April 15, 2018

Sunday April 15, 2018

Year B, Third Sunday of Easter 

Third Sunday of Easter :: White ::

Acts 3:12–19 :: Psalm 4 :: 1 John 3:1–7:: Luke 24:36b–48

Call to Worship (Responsive)           

Adapted from Psalm 4

L: O God of blessing, answer when we call.

P: Be gracious to us and hear our prayers.

L: Know that the LORD has set apart the faithful,

P: and the LORD hears when we call.

L: The peace of the LORD is with you,

P: and I shall lie down with peace and in the safety of the LORD.

Invocation :

Almighty God, who created the heavens and the earth and called them good; You who created the land and the water and filled them with inhabitants, and called it good; You who created humankind and called it very good; we come before you this day to sing your praises.  You protect us in our waking and our sleeping.  You provide us with food and water.  You shelter us in your love.  Now O God, as we offer our prayers and praise, our gifts and ourselves before you, we ask that you use this time of worship to glorify your name, and fill us with your Spirit.  We ask it in the name, by the grace and for the sake of Jesus the Christ.

Stewardship Moment:

First John 3:2 reads: “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when [God] is revealed, we will be like [God], for we will see [God] as [God] is.”

We will be like God. I believe our calling is to strive to be like God inasmuch as we understand God in this life. One of the ways we can strive to be like God is to be generous. Generous with our time. Generous with our talents. Generous with our treasures. We will now receive the tithes and offerings which are signs of our generosity.

Offertory Prayer:

Loving God, you have given us so much in all of creation, and have shown us your love.  We bring these offerings as signs of our remembrance of your gifts.  Take them, and use them to glorify your Name.  Bless each one who has brought them to become the kind of generous followers you would have us to be.

Communion Meditation:

One of my favorite verses in all of scripture is Luke 24:45.  Jesus is back from the dead, and has appeared to the Disciples.  It is after the touch and see moments that scripture tells us “Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.”  I like it because I can imagine the intensity with which the Disciples were paying attention.  And in the midst of that high intensity attention getting mind opening lesson, Luke goes on to report that Jesus said to them “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations.”  That is exactly what we do as we gather around this table.  We remember that Jesus DID suffer, Jesus DID rise, and when we confess and repent of our sins, Jesus DID promise us forgiveness, and DOES.  Jesus closes this teaching by reminding the Disciples “You are witnesses of these things, and see I am sending upon you what God promised.”  As we gather at the table today, remember: you are God’s witness, empowered by God and nourished by this feast.  Come and receive the Gifts of God.

 

All material copyright 2018 The Jubilee Fund, Inc.  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

 

 

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