Bulletin – Sunday, May 17, 2026 – Seventh Sunday of Easter
Sunday, May 17, 2026
Seventh Sunday of Easter
We Gather as a People of Faith
Welcome
Lighting the Christ Candle
Please join me in prayer as we light the Christ Candle:
One: We light this candle to remind us we abide with the holy one – now and always.
All: We are grateful for the light of Christ that rests within us and through all of creation.
One: We rejoice in the God who welcomes all into God’s dwelling place.
All: God is love. God provides comfort and care for all who come into God’s presence.
Minute Person
Announcements
Call to Worship
Trusting in God’s promise of connection and care broken and blessed we gather to open ourselves. To God’s healing and wholeness in the risen Christ, we sit to experience the mystery of the Holy Spirit transforming our hearts and minds that we might be ever closer to our Creator and witnesses to her transforming love.
Please join in the singing of the Hymn “Joyous the Day that Sees Him Rise “ (Voices United #189)
Joyous the day that sees him rise, hallelujah!
Taken from our wondering eyes, hallelujah!
Christ, awhile to mortals given, hallelujah!
Reascends his native heaven. Hallelujah!
There the glorious triumph waits; hallelujah!
Lift your heads, eternal gates; hallelujah!
Christ has conquered death and sin; hallelujah!
Take the King of glory in. Hallelujah!
Though returning to his throne, hallelujah!
Still he calls the world his own; hallelujah!
Him though highest heaven receives, hallelujah!
Still he loves the world he leaves. Hallelujah!
See, he lifts his hands above; hallelujah!
See, he shows the prints of love, hallelujah!
Hark, his gracious lips bestow, hallelujah!
Blessing on the church below. Hallelujah!
Still for us he intercedes, hallelujah!
His prevailing death he pleads, hallelujah!
Near himself prepares our place, hallelujah!
First-fruits of our human race. Hallelujah!
Prayer of Approach and Confession:
We often feel the load we carry is too heavy. We cry out for support knowing that we have been impatient with you and each other. God, we recognize our transgressions. We wonder why we do not put our trust in you. Our minds and hearts fill with work. O Loving God, we feel separated and disconnected.
Words of Assurance:
The spirit of the Risen Christ abides with God. Together they hold us in love always watchful they carry our troubles and worries. Reach out, cry out, or sit in humble silence. Wherever you are. The Holy Three are with you.
Sung Response – “Alleluia” (More Voices #50)
Alleluia, alleluia,
Alleluia, alleluia!
Time for All Ages:
Please join in the singing of the hymn – “Breathe on Me, Breath of Go (Voices United #382)
Breathe on me, breath of God,
Fill me with life anew,
That I may love what thou dost love,
And do what thou wouldst do.
Breathe on me, breath of God,
Until my heart is pure,
Until my will is one with thine,
To do and to endure.
Breathe on me, breath of God,
Till I am wholly thine,
Until this earthly part of me
Glows with the fire divine.
Breathe on me, breathe of God,
So shall I never die;
But live with thee the perfect life
Of thine eternity.
We Hear God’s Word
Scripture Readings:
The first scripture reading is from the Book of Psalms 68:4-10
4 Sing to God, sing praises to God’s name; lift up a song to him who rides upon the clouds—his name is the Lord—be exultant before him. 5 Father of orphans and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. 6 God gives the desolate a home to live in; and leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a parched land.
7 O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, Selah
8 the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain at the presence of God, the God of Sinai, at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
9 Rain in abundance, O God, you showered abroad; you restored your heritage when it languished;
10 your flock found a dwelling in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.
The second reading is from the Gospel of John 17:1-11
1 After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. 5 So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.
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. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; 8 for 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. 9 I 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. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 And 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.
May God speak to us through these readings of scripture.
Thanks be to God!
Sermon
Anthem – “Prayer of St. Theresa
Christ has no Body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks
Compassion on this world
Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good
Yours are the hands with which He blesses
All the world
Yours are the hands
Yours are the feet
Yours are the eyes
You are His Body
Christ has no Body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which He looks
Compassion on this world
Christ has no body now on earth but yours
We Respond to God’s Word
An Invitation to Share
I invite you to bring forward the gifts of the people.
Offering Sung Response – “He is Lord”
He is Lord! He is Lord!
He is risen from the dead and He is Lord!
Every knee shall bow, every tongue confess
That Jesus Christ is Lord!
Offering Prayer
O Loving Creator, we ask you to bless these gifts that we offer to you today with generous hearts.
Bless them and bless us that through your guidance we may use these resources to build your dwelling place for all here on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
Prayers of the People
Please join me now in offering up these prayers to God.
Invitation to Passing of the Peace
Please offer one another the peace of Christ in a way that you feel comfortable and respects others’ space.
The Prayer that Jesus Taught
One: Please join me in praying the prayer Jesus taught us to pray: Our Creator who is like…
All: Our Mother and 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 them that 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.
We Go Into God’s World
Please join in the singing of the hymn – “Thine is the Glory” (Voices United #173)
Thine is the glory, risen, conquering Son;
Endless is the victory Thou o’er death hast won.
Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
Kept the folded grave-clothes where Thy body lay.
Thine is the glory, risen, conquering Son;
Endless is the victory Thou o’er death hast won.
Lo! Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb.
Lovingly He greets us, scatters fear and gloom;
Let the church with gladness hymns of triumph sing,
For the Lord now liveth; death hath lost its sting.
Thine is the glory, risen, conquering Son;
Endless is the victory Thou o’er death hast won.
No more we doubt Thee, glorious Prince of life!!
Life is nought without Thee; aid us in our strife;
Make us more than conquerors, through Thy deathless love;
Bring us safe through Jordan to Thy home above.
Thine is the glory, risen, conquering Son;
Endless is the victory Thou o’er death hast won.
Commissioning
Renewed in hope. Love embodied. Grounded in trust. We know in our very being that God is with us. We are one with the Holy Three.
Benediction
Knowing we are … held in love with God our Creator. Guided by the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, Sophia. Assured by the embodied spirit of the risen Christ. Let us go now into the world as God’s very own. To share with others the gifts we have received today. Amen.
The Christ Candle is extinguished.
Sung Response – “Amen! Amen! Hallelujah, Amen” (VU #974)
Amen! Amen! Hallelujah, amen!
Amen! Amen! Hallelujah, amen!
