Online Worship Text May 2, 2021

Online Worship Text
May 2, 2021

Fifth Sunday of Easter Season

Before we begin, gather a candle or small light, your Bible, a cross,  a piece of bread and a cup of juice or water. Place them at the center of a calm area in your home and gather comfortable seating for all who will join you. Place your phone, tablet  or computer where you can see and hear it. You may want to connect a charger, rather than rely on battery.

Welcome

Lighting the Christ Candles  We light our candles or lights.

Voice One: In the beginning, God said,
Voice Two: Let there be light, and there was light!
Voice One: We light these candles today,
Voice Two: Because God is with us in this time and in all these places!

 

Call to Worship

Voice One: Jesus offers a new-old commandment,
Voice Two: Love each other.

Voice One: With the incredible power, and the unfathomable depth of God's love for us
Voice Two: We can, we must, love one another.

Voice One: And it is in this, our love for one another, that the world will know whom we worship.
Voice Two: Come, children of God, let us love one another!

~ written by Katherine Hawker, and posted on Outside the Box. http://liturgyoutside.net/

Invocation
 

God of love,
plant us in the soil of your grace.
Nurture us with the strength of Christ,
the vine of everlasting life.
Enlighten us with the wisdom of your Spirit,
which flows through us today and all days.
Abide in us,
that we may abide in you
and live in your love.
In your holy name, we pray. Amen.

— Adapted from The Abingdon Worship Annual 2012, © 2011 Abingdon Press.  Posted on the Worship Elements page of the Ministry Matters website.



Scripture: I John 4:7-21
 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God;
everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
Whoever does not love does not know God,
for God is love.

God’s love was revealed among us in this way:
God sent his only Son into the world
so that we might live through him.
In this is love, not that we loved God but
that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Beloved, since God loved us so much,
we also ought to love one another.

No one has ever seen God;
if we love one another, God lives in us,
and his love is perfected in us.
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us,
because he has given us of his Spirit.
And we have seen and do testify that
the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world.

God abides in those who confess that Jesus
is the Son of God, and they abide in God.
So we have known and believe
the love that God has for us.

God is love,
and those who abide in love abide in God,
and God abides in them.

Love has been perfected among us in this:
that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because
as he is, so are we in this world.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear;
for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears
has not reached perfection in love.

We love because he first loved us.
Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers
or sisters,are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen,
cannot love God whom they have not seen.
The commandment we have from him is this:
those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

-New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the 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.


Meditation

Invitation to the Table The bread and cup and placed on the table for the Lord’s Supper.


Prayer of Communion Elders this month are 
 

Words of Institution  We break the bread and lift the cup as the words are spoken.

The Lord's Supper We share in the bread and cup as we hear the music.

Prayer of Thanksgiving: The Lord’s Prayer


Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.

 

Prayer of Intercession

How deeply you have loved us, Jesus;
how willingly you stepped into our experience,
how completely you empathised with all that we endure.
 

Teach us to love as you have loved us.

How sacrificially you have loved us, Jesus;
how completely you gave yourself for us,
how courageously you suffered for our sakes.
 

Embolden us to love as you have loved us.

How restoratively you have loved us, Jesus;
how generously you share your life,
how extravagantly you make yourself available to us.
 

Equip us to love as you have loved us.

We praise you for your love
which is given so freely and so unconditionally.
And we thank you for believing
that we could learn to offer such love
to each other.
 

Thank you for the call to love as you have loved us.
Amen.

— adapted from a prayer written by John van de Laar, and posted on his excellent Sacredise website.  Visit that site for other excellent lectionary-based resources. 


Challenge for Discipleship

Blessing     We speak in unison.


The Light that was in one place and at one time, is now in all places and all times, for God has placed the light in us.   We abide in peace!  And we go forth into the world as children of God!