Is Great Grace Upon You?

Good Morning and Welcome to Worship! Worship is often the first place that new people come into contact with this growing community of faith. And so if you are joining us for the first time, I say to you what is said every Sunday: You are welcome here. Here is a place where all are welcome. For such is the love of God for God’s Very Good Creation.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise God, all creatures here below; praise God above, ye Heav'nly host: praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

You have shown yourself to us, O God, by Word and Spirit. With signs and wonders, Jesus revealed your lovingkindness for us O God and taught us to live together in loving kindness. How good and pleasant it is when we live together in unity. Amen.

Living God, giver of life, hear us as we pray, saying,

Pour out your blessing, O Lord; send us in your Spirit to bring peace.

We pray for the church … Let your church be a living sign of the woundedness and healing of Christ, sharing the gift of forgiveness and the gospel of reconciliation.

Pour out your blessing, O Lord; send us in your Spirit to bring peace.

We pray for the earth … Help us to see the scars of death that mark your good creation, and to seek the blessing of life that you offer to all creatures.

Pour out your blessing, O Lord; send us in your Spirit to bring peace.

We pray for all nations … Show us how good and pleasant it is when people live together in unity, and anoint us with your wisdom so that we may seek the ways of life.

Pour out your blessing, O Lord; send us in your Spirit to bring peace.

We pray for this community … Give us a vision of the common good: not clinging to our own possessions but seeking the fullness of life for all as a testimony to Christ’s resurrection.

Pour out your blessing, O Lord; send us in your Spirit to bring peace.

We pray for loved ones … Be near to those who walk in darkness and lead us all into Christ’s light so that our fellowship may be true and our joy may be complete.

Pour out your blessing, O Lord; send us in your Spirit to bring peace.

By the blessing of your Spirit, help us to live as we pray so that the world may come to know the gift of life in Christ our Lord. Amen.

God of all who doubt and believe, by the gift of your Spirit enable us to hear with our ears, to see with our eyes, and to touch with our hands your Word of life—Jesus Christ— our Lord and our God. Amen.

³²Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. ³³With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. ³⁴There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. ³⁵They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

Our first steps out from under the culture of sin often reveal our deep-seated doubts. Are there times when your questions and doubts grow deeper? Are there times when your faith is strengthened and renewed?

Hear the good news of the gospel: As a voice from heaven said to Jesus, so God says to each of us: You are my beloved child, and with you I am well pleased. In Jesus, our relationship with God is forever changed from God’s people to God’s children. In Jesus we become the resurrected body of Christ in the world today.

Pour out your Holy Spirit, and by this gift of water call to our remembrance the grace declared to us in our baptism. For you have washed away our sins, and you clothe us with righteousness throughout our lives, that dying and rising with Christ we may share in his final victory.

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth. Before the mountains were brought forth, or you had formed the earth, from everlasting to everlasting, you alone are God. You created light out of darkness and brought forth life on the earth. You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life. When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast. You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God, and spoke to us through your prophets. And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ, in whom you have revealed yourself, our light and our salvation. In his baptism and in table fellowship he took his place with us. Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people. By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection you gave birth to this, your Church, you delivered us from our slavery to empire, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit. On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

When the supper was over he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said: “Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and fruit of the vine. Make them be for us a profound sign of hope in the midst of human darkness, that we may be transformed into the resurrected body of Christ at work in the world.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet. Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty God, now and forever. Amen.

Remember the first believers who shared one heart and soul, held their possessions in common, and distributed them to all in need. In that same spirit, let us present our offerings at the feet of the risen Lord.

Holy God, we give you thanks and praise for light and life and love, and — above all — the presence of the living Lord among us. By your Spirit who breathes within us, strengthen our faith, use our gifts, and work in our lives to bear witness to the resurrection of Christ our Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen.

This is the blessing of the Lord: Let your life be a sign of Christ’s life so that others may come to believe that the Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia! Amen.