earth and all its inhabitants, created in love: Train us to recognize your divine goodness in the world around us. Rouse in us a reverence for creation, that we take greater care of its resources. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
For those in positions of authority called to lead with integrity and compassion: Supply them with courage and vulnerability when challenged with new ideas. Deliver them from fear that limits imagination and impedes justice. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
For those who suffer, waiting expectantly for mercy and consolation: Accompany those who feel abandoned or betrayed, defend those who are wrongly accused, and embrace those who are incarcerated or detained. Heal those who are ill especially Harry Lund, Evelyn Lund, Karen Campbell, Janice Rajgopaul, Robert Jones, Richard Minogue, Hagin Nouza and Lee Carver. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
For Christians around the world, preparing this week to journey with Jesus to the cross: Reveal to us once again the earthshaking power of humble service, unmerited forgiveness, and sacrificial love. Lead us all from death to life. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
Jesus, during Your ministry on Earth You showed Your power and caring by healing people of all ages and stations of life from physical, mental, and spiritual ailments. Be present now to people who need Your loving touch because of COVID-19. May they feel Your power of healing through the care of doctors and nurses. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
Do a new thing within us. Direct us into encounters that broaden our understanding of the human experience. Amplify voices that are ignored or devalued. Deliver us especially from the scourge of racism. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
We remember those who have died who were commended into your hands. Remember us when you come into your kingdom, and prepare a place for each of us with you in paradise. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
Accept the prayers we bring, O God, on behalf of a world in need, for the sake of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
SHARING OF CHRIST’S PEACE
The peace of Christ be with you always!
And also with you!
Let us share Christ’s peace with one another.
OFFERING MESSAGE
Please consider continuing to mail in your offering or giving online! We continue to have expenses that need to be covered during this time. We are most grateful for your generosity.
OFFERTORY HYMN: Faith of Our Fathers (ELW #812 + Verses 1 & 2)
1 Faith of our fathers, living still
in spite of dungeon, fire, and sword.
Oh, how our hearts beat high with joy
whene’er we hear that glorious word.
Refrain
Faith of our fathers, holy faith,
we will be true to thee till death.
2 The martyrs, chained in prisons dark,
were still in heart and conscience free;
and blest would be their children’s fate
if they, like them, should die for thee. Refrain
Text: Frederick W. Faber, 1814-1863, alt.
OFFERTORY PRAYER
Let us pray.
Extravagant God,
you have blessed us with the fullness of creation.
Now we gather at your feast
where you offer us the food that satisfies.
Take and use what we offer here, come among us,
and feed us with the body and blood of Christ,
in whose name we pray.
Amen.
GREAT THANKSGIVING
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
PREFACE
It is indeed right our duty and our joy that we should at all times and in all places offer thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God, through our Savior Jesus Christ; who on this day overcame death and the grave and by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life. And so, with all the choirs of angels, with the church on earth and the hosts of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
HOLY, HOLY, HOLY
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.
Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.
Remembering, therefore, his birth and life among us, his death and resurrection, we await his coming again when all things will be restored in him.
By your Spirit bless us and this bread and cup, that, held and nourished by you, we may live as your children, shining with the light of your Son.
Through him all glory and honor is yours, Almighty Father, with the Holy Spirit, in your holy Church, now and forever.
Amen
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray:
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.
INVITATION TO COMMUNION
Here is food and drink for the journey.
Take and be filled.
TABLE BLESSING & COMMUNION PRAYER
The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you in his grace.
Amen
Let us pray:
Blessed Jesus,
in this rich meal of grace,
you have fed us with your body, the bread of life.
Now send us forth to bear your life-giving hope
to a world in need.
Amen.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
FIVE BELOW FUNDRAISER
The Youth are holding a Five-Below Fundraiser. Simply bring the flier to the Five Below in NHP and 10% of your purchase total will go toward monies that the youth are donating to help kids in Ukraine. We thank the Youth for their generosity in using their fundraiser in this way.
COVID HOME TESTS
Jim Downey has donated COVID Home Tests to Holy Trinity. If your family is in need of tests they are down in the Friendship Hall.
ANNUAL GIVING STATEMENTS
If you wish to receive a printed or emailed copy of your end of year giving statement for taxes, please reach out to Carol Robinson or the Church Office.
LENTEN BIBLE STUDY
Bible Study will pause this week (4/13) for Holy Week and will resume next Wednesday (4/20) at 11am.
.Join us on Wednesday afternoons for a bible study on the Gospel of Luke.
OFFERING COUNTERS NEEDED
If you are willing to help count Offering during the month of April, please contact Ruth to sign up.
COUNCIL MEETING
Tuesday, April 12th @ 7:30pm
VIDEOGRAPHER VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
If you are interested in learning how to run the camera to stream worship services, please contact the church office. The camera is really user friendly and we would really appreciate help getting a rotation together. Please contact Ruth or Pastor Analyse to get started!
COVID HOME TESTS
Starting Tuesday, January 18th each household can order 4 COVID home tests free of charge by visiting COVIDtests.gov . It will ask you for your name and shipping address only. Please see Pastor Analyse or Denice Watkins if you need help.
Other announcements are located in the downloadable bulletin at the top of this webpage.
BLESSING
You are children of God,
anointed with the oil of gladness
and strengthened for the journey.
Almighty God,
motherly, majestic, and mighty,
☩ bless you this day and always.
Amen.
SENDING HYMN: Ride On, Ride on in Majesty (ELW #346 + Verses 1 & 2)
1 Ride on, ride on in majesty!
Hear all the tribes hosanna cry;
O Savior meek, your road pursue,
with palms and scattered garments strewed.
2 Ride on, ride on in majesty!
In lowly pomp ride on to die.
O Christ, your triumphs now begin
o’er captive death and conquered sin.
Text: Henry H. Milman, 1791-1868, alt.
DISMISSAL
What is our Mission?
Welcoming all to grow in faith; living Christ’s message of serving and loving neighbors near and far.
Go in peace. Jesus meets you on the way.
Thanks be to God.
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Bellerose 