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May 14, 2023

Sixth Sunday of Easter

PRELUDE

“Alleluia, Sing to Jesus” arr. Sandra Eithun

Gathering

The Holy Spirit calls us together as the people of God.

Welcome and Announcements

Confession and Forgiveness

In the name of the Father,
and of the ☩ Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.

God of all mercy and consolation, come to the help of your people, turning us from our sin to live for you alone. Give us the power of your Holy Spirit that we may confess our sin, receive your forgiveness, and grow into the fullness of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.

Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another.
Gracious God,
have mercy on us. We confess that we have turned from you and given ourselves into the power of sin. We are truly sorry and humbly repent. In your compassion forgive us our sins, known and unknown, things we have done and things we have failed to do. Turn us again to you, and uphold us by your Spirit, so that we may live and serve you in newness of life through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.

God, who is rich in mercy, loved us even when we were dead in sin, and made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. In the name of ☩ Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. Almighty God strengthen you with power through the Holy Spirit, that Christ may live in your hearts through faith.
Amen.

Gathering Song

We Know That Christ Is Raised (ELW 449)

Greeting

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.

Canticle of Praise

Prayer of the Day

Let us pray. Amen.

Word

God speaks to us in scripture reading, preaching, and song.

Children’s Time

First Reading: Acts 17:22-31

A reading from Acts.

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 he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. ²⁶From 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, ²⁷so 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. ²⁸For ‘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.’
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 he commands all people everywhere to repent, ³¹because 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.

Psalm: Psalm 66:8-20

The psalm for the day is sung.

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

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. R
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. R
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. R

Second Reading: 1 Peter 3:13-22

A reading from 1 Peter.

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.

The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation

Gospel: John 14:15-21

The holy gospel according to John. 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 Pastor Eric Trozzo

Hymn of the Day

Come Down, O Love Divine (ELW 804)

Creed

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,*
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

*Or, “who proceeds from the Father.” The phrase “and the Son” is a later addition to the creed.

Prayers of Intercession

United in the hope and joy of the resurrection, let us pray for the church, the world, and all in need.
Response after each prayer: Your mercy is great.
Rejoicing in the victory of Christ’s resurrection, we lift our prayers and praise to you, almighty and eternal God; through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord.

Amen.

Peace

The peace of Christ be with you always.
And also with you.

Meal

God feeds us with the presence of Jesus Christ.

Anthem

Walk With God

Sheldon Bair

He has showed you, O man, what is good: and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

Offering

“Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ” ELW 674

Offering Prayer

Let us pray.

God of all creation, all you have made is good, and your love endures forever. You bring forth bread from the earth and fruit from the vine. Nourish us with these gifts, that we might be for the world signs of your gracious presence in Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Great Thanksgiving

Preface

It is indeed right, our duty and our joy,
that we should at all times and in all places
give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God,
for the glorious resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ,
the true Paschal Lamb who gave himself to take away our sin;
who in dying has destroyed death,
and in rising has brought us to eternal life.
And so, with Mary Magdalene and Peter and all the witnesses of the resurrection,
with earth and sea and all their creatures,
and with angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim,
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, Holy, Holy

Thanksgiving at the Table

We give you thanks, Father,
through Jesus Christ, your beloved Son,
whom you sent in this end of the ages
to save and redeem us and to proclaim to us your will.

He is your Word, inseparable from you,
through whom you created all things,
and in whom you take delight.
He is your Word, sent from heaven to a virgin’s womb.
He there took on our nature and our lot
and was shown forth as your Son,
born of the Holy Spirit and of the virgin Mary.
He, our Lord Jesus, fulfilled all your will
and won for you a holy people;
he stretched out his hands in suffering
in order to free from suffering those who trust you.

He is the one who, handed over to a death he freely accepted,
in order to destroy death, to break the bonds of the evil one,
to crush hell underfoot, to give light to the righteous,
to establish his covenant, and to show forth the resurrection,
taking bread and giving thanks to you, said:
Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.
Do this for the remembrance of me.

In the same way he took the cup, gave thanks,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.
Do this for the remembrance of me.

Remembering, then, his death and resurrection,
we take this bread and cup,
giving you thanks that you have made us worthy
to stand before you and to serve you as your priestly people.

Send your Spirit upon these gifts of your church;
gather into one all who share this bread and wine;
fill us with your Holy Spirit to establish our faith in truth,
that we may praise and glorify you through your Son Jesus Christ;
through whom all glory and honor are yours, almighty Father,
with the Holy Spirit, in your holy church, both now and forever.
Amen.

Lord’s Prayer

Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let 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 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.

Invitation to Communion

Come to the banquet, for all is now ready.

Communion Song

Communion Hymns

Children of the Heavenly Father: Tryggare kan ingen vara (ELW 781)

Loving Spirit (ELW 397)

Healing Prayers

If you wish to be prayed for individually, please go to the kneeler at the rear of the sanctuary during communion and our healing prayer leader will pray for you.

Prayer after Communion

Let us pray. Life-giving God, in the mystery of Christ’s resurrection you send light to conquer darkness, water to give new life, and the bread of life to nourish your people. Send us forth as witnesses to your Son’s resurrection, that we may show your glory to all the world, through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. Amen.

Sending

God blesses us and sends us in mission to the world.

Blessing

Almighty God, Father, ☩ Son, and Holy Spirit, bless you now and forever. Amen.