For Sunday April 16, 2017
EASTER SPECIAL OFFERING FOR GENERAL MINISTRIES OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH (Disciples of Christ)
Year A, Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday with Easter Special Offering Stewardship Moment
White :: Acts 10:34-43 :: Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24 :: Colossians 3:1-4 :: John 20:1-18
Call to Worship (Responsive)
Adapted from Psalm 118
L: O give thanks to the LORD, for the LORD is good
P: God’s steadfast love endures forever.
L: The LORD is our strength, and our might,
P: The LORD has become our salvation.
L: The stone which the builders rejected,
P: Has become the chief cornerstone.
L: The is the day that the LORD has made;
P: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Invocation:
Christ is Risen! Christ is risen indeed! We come O God celebrating the triumph of the day. We come to remember and celebrate Christ’s victory over death, completing His sacrifice for all sin and our redemption. We come with songs of praise and celebration, for the tomb is empty and our hearts are filled with joy. Enjoin our worship, O God, to praise and glorify your name above all names.
Stewardship Moment:
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.”
To live out God’s Mission in the world as a church we have to understand what is good. It is not enough to act justly and to love mercy, but we also have to walk humbly with God.
One of the ways that we can walk humbly with God, is by accompanying international partners in their ministries – rejoicing in their good news, suffering with their bad news, and holding up the many lessons that they offer the church in North America.
Global Ministries’ Area Initiatives have helped hundreds of congregations to deepen their understanding of world, while providing Bible studies, webinars, and children’s materials that foster deeper relationships with partners and their unique understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing their communities. For partners, the Area Initiatives shares a strong witness that they are not forgotten, even when they face extraordinary challenges like the decades long conflict in the Congo, or the Refugee Crisis coming out of Syria. For congregations, the Area Initiatives provide opportunities to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.
Your gift to the Easter offering helps congregations across the United States and Canada to share more deeply in the work that God is doing around the world.
Offertory Prayer:
O God of Grace and Glory, we bring our gifts before you and ask your blessing. Use these gifts to strengthen your church and spread your message, we pray. Bless and multiply them, with those of our sister congregations all across North America, that our church might spread your word from our doorsteps to the ends of the earth.
Communion Meditation:
Today the Last Supper makes more sense. Today we see the power of Jesus’ sacrifice, confirmed in His victory over death. If Jesus had only declared himself a sacrifice, and had simply died; if there had been no Easter morning, and no empty tomb; none of it would make sense. We celebrate around this table to remember the sacrifice which led to the victory over death. Today, at this table we remember and celebrate the ultimate victory. Come, eat, drink, and remember what Christ has done for YOU.
All material copyright 2017 The Jubilee Fund, Inc., and appears on this site via a partnership agreement with the Center for Faith and Giving. Permission granted to reproduce and use any of the above for Churches and Congregations to the glory of God without requirement of compensation or notification.
Scripture Quotations from the New Revised Standard Version. Online Scripture links a service of the Jean and Alexander Heard Divinity Library, of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN. Check out all of the awesome resources there at http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu