Worship Service – May 3, 2020
The Fourth Sunday of Easter
Good Shepherd Sunday
The videos for this worship service are posted on our Church’s youtube channel as a playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKBiEVOXnXWwiwHCtvRjpEPNc9tp78UsC
1) Welcome and Prayer
Click on the youtube link below to hear the words of welcome.
Good morning and welcome to another week of worship at home. We look forward to the time that we can gather together in the sanctuary. In the meantime, we can rest assured that the Good Shepherd guards and guides the flock and keeps us together.
Let’s pray
Generous and loving God,
Your steadfast love endures throughout the ages.
Generation after generation, you offer renewal and rest
to all who are lost or carry heavy burdens.
However far we have strayed,
you seek us out and guide us beside still waters.
You lead us in path of righteousness,
and walk with us even through the darkest valleys.
You are our hope and our source of life.
Today we worship you for your endless love,
as you embrace us once again,
our Creator, Redeemer and Guide.
2) Musical Call to Worship: I Choose to Worship
Click on the link below and sing along for a musical call to worship. This song is new and not familiar to us, but I think that its lyrics are appropriate for the times we are living in. “I choose to worship. I choose to bow. Though there’s pain in the offering, I lay it down.”
3) Praise Songs
Click on the links below for the youtube videos of this morning’s praise songs
“Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord”
“You are My All in All”
4) Song of Confession and Assurance: “O Lord, Your Tenderness/ Such Love”
Click the link below to hear this song of confession and assurance. As you listen to the words, make your confession to God.
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5) Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 100
Someone in your group can read this passage.
A psalm. For giving grateful praise.
1 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
6) Prayers of the People
Click below to hear and to join in the prayers of the people
Holy and gracious God, shepherd of our lives,
we come to you with thanksgiving for you are our provider and sustainer.
You transform our weary souls with your grace, wisdom and love.
You bless us each day with glimpses of resurrection and the promise of new life,
in signs of spring, in stories of kindness and perseverance during crisis.
Touch our hearts in surprising ways with we have in Christ Jesus.
Listening God, shepherd of the world, we bring you now our prayers for others. Hear them in your tender mercy:
We pray for people who are struggling with illness, loneliness, grief or sadness,
thinking especially of those whose lives have been redefined by COVID-19.
And we pray for those whose working life has been changed drastically by this pandemic, thinking of health care workers, those in the food supply chain, and all those whose jobs have disappeared.
(Silent prayer)
May each life be touched by the power of resurrection and new hope.
We pray for countries and communities where it is not safe for people to live out their faith openly.
(Silent prayer)
May all people of faith be granted the freedom to praise without fear.
We pray for people in the world who are victims of discrimination and acts of hatred, and remember those unjustly blamed for the outbreak of the pandemic.
(Silent prayer)
May your desire for justice be made known and lived out.
We pray for our congregation and all people who make up your Church, forced now to consider how to be faithful in difficult times.
(Silent prayer)
May we discover new ways to be your Easter people in the world.
We pray for our families, our friends and for ourselves
(Silent prayer)
May each of us know the power of your compassion and promise.
We ask these things in the name of the Risen Lord. Amen.
7) Reflection Hymn: Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us
Sing this reflective song before we listen to the Gospel lesson. Click the link below for the youtube video, which has the words and music.
8) Gospel Lesson: John 10:1-10
Click the link below and watch the dramatized reading of the Gospel lesson.
9) Message: Following the Good Shepherd
Click on the link to hear the sermon. A copy of the sermon is also attached to this email.
Prayer after the Sermon
Holy Shepherd,
you know your sheep by name
and lead us to safety through the valleys of death.
Guide us by your voice,
that we may walk in certainty and security
to the joyous feast prepared in your house,
where we celebrate with you forever. Amen.
10) Musical Response: Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Click on the link below for the youtube video.
11) Blessing
Click the link below to hear the words of blessing
May God lead you to places of rest and renewal;
May Christ accompany you on the journey;
May the Holy Spirit fill your hearts with joy and generosity;
And may the blessing of God Almighty, Creator, Christ and Spirit, descend upon you and dwell in your hearts this day and always.
12) Bonus Song: The Lord is My Shepherd
Click on the link below for a bonus worship song to listen to.