WELCOME and ANNOUNCEMENTS
Welcome Grace Church parish family, friends and visitors! It’s Mother’s Day and also it is still Easter! This morning we have Father Will Holt leading our worship, and we have our wonderful church musicians Rhonda Stanton and Zoë Pouliot presenting our worship music. We hope you’ll go through the service, singing along with the hymns and praying along with the prayers, and letting the scriptures and sermon speak to you. The Spirit brings us together even if we’re not in the same building.
Bishop Phoebe has been holding a weekly conference call for leaders of small congregations like ours, and Father Will and Mother Dorothy have been participating.
Currently the West TN diocese is not recommending that we reopen our churches because the guidelines of 6 feet social distancing , no direct contact, and no gathering over 10 people will still be in effect. We will continue to have weekly updates and guidance concerning the plans and preparations for returning to in person worship, and we’re getting closer to the day when we can come together again safely.
Children’s Resources
Coloring Pages to Download for Children
Thank you God for Mommy (daughter)
Thank you God for Mommy (son)
Jesus with Children
I am the Way, the Truth and the Life (fancy lettering to color)
Godly Play Lesson
One of the Godly Play lessons that we schedule during the Easter season is called The Synagogue and the Upper Room. It is always a favorite, perhaps because of the wonderful manipulatives – the really scroll-like scroll and the way the pieces fit together so cleverly at the end – it’s pretty irresistable. As the Godly Play handbook points out, “the first part of the story evokes the Liturgy of the Word, which the Christian Church developed from the readings of the Jewish synagogue. The second part evokes the Liturgy of the Table, which Jesus instituted during the Last Supper.”
Along with really missing our youngest parishioners, I’m really sorry we’re missing this story in person this year. I’ve included a video of a priest from Atlanta sharing the story from her home.
Opening Hymn #518: Christ is made the sure foundation
1 Christ is made the sure foundation,
Christ the head and cornerstone,
chosen of the Lord, and precious,
binding all the Church in one;
holy Zion’s help for ever,
and her confidence alone.
2 All that dedicated city,
dearly loved of God on high,
in exultant jubilation
pours perpetual melody;
God the One in Three adoring
in glad hymns eternally.
3 To this temple, where we call thee,
come, O Lord of Hosts, today;
with thy wonted loving-kindness
hear thy servants as they pray,
and thy fullest benediction
shed within its walls alway.
4 Here vouchsafe to all thy servants
what they ask of thee to gain;
what they gain from thee, for ever
with the blessèd to retain,
and hereafter in thy glory
evermore with thee to reign.
Collect of the Day
First Reading: Acts 7:55-60
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
Second Reading: 1 Peter 2:2-10
Hymn #506: Praise the Spirit in Creation
1. Praise the Spirit in creation, breath of God, life’s origin
Spirit moving on the waters, quick’ning worlds to life within
Source of breath to all things breathing, life in whom all lives begin
2. Praise the Spirit, close companion of our inmost thoughts and ways
Who, in showing us God’s wonders, is himself the power to gaze
And God’s will, to those who listen, by a still small voice conveys
3. Praise the Spirit, who enlightened priests and prophets with the word
His the truth behind the wisdom which as yet know not our Lord
By whose love and power, in Jesus God himself was seen and heard
4. Tell of how the ascended Jesus armed a people for his own
How a hundred men and women turned the known world upside down
To its dark and furthest corners by the wind of heaven blown
5. Pray we then, O Lord the Spirit, on our lives descend in might
Let your flame break out within us, fire our hearts and clear our sight
‘Til, white-hot in your possession, we, too, set the world alight
Gospel Reading: John 14:1-14
Sermon
Post-sermon Thoughts
Nicene Creed
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Special Music: The Steadfast Love
Prayers of the People
Blessing
Hymn 457: Thou art the Way, to thee alone
1 Thou art the Way, to thee alone
from sin and death we flee;
and all who would the Father seek,
must seek him, Lord, by thee.
2 Thou art the Truth: thy word alone
true wisdom can impart;
thou only canst inform the mind
and purify the heart.
3 Thou art the Life, the rending tomb
proclaims thy conquering arm;
and those who put their trust in thee
nor death nor hell shall harm.
4 Thou art the Way, the Truth, the Life:
grant us that way to know,
that truth to keep, that life to win,
whose joys eternal flow.
Dismissal
Let us go forth in the name of Christ! Alleluia, alleluia!
