Sunday, May 14th, 2023 - The Sixth Sunday of Easter. Sermon by Pastor Joshua Heimbuck

SIXTH SUNDAY of EASTER

May 14, 2023

The Rev. Joshua Heimbuck, Pastor

WELCOME

Jesus’ Resurrection is the single greatest event in all history.  It is the turning point of history and the birthplace of all hope, peace, and true joy.  We are glad that you have come to worship The Risen Christ and that you have chosen to worship with the people of God gathered in this place around Word and Sacrament.  Guests and visitors, please introduce yourself, be welcome, and come again.  If you have not already done so, please honor us by signing our Guest Book in the entrance hall of the church as you leave.  If you have no church home of your own in the area, we invite you to make Grace Lutheran the center of your worship, learning, fellowship, and service.  Join us for a cup of coffee after this morning’s worship and let us become better acquainted with you as you get to know us better.  Come to worship with us again and often!

AS WE GATHER        Witnessing to the Hope Within Us

Through the resurrection from the dead, Jesus has become our hope.  Through Christ, God has made his salvation known to us.  Now the Lord would have us witness in our daily lives the living hope that is ours in Jesus Christ.  Peter encourages us to set apart Christ in our hearts as Lord.  Jesus himself reminds us that he gives us his Spirit who lives in us, enabling us to demonstrate our love with obedient lives.

PRAYER BEFORE WORSHIP

Almighty God, through your only Son you overcame death and opened for us the gates of eternal life.  Give us your continual hope; put good things into our minds and bring them to full effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

+   THE ORDER of CELEBRATING THE FIFTY DAYS OF EASTER   +

With One Voice Setting

WELCOME

INVOCATION & CONFESSION

 In the Name of the Father and of the ☩ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

  Amen

When we were baptized, we died and were buried with Christ.

We were baptized so that we might have a new life, as Christ was raised to life by the glory of the Father.

Therefore, let us confess our sins to God our Father, so that we may receive the outcome of our faith, the     salvation of our souls..

+  A Brief Silence for Reflection +

Almighty God, we are dead in trespasses and sin; we have no power to rise.  We have offended your majesty and denied your divinity; we have brought death and darkness where you once said: “Let there be light.”  We deserve the doom you have decreed.

But Christ is risen!

   Risen indeed!

Since we have been united with him in a death like his,

We will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.  For his sake, our Father, we implore you: forgive our sins and free us from all doubt and disbelief.  Let us be raised with Christ.

Thus, it is written, that the Messiah had to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins must be proclaimed in his Name.  That word is now joyfully proclaimed to you.  Your sins are forgiven in the Name of the Father, and of the ☩ Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

Forgiven and reconciled by God, let us be reconciled with one another and share the peace of our Lord as we greet one another.

PASSING of PEACE

[The congregation is encouraged to share the peace of Christ and greet one another with the words: “The Lord’s peace be with you.”  The response: “And also with you.”]

APOSTOLIC GREETING

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!

   Risen indeed.  Alleluia!

The grace of our risen Savior, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

  And also, with you.

KYRIE      

PRAYER of THE DAY

Almighty God 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

FIRST LESSON      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” who they worship is the true Lord of heaven and earth who will judge the world with justice through Jesus, whom God raised from the dead.]

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

               The Word of the Lord.

                    Thanks be to God!

SECOND LESSON      1 Peter 3:13-22                                      

[Peter calls Christians, who may be overwhelmed by the challenges of living and working in a non-Christian world, to use their way of life and their words to witness to the power of Easter manifested in them through baptism.]

Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?  But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed.  Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord.  Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands an accounting from you for the hope that is in you; yet 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.  For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil.

For Christ also suffered for sins once and 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, in which also he went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison, who 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.  And 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, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

The Word of the Lord.

     Thanks be to God!

GOSPEL       John 14:15-21

The gospel according to John, the 14^th chapter.  Glory to you, O Lord.

[John’s gospel is concerned for the faith of disciples who no longer had Jesus with them physically.  Jesus promises that they will receive the Spirit and that he will continue to reveal himself to those who love him.]

[Jesus said to the disciples:] “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.  This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him or knows him.  You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

“I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.  In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live, you also will live.  On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.  They 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 our Lord.  Praise to You, O Christ.

SERMON                             Text: The Gospel Lesson     Pr. Josh 

APOSTOLIC CREED

   I believe in God, the Father Almighty,

      maker of heaven and earth.

   And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,

      who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

      born of the virgin Mary,

      suffered under Pontius Pilate,

      was crucified, died and was buried.

      He descended into hell.

      The third day He rose again from the dead.

      He ascended into heaven

      and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.

      From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

   I believe in the Holy Spirit,

      the Holy Christian Church,

         the communion of saints,

      the forgiveness of sins,

      the resurrection of the body,

      and the life ☩ everlasting.  Amen.

PRAYERS of THE CHURCH

OFFERINGS are brought forward

OFFERTORY PRAYER

Holy God, you provide us with every gift of creation, and you quench our thirst with living water.  Receive these tokens of your goodness to us.  May our lives be bread for the hungry and streams in the wilderness, signs of the abundance of your grace in Jesus Christ.  Amen

THE GREAT THANKSGIVING

The Lord be with you. 

    And also, with you.

Lift up your hearts. 

    We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. 

    It is right to give him thanks and praise.

Holy God, living, and loving God, we praise you for creating the heavens and the earth.  We bless you for bringing Noah and his family through the waters of the flood, for freeing your people Israel from the bonds of slavery, and for sending your Son to be our Savior.

We give thanks for Jesus, who, living among us, healed the sick, fed the hungry, and with a love stronger than death, gave his life for others.

In the night in which he was handed over, our Lord Jesus Christ, took bread, and                gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:

                   Take eat, this is my ☩ Body, given for you.  Do this in remembrance of me.

Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying:

                  This is my ☩ Blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.  Do

                   this in remembrance of me.

Remembering, therefore, his life-giving death, and glorious resurrection, we await Your promised life for all this dying world.

                       Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus.

Breathe your Holy Spirit on us and on this bread and cup:  carry us in your arms from

    death to life, that we may live as your chosen ones, clothed in the righteousness of

    Christ.

       Amen.  Come, Holy Spirit.

Through Him all glory and honor are Yours, Almighty Father, with the Holy Spirit, in

Your Holy Church both now and forever.  Amen

Now in the words of our Lord, we are bold to pray … 

LORD’S PRAYER

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

DISMISSAL

May the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen and preserve you steadfast in the true faith to life everlasting.  Amen  

PRAYER of THANKSGIVING

We have tasted your goodness, O God, in your gifts of Word and Sacrament.  May our hearts burn within you, that we may proclaim your mighty acts and joyfully live as your chosen people; through Jesus Christ, your Son our Lord.  Amen.

BLESSING

ANNOUNCEMENTS

DISMISSAL

Go in peace.  Serve the Lord.  Thanks be to God!                                 

+   The Worship is Over.  Let the Service Begin!  +

GRACE NOTES

THE PRESENCE of CHRIST is celebrated in The Lord’s Supper.  He comes to us in a real and present way with his life-giving body and blood in the bread and wine of The Sacrament to assure us of our forgiveness and to strengthen us in faith and service.  All who trust and believe the words “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins” are welcome.  Come, receive Christ’s presence in the meal prepared for you.  Enjoy his presence.  Children are encouraged to come forward with their parents and/or grandparents and receive a blessing.

BIBLE STUDY – Our new Bible Study examines modern technology as we discuss the book, “Redeeming Technology: A Christian Approach to Healthy Digital Habits” by A. Trevor Sutton.  Each Sunday a new chapter of the book will be discussed.  If you would like to join in, please see Pastor Josh to get your copy of the book.  Hope you can join us!

PASSING OF MARILYN MEIER — It is with sadness that we’ve learned of former member Marilyn Meier’s passing at the age of 95 on Monday, May 1^st, 2023.   Marilyn and her husband, Harry were members of Grace prior to moving away a couple of years ago.  

JOHN ROSS MEMORIAL SERVICE — Please join in the Celebration of Life honoring John Ross on Saturday, June 10th, 2023, at 11:00 AM here at Grace.  Lunch will follow the service.  In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts/donations can be made to Grace Lutheran Church.  Please note John Ross AV Scholarship Fund on the memo line of your check. 

This Week at Grace

May 15th – May 21st, 2023