The Holy Innocents
December 28, 2025
Divine Service Setting III – LSB 184
Hymn: What Child Is This LSB 370
Stand
Confession and Absolution
Exhortation (p.184)
Corporate Confession (p.184)
Service of the Word
Introit (responsively) Psalm 31:1, 3, 5; antiphon: Rev. 7:14b
P These are the ones coming out of the great tribu- | lation.*
They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood | of the Lamb.
C In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be | put to shame;*
in your righteousness de- | liver me.
P For you are my rock and my | fortress;*
and for your name’s sake you lead me and | guide me.
C Into your hand I commit my | spirit;*
you have redeemed me, O Lord, | faithful God.
C Glory be to the Father and | to the Son*
and to the Holy | Spirit;
as it was in the be- | ginning,*
is now, and will be forever. | Amen.
P These are the ones coming out of the great tribu- | lation.*
They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood | of the Lamb.
Kyrie (p.186)
Gloria in Excelsis (p. 187)
Collect of the Day
P Let us pray.
Almighty God, the martyred innocents of Bethlehem showed forth Your praise not by speaking but by dying. Put to death in us all that is in conflict with Your will that our lives may bear witness to the faith we profess with our lips; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C Amen.
Sit
Old Testament Reading: Jeremiah 31:15–17
15Thus says the Lord:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.”
16Thus says the Lord:
“Keep your voice from weeping,
and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work,
declares the Lord,
and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
17There is hope for your future,
declares the Lord,
and your children shall come back to their own country.”
L This is the Word of the Lord.
C Thanks be to God.
Gradual Psalm 71:4a, 5a, 6a, b, 8
C Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the | wicked.*
For you, O Lord, | are my hope.
Upon you have I leaned from be- | fore my birth;*
you are he who took me from my | mother’s womb.
My mouth is filled | with your praise,*
and with your glory | all the day.
Epistle Reading: Revelation 14:1–5
1Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2And I heard a voice from heaven like the roar of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, 3and they were singing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. 4It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These have been redeemed from mankind as firstfruits for God and the Lamb, 5and in their mouth no lie was found, for they are blameless.
L This is the Word of the Lord.
C Thanks be to God.
Stand
Alleluia (p.190)
Holy Gospel: Matthew 2:13–18
13When [the wise men] had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” 14And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 17Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
18“A voice was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”
L This is the Gospel of the Lord.
C Praise be to Thee, O Christ.
Nicene Creed (p.191)
Sit
Hymn: Shepherd of Tender Youth LSB 864
Sermon
Stand
Offertory (p.192)
Offering
Prayer of the Church
Service of the Sacrament
Preface (p.194)
Sanctus (p.195)
The Lord’s Prayer (spoken)
The Words of Institution (p.197)
Pax Domini
Agnus Dei (p.198)
Sit
Distribution of the Sacrament
Distribution Hymns
O Savior Rend the Heavens Wide LSB 355
Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying LSB 516
Stand
Nunc Dimittis (p.199)
Thanksgiving (p.200)
Post Communion Collect (p.201)
Benedicamus & Benediction
Sit
Announcements
Hymn: It Came upon the Midnight Clear LSB 366
Acknowledgments
Divine Service, Setting Three 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.
Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2025 Concordia Publishing House.
Prayers – For the home-bound: Doris Vilhauer, Betty Zundel, Charlotte Scepaniak, Ken & Dorothy Maas, Betty Meints, Verdena Dabbert, Lloyd Jerde, Phyllis Lassanske, Maralyn Hoops, Muriel Pigors, Larry & Sandra Grieben, and Leroy Neuhardt.
For those sick, injured, or recovering: Nathaniel Wendt, Michael Wendt, Phyllis Yeske, Kevin Fehn, Daryl Swanhorst, Tom Hanson, Dorothy Maas, Annikki Marttila, Roger Zastrow, Keith Underberg, Doris Larson, Dwight Buntrock, Carol Krumm, Butch Podoll, Russ Brandt, Kathie Lassanske, and Betty Meints.
For the children we sponsor through Mission Haiti: Michelet Voltaire, Michel Djoury, and Orgea Djouna.
For new mother Sara (Scepaniak) Wieman, and baby Waylon.
For Pastor Andreasen & family, and all our LCMS missionaries.
St. John’s
Ushers: John Bisbee & Lucas Daggett
Next Week: Roger & Sharon Zastrow
Last Week: Attendance – 25; Offering $840
Our Savior
Elder: Glen Rausch
Altar Guild: Trisha Rausch & Family
Acolytes: Caleb Siebert & Aurian Tschappat
Last Week: Attendance – 121, Christmas Pageant – 84
Offering – General Fund $3,220; Christmas Pageant $394;
from St. John’s $3,171.38; Poinsettias $446; Total $7,231.38
Schedule for the Week
Sunday St. John’s Divine Service – 8:00 am
Our Savior Bible Study – 9:45 am
Our Savior Divine Service – 10:45 am
Monday Mat Ladies – 1:00 pm
Tuesday Coffee & Confessions – 6:30 am
Wednesday No Wed. Evening Activities
Next Sunday St. John’s Service of the Word – 8:00 am
St. John’s Bible Study – 9:15 am
Our Savior Divine Service – 10:45 am
Bible Bowl practice for the youth - 12:00 pm
Announcements
Poinsettias – Thank you to all who ordered poinsettias, and thank you to the Mat Ladies for setting them out. You may take your poinsettia home if you haven’t done so already. There are plastic bags for them in the narthex.
Christmas Break – There will be no Sunday School on December 28 or January 4
th. There will be no Wednesday evening activities on December 31
st.
Epiphany Divine Service – Wednesday, January 7
th at 6:30 pm at Our Savior.
Bible Bowl – Youth 6
th grade and up will begin practicing for the Bible Bowl on January 4
th after the service at Our Savior. This year they’ll be studying 1 Samuel 16 – 2 Samuel, 1 Kings 2, Psalm 51, and from the Catechism – Confession. There will be a sign-up sheet on the kitchen counter if anyone would like to provide them with a lunch on one of the Sundays they’ll be practicing.
Saturday Bible Study – 9:00-11:00 am at Our Savior on Jan. 10
th. Topic: The real presence of Christ in the Old Testament.
Installation of Officers for the new year will take place during the service on January 11
th.
Men’s Club – We will meet Monday, January 12
th at 7:00 pm at Our Savior.
Mission Trip – The South Dakota District is looking for five to seven volunteers to go on a mission trip to Brasov, Romania to help Pastor Andreasen with a project. A building there needs paint and some repairs. The trip will take place around April 24 to May 3. The deadline to sign up is January 20
th. If you are interested, contact Eric Johnson at 605-216-6701 for more information.
Christian Foundations Class: Pastor Schopp will be teaching a ten-week adult education class on Tuesdays, Jan 27 – Mar 31, 2026 at Our Savior. This class is both for those without a church home and also for members who would like a fresher on the basics of the Christian faith. There is no cost and all materials are provided. There are invitations in the narthex if you know of someone you would like to invite (and perhaps attend with them). Please RSVP through the church office.
LCMS Stewardship Ministry – Christmas 1
Galatians 4:4 – “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law.” Jesus was born under the law so that He might fulfill the law in our place. His perfect righteousness is credited to us. And it is this free forgiveness of sins and this crediting of righteousness that sets us free to follow our Lord in godly living. Since we are freed from the law’s condemnation, we are freed from any mercenary attitudes. Now that the Lord has shown His love to us in saving us, we freely show our thanks to Him in generosity, humility and kindness.
Building Healthy Families: It’s not too late! Your partnership in LFS’ life ministry of pregnancy counseling and adoption, grief support, marriage, family and mental health counseling for families and all pro-family, pro-marriage, pro-life, and pro-faith efforts provided without government funds (or strings) in your state is still needed - and still possible! Make a gift online TODAY through the Donate page on the LFS web site at
www.LutheranFamilyService.org, by VENMO to @LutheranFamilyService, or by mail to LFS/Admin Office, 409 Kenyon Road, Suite C, Fort Dodge, IA 50501. Thank you for your partnership all year, and especially today as we wrap up 2025 and look forward to what the New Year holds. From your brothers and sisters in Christ at LFS, a Blessed and Happy New Year!
Lutheran Family Service www.LutheranFamilyService.org
Email:
info@lutheranfamilyservice.org or call 605-271-1081
Main Street Living – 10:00 AM- This Is the Life –
“Puzzle Club Christmas” – The Puzzle Club must solve a missing person mystery before Christmas. 10:30 AM- Rev. Christopher McCarthy, pastor at First & Emmanuel Lutheran Churches in Wall, SD, presents the message
“All Powerful God in Humble Human Vesture” based on Matthew 2:13-23. Watch Main Street Living on Sunday mornings on KDLT NBC TV. Past shows are archived at
www.mainstreetliving.com.
The Lutheran Hour – Christ will return–maybe this year, maybe even today! Guest Speaker Rev. Germán Novelli Oliveros helps us to prepare for the blessings and challenges of a new year in his message
“Get Ready for the Best” based on Luke 12:36-37. Listen to The Lutheran Hour on Sunday mornings at 9:00 on KAWZ 88.1 FM, or on Sirius-XM Family Talk 131 at 9:00. Sermons are also archived on the website
www.lutheranhour.org.
STUDY GOD’S WORD IN 2026… The Word of the Lord Endures Forever is a daily 15-minute, verse-by-verse Bible study produced by Lutheran Public Radio and hosted by LCMS Pastor Will Weedon. You can listen by phone, (618) 262-0078. You can also listen at
thewordendures.org, the LPR mobile app and a podcast provider.
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod’s Statement on Close Communion:
The Lord’s Supper is celebrated at this congregation in the confession and glad confidence that, as He says, Our Lord gives into our mouths not only bread and wine but
His very body and blood to eat and drink for the forgiveness of sins and to strengthen our union with Him and with one another. Our Lord invites to His table those who trust in His words, repent of all sin, and set aside any refusal to forgive and love as He forgives and loves us, that they may show forth His death until He comes.
Because those who eat and drink our Lord’s body and blood unworthily do so to their great harm and because Holy Communion is a confession of the faith which is confessed at this altar, any who are not yet instructed, in doubt, or
who hold a confession differing from that of this congregation and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and yet desire to receive the Sacrament, are asked to first speak with the Pastor.
(CTCR,
Admission to the Lord’s Supper, Nov 1999)
