Sixth Sunday of Easter

Sunday 17 May: Sixth Sunday of Easter

Today, we meet from our own homes, from 10.20 a.m. for a 10.30 a.m. start via Zoom meeting ID: 664-485-330. You’ll also need a password code, which you can get from Revd Andrew Dowsett in advance by calling or texting him on 07783-760-012.

The Greeting

In the name of the Father,

and of the Son,

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

The Lord be with you

and also with you.

Alleluia. Christ is risen.

He is risen indeed. Alleluia.

We join in the Prayer of Preparation, acknowledging that God knows the desires of our hearts, including those that are temporarily on hold, and those that through the circumstances of our lives may never be fulfilled.

Almighty God,

to whom all hearts are open,

all desires known,

and from whom no secrets are hidden:

cleanse the thoughts of our hearts

by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,

that we may perfectly love you,

and worthily magnify your holy name;

through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

We join in singing a hymn.

We confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness.

In baptism we died with Christ,

so that as Christ was raised from the dead,

we might walk in newness of life.

Let us receive new life in him

as we confess our sins in penitence and faith.

Like Mary at the empty tomb,

we fail to grasp the wonder of your presence.

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Like the disciples behind locked doors,

we are afraid to be seen as your followers.

Christ, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Like Thomas in the upper room,

we are slow to believe.

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Almighty God,

who forgives all who truly repent,

have mercy upon you,

pardon and deliver you from all your sins,

confirm and strengthen you in all goodness,

and keep you in life eternal;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The Collect prayer for today, the Sixth Sunday of Easter:

Risen Christ,

by the lakeside you renewed your call to your disciples:

help your Church to obey your command

and draw the nations to the fire of your love,

to the glory of God the Father.

Amen.

We listen to God’s word to us.

Reading          Acts 17:22-31

Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, ‘Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, “To an unknown god.” What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For “In him we live and move and have our being”; as even some of your own poets have said,

“For we too are his offspring.”

Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.’

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

We join in singing a hymn.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.

Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,

and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.’

Alleluia.

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.

Glory to you, O Lord.

Gospel reading           John 14:15-21

[Jesus said] ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

We respond to God’s word, joining in this Affirmation of Faith.

Let us declare our faith in God.

We believe in God the Father,

from whom every family

in heaven and on earth is named.

We believe in God the Son,

who lives in our hearts through faith,

and fills us with his love.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit,

who strengthens us

with power from on high.

We believe in one God;

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

We reflect together on what we have heard, in the context of our own shared lives.

We pray for the Church and the world.

The response to the bidding ‘Lord, come to bless us’ is ‘Fill us with your Spirit.’

Generous God, we thank you for the power

of your Holy Spirit.

We ask that we may be strengthened to serve you better.

Lord, come to bless us.

Fill us with your Spirit.

We thank you for the wisdom of your Holy Spirit.

We ask you to make us wise to understand your will.

Lord, come to bless us.

Fill us with your Spirit.

We thank you for the peace of your Holy Spirit.

We ask you to keep us confident of your love,

wherever you call us.

Lord, come to bless us.

Fill us with your Spirit.

We thank you for the healing of your Holy Spirit.

We ask you to bring reconciliation and wholeness

where there is division, sickness and sorrow.

Lord, come to bless us.

Fill us with your Spirit.

We thank you for the gifts of your Holy Spirit.

We ask you to equip us for the work which you have given us.

Lord, come to bless us.

Fill us with your Spirit.

We thank you for the fruit of your Holy Spirit.

We ask you to reveal in our lives the love of Jesus.

Lord, come to bless us.

Fill us with your Spirit.

We thank you for the breath of your Holy Spirit,

given by the risen Lord.

We ask you to keep the whole Church,

living and departed,

in the joy of eternal life.

Lord, come to bless us.

Fill us with your Spirit.

Generous God,

you sent your Holy Spirit upon your Messiah

at the River Jordan,

and upon the disciples in the upper room.

In your mercy fill us with your Spirit.

Hear our prayer,

and make us one in heart and mind

to serve you with joy for ever.

Amen.

We join in singing a hymn.

Our service concludes with the Blessing and Dismissal, as the Church is sent out into the world, to be met by the risen Jesus and share his love with others.

May Christ,

who out of defeat brings new hope and a new future,

fill you with his new life;

and the blessing of God almighty,

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

be among you and remain with you always.

Amen.

He is not here. He is risen.

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Alleluia, alleluia.

In the name of Christ. Amen. Alleluia, alleluia.

Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England, material from which is included in this service, is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2000.

New Patterns for Worship, material from which is included in this service, is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2002.

Common Worship: Times and Seasons, material from which is included in this service, is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2006.