The Fifth Sunday of Easter
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Prelude, Welcome, and Information Hymn #708 Jesu,
Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love |
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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 22:25-31 From you
comes my praise in the great congregation; my vows I will pay before those who fear
him. The poor
shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise
the Lord. May your hearts live forever! All the
ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. For
dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. To him,
indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to
the dust, and I shall live for him. Posterity
will serve him; future generations will be told about the
Lord, and
proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying
that he has done it. 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 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. O God, you give us your Son as the
vine apart from whom we cannot live. Nourish our life in his resurrection,
that we may bear the fruit of love and know the fullness of your joy, through
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen. |
Reading:
Acts 8:26-40
A reading from the book of the Act of the Apostles
Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south
to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness
road.) 27So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian
eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of
her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28and
was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet
Isaiah. 29Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this
chariot and join it.” 30So Philip ran up to it and heard him
reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are
reading?” 31He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”
And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 32Now the
passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led
to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not
open his mouth. 33In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the
earth.” 34The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you,
does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35Then
Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him
the good news about Jesus. 36As they were going along the road,
they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to
prevent me from being baptized?” 38He commanded the chariot to
stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and
Philip baptized him. 39When they came up out of the water, the
Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went
on his way rejoicing. 40But Philip found himself at Azotus, and
as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the
towns until he came to Caesarea.
The Word of the Lord
Reading:
1 John 4:7-21
A reading from the first letter of John
Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who
loves is born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does
not know God, for God is love. 9God’s love was revealed among
us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live
through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God but that
he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Beloved,
since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12No
one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is
perfected in us. 13By this we know that we abide in him and he
in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the
Savior of the world. 15God abides in those who confess that
Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16So we have
known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who
abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
17Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on
the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. 18There
is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with
punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 19We
love because he first loved us. 20Those who say, “I love God,”
and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother
or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. 21The
commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their
brothers and sisters also.
The Word of the Lord.
Gospel
Verse:
Alleluia! Jesus said: I am
the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. Alleluia! (John
10:14)
Gospel Reading: John 15:1-8
A reading from the Gospel of John
[Jesus said] ”I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2He
removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit
he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been
cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me as
I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides
in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5I am the
vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much
fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6Whoever does
not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are
gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in
me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done
for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much
fruit and become my disciples.
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Sermon
(added at the end of the document)
Hymn #342 There In God’s Garden
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, the risen Jesus
appears to us in our locked rooms, in our enforced isolation, bringing us life,
and enabling us to bear the fruit of love even in our trying
circumstances. God of new life, Hear our prayer.
n
Gracious God of resurrection, like a vine carries
nutrients and water to the branches, so you provide grace and life to us.
Increase our awareness of the gifts you give, that we may live in
gratitude. God of new life, Hear
our prayer.
n
Gracious God of resurrection, you grant us your
life, so that we may share it. Increase our faith when we are pruned,
that we may trust your presence in our pain and discomfort, and grow into new
ways of being. God of new life, Hear
our prayer.
n
Gracious God of resurrection, you fill your church,
your people, with your very presence. Grant us the grace to respond to
your call wherever we are, and remind us that we are your people, especially
when we cannot gather. God of new life, Hear our prayer.
n
Gracious God of resurrection, we bring our hurting
world to your loving care. We pray for those impacted by the pandemic,
especially the millions in India who are suffering. We pray for those
affected by the injustice of poverty, especially those who depend on public
shelters in this time of isolation. We pray for those who suffer under
the cloud of racism, especially the people of the First Nations, the first to
inhabit this land. And we pray that we would be
agents of healing and restoration in this, your world. God of new life, Hear our prayer.
n
Gracious God of resurrection, in life and in death,
we are yours. Fill us with faith, inspire us with love, send us in
hope. God of new life, Hear our
prayer.
n Fill our bishop, Michael, with your wisdom. Bless as
well our National Bishop, Susan and the ELCIC support staff. God of new life, Hear
our prayer.
n Hear
us, gracious and loving God, for the sake of our gracious and living Saviour,
Jesus the Christ.
Amen.
Hymn #359 Where
Charity and Love Prevail
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.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son,
and
to the Holy Spirit,
as it
was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.
Amen
Hymn #881 Let All
Things Now Living
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!
·
We all know
by now that Jesus was fond of using farming and growing examples in his
preaching. They were something that so many of his hearers would understand and
be familiar with. Many of us would understand in the same way even today.
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The figure of
the vine and the branches is one we’ve all known for years. We can visualize
this and can imagine the bearing of fruit, usually a lovely bunch of grapes.
Jesus speaks of both “abiding” or remaining with him and bearing fruit in an
active, energetic way.
·
Jesus also
speaks of “pruning” the branches of the vine to assure the bearing of fruit.
Damaged or unhealthy parts have to be cut away and often less fruitful parts
are removed to permit the more fruitful branches to be even more fruitful.
·
Despite the
necessity of this, it is not always easy and painless. When applied to us as disciples,
it reminds us that even though “God loves me just as I am”, change will come.
Simply because God does so love us, we will not remain just as we are. There
will be pruning, clipping, and removal of what is harmful in the long run.
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If we truly
are interested in our gardens, we do not treat them with indifference. Our
gardens require care and nurturing; they cannot be left all alone. If we truly
care for the pets or other animals we have, we care for them, feed them, bathe
them, groom them, and exercise them. We do not simply leave them alone.
·
If we treat
the things we care for in our lives in just such a way, will God treat us
indifferently or with an attitude of “laissez-faire”? This is where the
understanding of pruning for further growth comes in.
·
Please
understand that this does not mean that every pain or trouble or sickness is
sent by God to somehow “prune” us or teach us some sort of lesson. Some of
those things are terrible and some are simply annoying, and even though any of
them might be used by God to prune us to have us bear more fruit, it isn’t
always the case. I hesitate to say it this way but we have to see if those
episodes in our lives bear any sort of real fruit to know if God’s Spirit was
within them.
·
This reading
seem to have two points: we have to “abide” or remain in God and we are to
continually and actively bear fruit. The two might appear contradictory but
they are actually two sides of the same coin. We can’t move forward or grow
without “abiding” in the Lord and we can’t abide in God and not move forward.
·
Discipleship
is not a static thing. Following Jesus means to move along with him and touches
everything we do and say in our lives. Nor is it a lonely road to travel. Later
in John’s Gospel, Jesus says this By
this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another. (John 13:35)
·
The love we
bear for each other and for the world is the fruit we bear, before, during, and
after any pruning. And that pruning must be expected… for our own sake and for
the sake of all around us in the Gospel mission we’re all called to.
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.
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