BLC Chapel Services

Order of Service:

• Prelude
• Hymn 197 - My Hope is Built On Nothing Less (View)
• Acts 4:13-20: Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name.” So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
• Devotion
• Prayer
• Hymn 199 - Rise, Thou Light of Gentile Nations (View): vv. 1, 2, 5, 6
• Blessing
• Postlude

Service Participants: Rev. Prof. Mark DeGarmeaux (Preacher), Laura Matzke (Organist)

Order of Service:

• Prelude
• Matthew 28:18-20: Jesus came and spoke to (His disciples) and said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth: Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
• Devotion
• Prayer
• Hymn 195 - On Galilee's High Mountain (View): vv. 5, 6
• Blessing
• Postlude

Service Participants: Rev. Shawn Stafford (Preacher), Mathias Barents (Organist)

Order of Service:

• Prelude
• Hymn 193 - Jesus Shall Reign Where'er the Sun (View): vv. 1, 3, 4, 6
• Psalm 96:1-6: Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples. For the Lord is great and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens. Honor and majesty are before Him; Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
• Devotion
• Prayer
• Hymn 200 - There Many Shall Come From the East and the West (View): vv. 1, 2, 4, 7
• Blessing
• Postlude

Service Participants: Rev. Dr. Timothy Schmeling (Preacher), Rev. Prof. Mark DeGarmeaux (Organist)

Order of Service:

• Prelude: "If Thou Be Near," by J.S. Bach
• Responsive Reading: P: In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Gen. 1:1 C: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” Gen. 1:26-28 In His infinite wisdom, God has chosen to create the human race with specific gender distinctions and the ability to procreate by the gift of sexual intimacy. He has created a unique complimentary nature to the roles of men and women. As Dr. Martin Luther writes, “God established marriage as the first of all institutions, and with it in view He did not create man and woman to be like each other.” Our human sexuality is by God’s design. The chromosomal make-up of man and woman is part of this order from God. The believer acknowledges this: He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still preserves them. Luther’s Small Catechism Likewise, marriage between man and woman is not a human invention. It is a gift from God which He has stamped into nature itself, and has been recognized and practiced throughout time in all lands and cultures. All of society rests upon the foundation of marriage in God’s order. He who finds a wife finds what is good, and receives favor from the Lord. Prov. 18:22 Due to the Fall into Sin by our first parents, marriage and human sexuality suffered under the curse of sin, which continues to plague mankind today. Satan recognizes the great significance of God’s design for marriage for both the temporal and spiritual kingdoms. He continues to rage against it, knowing that when he spoils marriage, he undermines all order of society. In order to protect and preserve this gift, God has inscribed the sixth commandment on the hearts of all people: You shall not commit adultery. Ex. 20:14 We should fear and love God so that we lead a chaste and decent life in word and deed, and that husband and wife should love and honor the other. Luther’s Small Catechism Because of the corruption of our human nature, Man continues to pervert the wonderful gift of human sexuality in a variety of ways: fornication, adultery, the use of pornography, co-habitation outside of marriage, homosexuality and living under the pretense of another gender. Though our culture may give approval to such sin, God’s Word remains steadfast: Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Heb. 13:4 Jesus said, “I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matt. 5:28 Paul explains that, due to man’s depravity in sin, “God gave men over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another… their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.” Rom. 1 However, God chose not to throw humanity aside forever. Despite man’s fallen condition, God in His mercy sent His Son to redeem humanity back to Himself. By His sacrifice on the cross, God Himself took the punishment for all sin, granting us full forgiveness and grace through Christ. As Isaiah writes, “The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Our Savior used the setting of the wedding at Cana to enact His first public miracle displaying His divine nature. God continues to bless marriage and through this institution provides the gifts of mutual love, companionship, the procreation of children, and a way of restraint for the sins of lust. Along with marriage He has established the Christian home as Heaven’s embassy for handing down the true faith from one generation to the next.
• Hymn 190 - O Blest the House, Whate'er Befall (View): vv. 1, 2, 3
• Responsive Reading: Through the gift of faith in Christ, God the Holy Ghost claims the heart, mind and body of those He has called into the Kingdom of Light, and sets them apart from the unbelieving world. By the “washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Ghost,” we have been claimed by God as His own dear children through Christ. Paul encourages the Christian to now live as a redeemed child of God, when he writes, “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.” 1 Cor. 6:18-20 Even to those who once were previously living in such sins, St. Paul writes, “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” 1 Cor. 6:9 By faith we have now been made members of the flock of the Good Shepherd, who says, “My sheep hear My voice, I know them and they follow Me, and I give them eternal life.” It has been challenging for believers of all time to live in a culture and society that embraces and encourages sin, which poses a great danger to our faith. God desires that we use our influence not to encourage sin, but rather to help those who are trapped in it to turn to God in repentance and be restored by His grace, through a spirit of humility and Christian love. I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will. Rom. 12:1-2 * Prayer Let us pray: Almighty God, who has created man and woman, and joins them together in marriage, thereby symbolizing the mystery of the union between Your Son, Jesus Christ, and His bride, the Church; we humbly pray: Do not let this blessed work and ordinance be set aside and brought to nothing in our day, but graciously protect and preserve it. Especially we ask that your blessing would rest upon those who are united at Your altar. So rule them by Your Holy Spirit that they may live together to Your glory and their own welfare in this life, and in the Life which is to come. Keep all of us in Your grace, and finally bring us to our eternal home, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
• Hymn 190 - O Blest the House, Whate'er Befall (View): vv. 4, 5
• Blessing
• Postlude: "La Réjouissance" by G.F. Handel

Service Participants: Chaplain Don Moldstad (Preacher), Prof. Ben Faugstad (Director), BLC Chamber Orchestra (Instrumental Group)

Order of Service:

• Blest are Those Who Love You: Singers: Blest are those who love You, Happy are those who follow You, Blest are those who seek You, O God. All: Blest are those who love You, Happy are those who follow You, Blest are those who seek You, O God. S: Happy all those who fear the Lord, and walk in God’s pathway; You will find what you long for, the riches of our God. A: Blest are those who love You, Happy are those who follow You, Blest are those who seek You, O God. S: Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the midst of your home, your children flourish like olive plants rejoicing at your table. A: Blest are those who love You, Happy are those who follow You, Blest are those who seek You, O God. S: May the blessing of God be yours all the days of your life, may the pace and the love of God live always in your heart. A: Blest are those who love You, Happy are those who follow You, Blest are those who seek You, O God.
• Deuteronomy 6:4-9: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
• Devotion
• Prayer
• Hymn 570 - Now the Light Has Gone Away (View)
• Blessing
• Postlude

Service Participants: Chaplain Don Moldstad (Preacher), Cyril Palm (Singer), Rev. Prof. Dennis Marzolf (Pianist), William Stottlemyer (Singer)

Order of Service:

• Prelude
• The Confession of Sin (p. 120)
• Hymn 184 - My Faith Looks Up To Thee (View)
• The Versicles (pp. 120-121)
• Ephesians 5:22-28: Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
• Homily
• Hymn 48 - in Peace and Joy I Now Depart (View): v. 1 Choir, v. 2 All, v. 3 Choir, v. 4 All
• The Kyrie (p. 124)
• The Lord's Prayer (p. 125)
• Hymn 584 - Grant Peace, We Pray, in Mercy, Lord (View)
• The Collect (pp. 125-127)
• The Benedicamus (p. 127)
• The Benediction (p. 127)
• Hymn 569 - Now Rest Beneath Night's Shadow (View): vv. 1, 4, 6

Service Participants: Chaplain Don Moldstad (Preacher), Rev. Prof. Mark DeGarmeaux (Organist), Aly Pettis (Singer), Camille Bauer (Singer)

Order of Service:

• Prelude
• Hymn 189 - in House and Home Where Man and Wife (View): vv. 1, 2
• Genesis 27:46-28:5: And Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife of the daughters of Heth, like these who are the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?” Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, and said to him: “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. “May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples; And give you the blessing of Abraham, To you and your descendants with you, That you may inherit the land In which you are a stranger, Which God gave to Abraham.” So Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Padan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
• Devotion
• Prayer
• Hymn 189 - in House and Home Where Man and Wife (View): vv. 3, 4
• Blessing
• Postlude

Service Participants: Rev. Tim Hartwig, President, Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary (Preacher), Laura Matzke (Organist)

Order of Service:

• Prelude
• Hymn 188 - Hear Us Now, Our God and Father (View): vv. 1, 2
• John 2:7-11: Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.
• Devotion
• Prayer
• Hymn 188 - Hear Us Now, Our God and Father (View): vv. 3
• Blessing
• Postlude

Service Participants: Rev. Prof. Brian Klebig (Preacher), Hannah Caauwe (Organist)

Order of Service:

• Prelude
• Hymn 176 - How Shall the Young Secure Their Hearts (View)
• Luke 2:46-49: Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?”
• Devotion
• Prayer: Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay Close by me forever and love me, I pray. Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care, And take us to heaven to live with Thee there. Amen.
• Hymn 185 - Within the Father's House (View): vv. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7
• Blessing
• Postlude

Service Participants: Chaplain Don Moldstad (Preacher), Gabrielle Gillespie (Organist)

Order of Service:

• Technical note: The audio recording for this service is substandard.
• Prelude
• Hymn 178 - I Pray Thee, Dear Lord Jesus (View)
• Genesis 18:17-19: And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”
• Prayer
• Hymn 181 - of the Father's Love Begotten (View): vv. 1, 4, 6, 7
• Blessing
• Postlude

Service Participants: Rev. Prof. Nick Proksch (Preacher), Rev. Prof. Dennis Marzolf (Organist)