Sixth Sunday of Easter Worship Order of Service
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
6TH SUNDAY OF EASTER – Coronavirus
MOTHER’S DAY
05-09-2021 10:00AM Zoom Worship
OPENING SONG: “To God Be the Glory” Carol Lee Tan #157
OPENING RITE FOR EASTER 6 AND THE EASTER PEACE: Herb + Linda Crawford
L Alleluia! Christ is risen!
C Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
L Death, despair, and the devil don’t have the last word.
C We are EASTER people, always rising!
L Today let us remember that love is patient, love is kind.
C It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
L Love is not rude; it is not self-seeking.
C It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
L Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in the truth.
C It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
L If I do not practice love, then I sound like, show forth, and achieve NOTHING!
C Love is always – ALWAYS! – the most excellent way!
L My sisters and brothers, Jesus says that no one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Christ’s sacrificial love for us, his friends, forgives us our sins and resurrects us from death
C And we are truly his friends, Jesus says, when we obey his one commandment:
that we love one another as he has loved us.
L So let us remember and commit to that kind of love by turning to a neighbor or turning to our self… making the sign of
the cross… and saying those wonderful words –
“Receive [+] the sign of the cross. Because HE died, YOU are alive!”
SONG OF PRAISE: “This Is the Day” Youth Choir
THE PRAYER OF THE DAY: Linda Crawford
Lord Jesus Christ, help me to know, to grow, and to show your dying and life-giving love –
to love first and always,
to love with both my words and my deeds,
to love beyond the boundaries and the barriers that seek to divide and separate,
to love sacrificially and joyfully,
to love because there is nothing greater than God’s love in all the world. Amen.
Diana Hillsman
FIRST READING: ACTS 10:44-48 [Prejudice shattered, ethnic barriers removed, the gift of the Spirit, the gift of baptism.]
10:44 While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word.
10:45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles,
10:46 for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said,
10:47 “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
10:48 So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.
SECOND READING: 1 JOHN 5:1-6 [Our faith is the victory that conquers the world as we receive and bear God’s love.]
5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child.
5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.
5:3 For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,
5:4 for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith.
5:5 Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
5:6 This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.
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! Tamell Hillsman
Jesus to Calv’ry did go, His love for this world to show.
What He did there brought hope from despair…”
GOSPEL READING: JOHN 15:9-17 [The branches need the True Vine to live and bear fruit.]
15:9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.
15:10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
15:11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
15:13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
15:15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.
15:16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.
15:17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
THE SERMON: Pastor Neil or Pastor Gwen
SONG RESPONSE: “The Gift of Love” Pastor John Gottschall Tan #522
AN AFFIRMATION OF OUR FAITH: Rosita Johnson
We confess our FAITH in the God who has given us love and new life…
I trust in God who has made me his own. I know that God loves me. To God I am as precious as his own Son, Jesus Christ, who lived and died in obedience to his Father’s will. Jesus suffered our pain, and through his suffering and death has brought us into fellowship with God.
I believe that God through his Spirit will give me strength when I am oppressed and weary… will give me love when I am afraid and lonely… and will guide his Church to make people free at last.
I believe that God lives in the fellowship of those who trust him, and that God wants all people to be brought into that fellowship.
I believe that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Living in hope and trust, I will deny myself, take up my cross, and walk the Jesus walk of faithful servant love.
Amen.
OFFERING [God has loved us and blessed us, and now God calls us and sends us with the power of the Holy Spirit to love others in word and deed, to reach out to others with love that changes lives, with love that brings joy and hope. Let’s not ignore the opportunities, let’s not dismiss the possibilities, let’s not refuse the mission command. We love because God first loved us.]
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!” Veronica Britto
OFFERING PRAYER: Tamell Hillsman
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: Dennis Fortune
THE PRAYERS… We pray that all people might be transformed by the GOOD NEWS of Easter! Pastor Bob Holum
THE LORD’S PRAYER
CLOSING SONG: “Love Is the More Excellent Way” Charlotte Webb
THE BENEDICTION:
L Alleluia! Christ is risen!
C He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
L Leave with a message upon your heart… on your lips… revealed through your daily living: I have seen the Lord!
Go in the faith-filled power of the Risen Christ (+) to love God and to serve your neighbor in all that you do! AMEN!
4 important questions during Easter:
- Do you believe that God loves you?
- Do you believe that you are a sinner?
- Do you believe that Jesus died for your sins?
- Will you now trust Jesus as your Savior and Lord?
We invite you to join in our new life together as we hear God’s fresh word to us, grow in grace, and offer our God-given gifts in service to others. A heart that is open to Jesus Christ is a heart that is open to change. May we each live fully, and bear good fruit, in the time and the place where God has called us.