Worship Service at Church of the Dawntreader Thursday May 2, 2013 10:00 a.m. SLT
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
    Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™
    Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
    www.zondervan.com
"New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989,
Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved." Designated by the initials, (NRSV).

Invocation:
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen
Confession and Absolution
We come before you, our Loving Father, Mother God, confessing most of all our need of you.
We confess that we have not always acknowledged just how much we depend on you.
We confess that we have not always loved you with all our heart, soul and mind.
We have not always loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We ask that you will forgive us and grant us your strength to conform more fully to your loving will for us.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Amen.
In obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is my privilege to declare to you and to myself, the entire
forgiveness of all our sins.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen

Prayer of the Day
Let us pray.
Bountiful God, you gather your people into your realm, and you promise us food from your tree of life.
Nourish us with your word, that empowered by your Spirit we may love one another and the world you have made,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen

First Lesson: Acts 15: 1 - 2, 22 - 29 (NRSV)
1 Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers,
"Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."
2 And after Paul and Bar'nabas had no small dissension and debate with them,
Paul and Bar'nabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders.
22 Then the apostles and the elders, with the consent of the whole church,
decided to choose men from among their members and to send them to An'tioch with Paul and Bar'nabas.
They sent Judas called Barsab'bas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers,
23 with the following letter: "The brothers, both the apostles and the elders,
to the believers of Gentile origin in An'tioch and Syria and Cili'cia, greetings.
24 Since we have heard that certain persons who have gone out from us,
though with no instructions from us, have said things to disturb you and have unsettled your minds,
25 we have decided unanimously to choose representatives and send them to you, along with our beloved Bar'nabas and Paul,
26 who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.
27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.
28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose on you no further burden than these essentials:
29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication.
If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell."
Here ends the First Lesson

Psalm 67 (NRSV)
1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us, [Se'lah]
2 that your way may be known upon earth,
your saving power among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.
4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth. [Se'lah]
5 Let the peoples praise you, O God;
let all the peoples praise you.
6 The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, has blessed us.
7 May God continue to bless us;
let all the ends of the earth revere him.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Second Lesson: Revelation 21: 10 - 14, 22 - 22: 5 (NRSV)
10 And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.
 11 It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It has a great,
high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites; 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

22 I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.
25 Its gates will never be shut by day--and there will be no night there.
26 People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.
27 But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood,
but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
2 through the middle of the street of the city.
On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month;
and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
3 Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it,
and his servants will worship him;
4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun,
for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Here ends the Second Lesson.

Gospel Lesson: John 14: 23 - 29 (NRSV)
23 Jesus answered him [Judas, not Iscariot], "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them,
and we will come to them and make our home with them.
24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.
25 "I have said these things to you while I am still with you.
26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything,
and remind you of all that I have said to you.
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
28 You heard me say to you, "I am going away, and I am coming to you.'
If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.
29 And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.
Here end the Readings from Holy Scripture.

 - Sermon -

In this week's Gospel lesson we learn about the peace of Christ
and the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, the Comforter.
The two realities are closely connected.
God's peace brings us the assurance that we are loved no matter what.
The power of the Holy Spirit enables us to believe that assurance.
Christ is the source of life to all who believe.
He is God living in us,
and there is no greater peace.
His peace is not like our thoughts of peace.
It is much more than the absence of conflict.
It is a much more powerful force than violence or war or conflict or any of the things we think can contradict it.
In fact, the peace of God has no equal.
Nothing can stand beside it.
If the peace of God is in your heart,
nothing can separate you from the love of God
which has been revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is more than believing any doctrine or idea about God or Christ.
The peace of God is far greater even than tranquility.
It can produce tranquility,
but it can also bring a calm in the midst of a storm.
Think of the picture of Jesus calming a storm for His disciples.
He is the calm center around which an entire universe can rage,
but it cannot touch Him.
He is the source of being,
so of course, He can remain calm no matter what is happening around Him - or even to Him.
After all, this is the Man who said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing,"
about those who were crucifying Him!
He died in agony on the cross,
asking God why He had forsaken Him,
yet in His heart of hearts,
He was at peace,
at rest,
in the Father's love,
for He died forsaken for love of us.
He died, not with those words on His lips,
but, according to John,
saying, "It is finished."
What was finished?
The work of our redemption was finished and complete.
Now His peace can rule in our hearts,
even when we do not feel it!
His peace is infinitely more than a feeling.
It is the reality of God's love,
and it will inevitably overflow to touch every part of our lives
and the lives of people around us.
The world may not even recognize the peace that Christ gives us,
because, as He said,
He does not give as the world gives.
His gifts are not returnable,
and they are given freely, without any conditions at all.
Think of that!
God's peace is yours.
You may not even know what it is,
you may not know how to ask for it.
But it is His gift to you.
It may result in peace of mind.
Sometimes it does not.
But it is peace from God and with God.
It is reconciliation itself,
and it brings a peace that no conflict or pain or anything else in all of creation can destroy.
God's peace is His gift to you and me right now and forever,
and in the safety of His peace,
He will bring us home at last
to be with Him forever
in that place of eternal peace
described so vividly for us in our Second Lesson.
There grow the trees along the river that flows through the City of God,
and the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations.
That is the peace of God.
Here we know it imperfectly.
There, we will know it and live it perfectly forever and ever.
Amen.

Prayer of the People
Please type your spontaneous petitions in chat.
Each prepared petition is intended to remind us of the things we need to pray about,
so a brief pause will be provided for us to pray our own petitions,
either sharing them in the chat window
or praying them in our own hearts.

Loving God, we pray for each other, for those who depend upon us for prayer, and for all people according to their needs.
We ask that your healing power may prevail in our lives.
We pray that those in positions of public trust may be worthy of that trust as they act as stewards of power and wealth
for the benefit of all.
We pray that conflicts may be resolved in the context of relationships,
so that violence of thought word and deed may be diminished all through our world.
We ask your blessing for all who bear witness to the Gospel, so that relationships with you may be deepened for all people.
All these things, and whatever else you see that we need, we ask that you will grant for the sake of your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, in Whose name we pray.
Amen.
Our Lord's Prayer
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 sins as we forgive those who sin 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.
Benediction
May the Lord bless us and keep us.
May the Lord make His face to shine upon us and be gracious to us.
May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, and give us peace.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen +