Call to Worship

The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Hear the word of the Lord from Revelation 5, about the worship of Jesus happening right now around his heavenly throne.

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne
and the living creatures and the elders;
they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands,
singing with full voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth
and under the earth and in the sea,
and all that is in them, singing,

“To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might
forever and ever!”

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

O Lord, you are King—
the King of life, the King of love, the King of time.
You have established the world.
You sustain it with your hand.
Yet you humbled yourself,
and became obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Therefore God exalted you.
He gave you the name above every name.
That at the name of Jesus,
every knee shall bow,
and every tongue confess,
that you are Lord—
the crucified, risen, and ascended King.
Robed in majesty,
angels veil their eyes before you.
And yet, this morning, you invite us to see you—
to see you high and lifted up,
to boldly approach your throne of grace,
to receive mercy and find grace in our time of need.
And so we thank you,
and confess that you are King.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray.
Amen. 

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Confession and Assurance

Call to Confession

Let us confess our sin to almighty God.

Prayer of Confession

O Lord Jesus, on this day in which we celebrate your ascension,
forgive us for thinking small thoughts of you,
and for ignoring your immensity and greatness.
Forgive us when we forget that you rule
the nations and our small lives.
Holy Spirit, we offend you in minimizing your power
and squandering your gifts.
We confess that our blindness to your glory, O triune God,
has resulted in shallow confession,
tepid conviction, and only mild repentance.
Have mercy upon us.
In Jesus’s name.
Amen.

Assurance of Pardon Ephesians 2:4-7

Hear the good news of the gospel:
God, who is rich in mercy,
out of the great love with which he loved us
even when we were dead through our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ—
by grace you have been saved—
and raised us up with him and seated us with him
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
so that in the ages to come he might show
the immeasurable riches of his grace
in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
In Christ, by God’s grace, we are saved.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow! 

The Peace

The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
And also with you.

Affirmation of Faith

Our affirmation of faith today is from the Contemporary Testimony “Our World Belongs to God,” stanzas 55-56.

Our hope for a new creation
is not tied to what humans can do,
for we believe that one day
every challenge to God’s rule
will be crushed.
His kingdom will fully come,
and the Lord will rule.
We long for that day
when our bodies are raised,
the Lord wipes away our tears,
and we dwell forever
in the presence of God.
We will take our place
in the new creation,
where there will be
no more death or mourning or crying or pain,
and the Lord Jesus will be our light.
Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Prayer for Illumination

Blessed are you, Lord God,
King of all creation:
You have taught us by your Word.
Open our hearts to your Spirit
and lead us on the paths of Christ, your Son.
All praise and glory be yours forever.
Amen.

Scripture Reading

A reading from the book of 1 Corinthians 15:50-58

15 50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
    Where, O death, is your sting?”

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God. 

Sermon

Resurrection Work

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Prayers of the People

Gracious Heavenly Father,

We have been reminded over and over again over the past month that you are the God of resurrection, who brings life out of death.

Yet so much of this world in which we live, and so much of our present experience of this world, is marked and marred by death—cursed and stained. There is so much that needs life, so much that needs your hand, and so much that needs the prayers of your people.

We begin close to home. We pray for Bert Van Dis in the wake of Karyl’s sudden death. Karyl’s death reminds us of other deaths we have endured this past year, and of those who feel them most directly. We pray for Alex & Hannah Saxton, for Helen Westra, for Jim Jipping, and for Lloyd De Boer. When death encompasses, and the pangs of loneliness strike, be their ever-present comfort, and turn their darkness to resurrection light.

We move the circle from home to work. Father, I pray for each member of this congregation, and the work you have given them to do. May they be steadfast and immovable in drawing their leaf on the great canvas of resurrection. Whether in education or healthcare, in law or finance, in business or trades, in music or athletics, in tech, science or engineering, in marketing, publishing, or design, whether the seeds they sow are in the lives of children at home or in the tilled soil of a blueberry farm—whatever you have given them to do, gracious God, may they be always abounding in the work of the Lord. And when they despair that their work is fruitless, pointless, or selfish, grant them the knowledge that, in the Lord, their labor is not in vain. 

We move the circle further out and we intercede for our country. Looking around, we are baffled and disheartened by just how much our culture, our entertainment, our politics finds itself totally committed to falsehood and lies. This falsehood is not partisan, nor does it go by a name. But it is evil. It’s evil wherever it’s found. It’s evil because you delight in the truth—in truth in our innermost being. Yet we are a people who endlessly deceive ourselves, and then deceive ourselves further about not being deceived, even as we delight in pointing out how others are deceived. Lord Jesus—the Way, the Truth, the Life—have mercy upon us.

Finally, we move further out still. Even as we feel relief that the coronavirus is ebbing here at home, and even as we bask in the encouragement of health guidelines relaxed, we look slightly farther afield, beyond our own interests, and we see it ravaging India and South America. Even as we marvel at the speed and efficacy of a vaccine, we watch as the distribution of that vaccine once again divides the world into rich and poor, haves and have-nots. Gracious God, stem the surge of the virus in those places, save the vulnerable from this deadly pestilence, and cause the nations of this world to look beyond our own narrow interests to the interests of others, and to act accordingly. Lord, have mercy upon us. And have mercy upon Israel and Palestine. As conflict worsens, violence deepens, and the death toll mounts, we pray for wisdom and right judgment for the leaders of Israel, Palestine, and the nations that mediate between them. May peace be won out of violence; may life be won out of death. And we pray for your church in that place—the church in Israel and the church in Palestine, that in the midst of fear, anxiety, and violence, your church would testify to the gospel of Christ crucified, a gospel that brings peace.

Gracious God, whether in Israel or Palestine, India or South America, the United States or here at home in Holland, may your church be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. And in the Lord, may our labor never be in vain.

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Story of God

Our Story of God is brought to us by Linda Dykstra as she reflects on our experience of going through Backyard Pilgrim as a church this Lent.

Worship Update

Offering

In addition to our various funds (General, Building, Mission, Benevolence, Christian Education), online giving is also now available for today’s special offerings (Lakeshore Little People Place & the Timothy Institute) through the Give button below.

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God’s Parting Words

Numbers 6:24-26

Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, stand firm.
Let nothing move you.
Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord,
because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

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.

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