This is part of the worship series
"The Lord, Our Shepherd"
Introduction
Lent 1 | Lent 2 | Lent 3 | Lent 4 | Lent 5
Palm Sunday | Maundy Thursday | Easter
Home Devotions
FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Scripture
Hebrews 12:7–11
Sermon
“Comforting Discipline”
Sermon Ideas
Psalm 23 brings together the ideas of comfort and discipline. Though they often seem to be at odds with one another, the Bible teaches that they go together. According to Hebrews 12, the presence of God’s discipline in our lives is actually a reason for comfort. Through the uses of a shepherd’s rod and staff (as explained in Phillip Keller’s book A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23) we were able to see various forms and expressions of God’s discipline in our life. We used the terms encourager and challenger to describe two of the roles God plays for us, and which God wants us to perform for one another in his name.
Song Suggestions
“Cry of My Heart” Butler
“My Jesus, I Love Thee” Featherstone
“You, Lord, Are Both Lamb and Shepherd” Dunstan (also available as an anthem by Al Fedak entitled “Christus Paradox,” GIA G-5463)
“Step by Step” Beaker
Litany of Confession
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Reader 1: |
Israel is a scattered flock that lions have chased away. —Jeremiah 50:17 |
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Reader 2: |
My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. —Jeremiah 50:6 |
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People: |
We all, like sheep, have gone astray. —Isaiah. 53:6 |
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Reader 1: |
Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? —Luke 15:4 |
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Reader 2: |
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. —Matthew 9:36 |
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People: |
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way. —Isaiah. 53:6 |
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Reader 1: |
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds we have been healed. —1 Peter 2:24 |
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Reader 2: |
For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls. —1 Peter 2:25 |
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People: |
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. —Isaiah 53:6 |
Wednesday "Strolling With the Shepherd" Service
Gathering Litany
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord.
Let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving,
and extol him with music and song.
For the Lord is the great God,
the great king above all Gods.
Come, let us bow down in worship,
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
—Psalm 95
Hymn
“Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us” Thrupp, Lyte
Opening Prayer
Scripture Reading for two voices with Sung Refrain
Psalm 22:1–11 with "What Wondrous Love" Anon.
[The text and music for the sung refrain comes from the first eight measures of the stanzas of “What Wondrous Love” from S. Mead’s, A General Selection, 1811, P.D. This reading also appears in the hymnal Lift Up Your Hearts, #165 (Faith Alive, 2013).]
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Reader 1: |
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. |
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Reader 2: |
Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. |
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Sung: |
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul! What wondrous love is this, O my soul! |
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Reader 1: |
But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.” |
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Sung: |
When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down, when I was sinking down, sinking down… |
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Reader 2: |
Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. |
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Sung: |
To God and to the Lamb I will sing, I will sing, to God and to the Lamb I will sing. |
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Reader 1: |
I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! |
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Reader 2: |
For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help. From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows. The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him— may your hearts live forever! |
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Readers 1&2: |
All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— those who cannot keep themselves alive. |
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Sung: |
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on, and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on; and when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be, and through eternity I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on, and through eternity I’ll sing on. |
A Time of Reflection
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A Time of Prayer
Parting Scripture
I Peter 1:6–9
Closing Prayer
Song
“Beautiful Savior” Seiss
Revised Common Lectionary
Years A, B, C: Holy Week—Good Friday
Year A: Lent—Fourth Sunday in Lent
