First Lutheran Church

Introduction to Today’s Service

Deuteronomy makes clear that sabbath-keeping is meant for the welfare of all. God delivered the Israelites out of slavery, so they should observe this freedom with a day of rest. No one should work seven days a week; even slaves and foreigners should be able to rest. Yet human beings can turn even the most liberating religious practice into a life-destroying rule. Jesus does not reject sabbath-keeping, but defends its original life-enhancing meaning. Our worship and our religious way of life are to lead to restoration: the hungry being fed and the sick being healed.

Worship Leaders Today

Worship Leaders Today

Presider: The Reverend Jeffrey C. Johnson

Assisting Minister: Chris Newberg

Introduction to Today’s Service

When we say God is the triune God, we are saying something about who God is beyond, before, and after the universe: that there is community within God. When we pray to God as Jesus prayed to his Abba (an everyday, intimate parental address), the Spirit prays within us, creating between us and God the same relationship Jesus has with the one who sent him

Worship Leaders Today

Worship Leaders Today

Presider: The Reverend Jill Wiley

Assisting Minister: Sue Newberg

Introduction to Today’s Service

Fifty days after Easter, we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Crossing all boundaries that would separate us, the Spirit brings the wideness of God’s mercy to places we least expect it—to a crowd of strangers of different lands and tongues, to dry bones, to our weak hearts. Jesus promises his disciples that they will be accompanied by the Holy Spirit, and that this Spirit reveals the truth. We celebrate that we too have been visited with this same Spirit. Guided by the truth, we join together in worship, and then disperse to share the fullness of Christ’s love with the world.

Worship Leaders Today

Worship Leaders Today

Presider: The Reverend Jeffrey C. Johnson

Assisting Minister: Dawn Caffelle

Introduction to Today’s Service

In today’s readings the risen Christ ascends into heaven and his followers are assured that the Spirit will empower them to be witnesses throughout the earth. The disciples are told to not gaze up into heaven to look for Jesus (Acts 1:11); we find his presence among us as we proclaim the word and share the Easter feast. We too long for the Spirit to enliven our faith and invigorate our mission..

Worship Leaders Today

Worship Leaders Today

Presider: The Reverend Jeffrey C. Johnson

Assisting Minister: Bill Kiesel

Introduction to Today’s Service

This Sunday’s image of the life the risen Christ shares with us is the image of friendship. We are called to serve others as Jesus came to serve; but for John’s gospel, the image of servanthood is too hierarchical, too distant, to capture the essence of life with Christ. Friendship captures the love, the joy, the deep mutuality of the relationship into which Christ invites us. The Greeks believed that true friends are willing to die for each other. This is the mutual love of Christian community commanded by Christ and enabled by the Spirit.

Worship Leaders Today

Worship Leaders Today

Presider: The Reverend Jeffrey C. Johnson

Assisting Minister: Dawn Caffelle

Acolyte: Shane Acker

Introduction to Today’s Service

This Sunday’s image of how the risen Christ shares his life with us is the image of the vine. Christ the vine and we the branches are alive in each other, in the mystery of mutual abiding described in the gospel and the first letter of John. Baptism makes us a part of Christ’s living and life-giving self and makes us alive with Christ’s life. As the vine brings food to the branches, Christ feeds us at his table. We are sent out to bear fruit for the life of the world.

Worship Leaders Today

Worship Leaders Today

Presider: The Reverend Jeffrey C. Johnson

Assisting Minister: Chris Newman

Guest Preacher: Knute Ogren

Crucifer: Molly Lanagan

Introduction to Today’s Service

The image of the good shepherd shows us how the risen Christ brings us to life. It is the relationship between the shepherd and the sheep, one of mutual knowledge and love, that
gives the shepherd authority. The shepherd’s willingness to lay down his life for the sheep shows his love. First John illustrates what it means to lay down our lives for one another by
the example of sharing our wealth with any sibling in need..

Worship Leaders Today

Presider: The Reverend Jeffrey C. Johnson

Assisting Minister: Sue Newburg

Introduction to Today’s Service

The gospel for the third Sunday of Easter is always one in which the risen Christ shares food with the disciples, meals that are the Easter template for the meal we share each Sunday. In today’s gospel, Jesus both shares the disciples’ food and shows them the meaning of his suffering, death, and resurrection through the scriptures, the two main elements of our Sunday worship.

A special Coffee Hour in memory of Roberta Smith is being provided by her family.

Worship Leaders Today

Presider: The Reverend Jeffrey C. Johnson

Assisting Minister: Pete Randall

Introduction to Today’s Service

The Easter season is a week of weeks, seven Sundays when we play in the mystery of Christ’s presence, mostly through the glorious Gospel of John. Today we gather with the disciples on the first Easter, and Jesus breathes the Spirit on us. With Thomas we ask for a sign, and Jesus offers us his wounded self in the broken bread. From frightened individuals we are transformed into a community of open doors, peace, forgiveness, and material sharing such that no one among us is in need.

Today we baptize Ava Grace Arguello-Erving

Worship Leaders

The Reverend Jeffrey C. Johnson

Assisting Minister: Sue Newberg

Introduction to Today’s Service

This is the day the Lord has made! Christ is risen, and through him all creation is made new! Indeed, “God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34); Christ’s resurrection truly brings life to everyone. We sing hymns of praise, gather around sacred words, and proclaim God’s faithfulness, power, and love in the feast of holy communion. With the women at the tomb, we are astonished, elated, and grateful. We depart with joy to proclaim the good news of God’s endless love.

Worship Leaders

The Reverend Jeffrey C. Johnson

Assisting Minister: Jeanne Govoni

Acolytes: Matthew Carlson & Juliette Carlson

Layreader: Dennis Govoni

Guest Musicians: Loralee Swanson, Lucas Swanson, Susan Winterbottom-Shadday, Tom Gregory, Michael Brehm

Introduction to Today’s Service

Life and death stand side by side as we enter into Good Friday. In John’s passion account, Jesus reveals the power and glory of God, even as he is put on trial and sentenced to death. Standing with the disciples at the foot of the cross, we pray for the whole world in the ancient bidding prayer, as Christ’s death offers life to all. We gather in solemn devotion, but always with the promise that the tree around which we assemble is indeed a tree of life. We depart silently, and we anticipate the culmination of the Three Days on Easter Day.

Worship Leaders

The Reverend Jeffrey C. Johnson

Assisting Minister: Pete Randall

Layreader: Susan Randall

Introduction to Today’s Service

This evening our Lenten observance comes to an end, and we gather with Christians around the world to celebrate the Three Days of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Tonight we remember Christ’s last meal with his disciples, but the central focus is his commandment that we live out the promise embodied in this meal. As Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, so we are called to give and receive love in humble service to one another.

Formed into a new body in Christ through this holy meal, we are transformed by the mercy we have received and carry it into the world. Departing worship in solemn silence, we anticipate the coming days.

Worship Leaders

The Reverend Jeffrey C. Johnson

Assisting Minister: Chris Newman

Adeoye Solaria, Grace Chapel

Introduction to Today’s Service

Today we follow Christ from triumphal entry to the cross, each waypoint of the journey marked by Jesus’ compassion for those who would betray, mock, accuse, or do violence to him. Though persecuted and beaten, Jesus the Son of God is not disgraced; instead, he asks forgiveness for those who put him to death. We have walked the Lenten pathway these forty days, each of us invited through baptism to “let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” We enter this holy week accompanying Jesus to the cross with both grief and thanksgiving in our hearts, trusting in God’s redeeming love.

Worship Leaders

The Reverend Jeffrey C. Johnson

Assisting Minister: Bill Keisel

Layreaders: Susan Randall, Bill Dunphy, Jeff Johnson, Steve Young, Pete
Randall, Kristen MacNevin, Katie Sandford, Nina Sousa, Briannah Lafontante

Musicians: Greg & Axel Sandford, Jason Caffelle