Greetings Lebanon, the rest of the week’s events.
Wednesday – 8:15am Matins, 10:00 Confession and Absolution, 1:30pm Weekday Communion Service, Lenten Evening Prayer 7pm. Pastor Porter will be presiding at the Harrisonburg Mission at 6:30pm. Thanks to Pastor J.D. for serving at Evening Prayer.
Thursday – NO WORSHIP COMMITTEE MEETING. This meeting has been canceled due to a scheduling conflict.
No Service scheduled for Annunciation on Friday, but be sure to contemplate the announcement of the birth of Christ our Lord, and His conception. What will we observe nine months from now? We will soon celebrate the Sacrifice this holy child will make for us, as he offers Himself for the sins of the world.
Scripture for the Week
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”3 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”435 And the angel answered her, l“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born5 will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Lk 1:26–39). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
Summary of Friday’s Texts
Gospel: Luke 1:26-38 Incarnate by the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin Mary, and Made Man. “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; but 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).
