3/15/26 Traditional Service

AS WE GATHER In the season of Lent, we follow Jesus, moving ever closer to His Passion and cross. By listening to His Word and receiving His body and blood, we learn to see Him rightly. In the Old Testament Reading, Israel is shown to be a failure as God’s servant: “He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear” (Isaiah 42:20). Israel is blind and deaf to the truth. God’s true servant is the One who suffers (see Isaiah 52–53). That Suffering Servant will open the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf. In the Epistle, believers are called “children of light” (Ephesians 5:8) and called to walk in the Light. Believers walk in the Light who is Christ (John 9:5) as they wait for His glory to be fully revealed: “when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you’ ” (Ephesians 5:13–14).