4th Sunday of
Easter
10:30 am Holy Communion Service
Grace Evangelical Lutheran, San Francisco
Welcome
to worship at Grace! Welcome to long-time
Lutherans, Christians from every tradition, and people new to faith. Welcome to
all who have no church home, want to follow Christ, have doubts, or do not
believe. Welcome to new visitors and old friends. Welcome to people of every
age and size, color and culture, every sexual orientation and gender identity,
socio-economic status, marital status, ability and challenge. Welcome to
believers and questioners, and to questioning believers. This is a place where
you are welcome to celebrate and sorrow, rejoice and recover. This is a place where lives are made new.
Special
Welcome to Newcomers Welcome
to our small community of faith. While
we are small in numbers, we have big hearts and a desire to grow. In order to help you follow along, we have
included all the materials you need for worship in this bulletin.
Please join us for worship any Sunday at 10:30am
that you are able. If you cannot join us
in person, you can also join us online via live stream or by watching the
archives of our worship and Bible Study that Doesn’t Suck anytime during the
week at our website (www.gracesf.com), or on our mobile phone app, Bible Study that Doesn’t Suck, is
available on Google Play and ITunes.
If you have any questions about the service
or about Grace, you can fill out the form in pew to let our pastor know you’d
like to chat. Or you can contact Pastor
Megan Rohrer at pastor@gracesf.com.
Prelude
Greeting
Pastor: Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Congregation: Christ
is risen indeed! Alleluia!
The joy of the resurrection fills us with hope,
promises us new life, and draws
us together as one. We cannot keep this good news
to ourselves. Let us begin
our worship by turning to fellow worshipers and
greeting them with the words,
“Christ is risen!”
Worshipers
greet one another by saying, “Christ is risen!” or “Alleluia!” along with
introducing themselves to others they may not have yet met.
Gathering Hymn Verses
1, 2 and 4
Prayer of the Day
Loving
Shepherd, keep us safe in your flock.
Amen.
Welcome
First Reading Acts 4:5-12
5 The next day their rulers, elders,
and scribes assembled in Jerusalem,
6with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all
who were of the high-priestly family. 7When they had made the
prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, ‘By what power or by what name
did you do this?’ 8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to
them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders, 9if we are questioned today
because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man
has been healed, 10let it be known to all of you, and to all the
people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the
dead. 11This Jesus is
“the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.” 12There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.’
“the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.” 12There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.’
Word of hope, word of life. Thanks
be to God
Psalm 23 (read together)
1The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. 2He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me
beside still waters; 3he restores my soul. He leads me in right
paths for his name’s sake. 4Even though I walk through the darkest
valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they
comfort me. 5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my
enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell
in the house of the Lord my whole life long.
Second Reading 1 John 3:16-24
16We know love by this, that he laid down his
life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. 17How
does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or
sister in need and yet refuses help? 18Little children, let us love,
not in word or speech, but in truth and action. 19And by this we
will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him
20whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is
greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21Beloved, if our
hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; 22and we
receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what
pleases him.
23And this is his commandment, that we should
believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he
has commanded us. 24All who obey his commandments abide in him, and
he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that
he has given us.
Word of hope, word of
life. Thanks
be to God
Special Music The Lord’s My Shepherd
LBW 451 Grace Choir
Gospel Reading John
10:11-18
11“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd
lays down his life for the sheep. 12The hired hand, who is not the
shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep
and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13The
hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14I
am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15just as
the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the
sheep. 16I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must
bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock,
one shepherd. 17For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay
down my life in order to take it up again. 18No one takes it from
me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have
power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.”
The
gospel of the Lord. Praise
to you, O Christ.
Sermon
Silence for reflection follows the sermon. Following the sermon, the assembly stands to
proclaim the word of God in song.
Hymn of the Day Verses
1-3
Prayers of Intercession
A During
this season of Easter, we pray for all who long for a new start, experience
health and love beyond their expectations and for the church, the world and all
people in their need. A brief silence.
Creating God, help us repair
broken relationships, to clean up our messes and debts and to ask for help when
we need it. God in your mercy, hear our
prayer.
Parent God, bless all who
are parents, the family and staff of the Grace Infant
Care Center
and all who have created families. Help
us to become better at loving and receiving love from others. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
God, you are the highest
authority. Help our civic leaders to
bring peace to a war torn world and to care for those who are vulnerable. Be with our bishops Elizabeth and Mark, our
pastor Megan and all the staff and leaders of our congregation. Help us to support the work and hobbies of
all who worship with us, so that we may draw closer to God in all that we do at
work and at home. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Loving God, help us to
have patience, compassion and listening ears for those who differ from us. Provide healing and hope for those whose
minds, bodies or spirits are in need of care.
We pray especially for those who care for the sick and support those who
are aging. Help us to live and
experience as much as we can while we await the day we will be reunited with
those we have lost. God in your mercy, hear our prayer.
For whom and what else do
the people of Grace pray?
(Please offer - silently or aloud- petitions to God. End spoken petitions with “God in your mercy.”)
P Our prayers rise like
incense and are held by a loving God who yearns for us to be our best. May we sleep well, worry less and live
convinced that God’s is on our side. Amen.
Offering
An offering is gathered for the mission of the church,
including the care of those in need. After
the offering is gathered, the assembly stands.
Offering Prayer
A Let us pray. God,
bless the all that we have to offer. May our financial support match the
generosity of our lives. Help us to be good
stewards of our financial and emotional investments. Amen.
Communion
The
Lord be with you. And
also with you.
Lift
up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.
Let
us give and thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give God thanks and praise.
It
is indeed right, our duty and our joy, that we should at all times and in all
places give thanks and praise . . . we praise your name and join their unending
hymn:
On the night
in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it,
and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for
you. Do this for the remembrance of me.
Again, after
supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This
cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the
forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.
The
Lord’s Prayer
C
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
Blessing
Announcements Choir rehearsal is ever Sunday morning at 10am. All are welcome.
Sending Hymn
Dismissal
A: Go in peace and serve our God.
C: Thanks be to God.
Postlude
Please join
us for coffee and refreshments downstairs in the Fellowship Hall.
To get to the
Fellowship Hall, exit to the right of the communion railing at the front of the
church.
Scripture in this
service is adapted from The Inclusive Bible: The First Egalitarian
Translation, by Priests for Equality.
2009, Sheed & Ward. Kindle Edition.
The traditional
Lutheran liturgy is from Sundays and Seasons.com. Copyright 2014 Augsburg
Fortress. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License
#28429.
Hymns used with permission for worship and podcast
under OneLicense.net #A-723548.
