​​​​​​​​​​​​​11TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
SUNDAY, AUGUST 24TH, 2025

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INTRODUCTION​

Remember the sabbath day. Call the sabbath a delight. This is the Lord’s day,
     and the Lord will do for us what the Lord does: feed us, forgive us, help and heal
     us. Rejoice at all the wonderful things God is doing.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

O God, mighty and immortal, you know that as fragile creatures surrounded by
     great dangers, we cannot by ourselves stand upright. Give us strength of mind
     and body, so that even when we suffer because of human sin, we may rise
     victorious through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.​

FIRST READING

ISAIAH 58:9b-14
God promises those who have returned from exile that where justice and mercy prevail,
the ruins will be rebuilt and light will rise in the darkness. It is a day for new beginnings.

9b If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
10 if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your needs in parched places
and make your bones strong,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water
whose waters never fail.
12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.

13 If you refrain from trampling the Sabbath,
from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
  if you honor it, not going your own ways,
serving your own interests or pursuing your own affairs;
  14 then you shall take delight in the Lord,
  and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
  I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,
  for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.​

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PSALM

PSALM 103:1-8
(Response) The Lord crowns you with mercy and steadfast love. (Ps. 103:4)

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me, bless God’s holy name.
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all God’s benefits—
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases;
4 who redeems your life from the grave
and crowns you with steadfast love and mercy;
(Response) The Lord crowns you with mercy and steadfast love. (Ps. 103:4)

5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like an eagle’s.
6 O Lord, you provide vindication
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 You made known your ways to Moses
and your works to the children of Israel.
8 Lord, you are full of compassion and mercy,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

(Response) The Lord crowns you with mercy and steadfast love. (Ps. 103:4)

SECOND READING

HEBREWS 12:18-29
 Using images of Moses, the writer presents a striking vision of the new covenant
     of God made possible in Christ. There is no longer fear; only awe in the new
     promise in Christ into which we are invited.

18 You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and
     darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice
     whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them.
     20 (For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal
     touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was
     the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”) 22 But you have come to Mount
     Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to
     innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn
     who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the
     righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to
     the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

     25 See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking, for if they did not escape
     when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we
     escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven! 26 At that time his voice
     shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only
     the earth but also the heaven.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the
     removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be
     shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot
     be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable
     worship with reverence and awe, 29 for indeed our God is a consuming fire.

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​​​​GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Alleluia. The crowd was rejoicing at the wonderful things that Jesus was doing. Alleluia. (Luke 13:17)

GOSPEL READING

LUKE 13:10-17
Jesus heals a woman on the sabbath, offering her a new beginning for her life.
     When challenged by a narrow reading of the sabbath command, Jesus responds
     by expanding “sabbath work” to include setting people free from bondage.

10 Now [Jesus] was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And
     just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen
     years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 12 When
     Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your
     ailment.” 13 When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight
     and began praising God. 14 But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because
     Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days
     on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured and not on
     the Sabbath day.” 15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does
     not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and
     lead it to water? 16 And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom
     Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the
     Sabbath day?” 17 When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame, and
     the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things being done by him.

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LICENSES & EXPIRATION DATES
Worship Service Content is used via permission through Augsburg Fortress Liturgies

Annual License #SB144368. The next Subscription Renewal Date is 2/28/2026.
Our Hymns and Worship Music are used via permission through CCLI One
License #11327166. The next Subscription Renewal Date is 1/31/2026.

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​SERMONS​
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