YouTube video FrUXseefWPI

[music] >> I invite you to stand as you are able and join me as we give thanks for baptism. Hallelujah. Christ is risen.

Christ is risen indeed. Hallelujah. Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne and to the lamb.

Let us give thanks for baptism. Merciful God, you are the one who was, who is, and who is to come. You lead us beside still waters.

We thank you for the waters of creation, for morning dew, gentle rain, roaring waves. We thank you for the waters that nourish us. Blessed are you.

Jesus Christ, you are the faithful witness who accompanies us on our journeys. We give you thanks for your life-giving death and resurrection. We praise you for joining us in joy and sorrow.

Blessed are you. Holy Spirit, you anoint our head with oil and our cup overflows. Break down barriers that divide us.

Fill us with the breath of peace. Blessed are you. Holy one, we thank you for the gifts and grace of baptism and for making us a new creation.

We join with saints and angels giving you honor and praise now and forever. Amen. >> [music] >> The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

And also with you. >> [music] >> The Lord be with you. Let us pray together.

Almighty God, your son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. Give us grace to love one another, to follow in the way of his commandments, and to share his risen life with all the world. For he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen. Please be seated. Um I invite children, if they will, to visit with me for a few minutes.

I'm glad you're here. Are you glad you're here? Yep.

God's children are here, and all of these are God's children out there. And the message is the same. God was here before we came.

God will be with us when we leave. I'm glad you're here. It's going to be um we're going to one of the lessons again is going to be continuing a reading from a letter by a guy named Peter.

And one of the important things he's going to talk about today are stones. So, when I say the word stone, you have an idea. Well, I just you know, we had a wonderful conversation out there in the fellowship hall between the services, and I stood the front, and I spent my whole morning looking at this wall that's on the other side of this.

And guess what it is? It's the same thing as that wall out there. Big stones stacked on each other to make the walls for this church.

Do any of you notice that? No, take a look when you go out how many stones, and imagine how many stones it took somebody to stack and and cement them all together until the walls got higher and higher. And that's stacking stones.

Now, what Peter will say I want you to think about stones. He says, "Be a living stone. Let yourselves be built into a spiritual house." Those big stones built this big building, and it holds the roof up, keeps it from falling on us.

So, stones can be can create a building for us, but more importantly, Peter says, "I want you to think about yourself that you are one of God's living stones." Many years ago, I I was getting ready. I was I was trying I was studying, and so I went over to the Bible land. And because I was going to trace the the journey of the people from Egypt till they came to the Jordan River.

And all through the desert, I kept looking all day after day after day as we were traveling, and there'd be a pile of stones all of a sudden in the middle of the desert, here's a pile of stones. And then we go another mile, or we go hours, and there'd be another pile over there. And finally, I said to the the person that was leading us, I said, "What a what's it with these piles of stones in the middle of the desert?" And the guy said, "Oh, oh, that's a special place.

Every time God meets somebody, they stack stones in that place so they'll remember that God met me at that place." And he told me the story of that. And people know those stories of living stones where God meets people in a special way. Well, God met you and me in a place like that, a baptismal font.

Stones are important. And you're not a rock, you're a person, but each of us, Peter says to the church way back then, "I want each of you together to think of yourself as a living stone, because you're the story of how God met you, and loves you, and cares for you. Let yourself be built up into a spiritual house, which is exactly what you're doing.

You're here, and you didn't even think about it, but you're a building being built as you get bigger and bigger and bigger into a special house for God's love. And that's how the world out there will see the good things you do. They see the work that you do in worship.

They see the things we do, and they'll say, "You're God's child. God is doing special things through you." Each of us, you together. Let's pray.

Dear God, thank you. You claimed me You put your name on me in the moment of my baptism. Day by day, you are growing me into your spiritual house.

Thank you, Jesus. Amen. Thank you so much for coming.

Good morning. The first lesson, a reading from the Book of Acts of the Apostles. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Stephen gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

"Look," he said, "I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout, all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. And the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he said this, he died. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

>> [singing] [singing] [music] >> The second lesson is a reading from the first letter of Peter. Like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation. If indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals, yet chosen and precious in God's sight. And like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture, "See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame." This honor, then, is for you who believe.

But for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner, and a stone that makes him stumble and a rock that makes him fall. They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people in order that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you have not received mercy, but now you've received mercy. The word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God. The holy gospel according to St. John, the 14th chapter.

Glory to you, Lord. Jesus said to the disciples, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.

In my father's house, there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.

And you know the way to the place where I'm going." Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. But if you do not, then believe because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do.

And in fact, will do greater works than these because I'm going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it." The gospel of the Lord.

Praise be to you, Lord Christ. Please be seated. August 18th, 2020, Sandy Leon, then playing for Cleveland, had just arrived by bus to the team's hotel in Pittsburgh when he called his wife, Liliana, at home in Fort Myers, Florida, with their two small children.

He was growing concerned after several unanswered calls, and he began getting alerts from his home security system, so he logged onto an app to monitor the cameras in the house. He discovered a horrifying scene with Liliana and their then 15-month-old daughter, Naomi. "My wife was screaming and praying," Leon recalled.

"Then I saw Naomi Naomi the ground. She was purple. She was dead." Naomi had wandered outside, had slipped through the gate to the pool.

She fell in trying to grab a rubber duck. Jesus' disciples were helpless and distressed that night before Passover as our Lord's earthly life neared its end. Jesus' words come from our Lord's last supper.

For John, the focus was on what happened just before the meal. Jesus our Lord, on his knees, moved from one disciple to another, washing their feet. When the Lord Jesus had washed the feet of everyone at the table with him, he put on his robe and resumed his place at the table.

When he put his robe on, he said, "I've given you an example." He told them, and he tells us, "Do as I have done to you." He announced the time of his departure, his betrayal. Judas Iscariot has left the room. I want you to imagine the impact on them that night.

He's going to do what? He's going where? And he's going to leave us here?

What will happen to us? So, Jesus' next words begin today's gospel text. His words begin with words that we often hear at a funeral service.

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. Jesus continued, you know the way to the place where I'm going.

But, they apparently weren't always listening during his ministry or always watching everything he did because that last night in the upper room, they have no clue what he's talking about. Disciple Thomas was honest when he admitted, "Lord, we do not know where you're going. How can we know the way?" Jesus' response was both clear and confusing.

I am the way and the truth and the life. Was Jesus talking that night about his death just hours away? Yes, and more.

"The time has come for me to enter into my glory." He had said earlier. But, a criminal's death hardly seems like an entrance into glory. It took them then, as it has taken us all these post-Easter resurrection appearances, week after week, to begin to comprehend his true glory.

Jesus was talking about his suffering and death soon to come. They understand later that his suffering and his death was the means by which he would be glorified. He was crucified, died, and buried.

We confess with the whole church in the words of the Apostles' Creed. With the whole church, we also profess, "On the third day, he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God." Jesus returned to his place in the Holy Trinity as God the creator, God the redeemer, and God the Holy Spirit, the sanctifier.

Some 50 years later, John's gospel is written for a church apparently confused and clueless about what it really means to be church. Influenced by the culture around them, some now doubt that Jesus was really human. Others doubt that he was really God.

Many have adopted the ways of their unbelieving friends and neighbors. The way they acted, the way they treated others was no different in the church than it was out in the world around them. So, today's second reading from Peter's first letter in that second chapter began with that second verse.

But, we need the first verse for context. To the church of the late 1st century and the church of the 21st century, Peter challenges all of us. "Rid yourselves, therefore," he writes, "of all malice, of all guile, of insincerity, of envy, and of slander." Apparently, you see, there were some in the church then, as always, guilty of the sin of assaulting fellow members, attacking them physically and verbally.

Others were guilty of the sin of professing to live a Christ-like life, yet criticizing fellow members to others, saying unkind things about them behind their backs. We become like the people we associate with. We talk like the people we listen to.

The world out there has become a confrontational, abusive, and aggressive world. We attack and we assault more those who differ from us, those who hold a different opinion, or propose another way, and the Bible calls this sin. This spirit is not of God.

It's of the devil. There is no place in the body of Christ, the church, for that spirit. Get rid of it, Peter declared.

Peter and John together are writing about 50 years after Easter. And Jesus' words take on a new significance in the life of the church at that time and now. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." After Easter, the church exists to lead others to him who is the way, the truth, and the life.

In the church, we enter a new reality. They were clueless before Easter, but Easter changed everything. The world out there is of our making.

The church, called into being by Jesus and empowered with the spirit of the risen Lord, is God's reality. Here we come to know that the way is not a path. It's a person.

When Jesus said, "You know the way to the place where I'm going," he wasn't talking about a location like heaven. He was talking about a relationship, about resuming the glory that was his in the Godhead from the very beginning. Jesus asked Philip, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?" It's not an intellectual exercise Jesus is talking about.

It's an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus. It's like Jesus is saying, "You've spent all this time with me. You've listened to me.

You saw the things I did, and you still don't know who I really am?" As Jews, they heard him that night speak the personal, divine name that God gave to Moses at the burning bush and apply it to himself. I, God, am the way is what he really said in Hebrew. In the Holy Gospels, Jesus never talked in detail about heaven.

Every reference to heaven in the New Testament is someone's speculation or someone's vision. No, the way is not a path to a place like heaven, the good life, or whatever. The way is a person, the living Lord, Jesus Christ.

Secondly, the truth is not of the head. It's of the heart. The truth is not something we engage intellectually.

It's not information that we can process with our finite minds and then either accept or reject. The truth Jesus announced claims us. It grasps us.

It fills our hearts and soul. The truth given in the sacrament of Holy Baptism is within us. The truth is not information.

The truth is transformation. It's the spirit of the risen Christ within us, enabling us to perceive this new reality within us in which we were immersed by baptism, the kingdom of God. And the truth works within us, changing us, remaking us, reforming us until we are no longer the people we once were.

That's what Peter meant when he says, "There is no place in the church for those ways and words of the world that harm and wound fellow believers." Philip's use of the pronoun you is always plural. Religion, he says, in other words, is not just a relationship between you and Jesus. It's between believer and believer and believer in God's church.

Having the spirit of the risen Lord in you, like newborn infants who ingest the life-giving milk, we grow into the fullness of God's gift of salvation. You, all of us together, Peter says, are God's own people in order that you, all of us together, may proclaim the mighty deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. The truth is not of the head.

It's of the heart. Thirdly, we come to know the one who is the life here and hereafter. Many faithful Christians facing the diagnosis of a terminal illness during the many years of my ministry have testified to me, "I'm not afraid to die.

I'm always in God's hands." Some whose efforts to amass all they can, to accumulate all they can, find only too late that it was not enough to secure their life. The late Harry Emerson Fosdick, beloved preacher of Riverside Church in New York City, authored the ELW hymn number 705, "God of grace and God of glory." Fosdick died years ago, but his description of people then is painfully accurate today. "Too many here and elsewhere are," Fosdick wrote, "rich in things and poor in soul." Leon's wife, Liliana, discovered Naomi floating face down in the pool.

She jumped in, grabbed the child, and called 911 while trying to revive her. Liliana wasn't trained in CPR, but she tried. Getting no response, she abandoned her efforts.

Needing a miracle, she did the only thing she thought could really help. "The only one who could do something for her was God," Liliana said, "so I prayed. Holy Spirit, help me.

Holy Spirit, help me. Holy Spirit, help me, because I knew my daughter was dying." Liliana clutched her dying daughter's hand. Then she noticed a small sign that gave her hope.

At the bottom of her fingers, she saw pink beginning to appear. Then all of her body color began to change. Naomi had been in the water for at least 12 minutes.

Doctors warned that should she survive, there would almost certainly be brain damage. Arriving later that night, Sandy Leon awoke early the next morning to find the child on her knees in the bed. She began talking as soon as the tubes were removed from her throat.

She is a perfectly healthy girl who turns six this month. The family believes St. Paul's words, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." When the life possesses you, nothing in all creation can separate you.

After Easter, folks, the church exists to lead others to him who is the way, the truth, and the life. Amen. >> [music] >> With the whole church, let us confess our faith using the words of the Apostles' Creed.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into the dead. On the third day, he rose again. He ascended into heaven.

He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Trusting in the power of Christ's resurrection to heal and redeem our broken world, let us pray for the needs of all creation. God of glory, you have built your church on Christ, the cornerstone. Inspire lay leaders, deacons, pastors, and bishops to proclaim forgiveness and your steadfast love to all whom they encounter.

Merciful God, receive our prayer. God of majesty, you bring forth plants and animals, skies and seas, mountains and valleys. Protect all you have made from the ravages of pollution and climate disaster.

Merciful God, receive our prayer. God of mercy, you intend governments and social service agencies to be instruments of peace and justice. Guide political leaders and organizations to be agents of compassion, and raise up advocates for those who seek refuge and assistance.

Merciful God, receive our prayer. God of well-being, you soothe those in distress, counsel all who grieve, provide for any in need, and comfort those who are sick, especially those we lift before you now, whether silently or aloud. Instill caregivers with a sense of purpose to be your healing hands in this world.

Merciful God. Receive our prayer. God of community, you call us together as your people for mutual support and to witness to your love in the world.

Make your presence known among those unable to attend worship today. Merciful God. Receive our prayer.

God of eternal life, you have prepared dwelling places for your people so that we are never separated from you. We give you thanks for the faithful departed who witnessed to your mighty acts in word and deed. Merciful God.

Receive our prayer. God of resurrection power, use us and these prayers to proclaim the good news of new life to all the world through Jesus Christ, our risen savior. Amen.

The peace of the Lord be with you always. And also with you. As you're comfortable, I invite you to share a sign of God's peace.

Yeah. Yes, she's in the back there. >> [music] [singing] >> Let us pray together.

Merciful God, accept the fruits of our labor gathered to give you glory. You have set a table before us, a glimpse of that great day when we will hunger and thirst no more. Nourish us with the body and blood of Jesus that goodness and mercy may follow us and bless the world you love.

In the name of Jesus, amen. The Lord be with you. And also with you.

Lift up your hearts. We lift them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise. It is indeed right, our duty and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God, through our savior Jesus Christ. You call your people to cleanse their hearts and prepare with joy for the paschal feast that renewed in the gift of baptism, we may come to the fullness of your grace.

And so with all the choirs of angels, with the church on earth and the host of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn. >> [music] >> Blessed are you, oh God of the universe. Your mercy is everlasting and your faithfulness endures from age to age.

Praise to you for creating the heavens and the earth. Praise to you for saving the earth from the waters of the flood. Praise to you for bringing the Israelite safely through the sea.

Praise to you for leading your people through the wilderness to the land of milk and honey. Praise to you for the words and deeds of Jesus, your anointed one. Praise to you for the death and resurrection of Christ.

Praise to you for your spirit poured out on all nations. In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat. This is my body given for you.

Do this for the remembrance of me." Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me." With this bread and cup, we remember our Lord's Passover from death to life as we proclaim the mystery of faith. Christ has died.

Christ is risen. Christ will come again. O God of resurrection and new life, pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on these gifts of bread and wine.

Bless this feast. Grace our table with your presence. Come, Holy Spirit.

Reveal yourself to us in the breaking of the bread. Raise us up as the body of Christ for the world. Breathe new life into us.

Send us forth burning with justice, peace, and love. Come, Holy Spirit. With your holy ones of all times and places, with the church, the earth, and all its creatures, with sun and moon and stars, we praise you, O God.

Blessed and holy Trinity, now and forever. Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on Earth Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Come to the table of new life. Receive the risen Lord. Thanks be to God.

The body of Christ, given for you. The body of Christ, given for you. The body of Christ, given for you.

The blood of Christ, shed for you. The blood of Christ, shed [music] for you. The blood of Christ, shed for you.

The body and blood of Christ, given and shed for you. >> [music] >> The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you in his grace. Let us pray together.

>> [music] >> You do a great job. Thank you. You do a great job.

Thank you. Uh good morning. Just a few announcements today.

We welcomed our newest member, Mike Hicks. If you haven't had a chance to meet him already, please take a moment and introduce yourself and personally welcome him. Uh we also have the following events happening today.

So, we had our Mission Site Profile Task Force. They met today at the Fellowship Hall after the 8:30 service to share their feedback about experiences, thoughts, and hopes uh for Grace that will be important to creating the document that will be providing prospective pastors their first look at Grace Lutheran Church during the search process. The last meeting to attend will be May 17th at 9:45 in the Fellowship Hall.

Please drop off completed questionnaires in the black box on the table in the Fellowship Hall. There will also be a VBS volunteer meeting at 12:15 today at the Fellowship Hall. And young youth meets at 3:30 and youth meets at 4:30 today.

Uh we are pleased to announce that Andrea Wiggins, Lori Brown, and Pam Kirby will attend as voting members this at this year's South Carolina Synod Assembly in June 11th through 13th in Columbia. Uh so, please see Teresa Miller or Mary Beteral in the Fellowship Hall if you have any changes that are needed at the Grace directory. Changes are due by May the 10th.

Uh we are also in need of volunteers for hosting Family Promise May 10th through 17th. Uh please consult uh this past week's email Grace Notes for more details. We would like to extend our heartfelt thank you to our music interns, Kaylee Staniland and James Gregg for their participation in our music programs over the last few years.

Good luck to you both on your future endeavors. Now, lastly, let us read our mission statement together. We share God's grace by welcoming all people, growing together in faith, and joining God's work in our community.