The Sixth
Sunday Of Easter
14 May
2023
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Prelude, Welcome, and
Information Hymn #408 Come, Thou Almighty King |
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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. Psalm: Psalm 66:8-20 Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his
praise be heard, who has
kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip. For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us
as silver is tried. You
brought us into the net; you laid burdens on our backs; you let people ride over our heads; we went
through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a spacious place. I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
I will pay you my vows, those
that my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble. I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings,
with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will
tell what he has done for me. I cried
aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord
would not have listened. But truly
God has listened; he has given heed to the words of my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my
prayer or removed his steadfast love from me. |
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The Lord be with you. And
also with you. Let us pray. Almighty
and ever living God, you hold together all things in heaven and on earth. In
your great mercy receive the prayers of all your children, and give to all
the world the Spirit of your truth and peace, 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 17:22-31
A reading from the Acts of the
Apostles
Then Paul stood in front of the
Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every
way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of
your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown
god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The
God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and
earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by
human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all
mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all
nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their
existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that
they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed
he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have
our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his
offspring.’ Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the
deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and
imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human
ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has
fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man
whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him
from the dead.”
The Word of the Lord
Reading: 1 Peter 3:13-22
A reading from the first letter of
Peter
Now who will harm you if you are
eager to do what is good? But even if you do suffer for doing what is
right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be
intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready
to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope
that is in you;
yet do it with gentleness and
reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who
abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is
better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to
suffer for doing evil.
For Christ also suffered for sins
once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God.
He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which
also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in
former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah,
during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were
saved through water.
And baptism, which this prefigured,
now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God
for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has
gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and
powers made subject to him.
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 14:15-21
A reading from the Gospel of John
”If you love me, you will keep my
commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another
Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the
world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him,
because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
”I will not leave you orphaned; I am
coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you
will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know
that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my
commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be
loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
Sermon (added at the end of the document)
Hymn #392 Alleluia! Sing to Jesus
Thanks and
Offertory
Prayers
of the Church:
Come, Holy Spirit and fill the hearts of your faithful people
and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Enliven our prayers this day for
your world, your church, and for your people according to their needs.
Gracious Spirit, abide with us now and always. Strengthen our
faith as we follow Jesus in your grace each and every day. Lord, in your
mercy, Hear our prayer.
Spirit of truth, help us to know you and in you, to know what
Jesus taught. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Gracious Spirit, inspire us to know, keep, and share the
commandment of Jesus, to love one another. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Comforting Spirit, in the midst of suffering from natural
disasters, grant peace and comfort to all those people affected as well as to
those working for recovery. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Peaceful Spirit, turn the hearts of all to peace, especially in
places of war - Ukraine, Russia, and Sudan. Bless with peace all those who
suffer the terrors and dangers of violent struggle anywhere. Lord, in your
mercy, Hear our prayer.
Healing Spirit, grant life and health to all who struggle with
the COVID-19 virus, the seasonal “flu”, and the RSV virus as well as all who
work for healing in any way. Lord, in your mercy, Hear
our prayer.
Blessed Spirit, we thank you for the faithful service of our
retired pastors – Jim Garey, Tom Restine, Glenn Sellick, and Bob Zimmerman. For
them we pray. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Loving Spirit, on this Mother’s day, we remember those who
nourished us, taught us, raised us. We thank you for your Spirit in them. When
they were good examples, help us to emulate them; when they were not, help us
to move in a different direction. Lord in your mercy, Hear
our prayer.
Merciful Spirit, hear our prayers made in Jesus’ name and
spirit for those we care for and for those who have asked for our prayers …
* Lord, in your mercy, Hear
our prayer. {*Gail Mauer, Deb Kirschner, Rose Gotzmeister,
Rick Cerna, Rose Ungar, Marjorie Weber}
Holy Spirit, our Advocate, Spirit of God, hear our prayers
this day. Help us to pray. Grant what is best for us in all things as we pray
in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Hymn #781 Children
of the Heavenly Father
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.
Closing prayer
Glory to you, God, for yours is the earth;
yours the hosannas, the dying, rebirth.
Ours the rejoicing for nature reclaimed;
ours the thanksgiving to your holy name.
Ours be the telling of deeds greatly done;
yours
be the glory, O God, yours alone.
Benediction & Sending
May the God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ
fill you with every
spiritual blessing. Amen.
May the God of faithfulness
and encouragement grant you to live
in harmony with one another,
in accordance with Christ Jesus. Amen.
May the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace in believing,
so that you may abound in
hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
(Romans 15)
Hymn #543 Go, My Children, With My Blessing
Go in
peace. Serve the Lord. Thanks be to
God.
W
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Upcoming
Services for May & June:
(All services begin at 11:00am) May 21
YouTube (Easter VII) May 28
Lay-led Service at St. John’s (Pentecost Sunday) June 4
Holy Communion at St. John’s (Trinity Sunday) June
11 YouTube (Pentecost II) June
18 Holy Communion at St. John’s
(Pentecost III) June 25 YouTube (Pentecost IV) |
If you love me, you will keep my
commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another
Advocate, to be with you forever.
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In the Hebrew Bible,
there are 613 commandments that are to be followed scrupulously. Each one is to
be followed to the letter. We all know that this is not always done. In Jesus’
time, those who did not follow all those commandments were considered “sinners”
even if they were unable to follow the commandments because they could not read
or simply because they could not afford it.
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Our Gospel reading today
bring up Jesus’ commandments. What are exactly are Jesus’ commandments? I have
seen a source – one I don’t agree with – that says Jesus put forward a number
of commandments, up to 49. In a sense, that school of commentators has made
Jesus into a new Moses. The problem I see here is the reduction of the
Christian life to a situation of codes, laws, and “measuring up.” Where is
grace? Where is the freedom of the Christian? What good is the life of Jesus if
you can save yourself by ‘checking off’ a to-do list of commandments?
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Let’s understand that Jesus
did speak of commandments and even honoured the 10 Commandments found in
Exodus. He complimented the rich young man who asked what he needed to do to be
saved. Mark relates that Jesus asks if he has kept the commandments. When the
man says he has, Jesus looks at him in love and recommends sell what you own, and give the
money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow
me. (Mark 10:21b) Now we here try to
follow Jesus even though we might not have sold all we own.
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Jesus taught his
disciples to pray, saying Pray then
in this way: Our Father in heaven… (Matthew 6: 9-13) Although we use the traditional words based on the
text, this maybe an example of how to pray rather than a formula of prayer.
·
In his statements at the
Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples Do
this in remembrance of me. (Luke 22:19b) Is it a command, a piece of advice, or a
recommendation? In any event, it is how we hold and celebrate Jesus in our
communal/congregational memory.
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The best-known
commandment Jesus gave is found in the three Synoptic Gospels – you shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your
strength.” The second is this, “You shall love your
neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.’ (Mark 12:30-31) John puts it this way: I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I
have loved you, you also should love one another. (John 13:34) This shows us the way to fulfill the 10
Commandments, since loving God and loving our neighbor would lead us to observe
everything those commandments ask.
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Keeping these
commandments of Jesus – Love God, love your neighbor – is the way we love Jesus
(If you love me, you will keep my
commandments.) Do we find it odd that the way to show our love for
Jesus is to love one another? We might, and we might find the whole idea of
“grace” and the idea of “mercy” to be odd as well. When it comes to God and the
Spirit, things are rarely what we might think they would be; there will always
be surprises.
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There’s an old legend
from the time of the early Church that has John the Apostle being asked to
deliver the message in a worship service. John stood up, looked at the
congregation, and said “Love one
another!” Then he sat down. What he said was said in the spirit of the Gospel
and in the Holy Spirit of God. What else needs to be said?
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.
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