Celebration of Worship

Seventh Sunday of Easter, May 29, 2022

WELCOME:                                                              

PRELUDE                       “God of the Sparrow”                                                        by Carl Schalk

GATHERING SENTENCES:                       Worship Leader:   Dana Trimble

 One:  The LORD is king!  Let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad!  Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

 MANY:  Fire goes before him, and consumes his adversaries on every side.  His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles.  The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.

One:  The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory.  All worshipers of images are put to shame, those who make their boast in worthless idols; all gods bow down before him.                           

MANY: Zion hears and is glad, and the towns of Judah rejoice, because of your judgments, O God.  For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.

One:  The LORD loves those who hate evil; he guards the lives of his faithful; he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.

ALL:   Light dawns for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.  Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!                                                                                         Psalm 97                        NRSV

* HYMN #     104                                 Christ Is Risen!  Shout Hosanna! 

PRAYER OF ADORATION:                        Worship Leader:  Dana Trimble

PRAYER OF CONFESSION:   God of wonder and grace, we confess that we are caught off guard with the reality of resurrection with each new day.  We are weary, we are worn, we are living in a world filled with compromise, self-deception, and selfishness.    Forgive us as we accept the past as our only possible future, hoping for little and expecting less.  In this season of Easter 2022 open our hearts to become receptacles of faith, hope and love in this new week.

May your Spirit empower us to live in the joy that Jesus died to bring to the church and the world.

Thanks be to you O God.    Amen.            (A moment for silent confession)

ASSURANCE OF PARDON: 

THE WORD:                                

FIRST READING:                Acts 16:16-34                       The Reverend Michael R. Mansperger                ¹⁶One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. ¹⁷While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.” ¹⁸She kept doing this for many days.  But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour. ¹⁹But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. ²⁰When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews ²¹and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.” ²²The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods. ²³After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. ²⁴Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks. ²⁵About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. ²⁷When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” ²⁹The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” ³¹They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” ³²They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. ³³At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. ³⁴He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

SECOND READING:         Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17,20-21           Worship Leader:   Dana Trimble ¹²“See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. ¹³I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” ¹⁴Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. ¹⁶“It is I, Jesus, who sent my angel to you with this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” ¹⁷The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let everyone who hears say, “Come.” And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.  ²⁰The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! ²¹The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.

ANTHEM                                “Song of Joy”                  Farrah                                       

GOSPEL READING:              John 17:20-26                                     Worship Leader: Dana Trimble       ²⁰”I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹that they may all be one.  As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²²The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, ²³I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.  ²⁴Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵“Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. ²⁶I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

SERMON:                     “Praying and Singing“                      The Reverend Michael Mansperger  

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH:                              The Apostle’s Creed 

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from there he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.  I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.  Amen.   

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE: 

Dona Whitehouse, June Wright, Tom Miner, David King, Marilou Swenson, Fred and Ellen Hummel’s daughter Cynthia and her family, Bob Harrod, Binnie Trimble, Ken Angotti, “Chickie” Johnson, Carla Chase, Donna Adams, Marilou Swenson’s daughter – Beth Beringer, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Russian people, Ronnie Crain, Eddie Ruby, Jim Diefenderfer.  Marilyn Brown, Norma Lewis, Doug and Muriel Maxwell, Dr. Curt and Nancy Hood, Linda Page, Marilyn Gabriel, Barbara Niepert, Dawn McDonald, Don Bates, Charlene Orletski, Bob and Diana Leipprandt, Mendi Boyle, Borders for our nation, Congress and the President, Mision Peniel and staff members Miguel Estrada and Ruth De Yoe.  Medical workers, hospitals, nursing facilities, law enforcement officers and the military.  Pam our mission co–worker.    All those who have left for the summer and are enjoying different locations, churches and climates.