Easter 5A
May 18
Scripture (from the Revised Common Lectionary, with links provided by TextWeek.com – a source for thoughtful worship and preaching throughout the year):
Click on Scripture Lessons below for study links and resources for each individual pericope:
Acts 7:55-60 Roman Catholic reading: Acts 6:1-7
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16 Roman Catholic reading: Psalm 33:1-19
1 Peter 2:2-10Roman Catholic reading: 1 Peter 2:4-9
John 14:1-14Roman Catholic reading: John 14:1-12
Suggested Hymns from Chalice Hymnal
The Oremus Hymnal offers many good choices for the lectionary (although this 2010 version will have incorrect calendar dates). Not all are available in Chalice Hymnal, but some may be helpful in congregations where there is not a Chalice Hymnal available. Visit the Oremus Hymnal.
Any of the Easter hymns are appropriate.
Also: 275-Christ is made the sure foundation, 278-Here, O Lord, your servants gather, 632-Lead on, O King Eternal, 633-Lead on, O Cloud of Presence, 423-Become to us the Living Bread
More hymn suggestions, as well as helpful references for use of the arts in worship, are available from the United Church of Christ website.
Dealing with the Psalm of the Day:
Since Chalice Hymnal does not provide a complete Psalter, there will be occasions when suggestions may be made for alternate Psalm use (or hymn equivalent). A metrical version of the Psalter, for those Psalms not provided in Chalice Hymnal, is being prepared by Rev. David Chafin. Where practical, these may be offered here as well. You may also want to visit http://www.modernpsalter.com/ or
This week: Psalm 31:1-8 is on p. 738
Hymn of the Day from Rev. William Flewelling (© 2013, William Flewelling; All rights reserved)
On Acts 7:55-60
The martyr’s vision answers strong
to plea to joy of love;
and for the echo of delight
the sight becomes the all.
Around, dissention may prevail
with anger cast in stones;
yet on the visage of delight
all heaven bears this light.
In gleaming joy the eyes arise,
the voice calls out in awe;
for in the heaven’s pure desire
he sees the Lord of life.
In answer to the Savior’s plea
he by forgiveness reigns
that all the anger meeting him
be left aside for love.
CM Suggested tune: Martyrdom
Words of Greeting/Call to Prayer
Jesus is the way; He invites you to walk with Him. He is the truth; He invites you to learn from him. Jesus is the life; He invites you to share it with Him.
Call to Worship
L: We gather in the name of the living Christ to worship God.
P: Surely, God is in this place and calls us to worship in spirit and in truth.
L: God’s love is for you and for all people everywhere.
P: That we may share God’s love and life, may we be renewed in the refreshing Spirit of the living Christ.
L: The living Christ is with us.
P: Praise the Lord!
Prayer of Approach
L: The Lord be with you.
P: And also with you.
L: Let us pray. Most gracious God, as we continue to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, we pray that we may be bound together in Christian love and that our faith and fellowship may be a witness through which your spirit will bring others into your church. We humbly thank you for your many blessings you have given us. We ask that we may learn how to truly be Easter people and always remember that we are celebrating resurrection day every day, for we pray through Jesus our Christ (who taught us to pray, “Our Father…”)
Intercessions (adapted by the editor)
Lord God, we give you thanks for all your gifts to us—for daily food, for health, for each breath we take, for freedom to choose, and for the gifts of your word, your power and your love. Our hearts are truly overwhelmed, O God, when we consider how you have entrusted so much to us. May we be worthy of that trust—may we be a people who are unafraid to live as fully and as richly as you want us to live.
Help us, O God, as followers of Jesus, to multiply all that you have given us, to risk spreading your word and perhaps see it misunderstood, to gamble by loving those whom others think worthy only of hate, to take chances by doing good to those who have not done good to us. Help us be faith filled and desire to increase your glory and your goodness in this world. Make us people who share in both word and deed that which you have given to us.
We pray for the church gathered today, both here and around the world, that it may encourage all of its members to discover, develop and use all their gifts, those of nature and those of grace.
We pray for those who are poor in body or in spirit, for those oppressed and heavy laden, for those sick or in despair, especially___________. Minister by your Spirit and by us, to all those for whom we have prayed, and help us walk faithfully in the path of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Prayers from Common Worship
Collect
Almighty God,
who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion
Eternal God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life:
grant us to walk in his way,
to rejoice in his truth,
and to share his risen life;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
Alternative Collect
Risen Christ,
your wounds declare your love for the world
and the wonder of your risen life:
give us compassion and courage
to risk ourselves for those we serve,
to the glory of God the Father.
Collect of the Day (Book of Common Prayer, 1979)
Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant
us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way,
the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his
steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ
your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity
of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Collect of the Day from Rev. William Flewelling (© 2013, William Flewelling; All rights reserved)
John 14:1-14
In all of our confusion, O God,
set our helm in sure constancy
by the abandon of heart
into your Word.
As the way is let to us, let us come;
as the readiness awaits us, grant us steadiness at life
as the urgency exists,
bring us the greater works
by the great love we share
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Service of Table (by the editor using traditional responses)
Preparation (Invitation)
Christ’s table is spread for all of us—a place of gathering, of fellowship and of praise. Let us rejoice as we respond to God’s gracious invitation to receive these gifts of Christ’s body and blood that we may be strengthened to live as faithful disciples.
[If the offering has not yet been received, add: “Let us prepare the Table of the Lord with the fruits of our lives and our labors”]
Preface (to the Words of Institution)
L: Let us prepare to walk with Jesus.
P: Jesus is the way.
L: Let us receive the wisdom of Jesus.
P: Jesus is the truth.
L: Let us live with and live in Jesus.
P: Jesus is the life.
L: And so let us remember that night on which our Lord was betrayed…(continue with the Words of Institution)
Prayer(s) of Thanksgiving
L: The Lord be with you.
P: And also with you.
L: Lift up your hearts.
P: We lift them up to the Lord.
L: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God,.
P: It is right and just. [or: “It is right to give God thanks and praise.”]
(The following may be offered as one prayer, or broken between two Elders, if that is the tradition to be followed)
1. It is right and good to give thanks to you almighty God, creator of heaven and earth; for by your word was the world created, and by your breath did the first mortals come to life. In the life of Christ, we have receive life that is abundant and transformative. Bless, we pray, this Bread which we offer up to you, that as we receive it we might be strengthened to abide in the way that leads to life eternal.
2. Pour out your Spirit upon us, O Lord, and upon this cup of salvation. May we who receive the blood of Christ be cleansed by his offering of self for us and for the world, and refreshed in spirit and will to do his bidding in the days which lie ahead. This we offer in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Conclusion: Through him, with him, and in him, in the power of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor be to you, O God, now and forever. Amen.
[if not previously offered: “And now with the confidence of your children, we offer the prayer our Savior taught us, ‘Our Father…’”]
MORE…
Resources from the Jubilee Fund: This stewardship ministry serving the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) offers weekly emails, archived here at the Disciples Center for Faith and Giving Site, for each Sunday’s service.
You may also want to visit Worship Connection at MinistryMatters.com, which offers numerous helps, including electronic versions of print resources for worship and preaching planning.
Intercessions and other helpful planning materials geared to the Lectionary (using Roman Catholic version, but normally quite useful for all traditions) for preaching and worship are supplied for several weeks in advance at The Sunday Website of St. Louis University.
Liturgies created by Moira Laidlaw (Uniting Church in Australia) as a part of her doctoral dissertation are often helpful. Read more here.
Common Worship Almanac and Lectionary for the year beginning Advent Sunday 2012. Compiled by Simon Kershaw October 2012 from the Common Worship Calendar and Lectionaries using Almanac Maker; compilation © Simon Kershaw 2012; Almanac Maker © Simon Kershaw 2010. The Revised Common Lectionary is copyright © the Consultation on Common Texts 1992. The Daily Eucharistic Lectionary is adapted from the Ordo Lectionum Missae of the Roman Catholic Church reproduced by permission of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy. Adaptations and additions to the RCL and the DEL, together with Second and Third Service lectionaries and the Weekday Lectionary for Morning and Evening Prayer are copyright © the Archbishops’ Council 1997-2010. http://almanac.oremus.org/lectionary
Book of Common Prayer (1979), Public domain.
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