Calendar

Color: Purple\r\rOld Testament: Genesis 12:1–9\rPsalm: Psalm 121; antiphon: v. 8\rEpistle: Romans 4:1–8, 13–17\rGospel: John 3:1–17\rIntroit: Psalm 105:4–7; antiphon: v. 8\rGradual: Hebrews 12:2\rVerse: John 3:16\r\rThe Word of the Gospel Opens the Eyes of Faith and Fixes Them on Christ Jesus\r \rThe Lord called Abram (Abraham) to leave his home and go to a land that God would show him. He also promised to make of Abram “a great nation,” to bless him and make his name great as a blessing to “all the families of the earth” (Gen. 12:2–3). “Abram went, as the Lord had told him” (Gen. 12:4), and in Canaan “he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord” (Gen. 12:8). He “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (Rom. 4:3). Here the grace of God is manifested, that He “justifies the ungodly” (Rom. 4:5), not by works of the Law, but through faith in His promises. He removes all of our sins and lawless deeds through Jesus Christ, the offspring of Abraham in whom all the Lord’s promises are realized. This forgiveness of sins is the Word of the Gospel, the voice of the Holy Spirit, which “gives life to the dead” (Rom. 4:17). It opens the eyes of faith to behold Christ Jesus, the Son of Man lifted up on the cross, “that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14–15).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Purple\r\rOld Testament: Exodus 17:1–7\rPsalm: Psalm 95:1–9; antiphon: v. 6\rEpistle: Romans 5:1–8\rGospel: John 4:5–26\rGospel: John 4:5–30, 39–42\rIntroit: Psalm 84:1–4; antiphon: v. 5\rGradual: Hebrews 12:2\rVerse: John 4:23a\r\rWe Worship the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Spirit and Truth of His Gospel\r \rThough the Lord had brought them out of Egypt, “all the congregation of the people of Israel” grumbled against Him because “there was no water for the people to drink” (Ex. 17:1). Despite their quarreling, the Lord graciously provided for them. He did not strike the people for their sins, but by the hand of Moses He struck the rock instead and brought forth water for the people. In the same way, living water flows from the pierced side of Christ at “about the sixth hour” (John 4:6; 19:14), when He is lifted up on the cross for the sins of the world. He is “the gift of God” (John 4:10), the well from which the Holy Spirit is poured out and becomes in His people “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14). By this grace in which we stand, being at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, we “worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). “We rejoice in hope of the glory of God” because “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom. 5:2, 5).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Purple\r\rOld Testament: Isaiah 42:14–21\rPsalm: Psalm 142; antiphon: v. 5\rEpistle: Ephesians 5:8–14\rGospel: John 9:1–41\rGospel: John 9:1–7, 13–17, 34–39\rIntroit: Psalm 27:4–6; antiphon: Psalm 25:15\rGradual: Hebrews 12:2\rVerse: Psalm 36:9\r\rBy His Word of the Gospel, Jesus Calls Us Out of the Darkness into His Marvelous Light\r \rThe Lord is grieved by the spiritual blindness of His people, yet in mercy He does not forsake them. He restrains His anger and keeps His peace, until He opens their ears and eyes to hear and see Him. “For his righteousness’ sake,” He magnifies His Word and makes it glorious in the coming of Christ Jesus (Is. 42:21). Jesus turns “the darkness before them into light” (Is. 42:16) because He is “the light of the world” (John 9:5). The incarnate Son of God does the works of His Father and displays the divine glory in His own flesh “while it is day,” until that night “when no one can work” (John 9:4). By the washing of water with His Word, He opens the eyes of the blind and grants rest to the weary. Therefore, though “at one time you were darkness,” now “you are light in the Lord” (Eph. 5:8). By our Baptism into Christ, we live in the eternal day of His resurrection, wherein He shines upon us. As often as we fall back into the darkness of sin, He calls us by the Gospel to “awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead” (Eph. 5:14).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: White\r\rOld Testament: 2 Samuel 7:4–16\rPsalm: Psalm 127; antiphon: v. 1a\rEpistle: Romans 4:13–18\rGospel: Matthew 2:13–15, 19–23\rIntroit: Psalm 89:1, 5, 15–16; antiphon: Psalm 128:1\rGradual: Psalm 45:6–7b\rVerse: Matthew 1:24a\r\rSt. Joseph, Guardian of Jesus\r \rIt was King David’s idea to build a permanent house for the ark of the covenant and the Lord’s name (2 Sam. 7:5–7). The temple he planned was built by King Solomon, but it was never really David or Solomon who housed and protected God. “The Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house” (2 Sam. 7:11). St. Joseph was not Jesus’ true father, since the child “conceived in [Mary] is from the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:20). The Church commemorates him instead as the “guardian of Jesus.” Heeding the word of God’s angels, protecting the unborn Christ, sparing the infant Jesus from Herod’s wrath, seeing Him “out of Egypt” again (Matt. 2:13–23), and bringing Him up “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4), Joseph is an example for all Christian fathers and guardians. But as with David “housing” the Lord who made a house for him, Joseph was never really the guardian. Christ was. His name is “Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). The “offspring” promised to Abraham and renewed in the promises to David is the One “who gives life to the dead” (Rom. 4:16–18). He is David’s King, Abraham’s Lord, Joseph’s Guardian and our Savior.\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Purple\r\rOld Testament: Ezekiel 37:1–14\rPsalm: Psalm 130; antiphon: v. 7\rEpistle: Romans 8:1–11\rGospel: John 11:1–45\rGospel: John 11:17–27, 38–53\rGospel: John 11:1–53\rIntroit: Psalm 116:1–4, 8; antiphon: v. 15\rGradual: Hebrews 12:2\rVerse: John 11:25\r\rJesus Christ Is the Resurrection and the Life\r \rThe illness and death of Lazarus happened “that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (John 11:4). Jesus’ miracle of raising Lazarus prompted His arrest and crucifixion, whereby He would die “for the nation” and gather “into one the children of God who are scattered abroad” (John 11:51–52). As He called Lazarus from the tomb and commanded others to “unbind him, and let him go”(John 11:44), Jesus also calls us and releases us from the bondage of sin and death. We would not “submit to God’s law,”nor could we “please God”(Rom. 8:7–8), but “he condemned sin” in His own flesh so “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us” (Rom. 8:3–4). Now through the Gospel, “the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells” in us (Rom. 8:11). His Word breathes His Spirit into our mortal flesh, animating us with His own life. As His ministers preach according to His divine command, the Lord Jesus calls us from the grave into the good land that He gives us (Ezek. 37:12, 14).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: White\r\rOld Testament: Isaiah 7:10–14\rPsalm: Psalm 45:7–17; antiphon: v. 6\rEpistle: Hebrews 10:4–10\rGospel: Luke 1:26–38\rIntroit: Psalm 34:1–3; antiphon: Isaiah 62:11b\rGradual: Psalm 45:6–7b\rVerse: Luke 1:46b–47; 2:30–31\rVerse: Luke 1:38a\r\rIncarnate by the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary and Made Man\r \r“It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb. 10:4). But “nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). He opens ears to hear and wombs to conceive. “Let it be to me according to your word,” says St. Mary (Luke 1:38). The Most High who once dwelt in the tabernacle comes to overshadow Mary, who believes the angel’s “annunciation” (Luke 1:35). “The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Is. 7:14). In Jesus Christ, God is with us — even from the moment of His conception. This miracle, that Mary should become the mother of God, will be a sign against the proud in Israel; it is the fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah and David. “I delight to do your will, O my God,” says Christ (Ps. 40:8). From Mary’s flesh, the Most High has prepared a body for His Son (Heb. 10:5), a body to be offered “once for all” as the sacrifice that alone takes away sins and gives a righteousness apart from the Law (Heb. 10:10). Through His conception, life and death, we have been sanctified. God favors us in this child. And like the blessed Virgin Mary, blessed “are those who hear the word of God and keep it” (Luke 11:28).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Red\r\rOld Testament: Isaiah 50:4–9a\rPsalm: Psalm 118:19–29; antiphon: v. 26\rPsalm: Psalm 31:9–16; antiphon: v. 5\rEpistle: Philippians 2:5–11\rGospel: Matthew 27:11–66\rGospel: John 12:20–43\rGospel: Matthew 26:1—27:66\rIntroit: Psalm 24:7–10; antiphon: Psalm 118:26\rGradual: Hebrews 9:12a, c, 15a; Psalm 111:9a\rVerse: Philippians 2:8b\r\rNow Is the Hour When the Son of Man Is Glorified\r \r“Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming.” He comes in gentle humility, “sitting on a donkey’s colt,” yet also as the King of Israel “in the name of the Lord” (John 12:13, 15). His royal glory is faithful obedience and self-sacrificing service “to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8). The love of God is manifested in the cross and Passion of His Son for the salvation of sinners. Since He has borne our sins and suffered our death, “God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name” (Phil. 2:9), and He exalts us in His resurrection. Our Lord did not hide His face “from disgrace and spitting” (Is. 50:6), but He trusted His God and Father, who raised Him from death and the grave and exalted Him to His right hand. This same King Jesus now comes to us in gentle humility in His Supper, where He feeds us with His body and cleanses and covers us with His blood, so that “after his resurrection” we also shall rise and enter the holy city (Matt. 27:52–53).\r\rLectionary summary © 2021 The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Used by permission. http://lcms.org/worship

Color: Red\r\rOld Testament: Isaiah 50:5–10\rPsalm: Psalm 36:5–10; antiphon: v. 9\rEpistle: Hebrews 9:11–15\rGospel: John 12:1–23\rGospel: Matthew 26:1—27:66\rIntroit: Psalm 31:10–11, 13–15; antiphon: v. 9\rGradual: Hebrews 9:12a, c, 15a; Psalm 111:9a\rVerse: John 12:23b

Color: Red\r\rOld Testament: Isaiah 49:1–7\rPsalm: Psalm 71:1–14; antiphon: v. 12\rEpistle: 1 Corinthians 1:18–25\rEpistle: 1 Corinthians 1:18–31\rGospel: Mark 14:1—15:47\rGospel: John 12:23–50\rIntroit: Psalm 42:3, 9–10; antiphon: vv. 5–6a\rGradual: Hebrews 9:12a, c, 15a; Psalm 111:9a\rVerse: John 12:23b