WORSHIP RESOURCES

Fifth Sunday of Easter

1 John 4:7-21

Easter People Love

 

Additional Scriptures

Psalm 22:25-31; John 15:1-8; Acts 8:26-40; Doctrine and Covenants 165:3c-e

 

Preparation

Refer to the Toronto Centre Place, online church, for a listing of hymns that are available on You Tube. This may provide accompaniment for hymns. 

For Collage as Spiritual Practice, supplement the materials for collage making – poster paper or card stock; pictures from magazines, calendars, postcards; glue or paste, scissors, markers, crayons, colored pencils.

For the Focus Moment, secure a copy of the children’s book, God’s Dream, by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams. Candlewick Press, copyright 2008. ISBN 978-0-7636-3388-2.

 

Praise

Prelude

Hymn of Praise

Use the vocal recording found on Community of Christ Sings Audio Recordings, available from Herald House.org, to lead the singing.

“Mfurahini, Haleluya/Christ Has Arisen, Alleluia"
CCS 471

OR “Celebrate Jesus"
CCS 474

            Encourage participants to sing in languages other than their own. 

Welcome

The praise hymn that has just been sung is from the core repertoire in the Community of Christ Sings. Our core repertoire is important in Community of Christ because the culture from which each song comes offers specific perspectives and spiritual gifts to the universal body of Christ. By showing willingness to sing in a language different from our own, we demonstrate humility and allow ourselves to experience the uncomfortableness of learning something new. If we are open, the words and music can help us gain a clearer vision of ourselves as part of the worldwide Christian community and appreciate a wider view of the Divine. We are many, we are one. You are welcome here today.

Call to Worship

One of our scriptures from the lectionary is from the eighth chapter of Acts (8:26-40). In this scripture story, Phillip exemplifies following the leading of the spirit of God and extends the invitation to be baptized to an Ethiopian eunuch. To paraphrase this Ethiopian eunuch: Is there anything that might prevent any man or woman who responds to the good news from being baptized and becoming a full participant in the community of God?

This scripture is one inspiration to the ways in which Community of Christ embraces diversity and proclaims the Worth of All Persons. We are one in our belief in the worth of every person and the value of every soul in God’s sight. All are called to develop their gifts for service to Christ and to others. We value the cultures and languages of others, but we fight barriers that divide us along lines of caste, class, gender, race, nation and age. God has called us into unique relationships and to offer loving acceptance to each other.

Hymn

 “For Everyone Born"
CCS 285

Encourage participants to sing in languages other than their own.

OR “We Need Each Other’s Voice to Sing"
CCS 324

Invocation

Confession

Prayer for Peace

Light the Peace Candle.

Prayer

Spirit of Love,

We are so loved by you. We feel your love as you abide in us, and as we abide in you. 
With certainty, we feel warmth from the sun heating our skin.
With certainty, we hear the wind dance through our hair.
With certainty, the ground never fails below our feet. 
With certainty, we feel your love!

May we stop resisting, then, to spread that love to our neighbors! May we stop ignoring the tears, mourning, and crying of the desolate. Instead, may we act on your love, to wipe away tears and proclaim deliverance to people oppressed. Just as we stand in your love, we must also stand for your peace! Let us stand for those who feel rejected.

May we take seriously the commandment to love another, and in doing so, bring your peace to a suffering world. In the name of Jesus, who shows us how to love. Amen.

—Tiffany and Caleb Brian

Song for Peace Sing several times.             

If available, ask children to sing this song or to lead the congregation’s singing.

“Into My Heart"
CCS 573

Encourage participants to sing in languages other than their own.

OR “Soften My Heart"
CCS 187 

Proclamation of the Word

Focus Moment

Read the storybook, God’s Dream, by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams.

Tutu has a vision of God’s dream, people reaching out to hold one another’s hands, but sometimes getting angry and hurting one another, opening the way to say they are sorry and forgive. His is a wish that everyone will see they are brothers and sisters. The message is enhanced by vibrant artwork as Tutu shares his philosophy of ubuntu (we are one). This book reinforces our Enduring Principle of the Worth of All Persons.

OR move directly to Conversation. 

Conversation

Say: Today, I want us to get to know one another better. I want you all to tell me one thing about you that is important to who you are.

One thing about you that if someone doesn’t know it, they don’t really know you.

For example (include your example of something that is essential to who you are).

Think for just a minute before we go around and share our responses.

Allow each participant to share one essential thing about who they are.

Say: Wow! It is so wonderful to know you all better. I’m curious though, if God were answering this question, what do you think God would say? (Affirm all answers.) Those are really great suggestions! One thing I know is essential about God is love.

Today’s scripture reminds us that love is so central to who and what God is that to know God we first need to know how to accept and share love with others. This week, look for ways you can get to know God better by sharing love with others.

—Sacred Space Year B, fifth Sunday of Easter

Message

Based on 1 John 4:7-21

Commitment

Reflection Hymn

“Leftover People in Leftover Places"
CCS 275

OR “Sometimes We Wait, Expecting God"
CCS 304

Disciples’ Generous Response

Statement

During the Disciples’ Generous Response, we focus on aligning our heart with God’s heart. Our offerings are more than meeting budgets or funding mission. Through our offerings we join in making God’s work visible in the world.

As we share our mission tithes either by placing money in the plates or through eTithing, use this time to thank God for the many gifts received in life. Our hearts grow aligned with God’s when we gratefully receive and faithfully respond by living Christ’s mission.

If your congregation is meeting online, remind participants they can give through CofChrist.org/give or eTithing.org (consider showing these URLs on screen).

Blessing and Receiving of Local and Worldwide Mission Tithes

Collage as Spiritual Practice

Invite those present to gather at craft stations with the supplies to make a collage. Considering those present, invite each to make their own collage or those gathered can create a poster-board collage together. Meditative music playing is an option. Prompt those creating collages with this:

• Today, the theme of our collages will be “Easter People Love.”
• Before you begin, spend a few moments in stillness. Take deep breaths and invite the Spirit to sit with you and inspire you. This creative process is a prayer, and yet, we do not need our words to commune with God. Open yourself to whatever wisdom or blessings you may receive, focusing on the theme of “Easter People Love.”
• Begin with a clean sheet of paper. It’s up to you how you fill that page. You can sketch or doodle randomly, splash bold colors on it, or cover it with images from a magazine—anything that feels right for you.
• To make a collage, peruse a few magazines. Don’t look for specific images or words. Instead, pick whatever inspires you. It might be photos, random words, or a combination.
• Once you’re ready, begin gluing them on the page in an arrangement that feels right for you.
• When you are done, sit back and reflect on what is on the page. Some of the images might surprise you. Themes you didn’t expect might emerge. Combinations of photos might communicate something to you. Be open to whatever you receive.

Once the collage pictures or poster are completed, invite brief sharing of the completed work with others. Make provision for posting the collages near the exit of the worship space. Leave these up for next week’s service.

Hymn

“We Are One in the Spirit"
CCS 359

OR “Blest Be the Tie that Binds"
CCS 325

Encourage participants to sing in languages other than their own. 

Benediction

Sending Forth: Doctrine and Covenants 165:3c-e

Postlude

Ask participants to post their collages in the space provided as they exit the worship space. Add today’s collages to those already posted the last two weeks.

 

SERMON AND CLASS HELPS

Year B—Letters

Fifth Sunday of Easter

1 John 4:7–21

 

Exploring the Scripture

Today’s text comes from one of three short letters bearing the name of John. For centuries, the letter was assumed to have been written by the apostle who knew Jesus personally. However, scholars have decided 1 John was written around 100 CE by a follower of John and his teachings.

The central affirmation of this passage is that “God is love” (vv. 8, 16). God’s love defines the Divine relationship with creation, specifically humankind. Being defined as love, God cannot but love others, including every part of creation. God’s love is full, complete, unreserved—in a word, God’s love is perfect. That is who God is.

Other loves, such as our love for God and one another, are imperfect images of God’s love. Our love is dependent: it cannot exist before or without God first having loved us. As verse 7 states, “let us love one another because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” The author wants readers to love one another but affirms we cannot do this without accepting God as the source of genuine love.

Verse 8 expresses the inseparability of God and love: those who do not love do not know God. And in verse 20, we read, “Those who say, ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers and sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” In the same way God and love are inseparable, loving God and loving others are two sides of the same coin. Jesus said as much in the Gospel accounts. He answered:

"…[Y]ou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the greatest and first commandment.” The second is this, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these.

—Mark 12:30–31

The Matthew version of this passage ends with Jesus saying, “‘On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets’” (22:40).

Verse 18 suggests the opposite of love is fear: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” So many people in today’s world live in fear. Some fear, from experience, what others will do or say to them; those who do not know God or God’s love often instill fear in others. Yet fear cannot influence the lives of those who are grounded in belovedness: that God loves them perfectly.

Those who are confident of God’s unconditional, never-failing love for them and all people will bear the fruits of love in all their interactions with others. Such is our calling: to “love one another” (v. 7) because God “first loved us” (v. 19). By loving others, we express our love for God. We show that we have not received and accepted God’s love by not loving others.

Central Ideas

1. Love comes from God; it is the essence of who God is.
2. We are urged to love others and are empowered to do this by accepting God’s love for us.
3. When we do not love others, we cannot love God.

Questions for the Speaker

1. How have you experienced God’s love?
2. What stands in the way of you loving others?
3. How can you more authentically and consistently share God’s love with others?

 

SACRED SPACE: A RESOURCE FOR SMALL-GROUP MINISTRY

Year B Letters

Fifth Sunday of Easter

1 John 4:7–21 NRSVUE

 

Welcome

Today is the fifth Sunday of the Easter season. The Easter season lasts fifty days and concludes with the Day of Pentecost.

 

Prayer for Peace

Ring a bell or chime three times slowly.

Light the peace candle.

Gracious God and precious Friend, extend your peace throughout creation in flowing ribbons of love. Let all who seek you know your presence and be moved to greater acts of peace in their communities. May they know your infinite tenderness and intimate friendship as they seek greater knowledge of you. Bring your presence to those struggling with loneliness and uncertainty that they may understand your desire for their companionship and reach out to you in love. Be with those who feel weak and useless that they would find strength in their trials and confidence to share this strength with others.

Above all, we pray that your peace, love, and grace would impress upon our hearts the desire to live in service to you. As we go forward from this sacred place, may we carry your peace and love with us to all the corners of the world. In Jesus’s most precious name we pray. Amen.

—Molly Bagley Wilkins

Spiritual Practice

Centering Prayer

Centering prayer is a method of meditation used by Christians to sit in silence with God. This prayer helps us experience God’s presence within us.

This Easter Day we will focus on the word rejoice.

Slowly read the following instructions:

Sit with relaxed posture and close your eyes. We will spend three minutes in centering prayer.

Breathe in a regular, natural rhythm. As you breathe in and out, say the word rejoice in your mind.

Breathe in and out, focusing only on your word.

When we are done, we will sit for two minutes in silence, eyes closed, listening to the silence.

When time is up, share these closing instructions:

Offer a brief word of thanks to God, take a deep breath, and open your eyes when you are ready.

Sharing Around the Table

1 John 4:7–21 NRSVUE

 

Let us love one another. Children love each other. Brothers and sisters please love each other. The pastor implores his young disciples to love each other. This might seem a strange place to start. Shouldn’t we first love God? John builds his instruction with the given understanding that God is love, and the way we love God who first loved us is to love each other.

The argument could be made that loving God by placing our feelings on the invisible and unknown is no love at all. It is only in active love that love is expressed at all. Some would say that spiritual practice in devotion to God is active love, but isn’t the real purpose of spiritual practice seeking knowledge on how to love God better by loving our neighbor?

John understands that an actionless love is not love; it is self-deception. He uses the prime example of God’s love for creation, expressed in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus was a devout individual, spending time in prayer and self-reflection, but the difference he made was in the way he lived that devotion in expressions of love to those he encountered.

This is why the earliest disciples called themselves the followers of the The Way. The way of discipline, sacrifice, love.

John further reinforces a theology of oneness in Christ that we first encounter in the Gospel of John. He does not depend on hearsay for his testimony. The pastor shares that he is a first-hand witness to the fact that God sent a Savior. And how does he know? Because he knew Jesus and personally experienced the love of God in the actions of Jesus.

Let us love one another. Children love each other. Brothers and sisters please love each other.

Questions

1. Share about a time when the actions of someone else caused you to know that God is love?
2. How have you lived or shared the love of God through action?
3. How might spiritual practice help you love like Christ?
4. Share a time when you were moved to respond actively from your sense of God’s love?

Sending

Generosity Statement

Beloved Community of Christ, do not just speak and sing of Zion. Live, love, and share as Zion: those who strive to be visibly one in Christ, among whom there are no poor or oppressed.

—Doctrine and Covenants 165:6a

The offering basket is available if you would like to support ongoing, small-group ministries as part of your generous response.

This offering prayer for the Easter season is adapted from A Disciple’s Generous Response:

God of rejoicing, we share our gifts joyfully and with thanksgiving in response to the generous gifts you have given us. May the offerings we share bring joy, hope, love, and peace into the lives of others so they might experience your mercy and grace. Amen.

Invitation to Next Meeting

Closing Hymn

Community of Christ Sings 588, “Beloved Community of God”

Closing Prayer

Optional Additions Depending on Group

• Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
• Thoughts for Children

 

Thoughts for Children

Say: Today, I want us to get to know each other better. I want you all to tell me one thing that is important to who you are. One thing about you that if someone doesn’t know, they don’t really know you. For example, (include your example of something essential to who you are). Think for just a minute before we share our responses.

Allow all participants to share one essential thing about who they are.

Say: Wow! It is so wonderful to know you all better. I’m curious, though. If God were answering this question, what do you think God would say? (Affirm all answers.)

Those are great suggestions! One thing I know that is essential about God is love. Today’s scripture reminds us that if we don’t love, we don’t know God. Love is so central to who and what God is that to know God we first need to know how to accept and share love with others.

This week, look for ways you can get to know God better by sharing love with others.