Home Worship for the week of May 3 – 5th Sunday after Easter
Morning Prayer: Gracious God, Open our hearts and our minds that wherever we go, we may know Your voice calling us by name; calling us to serve, calling us to share, calling us to praise, so that we never give up on the promise of Your kingdom, where the world is transformed, and all can enjoy life in all its fullness. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Opening Hymn: #89 Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
- Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;
hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away.
Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day! - All Thy works with joy surround Thee, earth and heaven reflect Thy rays,
stars and angels sing around Thee, center of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea,
chanting bird and flowing fountain, call us to rejoice in Thee. - Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blest,
well-spring of the joy of living, ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our brother, all who live in love are Thine;
teach us how to love each other, lift us to the joy divine. - Mortals, join the mighty chorus which the morning stars began;
love divine is reigning o'er us, binding all within its span.
Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife;
joyful music leads us sunward, in the triumph song of life.
Psalm 16
16 Protect me, God, because I take refuge in You.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord.
Apart from You, I have nothing good.”
3 Now as for the “holy ones” in the land,
the “magnificent ones” that I was so happy about;
4 let their suffering increase because
they hurried after a different god.
I won’t participate in their blood offerings;
I won’t let their names cross my lips.
5 You, Lord, are my portion, my cup;
You control my destiny.
6 The property lines have fallen beautifully for me;
yes, I have a lovely home.
7 I will bless the Lord who advises me;
even at night I am instructed
in the depths of my mind.
8 I always put the Lord in front of me;
I will not stumble because He is on my right side.
9 That’s why my heart celebrates and my mood is joyous;
yes, my whole body will rest in safety
10 because You won’t abandon my life to the grave;
You won’t let Your faithful follower see the pit.
11 You teach me the way of life.
In Your presence is total celebration.
Beautiful things are always in Your right hand.
Prayers of Intercession: (CORE prayers, adapted) Lord of all grace, You have called us not only to believe, but to follow. Shape our hearts to desire what You desire, and our hands to do what You command. Teach us to seek You in prayer, to find You in Scripture, to serve You in our neighbor, and to honor You in our daily work.
When the path is hard, give us perseverance. When the way is unclear, give us discernment. When we are weary, renew our strength in Your Spirit. Make us disciples who make disciples, until all the earth is filled with the knowledge of Your love.
Gracious Lord, You see all our needs and You offer us abundant life. Give us the courage to surrender our fears, anxieties, and hesitancies to You, so we could live and bear witness to this abundant life.
We bring to You all who are sick, suffering, and mourning. Place Your comfort and peace upon them. Use us as instruments of Your care. We long to work in cooperation with You Lord, to bring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and mobility to the lame.
Father, keep us in constant anticipation of Your presence, knowing You have promised to never leave us orphaned. Your Holy Spirit accompanies us through our days and reminds us of all You have said to us. This is the confidence we have as Your children and as Your children, have us pray as Jesus 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: May is Foster Care month. LUMC celebrates our connection with Dwell Orphan Care; we support Dwell as they support foster families. During the month of May please purchase and donate Lego sets, bath toys, and toddler sized socks and underwear. Let’s see if we can fill the collection boxes to overflowing!
Offering prayer: Abundant God, You call us beyond survival into life—abundant, rooted, and overflowing. You invite us to walk by faith, not as individuals alone, but as a community growing together in Christ’s fullness. Receive now these gifts we offer, not out of scarcity or obligation, but in joyful response to Your goodness. Use them—and use us—to build up the body, to bless the world, and to proclaim that, in You, there is always more: more joy, more hope, more life. We give, trusting that You are still planting, still building, still transforming us into bold and joyful disciples. In the name of the Risen Christ, we pray. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn of Preparation #397 I Need Thee Every Hour
- I need Thee every Hour, most gracious Lord;
no tender voice like Thine can peace afford.
Refrain: I need Thee, O I need Thee; every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee.
- I need Thee every hour; stay Thou nearby;
temptations lose their power when Thou art nigh.
- I need Thee every hour; in joy or pain;
come quickly and abide, or life is vain.
- I need Thee every hour; teach me Thy will;
and Thy rich promises in me fulfill.
- I need Thee every hour; most Holy One;
O make me Thine indeed, Thou blessed Son.
Scripture: John 10:10
10 The thief enters only to steal, kill, and destroy. I came so that they could have life—indeed, so that they could live life to the fullest.
Scripture: Colossians 2:6-10
6 So live in Christ Jesus the Lord in the same way as you received Him. 7 Be rooted and built up in Him, be established in faith, and overflow with thanksgiving just as you were taught. 8 See to it that nobody enslaves you with philosophy and foolish deception, which conform to human traditions and the way the world thinks and acts rather than Christ. 9 All the fullness of deity lives in Christ’s body. 10 And you have been filled by Him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.
Message: Disciples Powered by the Holy Spirit Pastor Becky
What is faith for? Does that seem like the wrong question? We spend a lot of time and energy asking what faith is, trying to understand, trying to examine and explain. As if when we got the definition right then everyone would get on board. Or we consider how we make sure we have it, and which faith is authentic. Certainly, orthodoxy matters. Certainly, right thinking, theological thinking matters, ideas matter. We are not intending to deny that. Let us study, let us think, let us analyze and parse and understand. But let us also live.
Faith is not meant to reside only in the head. It is a whole-body experience. We are called to live our faith. But, as we know, there is living and there is living. There is living as breathing, moving, putting one foot in front another, making sure you have a pulse. Let’s be honest, there are days when that is the best we can do. Just putting one foot in front of another as we trudge through the burdens of the day, the wreckage of our society, the distress of the nations, whatever weight we may be carrying. There are times in our lives when asking for something more seems offensive. A shallow faith that must be “happy all the day” can’t sustain us when the sky is falling. So, we cannot belittle the kind of living that looks more like surviving. Yet at the same time we can point to something more.
That something more is eternity, but an eternity that begins now, in this life. We cannot simply offer “pie-in the-sky-when-you-die” and expect anyone to line up for that offer. Instead we embrace what Jesus describes when He says, “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10b NRSV)
Abundantly – adverb, 1. Very, 2. plentifully; in abundance, “Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
The bishops of the United Methodist Church are challenging us to live a life of abundance, a life of passion, of boldness and joy and courage. To live what we are calling an “adverbial faith.” We know that we are called by Christ to love, but we are called to love boldly. We know that we, as followers of Christ, embrace serving, but we hear an invitation to serve joyfully. We know that kingdom, kingdom living, requires those who will lead, and empowered by the Spirit we hope to lead courageously.
Adverbial faith is a partnership. Psalm 16 could be understood to draw a picture of the growing partnership of empowered adverbial faith. “Protect me, O God, for in You I take refuge.” The cry of the psalmist begins with a call for protection, for a hiding place. But then as the relationship grows, as the need progresses something new takes place. We see the value in the life described by the law of the people of God. The vision of who they are called to be leads to nobility and to delight. And then those lines, those boundaries are seen as pleasant and the author of the law is now a companion, a heart friend. There is where gladness and rejoicing is found. There is where security is found, in the definition of living as part of the community of faith, as a part of the noble ones. Until finally we find fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. From needing refuge to living a life of fullness, that is what the psalmist describes in those eleven short verses.
In the heart of this psalm is the invitation to stay close to God. “I bless the Lord who gives me counsel… (Psalm 16:7 NRSV) We know that it is the Holy Spirit that provides this counsel; it is one of the functions of the Spirit that Jesus outlines for us. To instruct us, to empower us to guide and direct us. The Spirit empowers us as disciples. Our task, says the psalmist, is to keep the Lord, the Spirit ever before us. (Psalm 16:8 NRSV) At our right hand to keep our feet on the path and our eyes on the prize of becoming the disciples that Christ calls us to be, that we are growing into. In communion with the Spirit, our hearts are glad, and our souls rejoice; and our bodies also rest securely. (Psalm 16:9 NRSV)
The life embraced is not just about safety, though that may be a starting point. It is now something better, something bigger. There is passion here, there is contentment, there is joy. This is the life that faith brings. Not in the absence of struggle or even suffering, but the fullness continues through the difficulties. “For you do not give me up to Sheol” the psalmist writes. You do not abandon me on the brink; You accompany me and rescue me from this total destruction. And even there the path of life is revealed, it is offered.
The letter to the Colossians describes a similar growth to fullness. The author, and we acknowledge some debate as to whether it was Paul or Timothy or some other writer, reminds the readers—like us—that faith is a process. It may begin with receiving Christ like a gift but then grows into a life lived in that relationship. What was given is now rooted or built up—like we couldn’t decide which metaphor to use here—grows or is constructed within us and radiates out from us. We are building or growing toward the fullness that was in Christ, reflecting that fullness in our own lives even as we follow.
Notice the warning. The invitation is to avoid emptiness. Whatever it is that might take the fullness away, to diminish it. Whatever it is that might tamp down the glow, arrest the growth, interfere with the construction—choose your own metaphor! We don’t have to name the philosophy or deceit that is described, we know it. We know what kills our joy. We know what drains our faith. We know what divides us and wounds us and tears down what we are seeking to build up. Sometimes it comes from within. Sometimes it comes at us like a heat seeking missile. Sometimes we are able to sidestep, other times we are taken captive. That is when we seek refuge once more. That is when we lean into the adverbial faith of the community that surrounds us and supports us. That’s when we are reminded that it isn’t our fullness but Christ’s fullness that dwells in us. It isn’t about our strengths or our weaknesses, our gifts or our lack, it is about Jesus. The gifts and the strengths are by products of the relationship. They are what we build, what we grow in our relationship with Christ and the community.
We claim adverbial faith and live deeper, louder, wider. You choose the adverb. You choose it as individuals at times, and you choose it as a community. What is the adverb that we live together in this place, in your place? We can choose the adverbs that define us. The bishops give us some, not to limit us, but to inspire us. To challenge us. But when we choose, make sure one of them is “corporately”. We’re in this together. The you’s in our Colossians text are plurals. “All y’all’s.” We are not called to make this journey, to live an adverbial faith alone. We are invited into the community of faith, the body of Christ. That is what faith is for, to lead us together to a life of abundance
Closing Hymn: #364 Because He Lives
- God sent His Son, they called Him Jesus; He came to love, heal, and forgive;
He lived and died to buy my pardon, an empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.
Refrain: Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living just because He lives.
- How sweet to hold a newborn baby, and feel the pride and joy he gives;
But greater still the calm assurance,
this child can face uncertain days because He lives.
- And then one day I’ll cross the river; I’ll fight life’s final war with pain;
And then as death gives way to victory,
I’ll see the lights of glory and I’ll know He reigns.
The blessing: May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you this week.
