The Seventh Sunday of
Easter
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Prelude, Welcome, and Information Hymn
#855 Crown Him With Many Crowns |
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The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you
all. And also with
you. Christ is risen! He
is risen indeed! Psalm 1 1Happy are those who do not follow the advice of
the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of
scoffers; 2but their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law they meditate day and night. 3They are like trees planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all
that they do, they prosper. 4The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the
wind drives away. 5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the
judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6for the Lord watches over the way of the
righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. This is
the feast of victory for our God.
Alleluia. Power, riches, wisdom and strength, Sing with all the
people of God For the Lamb who was slain has begun his reign. Alleluia. This is the feast of victory for our God, |
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The Lord be with you. And
also with you. Let us pray together. Gracious and glorious God, you
have chosen us as your own, and by the powerful name of Christ you protect us
from evil. By your Spirit transform us and your beloved world, that we may
find our joy in your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. |
Reading:
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
A reading from the book of the Act of the Apostles
15In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd
numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, 16“Friends,
the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold
concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus— 17for
he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 21So
one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus
went in and out among us, 22beginning from the baptism of John
until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness
with us to his resurrection.” 23So they proposed two, Joseph
called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24Then
they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of
these two you have chosen 25to take the place in this ministry
and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26And
they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the
eleven apostles.
The Word of the Lord
Reading:
1 John 5:9-13
A reading from the first letter of John
9If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this
is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son.
10Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts.
Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the
testimony that God has given concerning his Son. 11And this is
the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12Whoever
has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have
life. 13I write these things to you who believe in the name of
the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
The Word of the Lord.
Gospel
Verse:
Alleluia! Those who love me
will keep my word, and my Father will love them and we will come to them and
make our home with them. Alleluia! (John 14:23)
Gospel Reading: John 17:6-19
A reading from the Gospel of John
6”I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world.
They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7Now
they know that everything you have given me is from you; 8for
the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them
and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent
me. 9I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of
the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are
yours. 10All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have
been glorified in them.
11And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am
coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me,
so that they may be one, as we are one. 12While I was with
them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and
not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the
scripture might be fulfilled. 13But now I am coming to you, and
I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in
themselves. 14I have given them your word, and the world has
hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to
the world. 15I am not asking you to take them out of the world,
but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. 16They do not
belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.
17Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18As you
have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19And
for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in
truth.
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Sermon
(added at the end of the document)
Hymn #392 Alleluia! Sing to Jesus
Thanks and Offertory
Prayers
of the Church:
Trusting that new life is ours today through the risen Jesus, we offer
our prayers to God.
[Short pause]
n
Gracious God of resurrection, you give yourself to
creation; you give yourself through creation.
Increase our awareness of your giving, that we may grow in gratitude. God
of new life, Hear our prayer.
n
Gracious God of resurrection, your world is not
only hurting, your world is intentionally self-destructive. Remind us of
your love for your world as we live
and serve in your world. God
of new life,
Hear our prayer.
n
Gracious God of resurrection, you create your
church in the world, and send us to the world. Breathe your Spirit into
us, that we may love as you love. God of new life,
Hear our prayer.
n
Gracious God of resurrection, you call your people
to live resurrection life in this Good Friday world. Strengthen your
people in pandemic isolation, in Gaza and Jerusalem fighting, in racialized
communities, and in all the broken corners of the world, that your love may be
experienced and shared. God of new life,
Hear our prayer.
n
Gracious God of resurrection, you give yourself to
the sick, the oppressed, the under employed, and all who are tempted to give up
hope. Inspire us to give ourselves in the same way, that health and peace
may become visible. God of new life,
Hear our prayer.
n
Gracious God of resurrection, in your “giving love”
for the world, we catch a glimpse of our own calling. May we come to
understand ourselves as also given for the sake of the world. God of new
life, Hear our prayer.
n
Gracious God of resurrection, bless our homes and
our town with your peace. Help us all to find common ground for the common
good. God of new life, Hear our prayer.
n Gracious God of resurrection, bless our Retired
Rostered (not serving congregations): Jack Dressler, Jim Garey, Tom Ristine, Jo
von Schmeling, Glen Sellick, Bob
Zimmerman, Paul Sodtke God of new life, Hear our prayer.
Hear
us, gracious and loving God, for the sake of our gracious and living Saviour,
Jesus the Christ.
Amen.
Hymn #478 Father, We Thank You
The
Lord’s Prayer
Finally let us pray for all things as
our Lord would have us ask:
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.
Lord, now you let your servant go in peace;
your
word has been fulfilled.
My own eyes have seen the salvation
which
you have prepared
in
the sight of every people:
A light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.
Hymn #655 Son of
God, Eternal Savior
Benediction and Sending
The God of hope, who brought again from the dead
that great shepherd of the sheep, Jesus Christ,
fill us with all joy and peace in believing!
Amen.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Go in peace. Serve the Lord. Thanks
be to God!
·
The passage
we hear this morning is from the Last Supper discourse of Jesus. It’s a prayer
to his Father and a lesson to his disciples. It takes a few chapters. I always
find it odd that through-out John’s version of the Last Supper, there is no
eating! John’s agenda is rather different.
·
There is a
lot of talk about “the world” in this passage. We have been told that “the
world” is a place to escape and move away from for more spiritual concerns. The
word Jesus uses is one that is often found in the Gospels as a term for the
place of sin, death, and corruption rather than the Kingdom of God as a place
of life and holiness. Over history, we have been warned about ‘the world, the
flesh, and the devil’ as sources of temptation and failure in the life of the
Spirit.
·
However John
uses that same word in a different way. Right from the beginning of his Gospel,
John uses the word “Cosmos” to describe all of creation. That is
what this word means and although some Christian writings speak of escaping
“the world”, John makes no bones about saying that God created the world and
that Jesus came into the world for its salvation. In telling of Jesus’ birth,
John even used the word for un-redeemed and even sinful human life: “Flesh.”
·
Jesus was in
the world, became a flesh-ly person like all the rest of us and set himself and
his disciples on a mission within the world as he found it.
·
Since Jesus
speaks these words in prayer at the Last Supper, he is about to undergo both
suffering and death that would reveal the character of the world he and his
disciple lived in, the same one we live in. The disciples were and are to carry
on that mission in a broken and often hostile world that opposes and often
finds no value in what we are about as disciples of Jesus Christ. That world,
the one Jesus entered and in which he preached the love of God to all would
arrest him and nail him to a wooden cross. His disciples might expect no less.
·
This entire
passage is not a parable or a miracle story or teaching of wisdom like the
Sermon on the Mount. This entire passage is a prayer, Jesus pleading with his
Father for protection, support, and strength for all the disciples. He knows
that they will need that protection and support to carry on the mission he was
given and now had passed on to his followers.
·
There is
something we all should know: this prayer is for us as we are here today. As
Jesus prayed then, he prays even now for all of us and our mission to be his
hands and feet in the world, a world that suffers from oppression, fear, and
hate as well as isolation and loneliness from a pandemic that we cannot see the
end of. Jesus continually prays for us,
every last one of us.
·
With that in
mind, we can continue the mission that is given to us and we can do it in the
assurance that living or dying, we are the Lord’s. We are baptized in the name
of the Triune God and we live each day in the hope that the bath of baptism
brings. We go into each day with the courage that the grace of God brings. We
know that the world and all this is in it belongs to God and we know that we do
as well.
As
you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
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