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Fifth Sunday Of Easter

Worship
Acts 7:55-60
1 Peter 2:2-10
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
John 14:1-14
Fifth Sunday of Easter - A
Beverly S. Bailey
Lectionary Worship Workbook
Series IV, Cycle A
Hymns
In You, Lord, I Have Put My Trust (PH183)
Christ Is Made The Sure Foundation (NCH400, UM559, PH416, 417)
Christ Is Our Cornerstone (CBH43)
Come, O Spirit, Dwell Among Us (PH129)
O Jesus, I Have Promised (NCH493)
Here, O God, Your Servants Gather (NCH72, CHB7, PH465)
Halleluiah! What A Savior (UM165)
Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life (NCH331)

Anthems
Step By Step, Worship And Praise, 132
When Stephen Full Of Power And Grace, Richard Peck, H. W. Gray, SATB
Dear Lord, Lead Me Day By Day, Jane Marshall, Unison
Celebrate The Good News, Tom Mitchell, CGA, 2--part

Call to Worship
Leader:You are a chosen race,
Men:A royal priesthood,
Women:A holy nation
All:God's own people,
Leader:In order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness
People:Into his marvelous light.
Leader:Once you were not a people,
People:But now we are God's people;
Leader:Once you had not received mercy,
People:But now we have received mercy.
All:Let us worship God.

Call to Confession
Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Let us bring our confessions before the God who loves us. Let us pray.

Prayer of Confession
Wonderful God, we come to you today confessing our confusion over your word. We don't read the Bible very often, and we know we should. It offers us insight into what you would have us do in our everyday living. But sometimes the scripture passages are very difficult, and other times they are confusing. We read them and say, "What does this have to do with life in the twenty--first century?" or, "I just don't believe that Jesus meant to say that." Help us, God, to continue to find great meaning in this Holy Book. Forgive our doubts. Open our ears to hear what you would have us hear. Give us new confidence that you are talking to us through this ancient book. Help us to hear the stories with new energy, seeking wisdom in its pages. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon
Hear the good news! Jesus came to save us from our sins. What a great gift we have been given. Alleluia! Amen.

Scripture Readings
1 Peter 2:2--10: Have a choral speaking choir say this 1 Peter passage. Have each member of the choir hold a stone about the size of a fist. As they read the passage have members place a stone on the altar or communion table during the reading of verses 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 - every time the word "stone" is mentioned. The stones could be flat so that they could be placed like an "Ebenezer," or if they are more round, just placed together. The rest of the decorations might include a larger rock (perhaps one of the lightweight, fake rocks about two feet tall), flowers, and a small church.

John 14:1--14: This passage is a discussion between Jesus and his followers. Three members of the choral speaking choir might step forward from the rest and have this conversation. It would be important that they memorize their lines. The speakers would be Jesus, Thomas, and Philip. Leave out the phrases "Jesus said to him," "Thomas said to him," and so on.

Call to Offering
God is our rock of refuge and our strong fortress. May our offering today help those around the world who need refuge and a strong fortress to protect them from war, hunger, and homelessness. The ushers will wait upon us for the morning offering.

Litany of Dedication
Leader:God is our rock
People:And our salvation.
Leader:Whom shall we fear?
People:Our fear is in our God, who has given us many blessings.
Leader:We offer these gifts to you, God. May they help others to know you, and find help in times of struggle.
People:We use these gifts in your name, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Benediction
Leader:The church's foundation is built upon God, the cornerstone.
People:We offer ourselves as a foundation of living stones.
Leader:Through your faith others can lean on you and begin their own faith journey.
People:Make us a cornerstone of faith. Christ is our cornerstone.
Leader.Have faith. Believe. Amen.
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New & Featured This Week

The Immediate Word

Christopher Keating
Thomas Willadsen
Katy Stenta
Mary Austin
Nazish Naseem
Dean Feldmeyer
George Reed
For November 30, 2025:
  • Time Change by Chris Keating. The First Sunday of Advent invites God’s people to tell time differently. While the secular Christmas machine keeps rolling, the church is called to a time of waiting and remaining alert.
  • Second Thoughts: What Time Is It? by Tom Willadsen based on Isaiah 2:1-5, Psalm 122, Romans 13:11-14, Matthew 24:36-44.

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
According to Martin Luther our thanksgiving is brought about only by justification by grace:

But bringing of tithes denotes that we are wholly given to the service of the neighbor through love…  This, however, does not happen unless, being first justified by faith. (Luther’s Works, Vol.9, p.255)

The Reformer also wants us to be happy, what with all the generous gifts we have been given.  He wrote:
Wayne Brouwer
A schoolteacher asked her students to make a list of the things for which they were thankful. Right at the top of Chad’s list was the word “glasses.” Some children resent having to wear glasses, but evidently not Chad! She asked him about it. Why was he thankful that he wore glasses?

“Well,” he said, “my glasses keep the boys from hitting me and the girls from kissing me.”

The philosopher Eric Hoffer says, “The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings!” That’s true, isn’t it?
William H. Shepherd
Christianity is, among other things, an intellectual quest. The curriculum to know God truly. The lesson plans interact creatively with other aspects of faith: worship is vain if not grounded in truth, while service is misguided if based on faulty premises. While faith certainly cannot be reduced to knowledge, it cannot be divorced from it, either.

StoryShare

John E. Sumwalt
The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (v. 6)

We just received word about the passing of our friend, Rosmarie Trapp. We had lost touch with her in recent years, so I was shocked when I stumbled onto her obituary in The New York Times from May 18, 2022.
David E. Leininger
John Jamison
Contents
What's Up This Week
"The Reason for the Season" by David Leininger
"Time's Up" by John Jamison


What's Up This Week

CSSPlus

John Jamison
Object: The activity for this message is the Be Thank You! game.

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The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Rosemary was 33 years old. She'd been married to James for four years and they had two children, Sam who was two and the baby, Elizabeth, who was just three weeks old. Apart from the baby blues and extreme fatigue, both of which got her down a bit when James was at work, Rosemary was happy. They had recently moved to the London suburbs and James commuted each day by train.

SermonStudio

Carlos Wilton
This brief psalm is among the most familiar in the psalter, but that is primarily because its verses have been excerpted in so many hymns and liturgical texts. There is something to be gained from looking at Psalm 100 in its entirety, and trying to recover its ancient liturgical context.

James Evans
"Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (v. 6). What better way could there be for us to begin the Advent season than by focusing our prayers on peace? The word, shalom, translated "peace," means much more than the mere absence of conflict. And of course, it is not only Jerusalem that is in need of peace; the whole world needs the shalom that the psalmist dreams about. So perhaps we should expand the breadth of this prayer, and deepen it with our awareness of the various meanings of the Hebrew idea of peace.

John R. Brokhoff
THE LESSONS

Lesson 1: Isaiah 2:1--5 (C, RC, E)
Tony S. Everett
A popular skit at church camps involves about a dozen folks lined up side-by-side, looking anxious and frustrated facing the audience. Each person rests a left elbow on the right shoulder of their neighbor. Then, from left to right, each member asks, "Is it time yet?" When the question arrives at the end of the line, the last person looks at his/her wristwatch and responds, "No." This reply is passed, one-by-one each with bored sighs, back to the first questioner. After a few moments, the same question is passed down the line (left elbows remaining on the right shoulders).
Linda Schiphorst Mccoy
Just a few days before writing this message, I conducted a memorial service for a 60-year-old man who was the picture of health until three months before his death. He was active, vibrant, only recently retired, and looking forward to years of good life with his wife and family and friends. Nonetheless, pancreatic cancer had done its work, and quickly, and he was gone. It was the general consensus that it was too soon for his life to end; he was too young to die.
John W. Clarke
In this the sixth chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus begins to withdraw to the east side of the Sea of Galilee. He has fed the 5,000, and he has walked on water. The press of the crowds had become all consuming and he needs some solitude to prepare himself for what lay ahead. Considering that the crowds that followed him more than likely knew of the feeding of the 5,000, and some may even have heard of the miraculous walking on water, it is difficult to explain why in these verses, they would doubt anything he had to say -- but they do.
Robert R. Kopp
My favorite eighth grader just confessed his aspiration for becoming President of the United States.

When I foolishly asked the inspiration of his lofty goal, he replied, "Bill Clinton." Then my hormone-raging adolescent proceeded to list perceived presidential perks that have nothing to do with God or country.

My prayer list has been altered.

And my attitude about prayer in public schools has changed too.

I used to be against prayer in public schools.
John E. Berger
Thanksgiving, according to one newspaper columnist, has kept its original meaning better than any other holiday. That original meaning, he wrote, was family reunions around large dinner tables.

In contrast, Christmas has changed into Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Easter has come to emphasize new spring clothes and the Easter bunny. Even our national holidays -- Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day -- have become cook-outs and summer travel get-aways.
Mark Ellingson
Thanksgiving: How do we say thanks authentically and not lapse into the platitudes so often associated with this holiday? There are several dangers associated with the holiday. Ever since it was instituted as a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln, and even before when various state governors instituted it in their states, Thanksgiving has not been a strictly Christian holiday. There has been a lot of nationalism and self-congratulations associated with this day. What is the distinctively Christian way to give thanks to God for all the good things that we have?

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