Welcome
Below you will find prayers, songs, readings, and a message to help you experience worship. You can light a candle, like we do at church, to remind you of the presence of the Holy Spirit. You can have a bowl of water in the vicinity to remind you of your baptism, and to use during the ‘Thanksgiving for Baptism’ portion of worship. Whether you are alone or with others, we hope that you can feel each other’s presence, and the presence of God, as we find creative ways to worship together, even though we are not in the same building. One good thing about virtual worship is that if you really like a song, you can listen to it again! Do what you need to do to worship God wherever you are.
Thanksgiving for Baptism
(Click video to play)
Read these words to yourself our out loud. Mark the sign of the cross on your hand or forehead or in the air space in front of you. If you are with other people, you can mark the sign of the cross for each other.
Alleluia! Christ is risen. Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia! We give you thanks, holy and gracious God, for you created the waters of the earth: oceans, streams, lakes, and rivers. You led your people through the sea and called them to life in covenant with you. Your Son was baptized in the river Jordan to begin his mission among us. You pour out your Holy Spirit to renew the all of the earth. Through this water remind us of the gift of baptism. Renew us in your promise so that we may serve this world in all its need; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Opening Song
Now the Green Blade Rises
(Click video to play)
Now the green blade rises from the buried grain, wheat that in dark earth many days has lain; love lives again, that with the dead has been; love is come again like wheat arising green.
In the grave they laid him, love by hatred slain, thinking that he would never wake again; laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen; love is come again like wheat arising green.
Forth he came at Easter, like the risen grain, he that for three days in the grave had lain; raised from the dead, my living Lord is seen; love is come again like wheat arising green.
When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain, your touch can call us back to life again, fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been; love is come again like wheat arising green.
Prayer of the Day
Almighty God, your Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. Give us grace to love one another, to follow in the way of his commandments, and to share his risen life with all the world, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Reading
1 Peter 2:2-10
(Click video to play)
2Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation—3if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
4Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For it stands in scripture:
“See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner,” 8and “A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
10Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Children’s Moment & Anthem
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Reading and Message
John 14:1-14
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[Jesus said to the disciples:] 1“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4And you know the way to the place where I am going.” 5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
8Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”
Hymn of the Day
You Are the Way
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You are the way; to you alone from sin and death we flee; all those who search for God, you find and by your grace set free.
You are the truth; your word alone true wisdom can impart; you only can inform the mind and purify the heart.
You are the life; the rending tomb proclaims your conqu’ring arm; and those who put their trust in you not death nor hell shall harm.
You are the way, the truth, the life; grant us that way to know, that truth to keep, that life to win, whose joys eternal flow.
Apostles’ Creed
(Click video to play)
With the whole church, let us confess our faith.
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Prayers
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Let us pray for all who are in need.
Build us up, mothering God, that like living stones we embody the strength that only you can give. Give the church leaders to serve your holy people. Lord, hear our prayer.
Assist the leaders of nations to find and follow your ways of justice. Guide their way through the challenges of pandemic and poverty. Protect governors and legislators from sickness and burn-out. Despite our own considerable needs, keep us mindful of the needs of others, especially refugees and prisoners. Lord, hear our prayer.
Accompany those who are sick, sorrowful, or confused. Comfort them in suffering, ease their distress, and carry their burdens. We beg you to protect us from all sickness, and we pray for those we name in our hearts before you. Lord, hear our prayer.
Sustain those who care for others. Provide enough food and resources for all people. Bless the countless relatives, medical workers, and hospice volunteers who care for those in need. Lord, hear our prayer.
We remember before you all who have died in the faith. At the end, bring us all to you, you are our way, our truth, and our life. Lord, hear our prayer.
With bold confidence in your love, almighty God, we place all for whom we pray into your eternal care; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
(Click video to play)
Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray as Jesus taught us.
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.
Sending Song
Let All Things Now Living
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Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving to God the creator triumphantly raise, who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us, who still guides us on to the end of our days. God’s banners are o’er us, God’s light goes before us, a pillar of fire shining forth in the night, till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished, as forward we travel from light into light.
God rules all the forces: the stars in their courses and sun in its orbit obediently shine; the hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains, the deeps of the ocean proclaim God divine. We too should be voicing our love and rejoicing; with glad adoration a song let us raise till all things now living unite in thanksgiving: “To God in the highest, hosanna and praise!”
Franciscan Sending
(Reinemann Family)
Read this out loud. If you are with other people, take turns reading the parts out loud.
May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.
And the Blessing of God, who Creates, Redeems, and Sanctifies, be upon you and all you love and pray for this day, and forevermore. Amen.
Blessing
May the One who brought forth Jesus from the dead raise you to new life, fill you with hope, and turn your mourning into dancing. Almighty God, Father, ☩ Son, and Holy Spirit, bless you now and forever. Amen.
Dismissal
Christ is risen, just as he said. Go in peace. Share the good news. Alleluia! Thanks be to God. Alleluia!
Worship Assistants:
Music: Lori, Ian
Message: Pastor Kristin
Readers: Amy, Steve, Kelly, Jordan, Andrew, Anna, Maya, Amy, Adalynn, Wendy
Children’s Moment: Lori
From Sundays and Seasons.com. Copyright 2005 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License #22432. 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. Hymns reprinted with permission. CCLI#116214