May 17 Worship Service
Sixth Sunday of Easter
We Gather
CENTERING WORDS
God is our rock, the foundation of our spiritual home. We are living stones, used to build God’s house.
PRELUDE
WELCOME
CALL TO WORSHIP
Come, people of God—
make a joyful noise!
Come, beloved of Christ—
lift up your offering of praise!
We gather in the presence of mystery, grace known and unknown, promises fulfilled and still awaited.
We have received beyond measure, building our hope on a foundation of love.
The Spirit of truth fills this place, revealing the Way: to love as we have been loved,
to lead lives worthy of Christ’s calling.
In the triune God we live and move and have our being, and so, we come to worship
to be remade as the Body of Christ, to make God’s justice, love and peace visible, even in our days.
Come, Body of Christ—
see what God has done and what God will do!
OPENING HYMN No. 624
I Greet Thee, Who My Sure Redeemer Art
I greet thee,
who my sure Redeemer art,
my only trust
and Savior of my heart,
who pain didst undergo
for my poor sake;
I pray thee from our hearts
all cares to take.
Thou art the King
of mercy and of grace,
reigning omnipotent
in every place:
so come, O King,
and our whole being sway;
shine on us with the light
of thy pure day.
Thou art the life,
by which alone we live,
and all our substance
and our strength receive;
sustain us by thy faith
and by thy power,
and give us strength
in every trying hour.
Thou hast the true
and perfect gentleness;
no harshness hast thou
and no bitterness.
O grant to us
the grace we find in thee,
that we may dwell
in perfect unity.
Our hope is in no other
save in thee;
our faith is built
upon thy promise free;
Lord, give us peace,
and make us calm and sure,
that in thy strength
we evermore endure.
CALL TO CONFESSION
Brothers and sisters, God not only asks us to repent, but also assures us of forgiveness. Therefore, let us confess our sins to the one who is steadfast love.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God of all, whom we have learned to see in the person of Jesus the Christ, open our eyes to your presence around us. Open our hearts, that we might see your incarnation
continuing in the living and growing of your Creation.
For we confess that we see you more easily in those who look like us, think like us, act like us. We confess that we struggle to see you in those who are different – in the diversity of creation; we confess we do not always see that you are more significant than we are, more diverse than we are, more inclusive than we are. We confess that in refusing to see you in all our neighbors, we have refused to love you as you have loved us.
Forgive us, we pray.
In humility, let us lift our silent prayers to God for the brokenness of this world and for the needs of our community and our hearts.
Please refer to the deacon’s prayer list.
God, in your mercy, hear our prayers & forgive us. Amen.
Silence
ASSURANCE OF GOD WITH US
God of grace, you invite us to love one another as you have loved us. And so we remember your abiding love. We remember that you did not wait until we were ready, but sent Jesus the Christ to guide us in your way. For your grace is poured out upon us before we even ask, calling us always back to you. By your mercy, we are beloved. By your grace, we are forgiven. Thanks be to God! Alleluia! Amen.
SONG OF RESPONSE No. 240
Alleluia, alleluia!
Give thanks to the risen Lord.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Give praise to his name.
Come let us praise the living God,
Joyfully sing to our Savior. [Refrain]
SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
The peace of Christ be with you all.
And also with you.
PEACE MUSIC
We Reflect
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Come Holy Spirit, our helper and advocate: Open our hearts and minds this day, entice us with your presence. Spark us with a word of life-a message that we may share with others as we seek to live Christ’s love in the world. All this we ask in the name of God, who creates, redeems, and sustains us. Amen.
FIRST LESSON Acts 17: 22-31
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE
Rev. Wendi Werner, Dayton PC
GOSPEL LESSON John 14: 15-21
SERMON
Rev. Dr. Karla Koll
We Respond
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
We believe that our lives are held within the encircling love of God, who knows our names
and recognizes our deepest needs.
We believe that Christ is the divine Child of the living God, and that his grace is like living waters that can never be exhausted.
We believe in the birthing, renewing, enabling Spirit of God who yearns over our welfare as a mother yearns for her child.
We believe that God is in the arid desert as well as in green pastures, and that hard times and disciplines are also loving gifts.
We believe that our journey has a purpose and a destination, and that our path leads to a human glory we cannot yet imagine.
We believe that in the church we are fellow pilgrims on the road, and that we are called to love one another as God loves us.
This is our faith, and we are humbled to profess in Jesus the Christ. Amen.
HYMN OF FAITH No. 395
Blessed Jesus, At Your Word
Blessed Jesus, at your word
we have come again to hear you;
let our thoughts and hearts be stirred
and in glowing faith be near you.
By your gospel true and holy,
teach us, Lord, to love you solely.
All our knowledge, sense, and sight
lie in deepest darkness shrouded,
till your Spirit breaks our night,
filling us with light unclouded.
All good thoughts and all good living
come but by your gracious giving.
Glorious Lord, yourself impart,
Light of Light, from God proceeding.
Touch our lips and ears and heart;
help us by your Spirit's pleading.
Hear the cry your church now raises;
hear, and bless our prayers and praises.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
OUR GIFTS OF SACRIFICE and THANKSGIVING
Invitation
God, the divine giver, gifts us with life and breath and all that is. In gratitude, let us offer our gifts in return for the goodness and grace of God in Christ.
Thank you for sending your offerings. They make a great difference to our church’s work in the world.
Musical Meditation
Doxology
Praise God
whose breath fills all the earth,
whose love
reveals our sacred worth,
whose Spirit
forms one family,
whose grace and peace
bring harmony.
Amen.
Prayer of Dedication
Holy One, bless all of the gifts that we bring before you, that they may be a pure offering of love to your creation. Bless the offerings in these baskets, bless our hands, bless our feet, that in all our giving and moving through this world, we might show forth your compassion and grace. Bless our seeing, our hearing, our understanding, that in all times and places we may know that you are present with us. God of love, bless us, we pray. Amen.
We Are Sent
CLOSING HYMN No. 372
O for a World
O for a world where everyone
respects each other’s ways,
where love is lived and all is done
with justice and with praise.
O for a world where goods are shared
and misery relieved,
where truth is spoken, children spared,
equality achieved.
We welcome one world family
and struggle with each choice
that opens us to unity
and gives our vision voice.
The poor are rich; the weak are strong;
the foolish ones are wise.
Tell all who mourn: outcasts belong,
who perishes will rise.
O for a world preparing for
God’s glorious reign of peace,
where time and tears will be no more,
and all but love will cease.
BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE
All songs not in the public domain are used by permission of CCLI #1124594
Call to Worship - Original version written by Rev. Teri Peterson for a liturgy class at Montreat Conference Center’s Arts Recreation and Worship Conference, accessed at liturgylink.net.
Call to Confession, Prayer for Illumination and Invitation to the Offering - Feasting on the Word Worship Companion, Liturgies for Year A, Volume 1, Kimberly Bracken Long, editor (Louisville, WJKP 2013) 157-159.
Prayer of Confession, Assurance of God With Us and Prayer of Dedication - From Seasons of the Spirit, SeasonsFusion, Lent, Easter 2020 (Columbia: Wood Lake, 2018) 160-162.
Affirmation of Faith - From Traveling to Easter with Jesus as our Guide, posted on the website of Patmos Abbey—The Order of Saint Columba.
The Rev. Dr. Karla Koll serves as a professor of history, mission and religion at the Latin American Biblical University (UBL), an ecumenical university located in San Jose, Costa Rica, that was founded in 1923.