​​​​​​​​​​​​​2ND SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
SUNDAY, JUNE 22ND, 2025

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INTRODUCTION​

This Sunday’s texts paint startling pictures of the horrific nature of sin. The
     church’s repeated celebration of holy communion counters that tragic reality in a
     continued showing forth of the death of Jesus until he comes again. It is a
     dramatic declaration of “how much God has done for you.”

PRAYER OF THE DAY

O Lord God, we bring before you the cries of a sorrowing world. In your mercy set
     us free from the chains that bind us, and defend us from everything that is evil,
     through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.​

FIRST READING

ISAIAH 65:1-9
The prophet announces God’s impatience. The people’s self-absorption is
     idolatry, and images of practices that displease God fill this reading. Like a
     vintner who crushes the grape to release the wine, God will use Israel’s exile to
     establish a new community of the faithful.

1 I was ready to be sought out by those who did not ask,
to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
to a nation that did not call on my name.
2 I held out my hands all day long
to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
following their own devices;
3 a people who provoke me
to my face continually,
sacrificing in gardens
and offering incense on bricks;
4 who sit inside tombs
and spend the night in secret places;
  who eat the flesh of pigs,
  with broth of abominable things in their vessels;
  5 who say, “Keep to yourself;
  do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”
  These are a smoke in my nostrils,
  a fire that burns all day long.
  6 See, it is written before me:
  I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
  I will indeed repay into their laps
  7 their iniquities and their ancestors’ iniquities together,
  says the Lord;
  because they offered incense on the mountains
  and reviled me on the hills,
  I will measure into their laps
  full payment for their actions.
  8 Thus says the Lord:
  As the wine is found in the cluster,
  and they say, “Do not destroy it,
  for there is a blessing in it,”
  so I will do for my servants’ sake
  and not destroy them all.
  9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob
  and from Judah inheritors of my mountains;
  my chosen shall inherit it,
  and my servants shall settle there.​

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PSALM

PSALM 22:19-28
(Response) In the midst of the assembly I will praise you. (Ps. 22:22)

19 But you, O Lord, be not far away;
O my help, hasten to my aid.
20 Deliver me from the sword,
my life from the power of the dog.
21 Save me from the lion’s mouth!
From the horns of wild bulls you have rescued me.
22 I will declare your name to my people;
in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.
(Response) In the midst of the assembly I will praise you. (Ps. 22:22)

23 You who fear the Lord, give praise! All you of Jacob’s line, give glory.
Stand in awe of the Lord, all you offspring of Israel.
24 For the Lord does not despise nor abhor the poor in their poverty;
        neither is the Lord’s face hidden from them;
but when they cry out, the Lord hears them.
25 From you comes my praise in the great assembly;
I will perform my vows in the sight of those who fear the Lord.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied,
Let those who seek the Lord give praise! May your hearts live forever!
(Response) In the midst of the assembly I will praise you. (Ps. 22:22) 

27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
all the families of nations shall bow before God.
28 For dominion belongs to the Lord,
who rules over the nations.

(Response) In the midst of the assembly I will praise you. (Ps. 22:22)

SECOND READING

GALATIANS 3:23-29
For Paul, baptism is a powerful bond that unites people not only with God but
     with other believers. Those who call themselves children of God experience a
     transformation that removes prejudices of race, social class, or gender in favor of
     true unity in Christ.

23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until
     faith would be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ
     came, so that we might be reckoned as righteous by faith. 25 But now that faith
     has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you
     are all children of God through faith. 27 As many of you as were baptized into
     Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek;
     there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you
     are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s
     offspring, heirs according to the promise.

​​​​GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Alleluia. Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you. Alleluia. (Luke 8:29)

GOSPEL READING

LUKE 8:26-39
     Jesus’ mission includes foreigners and his authority extends to the casting out of
     demons. Some who witness Jesus’ work are seized with confusion and fear, but the
     man who was healed is commissioned to give testimony to God’s mercy and power.
 
26 Then [Jesus and his disciples] arrived at the region of the Gerasenes, which is
     opposite Galilee. 27 As he stepped out on shore, a man from the city who had
     demons met him. For a long time he had not worn any clothes, and he did not live
     in a house but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down
     before him, shouting, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High 
     God? I beg you, do not torment me,” 29 for Jesus had commanded the unclean
     spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept
     under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds
     and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) 30 Jesus then asked him, “What is
     your name?” He said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. 31 They
     begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

     32 Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding, and the demons
     begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 Then the
     demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd stampeded
     down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

     34 When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the
     city and in the country. 35 Then people came out to see what had happened, and
     when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone
     sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they became
     frightened. 36 Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been
     possessed by demons had been healed. 37 Then the whole throng of people of
     the surrounding region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, for they
     were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38 The man
     from whom the demons had gone out begged that he might be with him, but
     Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and declare how much
     God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how
     much Jesus had done for 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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BULLETIN FOR SUNDAY, JUNE 22ND, 2025

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