Prelude
Greeting and Welcome
Hymn of Invocation
– By Grace I'm Saved (LSB 566, v. 1-3)
By grace I'm saved, grace free and boundless;
My soul, believe and doubt it not.
Why stagger at this word of promise?
Has Scripture ever falsehood taught?
No! Then this word must true remain:
By grace you too will life obtain.
By grace! None dare lay claim to merit;
Our works and conduct have no worth.
God in His love sent our Redeemer,
Christ Jesus, to this sinful earth;
His death did for our sins atone,
And we are saved by grace alone.
By grace God's Son, our only Savior,
Came down to earth to bear our sin.
Was it because of your own merit
That Jesus died your soul to win?
No, it was grace, and grace alone,
That brought Him from His heav'nly throne.
+ Preparation +
Invocation
P:
+In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C:
+
Amen.
Confession and Absolution
P:
+This joyful Eastertide
Away with sin and sorrow!
My love, the Crucified,
Has sprung to life this morrow.
(LSB 482)
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
C:
+
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
P:
+Even as we glory in the gift of eternal life, in that hope we spend our days in joyful repentance and faith. Let us confess our sin, the sin that still so easily besets us, and receive the full forgiveness our Lord daily provides for us.
C:
+
Had Christ, who once was slain,
Not burst His three-day prison,
Our faith had been in vain:
But now has Christ arisen, arisen, arisen;
But now has Christ arisen!
(LSB 482 refrain)
We are Your baptized people. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us into our Easter joy.
P:
+Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God to all of you. And in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C:
+
Amen.
+ Word +
Salutation and Collect of the Day
P:
+The Lord be with you.
C:
+
And also with you.
P:
+Let us pray. You are the King of glory, O Christ; You are the everlasting Son of the Father, now seated at His right hand. As You send the Holy Spirit to us through Your Word and Sacraments, give us the strengthening of faith to endure all trials and live in the hope of eternal life; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C:
+
Amen.
First Reading
– Acts 6
+Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them.
+And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.
+And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
P:
+This is the Word of the Lord.
C:
+
Thanks be to God.
Epistle
– 1 Peter 4:12-19
+Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And
“If the righteous is scarcely saved,what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
P:
+This is the Word of the Lord.
C:
+
Thanks be to God.
Holy Gospel
– John 17:1-11
P:
+The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the seventeenth chapter.
C:
+
Glory to You, O Lord.
+When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
+“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
P:
+This is the Gospel of the Lord.
C:
+
Praise to You, O Christ.
Children’s Song
– Kids of the Kingdom (AGPS 150, v. 1-2)
Kids of the Kingdom, that's what we are:
Kids of the Kingdom, that's what we are.
We love Jesus, we love the Lord.
We love Jesus, we love the Lord.
My name is ________, I love the Lord.
My name is ________, I love the Lord.
They love Jesus, they love the Lord.
They love Jesus, they love the Lord.
Children’s Message
Hymn of the Day
– When Peace, Like a River (LSB 763)
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way;
When sorrows, like sea billows, roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Refrain
Refrain:
It is well (it is well) with my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
Refrain
He lives--oh, the bliss of this glorious thought;
My sin, not in part, but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross and I bear it no more.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
Refrain
And Lord, haste the day when our faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll,
The trumpet shall sound and the Lord shall descend;
Even so it is well with my soul.
Refrain
Sermon
