For the week of May 5 – 6th Sunday of Easter
Morning Prayer: Faithful God, make our hearts bold with love for one another. Pour out Your Spirit upon all people, that we may live Your justice and sing in praise the new song of Your marvelous victory. Amen. (Lectionary prayers)
Opening Hymn #62 All Creatures of Our God and King
- All creatures of our God and King, lift up your voice and with us sing, O praise ye! Alleluia!
O brother sun with golden beam, O sister moon with silver gleam!
O praise ye! O praise ye! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! - O brother wind, air, clouds, and rain, by which all creatures ye sustain, O praise ye! Alleluia!
Thou rising morn, in praise rejoice, ye lights of evening, find a voice!
O praise ye! O praise ye! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! - O sister water, flowing clear, make music for thy Lord to hear, Alleluia! Alleluia!
O brother fire who lights the night, providing warmth, enhancing sight,
O praise ye! O praise ye! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! - Dear mother earth, who day by day unfoldest blessings on our way, Alleluia! Alleluia!
The flowers and fruits that in thee grow, let them God's glory also show!
O praise ye! O praise ye! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! - All ye who are of tender heart, forgiving others, take your part, O praise ye! Alleluia!
Ye who long pain and sorrow bear, praise God and on Him cast your care!
O praise ye! O praise ye! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! - And thou, our sister, gentle death, waiting to hush our latest breath, Alleluia! Alleluia!
Thou leadest home the child of God, and Christ our Lord the way has trod,
O praise ye! O praise ye! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! - Let all things their Creator bless, and worship Him in humbleness, O praise ye! Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son, and praise the Spirit, Three in One!
O praise ye! O praise ye! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Psalm 98
The Lord has made known His victory; He has revealed His vindication in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered His steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who live in it.
Let the floods clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy
at the presence of the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity.
Children’s Time 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Children’s Message
We have been talking about love and how we express love. These are the verses we tend to think of when we talk about love. Paul gives us a beautiful definition of what love is. Kindness, patience, and humility are all part of the definition. They are what we call virtues.
A virtue is a behavior showing high moral standards, or more simply, the way we should live in the world. They are the ideal for us, a way to gauge how we interact and the way people would describe us. You can replace the word love with your name. Would people say that you are patient, you are kind? You’re not envious, or boastful, or proud? It is a good checklist and a way to reflect on your own spiritual inventory.
Let us commit to working on our love, so all will experience Jesus’ love through us.
Prayers of Intercession: Thank You, Lord, for hearing our prayers for those dear to our hearts. We now pray as You have taught us: 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 sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us, not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Offering spotlight: During our worship services on Sunday we connected with the founder of Withrow College. Pray for the college and the students and staff as they minister to the health needs of their communities.
Offering prayer: God of joy, we offer our gifts this day, as we reflect on the wisdom of Your Word. Jesus urges us to hold onto Him, to stay connected to His example, presence, and the fulfillment He brings. He reveals that our joy finds completeness when it is woven into His divine joy. Help us abide in Him through love, obeying His commandment to love one another. In acts of service, healing, and selfless generosity, may our joy be sustained, a shared and everlasting gift from the source of all joy. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn of Preparation #408 The Gift of Love
- Though I may speak with bravest fire, and have the gift to all inspire,
And have not love, my words are vain, as sounding brass, and hopeless gain.
- Though I may give all I possess, and striving so my love profess,
But not be given by love within, the profit soon turns strangely thin.
- Come, Spirit, come, and hearts control, our spirits long to be made whole.
Let inward love guide every deed; by this we worship, and are freed.
Message Scripture: John 15:9-17
As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love. I have said these things to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. You did not choose Me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask Him in My name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
Message: Pastor Becky
Think about your friends, who would you count among your friends? I marvel at life long friendships. My younger sister is still very close with her best friend from elementary school. They attended university together and have been dedicated to spending time together. I was the kid who made friends with the kids that seemed to come one year and move the next. I would try to keep in touch, but my attention span is that of a gnat – if something or someone isn’t always in front of me, I tend to forget about its existence. (This is why you will see me carrying my journal and making constant notes.)
We have school friends, work friends, church friends, and friends we make as a result of our children’s activities. Yet, would you lay down your life for any of them? How close does that relationship have to be that you would die for them? It isn’t a tough question when the beneficiary of our sacrifice is one of our children, spouse, or sibling. Those are different relationships.
Yet, Jesus tells us “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (vs 13) Then proceeds to call them His friends. We refer to them as Jesus’ disciples and only once did Jesus ever call them that in the gospel of John in chapter 8. Even then, it was only as if you do what I am asking will you be called a true disciple. Later in chapter 13:33 Jesus calls them little children and in 21:5 Jesus calls them children again. So, friend is a big deal. He doesn’t call them followers, although they are. He doesn’t call them His servants, because Jesus came to serve not be served. Friend is what He calls them, because they know and have heard all that Jesus has said. They have witnessed the healings, traveled, learned at His feet. Their lives are intertwined with His and they have experienced all of it. Being Jesus’ friend means Jesus has entrusted them with the message of the good news and they need only to abide in Jesus and love one another, as He has loved them.
I am a list maker. If it needs to be done, it goes on the list. Jesus gives the disciples, His friends two things to do:
- Abide in Him. They are to stay connected to Jesus. For the disciples this will mean staying connected to each other. Praying, remembering, and encouraging each other.
- To love one another, as Jesus loves them. They will need this love, because a lot is going to happen fast and the disciples can’t count on the world to love them. It is the love given to them, modeled for them from Jesus that will carry them forward and continues to carry us forward.
Love is the lens Jesus calls for them to employ in all their dealings with the world. It will shape them and embolden them.
It is only by seeing the world and each other through the lens of love can we be moved to act with compassion and mercy. These two things, abiding and loving, for them and for us can never be crossed off our to do list. It is more than a mindset and deeper than a lifestyle. It has to become the condition of our heart so that we can only respond in love and out of love because we are abiding in the love of Jesus.
Closing Hymn: #526 What a Friend We Have in Jesus
- What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
- Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged: take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.
- Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee; thou wilt find a solace there.
Go into your week with the blessings of The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit.
