Worship Resources for
the Center for Faith and Giving
5th Sunday of Easter
Acts 7:55-60
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
1 Peter 2:2-10
John 14:1-14
Call to Worship (in response to Psalm 31)
One: In challenging times, we turn to God, our rock and our refuge.
Many: Our lives are in God’s hands – the One who will still our fears.
One: We can trust God who blew Spirit into each of us,
and guides us to full life.
Many: May God’s face shine on us and on all who worship the Lord.
One: The Lord provides redemption for each and for all.
Many: Thanks be to God, who shows steadfast love to all creation!
All: Today we praise God and take courage as we wait for the Lord.
Opening Prayer
Abundant and Generous God, we’ve come to honor you in this hour,
grateful for the gifts you pour out on us day by day.
Accept our praise.
Fill us with your Spirit
so we might act in love toward those who stand in need all around us.
Renew in each of us the recognition of Jesus as “the way, the truth, and the life.”
Turn our hearts to scripture to inspire us, even as we grow into salvation,
encouraging us to taste and see that the Lord is good. AMEN
Moment for Stewardship
As the sun’s presence lengthens in the northern hemisphere, trees burst into full green and flowers blossom in field and forest, we recognize the blessing of these days.
Many feel the bubbling up of joy in response to Jesus’ resurrection.
Many know the gifts of light, laughter, and love which confirm our growing into abundant LIFE.
And we’re eager to taste and see the Lord is good!
Sometimes that happens as the foundation of relationships grows more real in our congregation.
Sometimes it happens as serendipity when we welcome strangers and find they become dear friends.
Sometimes it happens as one gift inspiring another and soon the box is overflowing with what is offered.
Today, you’re invited to share what you have already received: your time, your talent, your treasure (including moments of your life translated into the money). Let’s use this opportunity as one way to celebrate the One who calls us into marvelous light!
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Provider God,
Thank you for offering your Realm to us here and now!
In the resurrected Jesus, you show us the way, the truth, and the life.
With these gifts, we cast our vote for that life:
days of generosity instead of fear,
hours of hope instead of daily despair.
So help us use these offerings, trusting you to show your Way
through our congregation, our community and throughout your cosmos.
AMEN
Invitation to Communion
You shape a safe place for us, Imaginative God,
as you sent your Child, Jesus, to show us the Way.
Born a tiny baby as we are, he showed us how to grow into your people.
The cornerstone of your Realm,
Jesus uses us to build a spiritual home for all.
Committing his spirit to you, he entered the emptiness of death,
so we might stand on the solid ground of the resurrected life.
Once, we were nobodies, alone and hopeless,
but by your mercy, we are now living your Truth,
gathered in your love around this Table,
where your Spirit shows us the Life of his bread and cup.
You lean over to serve us the bread, enveloping us in your grace
so we might be filled and sent to be your people.
You offer us the cup of hope, which can heal our troubled hearts
and strengthen us to serve your world.
And when the Way leads us home to you,
when your Life gathers us around the Table
which is prepared by your Truth,
we will sing glad songs of praise to you forever.
So we come, eager to share this feast and live fully in you!
(This invitation is from a liturgy written by Thom Shuman, who freely makes his work available.)