Fourth Sunday of Easter Worship Service
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
4TH SUNDAY OF EASTER – Coronavirus
MOTHER’S DAY
05-08-2022 10:00AM Zoom Worship
INTRODUCTION TO OUR WORSHIP:
We Christians of modern gadgets, bustling streets, and glistening skyscrapers continue to hear and treasure images of sheep and shepherds. Worthy is Jesus, the LAMB OF GOD, who willingly suffered and died for us to take away the sins of the world. Worthy is Jesus, who is also the GREAT SHEPHERD of the sheep who guides, protects, comforts, and nourishes us forever. To the unbelieving Pharisees, Jesus depicts himself as one whose voice is recognized by his sheep: they wait for the timbre of his voice, they trust its texture, and they will follow where he leads and guides. IT COST JESUS HIS LIFE TO DELIVER US FROM DEATH! He did it because of his great love. It is now our turn to pass that love along, to continue his work as shepherds to others. We have a message to hear and a story to tell!
+ WE ANNOUNCE THE VICTORY +
OPENING SONG: “Lead Me, Guide Me” Brown #70
OPENING RITE FOR EASTER 4 AND THE EASTER PEACE:
L We are the Lord’s people.
C We are the sheep of God’s flock.
L This morning we pray that God will heal the sheep that are wounded, touch the sheep who are in pain, clean the sheep who are soiled, warm the sheep who are cold, protect the sheep that are in danger, and feed the sheep who so desperately hunger.
C We pray that we will all know the Father’s love through Jesus the Shepherd and through the Spirit.
L This morning we confess to God our sin, our failure, our need…
C Dear God, we have sometimes strayed away from your paths of right relationship and peace; we have wandered ourselves lost in this world’s fading treasures and fleeting pleasures; and we have sometimes been the cause of hurt and harm towards others. Forgive us, we pray, and guide our feet into new life and compassionate witness. Amen.
L My sisters and my brothers, beneath and above all the other voices you hear in this life, may you identify, trust, and follow the voice of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. God loved us enough to give us Jesus, and Jesus loved us enough to lay down his life for us. He knows his own and his own know him. Through his death and resurrection you are forgiven (+) and born anew! Living in the good news and promise of Easter, let us make the sign of the cross on the forehead and say the good news to one another or to our self:
“Receive [+] the sign of the cross. Because HE died, YOU are alive!”
SONG OF PRAISE:
“Lord, I lift your name on high, Lord, I love to sing your praises.
I’m so glad you’re in my life, I’m so glad you came to save us.
You came from heaven to earth to show the way;
from the earth to the cross, my debt to pay;
from the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky; Lord, I lift your name on high!”
THE PRAYER OF THE DAY:
Lord Jesus Christ, Good Shepherd of the sheep, we know love because you laid down your life for us. Show us how to share your love by giving our lives for one another. May the goodness and mercy of God be upon us all the days of our life. And, at our life’s end, may we dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Amen.
+ WE PROCLAIM GOD’S SAVING WORD +
FIRST READING: ACTS 9:36-43 [Tabitha / Dorcas, a faithful “shepherd” serving widows , is healed.]
9:36 Now in Joppa there was a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which in Greek is Dorcas. She was devoted to good works and acts of charity.
9:37 At that time she became ill and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in a room upstairs.
9:38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, who heard that Peter was there, sent two men to him with the request, “Please come to us without delay.”
9:39 So Peter got up and went with them; and when he arrived, they took him to the room upstairs. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them.
9:40 Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.
9:41 He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive.
9:42 This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.
9:43 Meanwhile he stayed in Joppa for some time with a certain Simon, a tanner.
SONG SELECTION “Faith of Our Mothers” Tan #410
SECOND READING: REVELATION 7:9-17 [A vision of the Lamb who was slain, triumphant on heaven’s throne.]
7:9 After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.
7:10 They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
7:11 And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
7:12 singing, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
7:13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?”
7:14 I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
7:15 For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
7:16 They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat;
7:17 for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
GOSPEL VERSE:
“Oh, how He loves you and me. Oh, how He loves you and me.
He gave His life, what more can He give?
OH, HOW HE LOVES YOU; OH, HOW HE LOVES ME;
OH, HOW HE LOVES YOU AND ME!
Jesus to Calv’ry did go, His love for this world to show.
What He did there brought hope from despair…”
GOSPEL READING: JOHN 10:22-30 [Jesus identifies as the good shepherd, giving life.]
10:22 At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter,
10:23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon.
10:24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”
10:25 Jesus answered, “I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name testify to me;
10:26 but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep.
10:27 My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me.
10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.
10:29 What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father’s hand.
10:30 The Father and I are one.”
THE SERMON: Pastor Gwen or Pastor Neil
SONG SELECTION
AN AFFIRMATION OF OUR FAITH:
Living in the joy and in the power of the Risen Lord, we boldly confess our faith…
The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:
for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies:
you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the lord forever. Amen.
OFFERING [It is because of God’s great care for us that we have anything at all to offer in care of others. May God continue to transform our gratitude into generosity as we respond with our lives and our love!]
THE OFFERTORY SONG:
“Get all excited, go tell ev’rybody that Jesus Christ is King! [sing this line 3 times]
Jesus Christ is still the King of kings, the King of kings!”
OFFERING PRAYER:
We praise you and thank you, O God, for giving us amazing joy, grace, and hope in the resurrection of Jesus our Lord! Now give us the bold confidence and the passionate love to dry tears, to lift up broken hearts, and to testify with our gifts and our lives that there is NEW LIFE in Jesus Christ. Amen.
MUSIC SELECTION: “Spirit Song” Dennis Fortune Brown #105
THE PRAYERS… We pray that THE WAY OF THE CROSS will continue to impact our lives and transform the world!
THE LORD’S PRAYER
+ WE ARE SENT TO SHOW AND TELL +
THE BENEDICTION:
L Alleluia! Christ is risen!
C He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
L In the midst of the loud harsh, empty, voices (and tweets) of this world,
there is the quiet tender, strong, life-giving voice of Jesus.
Hear him. Trust him. Follow him. Serve him. Be like him by trying to love like him.
C AMEN NOW! AMEN ALWAYS! AMEN + AMEN!
CLOSING SONG: “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” Brown #220