Bulletin – Sunday, May 25, 2025 – Sixth Sunday of Easter

Sunday, May 25, 2025
Sixth Sunday of Easter

We Gather as People of Faith

Welcome

Announcements

Minute Person

Lighting the Christ Candle

May the light radiating from this candle be a sign and symbol of Jesus’ amazing grace!

Call to Worship

One:   Come, bless the Lord with me!
All:      Let’s sing God’s praise together.

One:   For our lives are in God’s hand,
All:      It is God alone who keeps our feet from stumbling.

Hymn – “The Church is Wherever” (VU #579)

The church is wherever God’s people are praising,
Singing God’s goodness for joy on this day.
The church is wherever disciples of Jesus
Remember his story and walk in his way.

The church is wherever God’s people are helping,
Caring for neighbours in sickness and need.
The church is wherever God’s people are sharing
The words of the Bible in gift and in deed.

Prayer of Approach and Confession

God, forgive us when we fail to respond to your call with faith. Through your Spirit we stand in the grace of your acceptance. Forgive us when we are shackled by our narrow understandings of discipleship and by our clouded sense of purpose. Through your Spirit we are drawn into the light of your never failing love. Forgive us when we are frightened by the future or pull back from the demand of your calling. Forgive us when we fail to sense your presence in our past, to acknowledge your grace in the present moment, and to trust you for our future. Through your Spirit we offer ourselves in discipleship. Amen.

Words of Assurance

We stand together as your disciples. We seek renewed and renewing faith. Touch us now with your Spirit, Lord. Touch us now with your Spirit. Amen.

Sung Response – “How Deep the Peace” (MV #95)

How deep the peace, the confidence of those whose wrongs are forgiven.
How deep the peace, the confidence of those whose hearts are healed.

We Hear God’s Word

Scripture Reading:    Acts 16:9-15

⁹ During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹¹ From Troas we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace, and the next day we went on to Neapolis. ¹² From there we traveled to Philippi, a Roman colony and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days.

¹³ On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴ One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. ¹⁵ When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

Scripture Reading:    John 14:23-29

²³ Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. ²⁴ Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

²⁵ “All this I have spoken while still with you. ²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

²⁸ “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. ²⁹ I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.

May God speak to us through these readings of scripture.
Thanks be to God!

Hymn – “There’s a Spirit in the Air” (VU #582)

There’s a spirit in the air, telling Christians everywhere:
Praise the love that Christ revealed, living, working in our world.

Lose your shyness, find your tongue, tell the world what God has done:
God in Christ has come to stay. Live tomorrow’s life today!

When believers break the bread, when a hungry child is fed,
Praise the love that Christ revealed, living, working in our world.

Still the Spirit gives us love, seeing wrong and setting right:
God in Christ has come to stay. Live tomorrow’s life today!

When a stranger’s not alone, where the homeless find a home,
Praise the love that Christ revealed, living, working, in our world.

May the Spirit fill our praise, guide our thoughts and change our ways.
God in Christ has come stay, live tomorrow’s life today!

There’s a spirit in the air, telling Christians everywhere:
Praise the love that Christ revealed, living, working in our world.

Guest Speaker: Jim Thiessen, Sleep in Heavenly Peace

Anthem – “We are People of Faith”

We are people of faith.
We are sisters and brothers sharing God’s promise wherever we go.
As we live every day, we reach out to others,
Showing them kindness and bringing them hope.

Share God’s love, rejoice in God’s Word.
Go and carry God’s light into all the world.
Joined as one, our voices we raise in a song of God’s glory and praise.

We are people of Christ.
We are working together,
Sharing the blessings He offers each day.
We will give Him our lives, and serve Him forever,
Trusting our Saviour to show us the way.

Share God’s love, rejoice in God’s Word.
Go and carry God’s light into all the world.
Joined as one, our voices we raise in a song of God’s glory and praise.

Share God’s love, rejoice in God’s Word.
Go and carry God’s light into all the world.
Joined as one, our voices we raise in a song of God’s glory and praise.
In a song of God’s glory and praise.

We Respond to God’s Word

Invitation to Share

God has created a world of great diversity, full of wonder and potential. Let us honour God’s gifts to us in Christ and in each as we present our offering.

Offering Sung Response – “Your Work, O God, Needs Many Hands” (VU #537)

Your work, O God, needs many hands to help you everywhere,
And some there are who cannot serve unless our gifts we share.

Because we love you and your work, our offering now we make:
Be please to use it as your own, we ask for Jesus’ sake.

Offering Prayer

Generous God, we thank you for your gift of new life in Jesus Christ. Receive our gifts today and bless each gift and each giver. Use each on as you see fit through out congregation and throughout the world you love, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Bedding Dedication

May God’s grace be upon this bedding…warming, comforting, enfolding, and embracing. May these sheets, pillows, quilts be a safe haven, a sacred place of security and well-being, sustaining and embracing in good times as well as difficult ones. May those who receive these be cradled in hope, kept in joy, graced with peace, and wrapped in love. Amen.

Sung Response – “God, You Wrap Your Love”

God, you wrap your love around us like a blanket, soft and warm.
You give rest when we are weary. You protect us from the storm.
May the children who find shelter in these blankets that we share
Also feel the joy and comfort of your love’s protecting care.

Prayers of the People

One:   God, the earth and all its people belong to you. As we come before you in prayer, we are painfully aware that the earth itself is at risk, from the ways your people live on it, and the conflicts we provoke among each other. We seek your healing and hope this day for the earth and all its creatures, and for your people of every nation.

One:   God of healing and hope, we pray for peace with justice to emerge in war torn lands, and in every place of conflict where power struggles put innocents at risk. We name before you the people and places on our hearts today: The Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Palestine, Sudan, Myanmar, Syrian, Yemen, and Haiti. Send your Spirit of wisdom and compassion to break open the hearts of leaders to work with each other to protect the innocent and restore order for the wellbeing of all. May your ways of truth and just prevail. In every heart and in every land. God of mercy.
All:      Hear our cry.

One:   God of healing and hope, we pray for groups offering aid and renewal in places where disaster and conflict have left  people at risk. Support those who have lost homes, families, and livelihoods to find courage to go on and open hearts to those in safety to share with those in need. God of mercy,
All:      Hear our cry.

One:   God of healing and hope, we know that this land we call home faces conflict and pain, and that communities are divided by deep disagreements. We pray for healing and understanding to deepen between Indigenous people and those who settled this land with no thought for those who already called it home. Protect those who face racist attitudes and actions in daily life, and restore dignity and hope to those who have suffered injustice in a system that benefitted others. Open our eyes to the creativity and courage in communities that feel unfamiliar to us, and open our hearts to build new relationships with each other and grow closer as neighbours and friends. God of mercy,
All:      Hear out cry.

One:   God of healing and hope, we pray for the renewal of your creation and for the protection of species at risk. By your Spirit, teach us to change our ways when they are harmful to the earth, and inspire our ingenuity to find solutions to problems that seem so vast. God of mercy,
All:      Hear our cry.

One:   God of healing and hope, we pray for those who know sickness or pain, for all who live in grief, loneliness or anxiety, and all who find these uncertain times overwhelming in a way. We remember before you those for whom we have special concerns this day…by your spirit, surround each one with strength and love, and equip us to offer support for those whose lives are woven into ours. God of mercy,
All:      Hear our cry.

One:   God of healing and hope, Jesus walks with us day by day to see us through every challenge, and so we claim the healing and hope he offers in the words he taught us to pray.

The Prayer Jesus Taught Us:

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 those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.

We Go Into God’s World

Hymn – “Go Make a Difference” (MV #209)

Go make a difference. We can make a difference. Go make a difference in the world.
Go make a difference. We can make a difference. Go make a difference in the world.

We are the salt of the earth, called to let the people see the love of God for you and me.
We are the light of the world, not to be hidden but be seen. God make a difference in the world.

Go make a difference. We can make a difference. Go make a difference in the world.
Go make a difference. We can make a difference. Go make a difference in the world.

We are the hands of Christ reaching out to those in need, the face of God for all to see.
We are the spirit of hope, we are the voice of peace. Go make a difference in the world.

Go make a difference. We can make a difference. Go make a difference in the world.
Go make a difference. We can make a difference. Go make a difference in the world.

So let your love shine one, let it shine for all to see. Go make a difference in the world.
And the spirit of Christ will be with us as we go. Go make a difference in the world.

Go make a difference. We can make a difference. Go make a difference in the world.
Go make a difference. We can make a difference. Go make a difference in the world.

Commissioning / Benediction

Listen to the promise Jesus makes: I will never abandon you as orphans—I will come to you. Even though the world will not be able to see me, I will never vanish from your sight. And since I live, you will also live. Go from here in the knowledge that you do not go alone: the power and presence of God goes with you. Praise be to God!

Sung Response – “When You Walk from Here” (VU #298)

When you walk from here, when you walk from here,
Walk with justice, walk with mercy, and with God’s humble care.