Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 15, 2022
Prayer of the Day
O Lord God, you teach us that without love, our actions gain nothing. Pour into our hearts your most excellent gift of love, that, made alive by your Spirit, we may know goodness and peace, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Scripture
Acts 11:1-18
Psalm 148
Revelation 21:1-6
John 13:31-35
Sermon
“Love Broken Wide Open”
Acts 11:1-18; John 13:31-35
We are back in the upper room. On the other side of his passion and death we have seen the full extent of the love that Jesus came to embody. His love bends low and cleanses us. It is poured out for us and goes down into death with us. This love raises us up into life that goes beyond the grave. And it doesn’t even stop there. Or with just us. God is up to something. The tomb is empty, and the Spirit is on the move. The love of God has been set lose all over the place. This love reaches across the borders and boundaries that we put up and the ones the world puts us in. As baptized children of God we live on the other side. In Christ, this love now animates our whole lives pulling us towards the edges where God is at work. Together we bear witness to this love in word and deed until all things are made new at last.
Hymns
Awake, O Sleeper, Rise from Death, WOV 745
Great God, Your Love Has Called Us, WOV 666
Day of Delight and Beauty Unbounded, ACS 933
We Know That Christ Is Raised, LBW 189
WOV, With One Voice
ACS, All Creation Sings
LBW, Lutheran Book of Worship
In our prayers we remember Walther Christian Academy.