Photo credit: Timothy Perry on Unsplash

Although this week the CDC announced new guidelines for fully vaccinated individuals, we continue to follow New York State guidelines which still apply. We will still need to maintain 6 feet distance and wear masks at all times, and there will be no congregational singing.

When you arrive, you will have your temperature taken, sign in, and provide contact information. Please arrive early, use the parking lot entrance, and follow the direction of the ushers. However, if you feel ill or are running a fever of over 100 degrees, please stay home and keep yourself and others safe. As God's people we are called to love one another and to care for the most vulnerable in our midst.

Services will continue to be livestreamed on YouTube Live each week. While we all “want” to come physically back together as a community of faith, we realize that not all will feel comfortable returning to indoor in-person worship yet. Please do not feel guilty or pressured . We will be continuing our services on-line. Please only come when you feel that you are ready.

Come immerse yourself scripture in a wonderful study based on Mark Allan Powell’s Fortress Introduction to the Gospels. Log in Sunday mornings, as we look at the background and the highlights of the four New Testament Gospels, as well as some of the other gospels. Join in on Sunday mornings at 10:10 via Zoom at:

Meeting ID: 892 4142 0205

Passcode: 891269

Or click the button to access the link directly.

This week we conclude our look at Revelation, a letter of hope and promise to a young, fledgling church that is struggling with what it means to live in the world as God’s people. The imagery and language is often difficult to wrap our heads around, but we will try to dig into John's message and what it meant for his original hearers and for us.

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Come and explore the book of Revelation, this Tuesday on Zoom – May 18 at 7 pm. Contact Pastor Joanne if you have any questions. The log in information for Zoom is:

Meeting ID: 816 0545 9302

Passcode: 399358

O God, receive this gift as you receive us: like a mother receives her child, with arms open wide. Nourish us anew in your tender care, and empower us in faithful service to tend to others with this same love, through Jesus Christ, our saving grace. Amen.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Let us pray. Gracious and glorious God, you have chosen us as your own, and by the powerful name of Christ you protect us from evil. By your Spirit transform us and your beloved world, that we may find our joy in your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

~ Word ~

First Reading     Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

¹⁵In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, ¹⁶“Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus—¹⁷for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” ²¹So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, ²²beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” ²³So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. ²⁴Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen ²⁵to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” ²⁶And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

Word of God. Word of life.

               Thanks be to God.

¹Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked,

nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seats of the scornful!

²Their delight is in the law of the Lord,

and they meditate on God’s teaching day and night. 

³They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither;

everything they do shall prosper.

⁴It is not so with the wicked;

they are like chaff which the wind blows away.

⁵Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes,

nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.

⁶For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked shall be destroyed. 

Second Reading                1 John 5:1-6

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. ²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. ³For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, ⁴for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. ⁵Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? ⁶This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

Word of God. Word of life.

Gospel   John 17:6-19

The Holy Gospel according to John.

[Jesus prayed:] ⁶“I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; ⁸for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. ¹⁰All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. ¹¹And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. ¹²While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. ¹⁴I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. ¹⁵I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. ¹⁷Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

               Hear us, O God,

               your mercy is great.

~ Sending ~

Alleluia! Christ is risen.

Go in peace. Share the good news. Alleluia!