Posted on May 3, 2020 Posted By: admin Categories: Latest News

Order of Worship

Fourth Sunday in Easter

Communion

Before you begin, assemble elements if you wish to partake in communion. If you do not have simple bread and grape juice you can substitute with what you have. Even pieces of fruit or grapes work well.

Gathering Music

Call to Worship

God of teeming galaxies and the great empty freeways of space,
Shepherd of the meek,

we approach you with loving awe.

God of mother earth, of sunlit mountains and moonlit deserts,
Shepherd of the poor,

we approach you with loving gratitude.

God of countless millennia and the rise and fall of cultures and empires,
Shepherd of the merciful,

we approach you with loving faith.

God of incarnation and redemption, of the dying and rising Christ,
Shepherd of the lost,

we approach you with loving hope.

As we gather in spirit to worship you,
open our minds to your truth,
our souls to your beauty,
and our hearts to your grace.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord;
Amen!

HYMN: Press Play in the black bar to start the music for the hymn- AUDIO ONLY

Welcome and Opening Prayer

Anthem

When You Walk On Eliza Gilkyson

Soloists: Lynn Grube, Lucy Watts Arr. Judy Freeman

Violin: Ella Jones

The anthem you will hear this morning, entitled “When You Walk On,” written by singer/songwriter Eliza Gilkyson and arranged by Judy Freeman.

WHEN YOU WALK ON
There’s a long and winding river

From the darkness to the dawn.
It will carry and deliver you. When you walk on.

No one here can say for certain.
What lies in the great beyond.
You’ll pass through that parted curtain.
When you walk on.

You may grasp at the illusion.

The confusion of your mind.
But soon you will remember.
To surrender one more time.
You may fade out of the doorway.
Fly away above the throne.
Those who stay carry your story.
A little glory lingers on.
Though the world you leave behind you.
Will become a distant song.
Every soul you loved will find you.
When you walk on.

John 10:1-10

1 “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. 7 So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

Sermon

Gaslighters & Gatekeepers. Rev. Matt Gough

HYMN: Press Play in the black bar below to start the music for the hymn- AUDIO ONLY

Communion

Invitation

[Words in bold indicate the congregation’s part.]
Once upon a time, God made a garden,
and every creature lived in it happily with God.
We took long walks with God in the cool of the evening,
humans and snails, kangaroos and spiders, kitties and larks.
And when we all sat down with God to eat,
the curling vines gave up their fruit,
the tall gold wheat gave up its grain,
and we ate delicious bread
and drank from a cup of blessing,
singing songs under stars ‘till morning.
And the grateful creation was at peace.

Ever since, whenever we honor the earth
by eating and drinking with heartfelt thanks,
God walks with us again.
God sits with us and eats.
Our tables become the garden,
the whole creation sighs with peace,
and we see again how life was meant to be.

Come, now, everyone, to this table,
to the garden God planted in the East, in Eden.
Come, taste and remember,
taste and see how good God is.

Communion Prayer

Let us pray.
Thank you, Creator God,
for sharing your life with us
in every good thing of this world.
Thank you most of all for Jesus,
who sat us down to eat and drink
good bread and good wine,
so that in tasting how good they are
we could remember how good you are.

He is our East, our Eden,
our Garden of peace.
In him we find the fullness of life
you desired for us from the start—
walking together, sharing food, living in peace.

Send the Spirit to his table now
where he still sits us down,
where we still remember you.

Bless the bread and the cup,
fruit of the earth and work of our hands.
May they become by your grace
the taste of Eden in our hearts.

As we eat and drink together,
let us see more clearly
a vision of life as you meant it to be.

Consecrate us to the ministry of making it so,
by sharing earth’s goodness with all,
in reverence and hope, with justice, and joy.

Sharing the Bread and Cup

Dear friends in Christ,
this is the bread Jesus blessed and broke
and gave us to share in remembrance of him.

This is the cup Jesus blessed and poured
and gave us to drink in remembrance if him.

Eating and drinking together,

we remember his death,
we rejoice in his rising,
and we wait for him to come again,
to judge in mercy,
to welcome in love,
and restore all creation,
to the praise and glory of God.
Amen!

HYMN: Press Play in the black bar below to start the music for the hymn- AUDIO ONLY