Trinity In Motion

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.

Happy are those who do not ridicule and scoff but who delight in God’s teachings and meditate on them day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water. They yield fruit in due season, and their leaves do not wither. Amen.

Let us pray for the world and ask that we may be given the grace to be faithful disciples of Jesus.

May we be like trees planted by streams of water.

Holy God, this world is peopled by those who delight in your teachings and those who scoff at your ways. Guide us to meditate on you day and night, that we may be an influence for good in the world.

May we be like trees planted by streams of water.

We pray for the people and the leaders of the world in all our diversity. Sanctify them in your truth, that there may be peace and harmony on earth.

May we be like trees planted by streams of water.

We pray for those who are sick or suffering, that they may know your protection and care through our faithful service.

May we be like trees planted by streams of water.

We pray for your church, that by the marriage of your grace and our faith we may serve you and our neighbors.

May we be like trees planted by streams of water.

We pray for Earth itself, your marvelous creation. Inspire and help us to be the good stewards that you ask us to be, now and for the future.

May we be like trees planted by streams of water.

Make holy all for which we pray— the poor, the infirm, the church, the world— for holiness and wholeness come from you. Receive these prayers both spoken and unspoken, for we are yours. Amen.

May the reading of your Word sanctify us in the truth and bring us to perfect joy. Amen.

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.

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.

Both the passage in Acts and the passage in the Gospel of John reflect the continuation of the ministry through the handing off of leadership. On this Mother’s Day, whether you are a mother or simply had a mother, how does motherhood speak to the passing on of knowledge and the handing off of leadership? Where have you handed off leadership in your life? Where has leadership been handed off to you? What might the Spirit be directing you to take up, and what might the Spirit be leading you to hand off in this season?

God invites us to give the testimony of our hearts in practical offerings of money and time. Therefore, let us testify to God’s love by bringing our gifts.

Jesus has made God known to us. We already belong to God. And so, we dedicate these gifts to God’s service and to the glory of God’s name. Amen.

Jesus Christ has already given us into the arms of a loving God. Living in the love of God, be open to the Holy Spirit calling you into a new ministry. Amen.