Worship Resources for April 11th
The Second Sunday of Easter
Gathering
Call to Worship
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.
—Ephesians 5:16
Awake, O harp and lyre!
I will awake the dawn.
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
For your steadfast love is as high as the heavens;
your faithfulness extends to the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
Let your glory be over all the earth.
—Psalm 57:8-11
Song
Greeting
Grace to you and peace
from him who is and who was and who is to come,
and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,
and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead,
and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
—Revelation 1:4-5
Prayer of Adoration
Glory to you, O God:
This is the day you won victory over death,
raising Jesus from the grave
and giving us eternal life.
Glory to you, O Christ:
This is the day you broke the bonds of death and hell,
and opened the gate to everlasting life.
Glory to you, O Holy Spirit:
This is the day you restore innocence to the fallen,
joy to those who mourn,
and lead us into truth.
Glory to you, O blessed Trinity,
now and forevermore. Amen.
Song
Confession & Assurance
Call to Confession Romans 6:1-3, 7, 11
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? For one who has died has been set free from sin. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore, we approach the throne of grace with confidence:
to confess our sin, to put it to death,
to receive forgiveness, and to walk in newness of life.
Prayer of Confession
Almighty God,
in raising Jesus from the tomb
you have given us the sure sign of your power
to deliver us from sin and death
and to renew our whole creation.
We confess that we still fall into doubt and fear.
We continue to cling to selfish ways
and doubt your power to make all things new.
Forgive our lack of faith.
Have mercy on our weakness.
Raise us from the death of sin
that we may live with Christ in the joy of his resurrection,
now and forever. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon 1 Corinthians 15:20; Romans 8:38-39
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
So I am convinced that neither death nor life,
neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future,
nor any powers,
neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of God
that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Peace
The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
And also with you.
Song
Nicene Creed
Brothers and sisters in Christ, together with the church around the world and down through the ages, what do you believe?
We believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God, begotten, not made;
of the same essence as the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
and was made human.
He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered and was buried.
The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again with glory
to judge the living and the dead.
His kingdom will never end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life.
He proceeds from the Father and the Son,
and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified.
He spoke through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look forward to the resurrection of the dead,
and to life in the world to come.
Amen.
Word
Prayer for Illumination
Draw us close, Holy Spirit,
as the Scriptures are read
and the Word is proclaimed.
Let the word of faith be on our lips and in our hearts,
and let all other words slip away.
May there be one voice we hear today —
the voice of the risen Lord,
the voice of truth and grace. Amen.
Scripture Reading
The Word of the Lord from 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
15 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Sermon
What Is the Gospel?
Response
Song
Prayers of the People
For the six weeks of Eastertide at our in-person worship, we will invite people to bring individual requests before the congregation and then we will bring these corporately before God with the simple refrain—Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer—much as we typically do in our evening service. For those worshiping at home, we invite you to do the same—to name simple requests for your own life, the lives of those close to you, our nation, and our world, and to lift them before God using the refrain above. Within our own church family, we invite you to remember the following. After you finish, close with the two prayers below: the Collect for the Second Sunday of Easter, and the Lord’s Prayer.
For Bob Brewer, Don & Henrietta De Koster, Shirley Bierema and her son Ron, Nancy Dykhuis, Alex & Hannah Saxton, Kelly Vander Woude, and Julie Hofman; for this week’s Council meeting (and Brenda Katerberg, Phil DeVries, and Meredith VanderHill as they lead) and the upcoming selection of new officebearers.
Lord, in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
Almighty and everlasting God, who in the Paschal mystery established the new covenant of reconciliation: Grant that all who have been reborn into the fellowship of Christ’s Body may show forth in their lives what they profess by their faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom and the power
and the glory forever.
Amen.
Offering
In addition to our various funds (General, Building, Mission, Benevolence, Christian Education), online giving is also now available for today’s special offerings (Resonate, Brothers House III) through the Give button below. During the offering, we invite you to listen to the Celtic “Alleluia” below.
Office Bearer Affirmation
If you are a member of 14th Street and have not yet voted on the affirmation of our slate of nominees for the offices of elder and deacon, please do so as part of your worship this morning at this link. This is simply a vote to affirm (or not affirm) the qualifications of those nominated. Please only vote if you are a member of 14th Street Church. The selection of new elders and deacons will happen by lot in our worship service on April 25.
Sending
Song
God’s Parting Words
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you
and be gracious unto you;
the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you
and give you peace.
Amen.