Bulletin

Holy Cross Lutheran Church of Wartburg

5765 Maeystown Road – Waterloo, IL 62298

Pastor Dan Ostlund

Office: 618-939-7094 – cell 618-301-6358

Office: hcwartb@htc.net, Pastor: wartburg.pastor@gmail.com

Website: www.holycrosswartburg.com

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Our Service can be found on your radio at 87.9 FM

August 24, 2025

Guests Welcome! We are delighted that you are with us for worship this morning. Consider us your church home– at least for today. We hope we will see you again soon!

We celebrate Holy Communion: In this Supper of our Lord we receive the true body and blood of Jesus Christ under the earthly forms of bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith. Since this Holy Communion is also a sign of how we commonly confess the Christian faith, we welcome to the Lord’s Table those who are confirmed members of congregations of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. If this is your first time communing with us, please speak with the pastor or an usher before the service begins. If you are a guest who has not been instructed concerning the Lord’s Supper and our church’s teaching, and desire to commune with us, we invite you to first attend our instructional classes.

Divine Service Setting 4 – page 203

Ringing of the Bell

Opening Hymn #915 Today Your Mercy Calls Us

Confession and Absolution

Please stand if you are 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 + 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, and receive the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ in the fellowship of this altar, 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 + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

C Amen.

Service of the Word

Introit Psalm 117; antiphon: Psalm 96:6a; 115:18

Splendor and majesty are before him;
    we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, all nations!
    Extol him, all peoples!
For great is his steadfast love toward us,
    and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!
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.
Splendor and majesty are before him;
    we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord!

Kyrie LSB 204

C Lord, have mercy;

Christ, have mercy;

Lord, have mercy.

Gloria in Excelsis LSB 204

C 1 To God on high be glory

And peace to all the earth;

Goodwill from God in heaven

Proclaimed at Jesus’ birth!

We praise and bless You, Father;

Your holy name, we sing—

Our thanks for Your great glory,

Lord God, our heav’nly King.

2 To You, O sole-begotten,

The Father’s Son, we pray;

O Lamb of God, our Savior,

You take our sins away.

Have mercy on us, Jesus;

Receive our heartfelt cry,

Where You in pow’r are seated

At God’s right hand on high—

3 For You alone are holy;

You only are the Lord.

Forever and forever,

Be worshiped and adored;

You with the Holy Spirit

Alone are Lord Most High,

In God the Father’s glory.

“Amen!” our glad reply.

Text: Stephen P. Starke

Salutation and Collect of the Day

P The Lord be with you.

C And also with you.

P Let us pray.

O Lord, You have called us to enter Your kingdomthrough the narrow door. Guide us by Your Word and Spirit, and lead us now and always into the feast of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

C Amen.

Sit

Old Testament Reading Isaiah 66:18–23

18“For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, 19and I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands afar off, that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. 20And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. 21And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the Lord.

22“For as the new heavens and the new earth
    that I make
shall remain before me, says the Lord,
    so shall your offspring and your name remain.
23From new moon to new moon,
    and from Sabbath to Sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
declares the Lord.”

A This is the Word of the Lord.

C Thanks be to God.

Gradual Psalm 34:9, 19, alt.

Fear the Lord, you his saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing!
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Epistle Hebrews 12:4–29

4In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?

“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
6For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”

7It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

12Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

18For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” 22But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

25See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29for our God is a consuming fire.

A This is the Word of the Lord.

C Thanks be to God.

Please stand if you are able

Alleluia and Verse

C Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

C These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

C Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Holy Gospel Luke 13:22–30

P The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the thirteenth chapter.

C Glory to You, O Lord.

22[Jesus] went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

P This is the Gospel of the Lord.

C Praise to You, O Christ.

Nicene Creed

C I believe in one God,

the Father Almighty,

maker of heaven and earth

and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,

the only-begotten Son of God,

begotten of His Father before all worlds,

God of God, Light of Light,

very God of very God,

begotten, not made,

being of one substance with the Father,

by whom all things were made;

who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven

and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary

and was made man;

and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.

He suffered and was buried.

And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures

and ascended into heaven

and sits at the right hand of the Father.

And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead,

whose kingdom will have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the Lord and giver of life,

who proceeds from the Father and the Son,

who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified,

who spoke by the prophets.

And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church,

I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins,

and I look for the resurrection of the dead

and the life + of the world to come. Amen.

Sit

Hymn of the Day #526 You Are the Way; through You Alone

Sermon Luke 13: 22-30 “A Narrow, but Gracious Entry Door”

Please stand if you are able

Prayer of the Church

Sit

Offering

Service of the Sacrament

If you are visiting and desire to receive Holy Communion, please see our

Communion statement on the front of our bulletin

Please stand if you are able

Preface LSB 208

P The Lord be with you.

C And also with you.

P Lift up your hearts.

C We lift them to the Lord.

P Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

C It is right to give Him thanks and praise.

P It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to You, O Lord, holy Father, almighty and everlasting God, for the countless blessings You so freely bestow on us and all creation. Above all, we give thanks for Your boundless love shown to us when You sent Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into our flesh and laid on Him our sin, giving Him into death that we might not die eternally. Because He is now risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity, all who believe in Him will overcome sin and death and will rise again to new life. Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and saying:

Sanctus LSB 208

C Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth adored;

Heav’n and earth with full acclaim shout the glory of Your name.

Sing hosanna in the highest, sing hosanna to the Lord;

Truly blest is He who comes in the name of the Lord!

Text: Stephen P. Starke

Lord’s Prayer

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.

The Words of Our Lord

P Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to the disciples and said: “Take, eat; this is My + body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me.”

In the same way also He took the cup after supper, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying: “Drink of it, all of you; this cup is the new testament in My + blood, which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”

Pax Domini

P The peace of the Lord be with you always.

C Amen.

Agnus Dei LSB 210

C 1 O Jesus Christ, true Lamb of God,

You take the sin of the world away;

O Jesus Christ, true Lamb of God,

Have mercy on us, Lord, we pray.

2 O Jesus Christ, true Lamb of God,

You take the sin of the world away;

Have mercy on us, Jesus Christ,

And grant us peace, O Lord, we pray.

Text: Stephen P. Starke

Sit

Distribution

Distribution Hymns

#620 Jesus Comes Today with Healing

#813 Rejoice, O Pilgrim Throng

Dismissal

Please stand if you are able

Nunc Dimittis LSB 211

C 1 O Lord, now let Your servant

Depart in heav’nly peace,

For I have seen the glory

Of Your redeeming grace:

A light to lead the Gentiles

Unto Your holy hill,

The glory of Your people,

Your chosen Israel.

2 All glory to the Father,

All glory to the Son,

All glory to the Spirit,

Forever Three in One;

For as in the beginning,

Is now, shall ever be,

God’s triune name resounding

Through all eternity.

Post-Communion Collect

A Let us pray.

Gracious God, our heavenly Father, You have given us a foretaste of the feast to come in the Holy Supper of Your Son’s body and blood. Keep us firm in the true faith throughout our days of pilgrimage that, on the day of His coming, we may, together with all Your saints, celebrate the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which has no end; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

C Amen.

Benedicamus LSB 212

A Let us bless the Lord.

C Thanks be to God.

Benediction

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 + give you peace.

C Amen.

Closing Hymn #563 Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness

Acknowledgments

Divine Service, Setting Four from Lutheran Service Book

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

OUR PRAYERS

For the sick and/or injured – Bob Lunk (recovering from surgery), Dean Reichert (heart issues), Charlene Wagner (rehab at Oak Hill)

Rob Beaulieu – (cancer, Ron Braun’s nieces husband), Brenden Harms – (hospitalized after auto accident – member at St. John’s), Bill Keel (hospice – brother-in-law of Arlene Baum and Howard & Mike Schmidt), Mike Korando (4-wheeler accident – Rob & Birdie Mallon’s son-in-law), Matthew Miller – (brain bleed after accident – Laura Shemonia’s son-in-law), Herb Phillips – (stroke- cousin of Connie Kostecki), Leo David Trost (many health challenges/born with scoliosis – grandson of Kathy Bollinger), Beth Vincent (ALS – friend of Kenny & Radar), Delbert Wittenauer (health issues – Pearl Braun’s brother)

For those in Nursing Homes, the home bound, and those unable to be with us in worship.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Serving Today

Organist: Barb Boeder

Asst Elder: Carl Brewer

Ushers: Rob Mallon & Greg Reinhardt

Acolyte: Kelsey Crook

Altar Care: Pearl Braun/Rejona Reichert

Serving Next Sunday Aug. 31, 2025

Organist: Connie Kostecki

Asst Elder: Greg Reinhardt

Ushers: Spencer Kostecki & Tyler Kostecki

Acolyte: Colton Glessner

Altar Care: Pearl Braun/Rejona Reichert

This Week at Holy Cross

Today 9:00 a.m. Worship Service

10:00 a.m. Fellowship

Monday Pastor Day Off

Thursday 9:30 a.m. Quilting Circle Meeting

Sunday, Aug. 31^th 9:00 a.m. Worship Service

10:00 a.m. Fellowship

Birthday

Kaleb Biffar Aug. 24 Collin Mudd Aug. 29

Judy Niemann Aug. 30 Gavin Kohlmeier Aug. 31

Rally Day will be Sept. 7, 2025. We will have a luncheon followed by games and others things. More information will be posted in the next coming weeks.

Sunday School will be starting on Sunday September 14, 2025.

If you have a child who would like to attend Sunday School, please let Kathy Bollinger know (573)286-7003. You may also sign up on the sheet that is posted in the Narthex of church. Needing a count on children attending so we know the number of supplies.

If anyone is interested in teaching Sunday School or volunteering to help with the children, please do so by signing up on the sheet posted in Narthex of church. Thank You.

If you have any questions or concerns, please call or text Kathy Bollinger (573)286-7003

A new member information class will begin soon. Please let Pastor know if you are interested.

As summer is ending, we at Camp Wartburg are excited to start our After School program known as AfterCamp. This is a great opportunity for students who attend Waterloo Schools to be in a Christ-centered after-school program where they can learn about God and participate in fun activities!

So, if you are Looking for a Christ-centered after-school program in Waterloo? Camp Wartburg’s AfterCamp runs from August 13 to May 22, offering safe, Christ-centered after-school care from 3:30–6:00 pm—with full-day options on many holidays and days off from school. Campers will enjoy daily Bible devotions, and a variety of fun activities, with convenient school bus drop-off. To find out more about the program contact Caitlin Dehne at 618-939-7715 ex 1 or Caitlin_dehne@lcfs.org.

If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them!

Faith Morris

Marketing Coordinator Camp Wartburg

Faith_morris@lcfs.org

618-939-7715 ext 6