Holy Communion Service in English
Worship Service
Lectionary Theme: Identity in Christ marked by Baptism Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
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Exodus 14:15-31 First Lesson
15. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.
16. But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground.
17. Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.
18. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.”
19. The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them.
20. It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.
21. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided.
22. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
23. The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers.
24. At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic.
25. He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” The Pursuers Drowned
26. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.”
27. So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea.
28. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained.
29. But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.
30. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
31. Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
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1 Peter 3:18-22 Second Lesson
18. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit,
19. in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison,
20. who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.
21. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
22. who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
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1 Corinthians 12:12-20 Epistle
12. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
13. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.
15. If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
16. And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
17. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
18. But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
19. If all were a single member, where would the body be?
20. As it is, there are many members, yet one body.
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John 3:1-8 Gospel
1. Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.
2. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.”
3. Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”
4. Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”
5. Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.
6. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’
8. The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”