We gather for the 6th Sunday of Easter this week. All the words that we’ll be using in worship are below. Or, you can download a copy to print here.

PRELUDE                                         I Lift My Eyes Up/How Firm a Foundation

GREETINGS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

CALL TO WORSHIP – John 1:10-18

The Word was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 

He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 

But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 

From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 

The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 

No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

*HYMN #182                                                     Christ the Lord Is Risen Today

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Most High and holy God, in the resurrection of Jesus Christ we learn the truth about your power over sin and death. When Jesus was raised we received the grace of eternal life, grace up on grace. We know that we are called to display this same grace and truth in our lives, but we fall short; yet never fall out of your grace. Bless us with the power of your Spirit so that we might more and more become your children and make you known. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.

ANTHEM                                                                      When Peace Like a River

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.

 And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

HYMN #709                                                                                 Jesus Loves Me

SCRIPTURE                                                               Galatians 1:13-17, 2:11-21

You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.

Paul Rebukes Peter at Antioch

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?’

Jews and Gentiles Are Saved by Faith

We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

SERMON                                                

*HYMN #743                                                               O God, You Are My God

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION & 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.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Lead us not into temptation

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen.

OFFERTORY                                                                  You Are Holy (see #598)

*BENEDICTION

*SENDING SONG #516                                            Bless the Lord, O My Soul