Sunday Worship + May 17, 2020

+ Jesus does not abandon his followers. Through the Holy Spirit, Jesus comes to abide with his disciples of every generation. As Pentecost draws near, we are reminded that the risen Christ dwells in us as the Spirit of truth. We receive this Spirit in baptism and pray that in our gathering around the Lord’s table the Spirit will transform us to be the body of the risen Christ in the world. +

Gathering Hymn: Christ is Alive, Let Christians Sing! (ELW #389)

1 Christ is alive! Let Christians sing. 
The cross stands empty to the sky.
Let streets and homes with praises ring.
Love, drowned in death, shall never die.

2 Christ is alive! No longer bound
to distant years in Palestine,
but saving, healing, here and now,
and touching ev’ry place and time.

3 In ev’ry insult, rift, and war,
where color, scorn, or wealth divide,
Christ suffers still, yet loves the more,
and lives, where even hope has died.

4 Women and men, in age and youth,
can feel the Spirit, hear the call, 
and find the way, the life, the truth,
revealed in Jesus, freed for all.

5 Christ is alive, and comes to bring
good news to this and every age,
till earth and sky and ocean ring
with joy, with justice, love, and praise.

Text: Brian A. Wren, b. 1936
Text © 1975, rev. 1995 Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, IL 60188. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Hymn of Praise: Lord I Lift Your Name On High (ELW #857)

Thanksgiving for Baptism

Alleluia! Christ is risen.
Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Joined to Christ in the waters of baptism,
we are raised with him to new life.
Let us give thanks for the gift of baptism.

Water may be poured into the font as the presiding minister gives thanks.

We give you thanks, O God,
for in the beginning you created us in your image
and planted us in a well-watered garden.
In the desert you promised pools of water for the parched,
and you gave us water from the rock.
When we did not know the way,
you sent the Good Shepherd to lead us to still waters.
At the cross, you watered us from Jesus’ wounded side,
and on this day, you shower us again with the water of life.
We praise you for your salvation through water,
for the water in this font,
and for all water everywhere.
Bathe us in your forgiveness, grace, and love.
Satisfy the thirsty, and give us the life only you can give.
To you be given honor and praise
through Jesus Christ our Lord
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, now and forever.
Amen.

Opening Prayer

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.

Readings

Acts 17:22-31

+ In Athens, Paul faces the challenge of proclaiming the gospel to Greeks who know nothing of either Jewish or Christian tradition. He proclaims that the “unknown god” whom they worship is the true Lord of heaven and earth who will judge the world with justice through Jesus, whom God has raised from the dead. +

The first reading comes from Acts beginning at the seventeenth chapter.

²²Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. ²³For 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. ²⁴The 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, ²⁵nor is God served by human hands, as though God needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. ²⁶From one ancestor God made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and God allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, ²⁷so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for God and find him—though indeed God is not far from each one of us. ²⁸For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said,
 ‘For we too are God’s offspring.’
²⁹Since 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. ³⁰While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now God commands all people everywhere to repent, ³¹because God has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by one whom he has appointed, and of this God has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Word of God, Word of Life. Thanks be to God.

Psalm 66:8-20

+ Bless our God, you peoples; let the sound of praise be heard. (Ps. 66:8) +

Together we will read responsively from Psalm 66.

⁸Bless our God, you peoples;
  let the sound of praise be heard.
 ⁹Our God has kept us among the living
  and has not allowed our feet to slip. 
 ¹⁰For you, O God, have tested us;
  you have tried us just as silver is tried.
 ¹¹You brought us into the net;
  you laid heavy burdens upon our backs.
 ¹²You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water,
  but you brought us out into a place of refreshment.
 ¹³I will enter your house with burnt offerings
  and will pay you my vows—
 ¹⁴those that I promised with my lips
  and spoke with my mouth when I was in trouble.
 ¹⁵I will offer you burnt offerings of fatlings with the smoke of rams;
  I will give you oxen and goats. 
 ¹⁶Come and listen, all you who believe,
  and I will tell you what God has done for me.
 ¹⁷I called out to God with my mouth,
  and praised the Lord with my tongue.
 ¹⁸If I had cherished evil in my heart,
  the Lord would not have heard me;
 ¹⁹but in truth God has heard me
  and has attended to the sound of my prayer.
 ²⁰Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer,
  nor withheld unfailing love from me.

1 Peter 3:13-22

+ The author of 1 Peter encourages Christians to remain faithful even in the face of defamation and persecution. In baptism we are made clean to act in accordance with what is right. +

The second reading comes from 1 Peter beginning at the 3^rd chapter.

¹³Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? ¹⁴But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, ¹⁵but 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; ¹⁶yet 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. ¹⁷For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. ¹⁸For 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, ¹⁹in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, ²⁰who 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. ²¹And 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, ²²who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Word of God, Word of Life. Thanks be to God.

Children’s Message

Earlier this week I found an incredible devotional resource by Pastor Mark and Pastor Jesse, who are good friends of mine and ELCA pastors in Greensboro, NC. They’ve created Morning Watch as a daily devotion and singing time that they are posting daily. There is one for adults and one just for children. Check it out as well as the coloring pages I’ve posted to the Holy Trinity Facebook Page!

John 14:15-21

+ In final words to his disciples on the night of his arrest, Jesus encourages obedience to his commandments and speaks of the Spirit, who will be with them forever. +

The Holy Gospel according to John beginning at the 14th Chapter. Glory to you, O Lord.

[Jesus said to the disciples:] ¹⁵“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. ¹⁷This 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.
  ¹⁸“I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. ¹⁹In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹They 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.”

The Gospel of the Lord, Praise to you O Christ.

Sermon

Hymn of the Day: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling (ELW #631)

Prayers of the People

Uplifted by the promised hope of healing and resurrection, we join the people of God in all times and places in praying for the church, the world, and all who are in need.

A brief silence.

Abiding God, you have revealed yourself to us in the form of your Son, Jesus Christ. Embolden your church, as your followers, to reveal your love to everyone in our speaking and in our living. God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

You are the creator of heaven and earth. Revitalize the health of oceans, rivers, lakes, springs, glaciers, and other bodies of water that give life to your creatures especially the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island Sound, Jamaica Bay, the East River and the Hudson River. God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

You call all people of the world your children. Judge the nations justly, show mercy to the oppressed, and speak truth to power through your prophets. God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

You come near to us when we are lost, and you hear our distress. We pray for those who suffer in any way especially Peter, Laura, Kathy, Susan, Tom S. Bob, Joe I., Jennifer, Kara, Rosetta, Franco, the family and friends of Marie, Charlie, the family and friends of Dorothy Correll, Zenaida, Daniel, the family of Marsenna Rentel, the family and friends of Charles Kuttler and anyone we name silently in our hearts, aloud in our homes, or in the comments below. God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

Your commands are good and merciful. Give us courage to take hold of our baptismal promises to work for justice, advocate for the voiceless, and free the oppressed and imprisoned in body, mind, or spirit. God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

For those in pursuit of recovery and perseverance in the midst of the Coronavirus. We pray for all essential workers in New York City and around the world who continue to work and put their own wellbeing on the line to help us face this crisis. We pray for doctors, nurses, first responders, researchers, law enforcement, caregivers, sanitation and maintenance workers, and all working to combat COVID-19. Be with those who work in service and restaurant professions, those keeping stores stocked and making at home deliveries, for teachers both at home and online working tirelessly to give our children an education in the midst of crisis. We pray for those who transport goods to the places that need them, provide them with what they need along the journey. Keep them safe, keep them healthy, and help us to find ways to provide them with the supplies that they need to do their jobs well. We ask that you continue to be with employers and employees who are struggling to figure out how to keep things going during this time. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.

You remain with us always, O God, and your kingdom has no end. We remember the saints who have gone before us especially Dorothy Correll, Marsenna Rentel, and Charles Kuttler. Unite us forever in your final victory over death.  God, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

With bold confidence in your love, almighty God, we place all for whom we pray into your eternal care; through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Offering

Please consider continuing to mail in your offering or giving online!  We continue to have expenses that need to be covered during this time. We are most grateful for your generosity.

Offertory Hymn We Are an Offering (ELW #692)

Thanksgiving for the Word

Let us pray.    
O God of justice and love, we give thanks to you that you illumine our way through life with the words of your Son. Give us the light we need, awaken us to the needs of others, and at the end bring all the world to your feast; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory forever. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray:

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.

Benediction

May the One who brought forth Jesus from the dead
raise you to new life, fill you with hope,
and turn your mourning into dancing.
Almighty God, Father, ☩ Son, and Holy Spirit,
bless you now and forever. Amen.

Sending Hymn: Come We that Love the Lord (ELW #625)

1 Come, we that love the Lord,
and let our joys be known;
join in a song with sweet accord,
join in a song with sweet accord
and thus surround the throne,
and thus surround the throne.

Refrain
We’re marching to Zion,
beautiful, beautiful Zion:
we’re marching upward to Zion,
the beautiful city of God.

2 Let those refuse to sing
who never knew our God;
but children of the heav’nly king,
but children of the heav’nly king
may tell their joys abroad,
may tell their joys abroad.  Refrain

3 The hill of Zion yields
a thousand sacred sweets
before we reach the heav’nly fields,
before we reach the heav’nly fields,
or walk the golden streets,
or walk the golden streets.  Refrain

4 Then let our songs abound,
and ev’ry tear be dry;
we’re marching through Immanuel’s ground,
we’re marching through Immanuel’s ground,
to fairer worlds on high,
to fairer worlds on high.  Refrain

Text: Isaac Watts, 1674-1748, stanzas; Robert Lowry, 1826-1899, refrain

Dismissal

What is our mission? Welcoming all to grow in faith; living Christ’s message of serving and loving neighbors near and far.

Go in Peace, share the Good News! Thanks be to God!