05/18/25

As We Gather

 Now we know the end of the story. In John’s vision in the Epistle, heaven will be like an eternal wedding feast. All of us in the Church have been made presentable by Christ, the Bridegroom. Unlike the disciples, who in today’s Gospel still had to experience their Lord’s absence from Good Friday through Easter morning, we can be confident that no one can take our joy from us. Now we know that because He has paid the price on the cross, the Bridegroom will freely make all things new. In place of torrents of tears will be the spring of the water of life as “love for one another” leads the way.

Activity Bags We value children in our worship services. If needed, there is a family room available for families with children. The family room has a diaper changing table, a closed-circuit TV to watch the worship service, toys and books for children. The family room is located across from the kitchen in the long hallway, the first door on the right, just past the bathrooms. There are “King’s Kids” bags with activities for children to help them worship. They are near the usher’s station on a small rack. Please return the bag to the rack after the service.

Holy Communion The Scripture teaches the Lord’s Supper is a precious gift of God in which Christ gives us His true body and blood (in a miraculous way), together with the bread and wine, for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith. Because the Bible teaches that this Sacrament may also be spiritually harmful if misused (1 Cor: 11:27), and that participation in the Lord’s Supper is an act of confession of faith, we ordinarily commune those who have been instructed in the teachings of our church and who have confessed their faith in these teachings. If you have a question, please speak to Pastor Ralph before the service. For those who prefer a non-alcoholic alternative, there is grape juice at the center of each tray. Those not receiving the Sacrament, including children, are invited to come to the altar, cross their arms over their chest, and receive a special blessing.

 Learn a Language By Trying to Speak It “By imitating speech a subject is more easily learned than by study and books. You can see this in my little daughter. Although she is not yet four years old, she knows how to speak well and, indeed, clearly about household matters. In ten years, a boy cannot learn from a  grammar and by reading books a language from which an infant learns in two years. So great is the power of speech and imitation.” What Luther Says# 2266

All Scripture from The New International Version ©1984 IBS

Easter 5

May18, 2025

Welcome 

Opening Hymn            Christ, the Word of God Incarnate LSB 540  vs 1-2, 5-6

Invocation, Confession and Absolution 

P:   We gather in the name and at the invitation of our great and gracious triune God;

C:   In the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

P:   Alleluia! Christ is risen!

C:   He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

P:   Our help is in the name of the Lord,

C:   who made heaven and earth.

P:   If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?

C:   But with You there is forgiveness; therefore You are feared.

P:   God’s grace knows no bounds! Through the sacrifice of His Son, the Bridegroom of the Church, He makes us His holy bride. Anticipating the heavenly wedding feast, let us seek God’s grace now and call on Him for forgiveness and mercy.

C:   Almighty God, have mercy on us, for we cannot help ourselves. Forgive us all that we have done in the past, give us grace in this present time, and lead us to serve You and love one another in the future and on into the eternity You have promised. Amen.

(Silence for Meditation)

P:   Jesus promised the disciples, “Your sorrow will turn into joy,” and He promises “the spring of the water of life without payment.” As a called and ordained servant of Christ, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

C:   Amen.

Hymn of Praise At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing            LSB 633  vs 1-4

Prayer of the Day

All:  Lord Jesus, Bridegroom of the Church, Guide us so that our thoughts, words, and deeds may testify that we are no longer wed to this world, but are Yours, now and always; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

1^st Lesson         (Gentiles may be baptized into the one Church.)                   Acts 11:1–18

The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. ² So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him ³ and said, “You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.” ⁴ Peter began and explained everything to them precisely as it had happened: ⁵ “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. ⁶ I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air. ⁷ Then I heard a voice telling me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.’ ⁸ “I replied, ‘Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ ⁹ “The voice spoke from heaven a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again. ¹¹ “Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. ¹² The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³ He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. ¹⁴ He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’ ¹⁵ “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered what the Lord had said: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?” ¹⁸ When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.” 

Epistle Lesson           (The new Jerusalem coming down from heaven.) Rev. 21:1–8

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” ⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

 Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” ⁶ He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. ⁷ He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. ⁸ But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Holy Gospel              (Jesus gives the command to love as He has loved.)     John 13:31–35

When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. ³² If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. ³³ “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. ³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Message Song                               Let It Be Said of Us

Let it be said of us that the Lord was our passion,

That with gladness we bore every cross we were given.

That we fought the good fight, that we finished the course

Knowing within us the power of the risen Lord.

Chorus:      Let the cross be our glory and the Lord be our song,

By mercy made holy, by the Spirit made strong.

Let the cross be our glory and the Lord be our song

‘Til the likeness of Jesus be through us made known.

Let the cross be our glory and the Lord be our song.

Let it be said of us, we were marked by forgiveness,

We were known by our love and delighted in meekness.

We were ruled by His peace, heeding unity’s call,

Joined as one body that Christ would be seen by all.   Chorus

©Copyright 1994 Maranatha Praise, Inc and Word Music, Inc.

Words and music by Steve Fry Used by permission CCLI #11390779

Message                                         A New Commandment – Love One Another

Loving one another looks like:

1. __________________            serving.
2. ___________________         serving.
3. Love is ____________________       .

Notes:

The Apostle’s Creed                                      

C:   I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.  

And in Jesus Christ His 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 into hell. The third day He rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Offering 

Offertory                                  Where Charity and Love Prevail              LSB 845  vs 1,3, 6

Prayers of the Church  

After each petition:

P:  Lord, in your mercy,

C:  hear our prayer.

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 and ever. Amen.

The Lord’s Supper

Preface                                                                      page 194 in the hymnal

P:  The Lord be with you.

C:  ♪ And with thy spirit.

P:  Lift up your hearts.

C:  ♪ We lift them up unto the Lord.

P:  Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

C:  ♪ It is meet and right so to do.

P:  It is truly good, right, and salutary …. And with the host of heaven we sing:

Sanctus — Holy, Holy, Holy                                          page 195 in the hymnal

P:  ♪ Ho -ly, ho-ly, ho-ly Lord God of Sa – ba – oth. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory.   

          Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He, blessed is He, blessed is

          He who cometh in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest.

The Words of Institution (Jesus Institutes the Lord’s Supper)

Pax Domini—The Peace of the Lord                    page 197 in the hymnal

P:  The peace of the Lord be with you always.   

C:  ♪ Amen.

Agnus Dei – Lamb of God                                                             page 198 in the hymnal 

C:  ♪ O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world; have mercy upon us.

         O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world; have mercy upon us.

         O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world; 

         grant us Thy peace.  A – men.

Distribution                               Love in Christ Is Strong and Living           LSB 706

Nunc Dimittis                                                                                   page 199 in the hymnal        

C: ♪ Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy Word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.                                                                                                                                          

Post Communion Collect                                                                                 

All: Gracious God, our heavenly Father, we give thanks that here in time You have already assured us of our invitation to the wedding feast above. Keep the vision of that joyful eternity before us until faith turns to sight and we celebrate the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom, which has no end; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Benediction                                                                                                        

P:   The blessing of God Almighty—the Father, the ✠ Son, and the Holy Spirit— be upon you, now and forever.

C:    Amen.
Sending Hymn                      The Church’s One Foundation LSB 644  vs 1-2, 4-5

Announcements 

Dismissal

P:   Go in peace as you serve the Lord.      

C:   Thanks be to God!   

Postlude