FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
ORDER OF WORSHIP
5th Sunday of Easter
April 28, 2024
PRELUDE
WELCOME
ANNOUNCEMENTS
-CONGREGATIONAL MEETING will be today April 28th following worship for the purpose of electing a deacon and revising the by-laws to reflect the new committee structure.
-MISSION/OUTREACH COMMITTEE will meet April 28th following the Congregational Meeting.
-TUESDAY MORNING COFFEE GROUP at 9:30ish AM at First Lutheran Mission Coffee House.
-HABITAT FOR HUMANITY OPEN HOUSE- First Presbyterian will be donating 6 dozen cookies/bars for the Open House on Tuesday, April 30th. Please contact Ella L at 605-695-0342 if you can donate a dozen. They may be dropped off at the church or Ella can pick them up at your home before 5:00PM on Tuesday. Thank you!
- PIECES AND PRAYERS Tuesdays at 1:30 PM at the FPC Quilting Room.
-THURSDAY MORNING BIBLE STUDY at 9:30 AM in the FPC Center Meeting Room.
-CHURCH CLEAN UP DAY will be Saturday, May 4 at 10:30 AM. Volunteers are needed. CE/Fellowship Committee will be cleaning the kitchen while the rest of the volunteers will be doing light cleaning inside the church.
-AED (Automated external defibrillator) Training after worship on Sunday May 5
-CE/FELLOWSHIP will be meeting Sunday, May 5 (note change of date) following worship service instead of May 12th (Mother’s Day).
-SPRING CONCERT – ADVENT CAPELLE- May 5th at 3:00 PM at First Presbyterian Church. Free Will Offering will be taken and all donations will go to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, directed to disaster assistance in the Philippines. Advent Capelle is a musical group whose members have roots in the Philippines.
– ‘PENTECOST SPECIAL OFFERING’ (Children at Risk, Youth, Young Adults)-. donations are being accepted April 1 through May 19. Please use the envelopes by the offering plates or write ‘Pentecost; on check memo. Thank you for your generosity!
CALL TO WORSHIP
Christ is the vine, and we are branches.
We come to reconnect with the one who gives us life.
The branches that abide in the vine bear much fruit.
We come to abide in Christ’s love.
We come to worship Christ, the True Vine
Nourished and tended by God’s hand,
May we grow healthy and strong, bearing much fruit.
*OPENING HYMN #403 (Red) Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty
Open now thy gates of beauty, Zion, let me enter there,
where my soul in joyful duty waits for God who answers prayer.
O, how blessed is this place, filled with solace, light, and grace.
Gracious God, I come before thee, come thou also unto me;
where we find thee and adore thee, there a heaven on earth must be;
to my heart, O enter thou, let it be thy temple now.
Speak, O Lord, and I will hear thee, let thy will be done indeed;
may I undisturbed draw near thee while thou dost thy people feed.
Here of life the fountain flows, here is balm for all our woes.
*CALL TO CONFESSION
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Loving God, we ask for your intervention in our lives. Whatever you see as twisted, straighten, as heartless, soften, as fruitless, prune, as infected, cleanse. Help us to recognize our shortcomings and teach us to be the loving people you have created us to be. We ask this in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*GLORIA PATRI (on screen)
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
And to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now,
And ever shall be,
World without end. Amen, Amen.
CHILDREN’S SERMON
SPECIAL MUSIC “Oh How Good It Is” (Choir) Keith and Krystin Getty
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION and SCRIPTURE READING
Psalm 1 (read responsively)
1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither--
whatever they do prospers.
4 Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
Gospel Reading: John 15:1-8
1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
SERMON Christ’s Branches: Thriving and Abiding
*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH The Apostle’s Creed
I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.
*HYMN OF RESPONSE #321 (Red) The Church’s One Foundation
The church's one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord.
She is his new creation, by water and the word.
From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride.
With his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died.
Elect from every nation, yet one o'er all the earth,
her charter of salvation: one Lord, one faith, one birth.
One holy name she blesses, partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses, with every grace endued.
Though with a scornful wonder, This world sees her oppressed,
by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed,
yet saints their watch are keeping, their cry goes up, "How long?"
And soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song.
'Mid toil and tribulation, and tumult of her war,
she waits the consummation of peace forevermore;
till with the vision glorious her longing eyes are blest,
and the great church victorious shall be the church at rest.
Yet she on earth hath union with God, the Three in One,
and mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won;
O happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we,
like them, the meek and lowly, may live eternally.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Concerns: John E, Betty (Judy’s sister), Dolores C, Carol G.
Our homebound or in care members: Richard and Dolores C, Bob & Jan J, Delores K, Darwin L (Jeanne as caregiver), Bob O (Nancy as caregiver), Rose P, Joyce R, Steve VB, Dee W (Please reach out and call)
This Week’s Prayer Families: Robert & Pat F, Robby & Donna F
Those Who Mourn: The family/friends of Bob Bartling and Barbara Diesen, Nancy & Bob Ohnstad in the passing of Bob’s sister, Richard and Dolores Canaday. in the passing of Dolores’s brother-in-law, and all who have lost loved ones
LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day, our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever, Amen.
OFFERING OF OURSELVES AND OUR RESOURCES
*DOXOLOGY
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
*CLOSING HYMN #301 (Red) Let Us Build a House
Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live,
a place where saints and children tell how hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions, rock of faith and vault of grace;
here the love of Christ shall end divisions:
all are welcome; all are welcome; all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where prophets speak, and words are strong and true,
where all God’s children dare to seek to dream God’s reign anew.
Here the cross shall stand as witness and as symbol of God’s grace;
here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:
all are welcome; all are welcome; all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where love is found in water, wine, and wheat;
a banquet hall on holy ground where peace and justice meet.
Here the love of God, through Jesus, is revealed in time and space;
as we share in Christ the feast that frees us:
all are welcome; all are welcome; all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where hands will reach beyond the wood and stone
to heal and strengthen, serve and teach, and live the Word they’ve known.
Here the outcast and the stranger bear the image of God’s face;
let us bring an end to fear and danger:
all are welcome; all are welcome; all are welcome in this place.
Let us build a house where all are named, their songs and visions heard
and loved and treasured, taught and claimed as words within the Word.
Built of tears and cries and laughter, prayers of faith and songs of grace;
let this house proclaim from floor to rafter:
all are welcome; all are welcome; all are welcome in this place.
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE
CONGREGATIONAL MEETING