Worship Resources for May 9th

The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Gathering

Silent Remembrance & Call to Worship

On Saturday, May 8, long-time member of our church family Karyl Van Dis died at Zeeland Hospital after suffering a stroke early Friday morning. As we will do at our in-person service, please begin with a moment of silence, using the prayer below to commit Karyl to the Lord’s care.

Into your hands, O merciful Savior,
we commend your servant Karyl.
Acknowledge, we humbly pray,
a sheep of your own fold,
a lamb of your own flock,
a sinner of your own redeeming.
Receive her into the arms of your mercy,
into the blessed rest of everlasting peace,
and into the glorious company of the saints in light.
Amen.

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

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,
kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith
for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
-1 Peter 1:3-5

Song

Prayer of Adoration

O measureless might, unchangeable love,
early in the morning,
when the world was young,
you made life in all its beauty;
you gave birth to all that we know.
Hallowed be your name.

Early in the morning,
when the world least expected it,
a newborn child crying in a manger
announced that you had come among us,
that you were one of us.
Hallowed be your name.

Early in the morning,
surrounded by respectable liars,
religious leaders,
anxious statesmen,
and silent friends,
you accepted the penalty for doing good,
for being God:
You shouldered and suffered the cross.
Hallowed be your name.

Early in the morning,
a voice in a guarded graveyard
and footsteps in the dew
proved that you had risen,
that you had come back
to those and for those
who had forgotten, denied, and executed you.
Hallowed be your name.

This morning,
in the multicolored company
of your church on earth and in heaven,
we celebrate your creation, your life,
your death and resurrection,
your redemption of all creation,
your measureless might,
your unchangeable love!
Amen.

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

Song

Confession and Assurance

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 your 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 Romans 8:9-11

But you are not in the flesh;
you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin,
the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also
through his Spirit that dwells in you.

The Peace

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

Song

Nicene Creed

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

Gracious God, we do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from your mouth.
Make us hungry for this heavenly food,
that it may nourish us today in the ways of eternal life;
through Jesus Christ, the bread of heaven. Amen.

Scripture Reading

A reading from the book of 1 Corinthians 15:35-49

15 35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

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

Sermon

The Resurrection Body

Response

Song

Prayers of the People

After praying for those in the “third third” and “second third” of life the past few weeks, our prayers of the people this morning focus on all those in the “first third” of life in our congregation. We will also pray specifically for Bert Van Dis this morning, and for Bert & Karyl’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in the wake of Karyl’s death Saturday evening. Together, we lift them up to the Lord.

Gracious God of new life—of birth and childhood, of youth and early adulthood—we lift before you today all those in our congregation in the first third of life, and all the blessings and challenges that this stage of life brings with it.

For all the unborn children in our congregation, for the mothers who carry them and the fathers who support them, for Alex & Hannah Saxton, for Ryan & Bethany Wolter, and for Micah & Meredith VanderHill. We ask you to sustain the health of these mothers, and protect the lives of the unborn.