Easter 6: Complete Joy

Sunday, May 5, 2024
10:30 AM 11:30 AM 10:30 11:30

Union Presbyterian Church 200 E Main St Endicott, NY, 13760 United States (map)

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On the night before he dies, Jesus speaks at length to his disciples. There is fear in the room, and anxiety, and the cross looms over everyone. Jesus’ words of comfort lay the groundwork for his vision of the church, and the risen life.

Join us throughout this Easter Season as we wonder together what it might mean to life be an Easter people. Join us in our beautiful sanctuary, or right here online. Worship is live-streamed; videos are available here or on Youtube following the service.

6th Sunday in the Easter Season

Complete Joy

Psalm 98; John 15:9-17

Union Presbyterian Church

May 5, 2024

Sharing the Light of Christ, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Liturgist: Cathie Makowka Preacher: Rev. Pat Raube

Welcome Rev. Pat Raube

Announcements Cathie Makowka

Prelude Chris Bartlette

“No Greater Love,” Michael Joncas

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.

There is no greater love, says the Lord,

Than to lay down your life for a friend;

There is no greater love, no greater love,

Than to lay down your life for a friend.

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.

Live on in my love.

You will live in my love if you keep my commands,

Even as I have kept my Father’s.

There is no greater love, says the Lord,

Than to lay down your life for a friend;

There is no greater love, no greater love,

Than to lay down your life for a friend.

All this I tell you that my joy may be yours

And your joy may be complete.

Love one another as I have loved you:

This is my command.

There is no greater love, says the Lord,

Than to lay down your life for a friend;

There is no greater love, no greater love,

Than to lay down your life for a friend.

You are my friends if you keep my commands;

No longer slaves but friends to me.

All I heard from my Father, I have made known to you:

Now I call you friends.

There is no greater love, says the Lord,

Than to lay down your life for a friend;

There is no greater love, no greater love,

Than to lay down your life for a friend.

It was not you who chose me, it was I who chose you,

Chose you to go forth and bear fruit.

Your fruit must endure, so you will receive

All you ask the Father in my name.

There is no greater love, says the Lord,

Than to lay down your life for a friend;

There is no greater love, no greater love,

Than to lay down your life for a friend.

* Call to Worship (responsive) Cathie Makowka

In the beginning, before time, before people,

before the world began,

God was.

Here and now, among us, beside us,

enlisting the people of earth for the purposes of heaven,

God is.

In the future, when we have turned to dust,

and all we know has found its fulfillment,

God will be.

Not denying the world, but delighting in it;

not condemning the world, but redeeming it;

through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit:

God was. God is. God will be.

* Hymn # 649 W & R “Gather Us In,” Marty Haugen

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.

Here in this place, the new light is streaming;

Shadows of doubt are vanished away.

See in this space our fears and our dreamings,

Brought here to you in the light of this day.

Gather us in, the lost and forsaken;

Gather us in, our spirits inflame.

Call to us now, and we shall awaken;

We shall arise at the sound of our name.

We are the young, our lives are a mystery;

We are the old, who yearn for your face.

We have been sung throughout all of history,

Called to be light to the whole human race.

Gather us in, the rich and the haughty;

Gather us in, the proud and the strong;

Give us a heart so meek and so lowly;

Give us the courage to enter the song.

Here we receive new life in the waters;

Here we receive the bread of new birth;

Here you shall call your sons and your daughters,

Call us anew to be salt for the earth.

Give us to drink the wine of compassion;

Give us to eat the bread that is you;

Nourish us well, and teach us to fashion

Lives that are holy and hearts that are true.

Not just in buildings, small and confining,

Not in some heaven, light years away,

Here in this place the new light is shining;

Now is God present, and now is the day.

Gather us in and hold us forever;

Gather us in and make us your own;

Gather us in, all peoples together,

Fire of love in our flesh and our bone.

* Call to New Life

* Prayer for Wholeness and Peace (responsive)

O God of Life, grant us your forgiveness for our careless thoughts, for our thoughtless deeds, for our empty speech, and the words with which we have wounded; for our false desires, for our hateful actions, for our wastefulness, and for all we have left untended. O loving Christ, hanged on a tree, yet risen in the morning, scatter the sin from our souls as the mist from the hills; begin what we do, inform what we say, redeem who we are. In you we place our hope, our great hope, our living hope, this day and evermore. Amen.

* Words of Assurance

God brings new life where we are worn and tired;

God brings new love where we have grown hard-hearted.

God brings forgiveness where we have been hurt,

and where we have hurt one another.

God brings the joy of the Holy Spirit where we are prisoners of ourselves.

Our gracious God forgives, heals, and makes us whole.

Thanks be to God! Alleluia! Amen!

* Sharing of the Peace

May the peace of God be with you.

And also with you.

Let us share a sign of God’s peace with one another.

Scripture Psalm 98

Sing a new song to the Lord, who has done marvelous things,
whose right hand and holy arm have won the victory.
O Lord, you have made known your victory,
you have revealed your righteousness

in the sight of the nations.
You remember your steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands;
lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing.

Sing to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and the voice of song.

With trumpets and the sound of the horn
shout with joy before the king, the Lord.

Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the world and those who dwell therein.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
and let the hills ring out with joy before the Lord,

who comes to judge the earth.
The Lord will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity.

Time for Young Disciples Rev. Pat Raube

Music: “Oh Sing to the Lord,” Jack Schrader

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.

Anthem Barbara Gannon, Pat Raube
“Be Still My Soul,” Sally DeFord

Used with permission

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side;

With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In every change He faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heavenly Friend

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake

To guide the future as He has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake,

All now mysterious shall be bright at last,

Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know

His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: The hour is hastening on,

When we shall be forever with the Lord

When disappointment, grief and fear are gone.

Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past,

All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Scripture John 15:9-17

As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.

Response Holy Wisdom, Holy Word:

Thanks be to God!

Sermon “Complete Joy”

*Statement of Faith From the Belhar Confession

We believe that this unity of the people of God must be manifested and be active in a variety of ways: in that we love one another; in that we experience, practice and pursue community with one another; in that we are obligated to give ourselves willingly and joyfully to be of benefit and blessing to one another; in that we share one faith, have one calling, are of one soul and one mind; in that we have one God and Father, are filled with one Spirit, are baptized with one baptism, eat of one bread and drink of one cup, confess one name, are obedient to one Lord work for one cause, and share one hope; in that together we come to know the height and the breadth and the depth of the love of Christ.

*Hymn # 706 W & R “I Come With Joy,” Brian Wren, Austin C. Lovelace

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.

I come with joy, a child of God,
Forgiven, loved and free,
The life of Jesus to recall,
In love laid down for me,
In love laid down for me.

I come with Christians far and near

To find, as all are fed,

The new community of love

In Christ’s communion bread,

In Christ’s communion bread.

As Christ breaks bread, and bids us share,
Each proud division ends.
The love that made us, makes us one,
And strangers now are friends,
And strangers now are friends.

The Spirit of the risen Christ,
Unseen, but ever near,
Is in such friendship better known,
Alive among us here,
Alive among us here.

Together met, together bound
By all that God has done,
We'll go with joy, to give the world
The love that makes us one,
The love that makes us one.

Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper

The Invitation

The Lord be with you!

And also with you!

Let us lift up our hearts!

We lift our hearts to the Lord!

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God!

It is right to give our thanks and praise!

The Great Thanksgiving

So now, in gratitude, we join our voices

with those all your people in every time, in every place,

who sing to the glory of your name:

Sanctus

“Holy, Holy, Holy Lord,” Marty Haugen

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.

Holy, holy, holy Lord,

God of power, God of might,

Heaven and earth are filled with Your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is He who comes

In the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest,

Hosanna in the highest.

The Words of Jesus

Invocation of the Spirit

Prayers of the People

Lord God, as we come to share the richness of your table,

we cannot forget the rawness of the earth.

We cannot take bread and forget those who are hungry.

Your world is one world, and we are stewards of its nourishment.

Lord, put our prosperity at the service of the poor.

We cannot take the fruit of the vine and forget those who are thirsty.

The ground and the rootless,

the earth and its weary people cry out for justice.

Lord, put our fullness at the service of the empty.

We cannot hear your words of peace and forget the world at war.

Show us quickly, Lord, how to turn weapons into welcome signs,

and the lust for power into a desire for peace.

We cannot give thanks for your healing love

without remembering today those who ache, fear, and suffer.

Lord, put our vitality at the service of those who need strength.

We cannot celebrate the feast of your family and forget our divisions.

We are one in Spirit, but not in fact.

History and hurt still scatter us.

Lord, heal your Church in every brokenness.

And we cannot lift our hearts to you without the words of your Son, who taught us to pray saying,

The 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 debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

The Communion

Look, here is your Lord, coming to you in bread and the fruit of the vine.

The gifts of God for the people of God.

Music during Communion:

“There is a Redeemer,” Joel Raney

Used by Permission. CCLI License #CSPL068847

Prayer After Communion

Lord Jesus Christ,

you have put your life into our hands,

now we put our lives into yours.

Take us, renew and remake us.

What we have been is past;

what we shall be, through you, still awaits us.

Lead us on. Take us with you.

Amen.

*Hymn # 290 W & R “The Strife is O’er”

(Public Domain)

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

The strife is o’er, the battle done,
Now is the victor's triumph won;
O let the song of praise be sung. Alleluia!

The powers of death have done their worst,
And Jesus has his foes dispersed:
Let shouts of holy joy outburst. Alleluia!

The three sad days are quickly sped,
Christ rises glorious from the dead:
All glory to our risen Head! Alleluia!

He broke the age-bound chains of hell,
The bars from heaven's high portals fell;
Let hymns of praise his triumph tell. Alleluia!

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

*Benediction

May God bless us. May God keep us in the Spirit’s care,

and lead our lives with love.

May Christ’s warm welcome shine from our hearts,

and Christ’s own peace prevail through this and every day,

till greater life shall call. Amen.

Postlude Chris Bartlette

“Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee,” Joel Raney

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.

Where an * is indicated, please rise in body and/or in spirit.

“W & R” ~ the red Worship and Rejoice hymnal.

“PH” ~ the blue Presbyterian Hymnal

Prayers taken and/ or adapted from A Wee Worship Book, the Iona Community, Scotland.