Worship Order – Service of Holy Communion ~ 10:30am
May 3, 2026 ~ 5th Sunday of Easter
Prelude
Announcements
Celebration of Christ’s Victory (Easter Dialogue)
P: Let God arise; let His enemies be scattered!
C: Let those who hate Him flee before His face.
P: God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
C: Even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ—by grace we have been saved—and raised us up with Him.
P: Let the righteous be glad; let them exult before God: Let them be jubilant with joy!
C: Sing to God, sing praises to His name!
(Sung Together)
Christ is risen from the dead,
Trampling down death by death,
And upon those in the tombs bestowing life!
P: Christ is risen!
C: He is risen indeed! Amen! Alleluia!
Opening Hymn Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God, WOV 783
Apostolic Greeting
Hymn of Praise Glory to God in the Highest, LOLec
Prayer of the Day
Living God, your Son, Jesus Christ, is the way, the truth, and the life. Grant us the grace to follow him and live lives of servanthood and truth; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Children’s Sermon
1st Scripture Lesson: Acts 6:1-9; 7:2a, 51-60
1Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. 2And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” 5And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. 6These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. 7And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith. 8And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. 9Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.
2a And Stephen said:
51“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” 54Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him. 55But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. 58Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
The Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Psalm 146
1Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
3Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
4When his breath departs, he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish.
5Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God,
6who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever;
7who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8the Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.
9The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
10The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!
2nd Scripture Lesson: 1 Peter 2:2-10
2Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation — 3if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
The Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Gospel Acclamation This Joyful Eastertide WOV 676 v. 1
This joyful Eastertide, away with sin and sorrow!
My love, the crucified, has sprung to life this morrow.
Had Christ, who once was slain,
not burst his three-day prison,
our faith had been in vain.
But now has Christ arisen,
arisen, arisen, arisen!
Gospel: John 14:1-14
The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the 14th Chapter.
C: Glory to you, O Lord.
1{Jesus said,} “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4And you know the way to where I am going.” 5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. 12Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to you, O Christ.
Gospel Response
But now has Christ arisen, arisen, arisen, arisen!
Sermon
Hymn of the Day O Word of God Incarnate, LBW 231
Installation of New Members
Prayers of God’s People
Offering (Choir)
Offertory The Doxology 564
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, Ye heav’nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost