Epiphany 6

Zion Lutheran Churches

Mobridge, South Dakota

February 15, 2009

Opening Hymn                 #232  Lord of My Life, Whose Tender Care

€Service of the Word page 38  

         Prayer of the Day

The Old Testament Reading - 2 Kings 5:1-14 

    Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. ² Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife.  ³ She said to her mistress, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” ⁴ Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said.  ⁵ “By all means, go,” the king of Aram replied. “I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing.  ⁶ The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: “With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.” ⁷ As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, “Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!” ⁸ When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: “Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”  ⁹ So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.  ¹⁰ Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.” ¹¹ But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.  ¹² Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage. ¹³ Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!”  ¹⁴ So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. 

      Psalm 32  page 78 

€Gospel Reading - Mark 1:40-45 

    A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” ⁴¹ Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”  ⁴² Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. ⁴³ Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning:  ⁴⁴ “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”  ⁴⁵ Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere. 

Hymn of the Day  #390  Salvation Unto Us Has Come

€Sermon Text                   2 Corinthians 1:3-7

    Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. ⁵For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. ⁶If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. 

Thought: Blessing in Suffering

         €The Apostles’ Creed   page 41

Offering

€Prayer of the Church and The Lord's Prayer 

Hymn    #491  O Master of the Loving Heart

€Benediction 

 Closing Hymn             #467:1-4  May the Mind of Christ My Savior