Gathering

Thanksgiving for Baptism

P:         Alleluia!  Christ is risen.

C:         Christ is risen, indeed!  Alleluia!

Refreshed by the resurrection life we share in Christ, let us give thanks for the gift of baptism. 

Water is poured into the baptismal font.

We thank you, risen Christ, for these waters where you make us new, leading us from death to life, from tears to joy.

We bless you, risen Christ, that your Spirt comes to us in the grace-filled waters of rebirth, like rains to our thirsting earth, like streams that revive our souls, like cups of cool water shared with strangers.

Breathe your peace on your church when we hide in fear.  Clothe us with your mercy and forgiveness.  Send us companions on our journey as we share your life.

Make us one.  Cleanse our hearts.  Shower us with life.

To you be given all praise, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God, now and forever.  Amen.

Gathering Hymn          “With High Delight…”                # 368

1. With high delight Let us unite in songs of sweet jubilation.
   You pure in heart, each take your part, sing Jesus Christ, our salvation.
   To set us free forever, he is risen and sends to all earth’s ends
   Good news to save every nation.
   
   2. True God, he first from death has burst forth into life, all subduing.
   His enemy now vanquished see; his death has been death’s undoing.
   “And yours shall be like victory o’er death and grave,” says he, who gave
   His life for us, life renewing.
   
   3.  Let praises ring; give thanks, and bring to Christ our Lord adoration.
   His honor speed by word and deed to every land, every nation.
   So shall his love give us above, from misery and death set free,
   All joy and full consolation.

Text: Georg Vetter, 1536-1599, tr. Marin H. Franzmann, 1907-1976,  ©1969 Concordia Publishing House.  Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-736296. All rights reserved.

Greeting   

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

And also with you.

Prayer of the Day

Word

A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles, the 3^rd chapter.

Following Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, Peter and John heal a man in the Temple who was unable to walk.  Those who knew the man as lame “were filled with wonder and amazement at what happened to him.”  Peter preaches to the people describing how God’s promises to Israel have been fulfilled in Jesus.

The reading:

Peter addressed the people, ‘You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? ¹³The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. ¹⁴But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, ¹⁵and you killed the Author of Life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. ¹⁶And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.

¹⁷ ‘And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. ¹⁹Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.

Word of God, Word of Life.  Thanks be to God.

A Reading from 1^st John, the 3^rd chapter.

The reading:  See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ²Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. ³And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.

⁴ Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. ⁵You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. ⁶No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. ⁷Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

Word of God.  Word of Life.    Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation (sung together)                                          page 142

Alleluia, Lord to whom shall we go?

You have the words of eternal life.

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

Gospel

The holy gospel according to Luke, the 24^th chapter.

Glory to you, O Lord.

While they were talking about [how the risen Jesus appeared to two of them on the road to Emmaus], Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a spirit. He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon     

Reprinted under One License A-732181       

Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried;

he descended to the dead.

On the third day, he rose again;

he ascended into heaven,

he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting.  Amen

Prayers

Peace

Meal

Offertory                                “Here Is Bread”                                  # 483

Here is bread, here is wine, Christ is with us, always with us.

Break the bread, taste the wine, Christ is with us here.

In this bread there is healing, in this cup is life forever.

In this moment, by the Spirit, Christ is with us here.

Offertory Prayer

The Great Thanksgiving

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Eucharistic Prayer

Holy, living, and loving God, we praise you for creating the heavens and the earth.

We bless you for bringing Noah and his family through the waters of the flood, for freeing your people Israel from the bonds of slavery, and for sending Jesus to be our Redeemer.

We thank you for Jesus who, living among us, healed the sick, fed the hungry, and with a love stronger than death, gave his life for others.

Bread may be lifted up.

On the night in which he was betrayed, Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, “Take and eat. This is my body given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

Wine may be lifted up.

After supper he took a cup of wine, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.  Do this for the remembrance of me.”

Remembering, therefore, his life, death, and resurrection, we await your promised life for all this thirsty world.

Breathe your Spirit on us and on the bread and wine before us.  Carry us in your arms from death to life, that we may live as your chosen ones, clothed in the righteousness of Christ,

through whom are all glory and honour, now and forever.  Amen

Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.  For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever.  Amen

Distribution

If you are in a group, you may serve one another.  If you are alone, you may serve yourself.  All use these or similar words:

The body of Christ, given for you.

The blood of Christ, shed for you.

Blessing              

Post-Communion Prayer

Sending

Announcements may be made.

Benediction       

Sending Hymn             “Christ is Risen! Alleluia!           # 382

1. Christ is risen! Alleluia!  Risen our victorious head!
   Sing his praises! Alleluia!  Christ is risen from the dead!
   Gratefully our hearts adore him as his light once more appears,
   bowing down in joy before him, rising up from griefs and tears.

Refrain:
Christ is risen! Alleluia! Risen our victorious head!
Sing his praises! Alleluia! Christ is risen from the dead!

• Christ is risen! All the sorrow that last evening round him lay
  now hath found a glorious morrow in the rising of today.
  See the grave its first-fruits giving, springing up from holy ground;
  Christ was dead, but now is living; he was lost, but he is found. [Refrain]

• Christ is risen! Henceforth never death or hell shall us enthrall.
  We are Christ’s, in him forever we have triumphed over all.
  All the doubting and dejection of our trembling hearts have ceased;
  hail the day of resurrection! Let us rise and keep the feast. [Refrain]      

Dismissal

A:         You are the body of Christ raised up for the world.

Go in peace.  Share the good news.  Alleluia!

Thanks be to God.  Alleluia!