ST. MICHAEL LUTHERAN CHURCH 118 State Street Harrisburg, Pennsylvania ALTAR FLOWERS are sponsored to the Glory of God by Chris Persson and Sue McDonald. COMMUNITY AID COLLECTION LESS IS MORE! It is Spring, and it is a good time to declutter your house or apartment. Knick-knacks and small appliances are appreciated at Community Aid. Please set them inside the side entrance with a note. Please don t forget gently used clothing. STEWARDSHIP SNIPPET I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will pay you my vows, those that my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble. I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Psalm 66:13-15 Unlike our ancestors, we don t give burnt offerings and sacrifices to God, but we do give for the same reasons: out of gratitude for all God has given us and for how God answers our prayers. With grateful hearts we give back to God what God has first given us: Our money, our time, our abilities. Worship Leaders Presiding Minister Director of Music Assisting Minister Eucharistic Minister Cantor Lector Acolyte Greeters Ushers Altar Guild The Reverend Larry Hawkins Alex Ashman Kevin Hepler Angela Tanczos Wayne Noss Anne Reeve Marissa Archer Lisa Kratzer and Dan Tosheff Gary Lehman Nancy and Floyd Eberly The Sixth Sunday of Easter May 21, 2017 10:00 a.m. 16 1
Welcome to St. Michael Church PRAYERS BEFORE WORSHIP We come to you, Risen Lord, continuing our praise in the Easter season. Your victory over death is more than an annual remembrance; it gives us an eternal future. You have transformed us from death to life. Make us agents of change to transform all in this world that is life denying into what is life giving. In thanksgiving we offer our prayers and praise. When the disciples gathered with Jesus, Thomas missed out; he was not there. We can identify; we were not there either! Give us, we pray, the gift of faith so that even though we have not seen, we will believe. WORSHIP NOTES Jesus does not leave his followers orphaned. Through the Holy Spirit Jesus comes to abide with his disciples of every generation. As Pentecost draws near, we are reminded that the risen Christ dwells in us as the Spirit of truth. We receive this Spirit in baptism and pray that in our gathering around the Lord s table the Spirit will transform us to be the body of the risen Christ in the world. Persons with impairments - St. Michael offers to anyone with a hearing difficulty a small, remote personal speaker. We invite our guests who may need this to ask an usher for one. We welcome any comments concerning St. Michael's efforts to accommodate persons with impairments or disabilities. An enlarged copy of the bulletin is available. Please see an usher if you would like to use one. BLESSING +++SENDING+++ May God who has brought us from death to life fill you with great joy. Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, bless you now and forever. Amen. SENDING SONG Go, My Children, with My Blessing elw 543 DISMISSAL Go in peace. The Spirit sends us forth to serve. Thanks be to God. POSTLUDE Copyright 2017 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License #SAS003333. New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ONGOING MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES Helping Hands Ministry Loaves of Love Communion for the Pates Community Aid CALENDAR FOR WEEK OF MAY 21 Pastor s Day Off Ascension of Our Lord Sunday, Thursday and Friday at 4:00 p.m. Ongoing food collection Third Sunday of the month Collection Box Monday Thursday, 7:00 p.m. The readings for the Ascension of Our Lord, May 25, are: Acts 1:1-11, Psalm 47, Ephesians 1:15-23, and Luke 24:44-53, and the Seventh Sunday of Easter, May 28, are: Acts 1:6-14, Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35, I Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11, and John 17:1-11. We remember the following members and friends of St. Michael in prayer this week: Lennie Whitcomb, Jake Reisinger, Linda Grissom, Elspeth Lucas, Kevin Sheets, Clarence and Barbara Hawkins, Roy Smith, Art Cover, Jay, and Diana Pate. 2 15
COMMUNION HYMN Bread of Life from Heaven elw 474 SONG AFTER COMMUNION A CELEBRATION OF WORD AND SACRAMENT +++GATHERING+++ PRELUDE THANKSGIVING FOR BAPTISM Blessed be the holy Trinity, one God, the fountain of living water, the rock who gave us birth, our light and our salvation. Amen. Joined to Christ in the waters of baptism, we are clothed with God's mercy and forgiveness. Let us give thanks for the gift of baptism. We give you thanks, O God, for in the beginning your Spirit moved over the waters and by your Word you created the world, calling forth life in which you took delight. Through the waters of the flood you delivered Noah and his family. Through the sea you led your people Israel from slavery into freedom. At the river your Son was baptized by John and anointed with the Holy Spirit. By water and your Word you claim us as daughters and sons, making us heirs of your promise and servants of all. We praise you for the gift of water that sustains life, and above all we praise you for the gift of new life in Jesus Christ. Shower us with your Spirit, and renew our lives with your forgiveness, grace, and love. To you be given honor and praise through Jesus Christ our Lord in the unity of the Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen. GATHERING HYMN Alleluia! Sing to Jesus elw 392 GREETING Alleluia! Christ is risen! PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia! 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. 14 3
KYRIE 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 COMMUNION We stand to receive communion during the Easter Season. Communion is open to anyone who seeks to respond to Christ's love. To receive communion the assembly approaches the altar rail by the center aisle in two rows. The pastor will come around and place the host (bread) in your hand, an assisting minister will have the wine. You may receive the wine either by common cup, or from the pouring chalice. To receive from the pouring chalice take a glass from the tray at the front of the center aisle. After you use the glass you may place it in the tray on the window sill as you return to your seat by the side aisle. COMMUNION SONG 4 13
CANTICLE OF PRAISE THANKSGIVING AT THE TABLE Blessed are you, O God of the universe. Your mercy is everlasting and your faithfulness endures from age to age. Praise to you for creating the heavens and the earth. Praise to you for saving the earth from the waters of the flood. Praise to you for bringing the Israelites safely through the sea. Praise to you for leading your people through the wilderness to the land of milk and honey. Praise to you for the words and deeds of Jesus, your anointed one. Praise to you for the death and resurrection of Christ. Praise to you for your Spirit poured out on all nations. In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me. Again, after supper, 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. With this bread and cup we remember our Lord's passover from death to life as we proclaim the mystery of faith: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. O God of resurrection and new life: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on these gifts of bread and wine. Bless this feast. Grace our table with your presence. Come, Holy Spirit. Reveal yourself to us in the breaking of the bread. Raise us up as the body of Christ for the world. Breathe new life into us. Send us forth, burning with justice, peace, and love. Come, Holy Spirit. With your holy ones of all times and places, with the earth and all its creatures, with sun and moon and stars, we praise you, O God, blessed and holy Trinity, now and forever. Amen. 12 5
Praise God above, ye heav nly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Alleluia, Alleluia Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia OFFERING PRAYER DIALOGUE PRAYER OF THE DAY +++WORD+++ FIRST READING Acts 17:22-31 22 Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23 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. 24 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, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. 26 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, 27 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. 28 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. 29 Since we are God s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like 6 PREFACE...we praise your name and join their unending hymn: 11
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. PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION PEACE Lord, in your mercy, / hear our prayer. The peace of Christ be with you always. And also with you. The assembly shares the Lord s peace with those nearby. OFFERING HYMN +++MEAL+++ Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise God, all creatures here below; Alleluia, Alleluia Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow Sung to the tune of Lasst Uns Erfreuen 10 gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. 30 While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 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. PSALM Psalm 66:8-20 The refrain is sung by the cantor, repeated by the assembly. The psalm is sung antiphonally by the cantor and assembly, beginning with the cantor. The assembly sings the refrain where marked. Bless our God, you peoples; let the sound of praise be heard. Our God has kept us a- mong the living and has not allowed our feet to slip. R For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us just as sil- ver is tried. You brought us in- to the net; you laid heavy burdens up- on our backs. You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us out into a place of refreshment. I will enter your house with burnt offerings and will pay you my vows those that I promised with my lips and spoke with my mouth when I was in trouble. I will offer you burnt offerings of fatlings with the smoke of rams; I will give you ox- en and goats. R Come and listen, all you who believe, and I will tell you what God has done for me. I called out to God with my mouth, and praised the Lord with my tongue. If I had cherished evil in my heart, 7
the Lord would not have heard me; but in truth God has heard me and has attended to the sound of my prayer. Blessed be God, who has not reject- ed my prayer, nor withheld unfailing love from me. R SECOND READING I Peter 3:13-22 13 Who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14 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, 15 but 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; 16 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. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God s will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18 For 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, 19 in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 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. 21 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, 22 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 ACCLAMATION The proper verse is sung by the cantor; then Alleluia is repeated. 8 Those who love me will keep my word, and my Fa- ther will love them,* and we will come to them and make our home with them. 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. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This 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. 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 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 the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ. GOSPEL PROCESSION SERMON HYMN OF THE DAY You Are Mine elw 581 NICENE 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, 9