Liturgy. LECTIONARY for the fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B. The Fifth Sunday of Easter Year B. Acts 8:26-40 Psalm 22: John 4:7-21 John 15:1-8

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1 Liturgy The Fifth Sunday of Easter Year B G c Alleluia! Christ is risen! The grave is empty! Alleluia! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Shout joyfully to God, all the earth: Sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious! How awesome are Your works! Your power is very great. All the earth will worship You, and sing praises to You; They will sing praises to Your name. I will sing of Your steadfast love, O L, forever. With my mouth I will proclaim Your faithfulness to all generations. We declare that Your steadfast love is established forever. Your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens. It is good to praise the L And make music to Your name, O Most High, To proclaim Your love in the morning And Your faithfulness at night. Scripture weaving from Psalms 66, 89 and 92 I Will Sing I will sing (echo) Of Your great love (echo), And I will tell (echo) Of all You ve done (echo). With Your praise on my lips I ll declare Your faithfulness; I will sing (echo) Of Your great love. Verse 1 I seek You in the morning, Your tenderness and mercy fill my cup. Your grace is overflowing, You satisfy my needs and fill me up. So I will sing Verse 2 The heavens praise Your wonders, And I will lift my voice and join the song. Your glory shines around me, Your faithfulness surrounds me all day long. So I will sing LECTIONARY for the fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B Acts 8:26-40 Psalm 22: John 4:7-21 John 15:1-8 This fifth Sunday of Eastertide brings us to the midpoint of the fifty-day liturgical period that begins with Resurrection Sunday and culminates on the Day of Pentecost. During Eastertide, as the Church continues to consider and contemplate the significance of Christ s Resurrection for all of creation, this week our attention is drawn to what it means that we truly abide in Him, and the ways in which that abiding compels us to live out His love in the world. In the reading from John s gospel we find Jesus pictorial teaching at once both comforting and challenging that He is the vine, and we the branches. Abiding in Him means that we will be pruned by the Father s wise and loving hand, and thereby will bear much fruit in our lives. And He assures us that the pruning and fruit-bearing process is necessary for those who are His disciplined followers (disciples), and that this brings glory to the Father. The passage from John s first epistle admonishes us that fruitful disciples are those who love others unconditionally, because as He is, so are we in this world. And the Acts 8 narrative shows us an example of this abiding discipleship, fruitfulness and love in the encounter of Philip with the Ethiopian court official on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza. Copyright 1999 High Hill Songs ASCAP / Integrity s Hosanna! Music. Carl and Leann Albrecht, Ed Kerr. CCLI Song #

2 IDEFE Prayers of adoration, praise, and thanksgiving for God s presence Highest Your love, O Lord, is like the ocean: Deeper than endless seas. Your faithfulness is like the mountains, And Your Word never fails. Glory to God, let every heart sing: Glory to God in the highest. CCLI Song # Hillsong Music. Reuben Morgan. Jesus Christ is Risen Today (verse 3) Sing we to our God above, Alleluia! Praise eternal as His love, Alleluia! Praise Him, all you heavenly host, Alleluia! Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Alleluia! Alleluia! Text: Latin hymn, 14 th century; transl. in Lyra Davidica; 1708 (altered), verse 3, Charles Wesley. Hymn tune: LNO, Robert Williams, PEOPPE EO F Leader: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Leader: Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. Leader: God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. We have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love, because He first loved us. 1 John 4:7-19 The profession of faith sets today s epistle reading for a lead reader and two groups within the congregation. (Here it is especially effective to divide the congregation antiphonally.)

3 PUP EO CEOPPE O LEV, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? Those who walk with integrity, and work righteousness; who speak truth in their hearts, and honor those who fear the L. They shall receive a blessing from the LEV and righteousness from the God of their salvation. from Psalms 15 and 24 [Silence] Most merciful God, We confess that we have sinned against You in thought, word and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us, that we may delight in Your will, and walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your Name. Amen. Lamb of God Lamb of God, You take away The sins of the world; Have mercy on us. Lamb of God, You take away The sins of the world; Have mercy on us. Lamb of God, You take away The sins of the world; Grant us peace. CCLI Song # Celebration. Betty Carr Pulkingham This simple, traditional prayer of confession and repentance is from The Book of Common Prayer, Morning Prayer, rite two. A useful and userfriendly resource is The (Online) Book of Common Prayer [ Any of the sung prayers of confession that reflect the saving and forgiving nature of the work of Christ to the whole world work well this week those that sing, Have mercy on us, Grant us peace. Another suggestion for this week s liturgy is the wonderful contemplative song from the Taizé community, Ubi Caritas (Copyright 1984 Ateliers et Presses de Taizé, Taizé, France). See their website: en_rubrique2603.html PPZF EO [VE Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. Abide in Me, as I abide in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you abide in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; for apart from Me, you can do nothing. My Father is glorified by this: that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. from John 15:1-8

4 T] EO OOO Words and testimonies of blessing and praise By Our Love Brothers, let us come together, Walking in the Spirit; There s much to be done. We will come reaching Out from our comforts, And they will know us by our love. Sisters, we were made for kindness, We can pierce the darkness, As He shines through us. We will come reaching, With a song of healing, And they will know us by our love. Chorus: The time is now, come church arise. Love with His hands, see with His eyes. Bind it around you, let it never leave you. And they will know us by our love. Children, you are hope for justice, Stand firm in the Truth now, Set your hearts above. You will be reaching Long after we re gone, And they will know you by your love. Chorus CCLI Song # worshiptogether.com Songs sixsteps Music Christy Nockels Publishing Designee. Christy Nockels. T WEV Acts 8:26-40 Psalm 22: John 4:7-21 John 15:1-8 T T_N Remembering the Body of Christ The Lord be with you! And also with you! Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give Him thanks and praise.

5 The Lord s Prayer (spoken) 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 debts As we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, And the power, and the glory, Forever. Amen Love Divine, All Loves Excelling Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heav n to earth come down! Fix in us Thy humble dwelling; All Thy faithful mercies crown. Jesus, Thou art all compassion; Pure, unbounded love Thou art. Visit us with Thy salvation; Enter every trembling heart. Breathe, O breathe, Thy loving Spirit Into every troubled breast! Let us all in Thee inherit; Let us find the promised rest. Take away our bent to sinning; Alpha and Omega be. End of faith, as its beginning, Set our hearts at liberty. Come, Almighty, to deliver; Let us all Thy life receive. Suddenly return, and never, Nevermore Thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing, Serve Thee as Thy hosts above, Pray and praise thee without ceasing, Glory in Thy perfect love. Finish then Thy new creation; Pure and spotless let us be. Let us see Thy great salvation Perfectly restored in Thee: Changed from glory into glory, Till in heav n we take our place, Till we cast our crowns before Thee, Lost in wonder, love and praise. Setting: Ellen Koehler. Copyright Words: Charles Wesley, Hymn tune: BF, John Zundel, 1870.

6 SV FE The Life of the Body You Are the Vine You are the vine, We are the branches. Keep us abiding in You. You are the vine, We are the branches. Keep us abiding in You. And we ll go in Your love; And we ll go in Your name, That the world will surely know That You have power To heal and to save. You are the vine, We are the branches. Keep us abiding in You. This sung prayer of dismissal sends us into the world, to love and serve the Lord, with the image of John 15 resounding in our ears throughout the week to come. CCLI Song # Mercy/Vineyard Publishing. Danny Daniels, Randy Rigby. Benediction: Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that Your people, illumined by Your word and Table, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory. Amen. Now, beloved, we go forth into the world to love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in His promise that He abides in us and we abide in Him. In faithfulness to His call to abide in His love, let us embrace the privilege and charge He has given us: to love others as He has loved us. And as we walk out our baptisms in the world, may He guide us closer to Him and to one another, in the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace, confirming us in His ways, for His glory alone, forever. Amen! Thanks be to God! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! We are using this benediction, with slight variations, throughout Eastertide this year. It is a variation of the collect for the second Sunday after the Epiphany, Book of Common Prayer. This week, we add references to the readings from John s gospel and first epistle, and to Paul s admonition to unity in Ephesians 4:3. A thought about worship from the Ancient Fathers Who can describe the blessed bond of the love of God? Love unites us to God. Love covers a multitude of sins. Love bears all things is long suffering in all things. There is nothing cruel, nothing arrogant in love. Love allows no divisions; love gives rise to no rebellions; love does all things in harmony. By love have all the elect of God been made perfect; without love nothing is well-pleasing to God. In love has the Lord taken us to Himself. On account of His love for us, Jesus Christ our Lord gave His blood for us by the will of God, His flesh for our flesh, and His soul for our souls. You see, beloved, how great and wonderful a thing love is and that it is impossible to adequately declare its perfection. Who is fit to be found in it except those whom God has graciously privileged? Let us pray, therefore, and implore of His mercy, that we may live blameless in love, free from all human partialities for one above another. Clement of Rome Lectionary for next week: Acts 10:44-48 Psalm 98 1 John 5:1-6 John 15:9-17 Copyright 2018 Ellen Koehler. All Rights Reserved. URL: