St Ansgar Lutheran Church, London

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Sunday Morning

We invite you to join us for the following worship services:

Sundays
10:30 a.m. Worship service

Hand sanitizer will be available at the entrance and other locations in the church for
your use.

Washrooms will be available for use.

In the service: The service will be shown on the screen. The offering will not be gathered and presented, but there will be an offering plate at the back of the sanctuary where you can put your offering as you enter or leave. Pastor David distributes the communion wafers and an Assisting Minister distributes wine or grape juice in individual glasses.

We have coffee and fellowship time available again in Luther Hall after the service.

We will continue to evaluate our worship service procedures on a monthly basis.

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, APRIL 28, 2024

St. Ansgar Lutheran Church, Outline for Worship (with sermon)
April 28, 2024 – Fifth Sunday of Easter
Based on ELW Setting Four

GATHERING

WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS

BRIEF ORDER FOR CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
P: In the name of the Father, and of the ☩ Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.

P: God of all mercy and consolation, come to the help of your people, turning us
from our sin to live for you alone. Give us the power of your Holy Spirit that we
may confess our sin, receive your forgiveness, and grow into the fullness of
Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.
C: Amen.

P: Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and one another.

Silence is kept for reflection.

P: Most merciful God,
C: we confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.
We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we
have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you
with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.
For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us,
renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in
your ways, to the glory of your holy name.
Amen.

P: In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for
his sake God forgives us all our sins. As a called and ordained minister of the
church of Christ, and by his authority, I therefore declare to you the entire
forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the ☩ Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.

ENTRANCE HYMN - Christ Is Alive! Let Christians Sing (ELW #389)

GREETING
P: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion
of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
C: And also with you

KYRIE
A: In peace, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: For the peace from above, and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the Church of God,
and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: For this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and praise,
let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.
C: Amen.

HYMN OF PRAISE (sung) (ELW p. 149)
P: This is the feast of victory for our God. Alleluia.
C: Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain,
whose blood set us free to be people of God.
Power and riches and wisdom and strength,
and honour and blessing and glory are his.
This is the feast of victory for our God. Alleluia.
Sing with all the people of God
and join in the hymn of all creation:
Blessing and honour and glory and might
be to God and the Lamb forever. Amen.
This is the feast of victory for our God,
for the Lamb who was slain has begun his reign.
Alleluia. Alleluia.

PRAYER OF THE DAY
P: Let us pray.
P: O God, you give us your Son as the vine apart from whom we cannot live.
Nourish our life in his resurrection, that we may bear the fruit of love and
know the fullness of your joy, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen

WORD

FIRST READING: Acts 8:26-40
26 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go toward the south to
the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a wilderness road.)
27 So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official
of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury.
He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning home; seated in
his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said
to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it." 30 So Philip ran up to it and
heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you
are reading?" 31 He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he
invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 32 Now the passage of the scripture
that he was reading was this: "Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth." 34 The eunuch asked Philip,
"About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about
someone else?" 35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture,
he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they were going along
the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water!
What is to prevent me from being baptized?" 38 He commanded the chariot
to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water,
and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of
the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his
way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing
through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he
came to Caesarea.

A: The word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.

PSALM: 22: 25-31
25 From you comes my praise in the great assembly;
I will perform my vows in the sight of those who fear the Lord.
26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied.
Let those who seek the Lord give praise! May your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
all the families of nations shall bow before God.
28 For dominion belongs to the Lord,
who rules over the nations.
29 Indeed, all who sleep in the earth shall bow down in worship;
all who go down to the dust, though they be dead, shall kneel before the Lord.
30 Their descendants shall serve the Lord,
whom they shall proclaim to generations to come.
31 They shall proclaim God’s deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying to them, “The Lord has acted!”

SECOND READING: 1 John 4:7-21
7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who
loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not
know God, for God is love. 9 God's love was revealed among us in this way:
God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his
Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Beloved, since God loved us
so much, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God;
if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has
given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father
has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world. 15 God abides in those who
confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16 So we have known
and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love
abide in God, and God abides in them. 17 Love has been perfected among us
in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he
is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts
out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached
perfection in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Those who say,
"I love God," and hate their brothers or 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. 21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who
love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

A: The word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
C: Alleluia. Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. Alleluia.

GOSPEL
P: The Holy Gospel according to John 15:1-8
C: Glory to you, O Lord.

1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every
branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to
make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed by the word that
I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch
cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless
you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in
me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.
6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers;
such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide
in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be
done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and
become my disciples.

P: The Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to you, O Christ.

SERMON
1 John 4:7-21
Let us pray: May the words of my mouth, and the prayers of our hearts,
always be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our Strength, and our Redeemer.
AMEN
When someone says, “I love you,” the natural response is, “I love you, too.”
If you are in a loving relationship with someone, you expect those words in
response. Our passage from 1 John this morning tells us that this is the kind
of relationship God has with us. It is not just about saying the words, though.
We heard John telling us last week: “Little children, let us love, not in word
or speech, but in truth and action.” This week John says it like this: “We love
because God first loved us.”
Anyone who has started at Genesis and tried to read the Bible all the way
through will tell you that it is not easy. This can be very confusing if you are
trying to figure out the nature of God. In some places, God is loving and
nurturing, providing for all of his people’s needs. And in other places, God is
so angry that God wipes out entire cities. In some places God is a rock that
cannot be moved and in other places a conversation with a mortal can
change God’s mind. In some places God is insisting that people must follow
God’s laws if they are to live, and in other places God is merciful and ready
to give people another chance.
You see, what we have in the Bible is the story of a relationship. It is about
the relationship between God and God’s people. It is told from the perspective
of the people and the only thing they have to go on is their own limited
experience. From their experience they do the best they can to figure out who
God is. We all do the same thing. We all try to make sense of God according to
what has happened in our lives, or what is currently going on in our lives. But we
have added information about God that people in the Old Testament times did
not have. We do not have to wonder about what God is like. We know.
John’s Gospel explained it this way: “No one has ever seen God. It is God,
the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, and who has made God known.”
If we want to know what God is like, all we have to do is look at Jesus. In his
epistle, John is able to elaborate more on what he means by this.
Just in case we miss his point, John cuts to the chase and spells out who
God is in three simple words: God is love. Of all the ways we can describe
the nature of God, this is the most fundamental. God is love. This is not just
a theory. It is a fact. How do we know?
God became a human being and lived as one of us. God embodied
compassion by his actions and his teachings. God healed the sick and
touched the untouchables. God embraced those whom others turned away.
God spoke on behalf of those who had no voice. God taught us to serve
in humility and even to love our enemies. God stood up to those who put
following the rules above mercy and compassion. God’s entire life on earth
was given in love, and it didn’t end there. In death, God gave himself in love
as well. God went to a cross because he could only be who he was. God
stretched out his arms in love for the world, and they nailed God’s hands to
a wooden cross. Let there be no doubt what God is all about. Look at Jesus
and you know. God is love.
Now, that is not just a nice thought that you would put on a greeting card.
This changes everything for us. “Beloved, since God loved us so much,
we ought to love one another.” Our lives are meant to be given in response
to God’s love that is given to us.
A lot of the time we miss this. We think we live in a way God wants to live
out of fear. That is living by the law. Or we may live in the way we think God
wants us to live out of love. That is living by grace.
As God’s beloved children, God expects us to love one another, not because
God will stop loving us if we do not do what God tells us to do, but precisely
because God will never stop loving us no matter what we do. That is why
John can make the bold assertion: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love
casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has
not reached perfection in love. We love because God first loved us.”
Do you remember when Jesus was challenged by a Jewish expert in the law
who wanted Jesus to tell him what the most important law was? Jesus could
not just identify one most important law. Jesus had to give two. “You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it:
You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” For Jesus these were not two
separate laws to live by, but two parts of the same law. The way to love God
is by loving your neighbour. It is not just a matter of saying, “I love you God,”
over and over again. It is about showing our love for God in the way we love
other people.
This sounds so easy, doesn’t it? And yet, as Christians, our failure to love
because God first loved us has caused untold problems throughout history.
In the name of God, we Christians have fought countless wars, we have
burned people at the stake, we have closed our ears to the cries of the poor
and hungry, we have locked our doors and our hearts to people we deem
unworthy of our community, we have hung men from trees because we do
not like the colour of their skin, and we have prospered materially from the
desperation of people we do not even know. To the south of our border the
movement of Christian nationalism seeks to exclude God’s children who do not
meet the Christian nationalists’ standards of what it means to be a Christian.
We do all these things and more, in the name of God. We forget that God
is love. What is it that we don’t get about this? If John had said, “God is hate,”
our actions would make more sense. But God is not hate. God is love.
Why is it so hard for us? How is it possible for us to know and experience the
love of God in our lives and withhold the same love from others? Maybe the
key for us is opening ourselves up to receive the love of God in our lives.
So often we are closed off and the awareness of God’s love does not have
a chance. It is like putting a lid on a travel cup and then trying to pour hot
coffee into it. When we open ourselves up to God’s love, it is like removing
the lid and filling our cup from a full pot of hot coffee. The writer Annie
Dillard said, “You catch grace as a man fills his cup from a waterfall.”
Imagine what that would be like. Our cup is filled and spilling all over the place.
We could not possibly contain it all. That is what happens when God’s love
fills our lives. God fills us to overflowing and God’s love spills out on
everyone around us.
God says to us, “I love you.” Through Jesus Christ we know these are more
than just words alone. “I love you,” God says. And we are invited to respond
to God’s love. Not with just the words alone, but with living our lives in a way
that says to God, “I love you, too.”
AMEN

HYMN OF THE DAY – We Are Called (ELW #720)

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,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary
and became truly human.
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,
who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified,
who 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.

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
A: Rejoicing that Jesus is risen and love has triumphed over fear, let us pray
for the church, the world, and all those in need of good news.
A: God of our church, send forth your Spirit as we pray for our Synod Bishop
Michael. Empower him with your wisdom to lead the church. We also pray for
our National Bishop Susan and the National ELCIC Office and Support Staff.
God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: We pray for the church around the world, for all ministers, and for the mission
of the gospel. Keep all the newly baptized and confirmed in your care. Cleanse
our hearts with your word and help us to abide in you always. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: For the well-being of the earth and of all created things: for rivers and lakes,
streams and estuaries, melting glaciers and polluted waters. Renew the face of
the earth and shower us with your goodness. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: For the nations and all those in authority: for local, provincial, and national leaders,
for elected representatives at every level, and for international organizations,
that justice and peace may reign. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: For all those in need: for any experiencing homelessness or unemployment,
for those fleeing from oppression or seeking asylum, and for all who are ill or
suffering. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: For this congregation: for the caring ministries of this faith community, for all
who visit and minister to one another, and for all who seek to share your love
with the world. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: Merciful God, we pray for peace as war continues to rage in Ukraine and
in Israel and Gaza. Shelter all living in fear; protect those seeking refuge in
neighbouring countries; sustain families separated by the horrors of war;
tend to those who are injured; comfort all who mourn their dead. Direct your
people into the way of peace. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: With thanksgiving for the saints who rest from their labours. Help us, like them,
to bear much fruit and to become your disciples, and at the last, bring us to
the heavenly banquet where all will feast together at your table. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: Into your hands, most merciful God, we commend all for whom we pray,
trusting in your abiding love; through Jesus Christ, our resurrected and
living Lord.
C: Amen.

PEACE
P: The peace of Christ be with you always.
C: And also with you.

LORD’S PRAYER
P: Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray.
C: 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.

SENDING

BLESSING
P: Alleluia! Christ is risen!
C: Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

P: The God of resurrection power, the Christ of unending joy, and the Spirit
of Easter hope + bless you now and always.
C: Amen.

SENDING HYMN – Now All the Vault of Heaven Resounds (ELW #367)

DISMISSAL
A: Alleluia! Go in peace. Rejoice and be glad.
C: Thanks be to God. Alleluia!

DISMISSAL HYMN – The Lord Now Sends Us Forth (ELW #538)
Verse 1
The Lord now sends us forth
with hands to serve and give,
to make of all the earth
a better place to live. Repeat (2X)

Verse 2
The angels are not sent
into our world of pain
to do what we were meant
to do in Jesus' name;
that falls to you and me
and all who are made free.
Help us, O Lord, we pray,
to do your will today. Repeat (2X)