Author: Kathy Erat

Trinity Lutheran Church
1354 South Otsego Avenue
Gaylord, Michigan 49735
Church Phone: 989-732-4816
Pastor’s cell phone: 608-395-8029
Rev. Joseph W. B. Polzin, Pastor
E-mail: secretary@trinitygaylord.com
pastorjoepolzin@gmail.com
Church Website: www.trinitygaylord.com
Office Hours:
Monday through Friday, 9-1p.m.
OUR PURPOSE
…is to LOVE GOD, LOVE OTHERS, AND SERVE THE WORLD by worshiping the Lord Jesus, bringing our members into Christ-like maturity, and equipping them through Word and Sacrament for their mission and ministry. We go heart to heart into the world with Jesus, sharing His love, caring for one another, praying, and bringing the lost into a relationship with Christ, by the working of the Holy Spirit.
A Stephen Ministry Congregation
June 24, 2018
The Nativity of St. John the Baptist
9:00 a.m. Worship Service
WORSHIP NOTES FOR MEMBERS AND VISITORS
We welcome all who worship here today. May you feel the love that God has for you, and may God bless us all through our worship together.
Guests please fill out the red side of the Guest/Member Card and pass it to the center aisle. Please take a brochure in the pew rack for information about Trinity. If you want to know more, feel free to speak to our pastor or elder on duty, or mark the appropriate box on the Guest/Member card.
Members please fill out the black side of the Guest/Member card and pass it to the center aisle.
If standing is difficult, feel free to be seated during any portion of the service.
Pew Bibles and Hymnals: Our order of worship is from the Lutheran Service Book, and is printed in the bulletin for your convenience. If you prefer, we encourage you to use a hymnal to follow the liturgy or hymns, and page numbers have been included for your reference. Also, we encourage members to bring their own Bibles to church, or use the ones found in the pew.
T ORDER OF SERVICE T
(The liturgy is from Divine Service Setting four LSB pg. 203ff)
GREETINGS
Please stand and greet one another in the name of the Lord, saying, “Peace be with you,” as a sign of reconciliation and of the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Matt. 5:22–24; Eph. 4:1–3)
OPENING HYMN
Comfort, Comfort Ye My People LSB 347
Public domain
CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION
Please stand as able
The sign of the cross may be made by all in remembrance of their baptism.
P In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C Amen.
P Our help is in the name of the Lord,
C who made heaven and earth.
P If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?
C But with You there is forgiveness; therefore You are feared.
P Since we are gathered to hear God’s Word, call upon Him in prayer and praise, let us first consider our unworthiness and confess before God and one another that we have sinned in thought, word, and deed, and that we cannot free ourselves from our sinful condition. Together as His people let us take refuge in the infinite mercy of God, our heavenly Father, seeking His grace for the sake of Christ, and saying: God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
C Almighty God, have mercy upon us, forgive us our sins, and lead us to everlasting life. Amen.
P Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son to die for you and for His sake forgives you all your sins. As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C Amen.
T SERVICE OF THE WORD T
INTROIT Luke 1:68, 76-7; Malachi 3:1
P Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me.
C And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.
P Blessèd be the Lord God of Israel,
C for he has visited and redeemed his people.
P And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
C for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
P to give knowledge of salvation to his people
C in the forgiveness of their sins
P because of the tender mercy of our God,
C whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
P to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
C to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen.
P Behold, I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me.
C And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.
KYRIE LSB 204
HYMN OF PRAISE
GLORIA IN EXCELSIS LSB 204
SALUTATION AND COLLECT OF THE DAY LSB 205
P The Lord be with you.
C And also with you.
P Let us pray.
Almighty God, through John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, You once proclaimed salvation.
C Now grant that we may know this salvation and serve You in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life;
P through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C Amen.
Please be seated
OLD TESTAMENT READING Isaiah 40:1–5
(A voice cries in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord.)
1Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
3A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
L This is the Word of the Lord.
C Thanks be to God.
SECOND READING Acts 13:13–26
(John had a part in God’s plan of salvation.)
13Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, 14but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say it.” 16So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said:
“Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. 17The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. 18And for about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. 19And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. 20All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ 23Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. 24Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’
26“Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.
L This is the Word of the Lord.
C Thanks be to God.
Please stand as able
ALLELUIA AND VERSE LSB 205
HOLY GOSPEL Luke 1:57–80
P The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the first chapter.
C Glory to You, O Lord.
(Zechariah speaks regarding God’s plan at John’s birth.)
57Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.” 61And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered. 64And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, 66and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.
67And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
68“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
69and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
70as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
75in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
78because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
79to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
80And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
P This is the Gospel of the Lord.
C Praise to You, O Christ.
APOSTLES’ CREED LSB 207
C I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day He rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Christian Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life T everlasting. Amen.
Please be seated
CHILDREN'S TALK
(We invite children ages 3 through 4th grade to come forward for the Children's Talk. Please join us in singing “Jesus Loves the Little Children” as they return to their seats.)
SERMON HYMN
When All the World Was Cursed LSB 346
© 1941 Concordia Publishing House. Used by permission: LSB Hymn License .NET, no. 100011411. Public domain
SERMON
NOISY OFFERING
(Tin buckets will be passed prior to our regular offering. We invite you to put your pocket change in these buckets to support our local Food Pantry.)
Please stand as able
OFFERING
Please stand as able
OFFERTORY LSB 192-3
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
LORD’S PRAYER LSB 209
C 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.
BENEDICAMUS AND BENEDICTION LSB 212
P Let us bless the Lord.
C Thanks be to God.
P The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you with favor and T give you peace.
C Amen.
CLOSING HYMN
Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding LSB 345
Public domain
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SENDING WORDS
P We go to live for Jesus!
C We go to share His Love
Acknowledgments
Divine Service, Setting Four from Lutheran Service Book
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.
Next Week’s Readings:
Old Testament Reading Lamentations 3:22-33
Epistle Reading 2 Corinthians 8:1-9
Holy Gospel Mark 5:21-43
TRINITY LUTHERAN CHURCH
MESSAGES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
JUNE 24, 2018
Altar flowers today are given to the glory of God by Gene & Jean Seibel in celebration of their 50th anniversary.
Noisy Offering: Today we will have a “noisy offering” to benefit the Otsego County Food Pantry. Buckets will be passed just prior to our regular offering collection, and we ask that you consider dropping your pocket change in the buckets as they pass, thereby helping feed the hungry in our community. All funds collected in these buckets will go to the Otsego County Food Pantry.
Bible Studies: Monday evening at 6:45pm led by Rev. Paul Schneider in the fellowship hall.
Men's Ministry Breakfast: Our next Saturday Morning Men’s Breakfast will meet Saturday June 30th from 8 to 10 am in the Trinity Fellowship Hall. (They will be meeting on the last Saturday of each month.) We will watch a 45min presentation entitled “Shadow Mission”. In this 45-minute session from the 2013 New Canaan Society San Francisco Weekend, John Ortberg works through the story of Esther, sharing how you can be faithful in living out the work you've been called to. This is as a great opportunity for Christian men to get together for fellowship, food and the sharing of experiences, hobbies and interests. Let’s grow together in our faith while becoming better husbands, fathers, grandfathers and ambassadors of Christ. Please let us know if your attending, Sign-Up Sheet on the board in the Narthex or contact Ken Mertz@ 949 466 5760.
Cancer & Friends support group meets the fourth Tuesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. Our next meeting is June 26th in the fellowship hall. Our guest speaker is Diane South. (Please see info. on Diane on the shelf in the Narthex.) This group is for Cancer survivors, patients, caregivers, spouse, family, friends and loved ones. All of us can use support at some time There is more information available on the shelf in the narthex or on the church web site. You can also contact Elaine Raschke by email elaineraschke@gmail.com or call the church office.
Vacation Bible Adventure: We had a wild ride at Splash Canyon Vacation Bible Adventure in June. In those three days, 25 children have learned about God’s promises through the Wild River Opening and Closing events, River Run Storytelling, Plunge in Bible Challenges experiments, Fireside snacks, Sandbar Crafts, White Water Games, and Otter Preschool activities. We would like to thank our many volunteers who gave of their precious time and many talents, (many of whom used their vacation time from work): Pastor Paul Schneider, the emcee extraordinaire; Pastor Joe Polzin, the Bible Promise scientist; Jennie Polzin, the Otter Preschool Leader; Jenny Jolin, the Bible Story Leader; Jean Beach, the Craft Designer and Leader; Dr. Tom beach and Paula Beach, the Game Creators and Leaders; June Weber, the Chef of delicious snack, Jen Martin our River Designer; Terri Raithel, Joan Bigelow, Jean Seibel, and Pastor Ken Bernthal, our registration and security personnel; marge Kunisch, our Photographer; and our Crew Leaders and Room Assistants: Helen VanDusen, Laura Beach, Judy Anderson, Joann Whitney, Jennifer Martin, Carla Elenz, Kathy Erat, Scott Purgaric, Joyce Goodrich, Karen Schneider, Ann Mertz and all of our student assistant!!! Each of You made this event happen for so many! We thank the congregation for your prayers a financial support to lead our children to God in the Bible Adventure mission. Nancy
Annual Dual-Parish Picnic: Save the Date! July 22nd will be our Annual Dual-Parish Picnic for Trinity and Mt. Hope. This year, it will be hosted at Mt. Hope Lutheran Church in Grayling. The picnic will follow Mt. Hope's 11am service, around 12:30 pm. Join us for a great day, great food, and great fellowship. See you there! There is a sign up sheet on the board in the narthex.
Portals of Prayer for both the current quarter and the next quarter can be picked up on or above the narthex shelf..
The Lawn Cutting Sign-Up Sheet is posted on the narthex bulletin board. Please sign up for a week of your choice. The church has a riding mower to cut the grass, so the equipment is here. If many sign up, the work load doesn’t fall to only a few.

Please contact the office with updates to the prayer list. People will remain on the prayer list for 4 weeks before being removed. It they need to remain on the list, please keep Elaine informed of any updates. This will help us to have a more accurate list.
Thanks for your cooperation!
REMEMBER IN YOUR PRAYERS:
Those who continue to grieve the passing of loved ones:
Those with upcoming surgery:
Those recovering from surgery: Tom Davis, Julie Ohlrich, Sandy Smith.
Those with health concerns: Elmira Affelt, Grant Bliss, Hope Buchinger, Bob Breen, Laurie Breen, Joyce Goodrich, Megan Goodrich, Brenda Hart, Sascha Katinka, Heather Kinberg, Zoyie Larson, Ruth Luebs, Jennifer Martin, Julie Ohlrich, Richard Ohlrich, Jack Osantowski, Gabe Nehmer, Camon.
Those diagnosed with cancer: Doug Arego, Carl Bliss, Blaine Colwell, Roxy Mohr, Jim Nehmer, Hope Osantowski, Bill Polzin.
SERVING IN GOD’S HOUSE TODAY
Pastor Pastor Joe
Piano/Organist Tom & Jean Beach
Elder on Duty Ken Mertz
Ushers Jim Kunisch, John & Judi Stutzman
Lay Reader Judi Stutzman
Greeters Bob & Kathy Erat
Coffee Servers Nancy Ely, June Weber
Counters Elaine Raschke, Carolyn Cox
Altar Care Jeanine Boldry, Sharon Kwapis
Children’s Talk Nancy Ely
Children’s Church
THIS WEEK AT TRINITY
June 24 Sunday
9:00 a.m. Worship Service –Pastor Joe
Noisy Offering
Fellowship time after the service (Fellowship Hall)
10:30 a.m. Children’s Sunday school today
June 25 Monday
6:45 p.m. Bible Study (Led by Rev. Paul Schneider)
June 26 Tuesday
5:30 p.m. Cancer & Friends Support Group
June 27 Wednesday
10:00 a.m. Tutoring class
7:00 p.m. Stephen Ministry Training
June 28 Thursday Pastor in Grayling
9:30 a.m. Nehemiah Group
June 29 Friday
June 30 Saturday
8:00 a.m. Men’s Ministry Breakfast (Fellowship Hall)
July 1 Sunday
9:00 a.m. Worship Service – Holy Communion - Pastor Joe
Fellowship time after the service (Fellowship Hall)
10:30 a.m. Children’s Sunday school (Sunday School Room)
(Please note after the service on June 24th Pastor Joe will be leaving for
the Michigan District Convention in Ann Arbor. He will return to work
on June 27th.)

THIS WEEK AT TRINITY
June 24 Sunday
9:00 a.m. Worship Service –Pastor Joe
Noisy Offering
Fellowship time after the service (Fellowship Hall)
10:30 a.m. Children’s Sunday school today
June 25 Monday (Office Closed)
6:45 p.m. Bible Study (Led by Rev. Paul Schneider)
June 26 Tuesday
5:30 p.m. Cancer & Friends Support Group
June 27 Wednesday
10:00 a.m. Tutoring class
7:00 p.m. Stephen Ministry Training
June 28 Thursday Pastor in Grayling
9:30 a.m. Nehemiah Group
June 29 Friday
June 30 Saturday
8:00 a.m. Men’s Ministry Breakfast (Fellowship Hall)
July 1 Sunday
9:00 a.m. Worship Service – Holy Communion - Pastor Joe
Fellowship time after the service (Fellowship Hall)
10:30 a.m. Children’s Sunday school (Sunday School Room)
(Please note after the service on June 24th Pastor Joe will be leaving for
the Michigan District Convention in Ann Arbor. He will return to work
on June 27th.)

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