BULLETIN FOR SUNDAY, APRIL 28TH, 2024

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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​SUNDAY, APRIL 28TH, 2024

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

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INTRODUCTION​

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.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

O God, you give us your Son as the vine apart from whom we cannot live.
     Nourish our life in his resurrection, that we may bear the fruit of love and know
     the fullness of your joy, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and
     reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

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FIRST READING

ACTS 8:26-40
      Led by the Spirit, Philip encounters an Ethiopian official who is returning to his
     African home after having been to Jerusalem to worship. Philip uses their encounter

     to proclaim the gospel to him. Upon coming to faith in Jesus, he is baptized by Philip.

26An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road
     that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) 27So he
     got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the
     Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come
     to Jerusalem to worship 28and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was
     reading the prophet Isaiah. 29Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this
     chariot and join it.” 30So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet
     Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31He replied,
     “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit
     beside him. 32Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:
     “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
     and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
     so he does not open his mouth.
     33In his humiliation justice was denied him.
     Who can describe his generation?
     For his life is taken away from the earth.”
     34The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say
     this, about himself or about someone else?” 35Then Philip began to speak, and
     starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.
     36As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch
     said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” 38He
     commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went
     down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 39When they came up out of the
     water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more,
     and went on his way rejoicing. 40But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he
     was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns
     until he came to Caesarea.

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PSALM

PSALM 22:25-31
(Response) All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. (Ps. 22:27)

25From you comes my praise in the great assembly;
I will perform my vows in the sight of those who fear the Lord.
26The poor shall eat and be satisfied,
Let those who seek the Lord give praise! May your hearts live forever!
27All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
all the families of nations shall bow before God.
  28For dominion belongs to the Lord,
  who rules over the nations.
(Response) All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. (Ps. 22:27)

 29Indeed, all who sleep in the earth shall bow down in worship;
  all who go down to the dust, though they be dead, shall kneel before the Lord.
30Their descendants shall serve the Lord,
whom they shall proclaim to generations to come.
31They shall proclaim God’s deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying to them, “The Lord has acted!”
(Response) All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord. (Ps. 22:27)

SECOND READING

1ST JOHN 4:7-21
        We love God and others because God first loved us. We cannot say we love
     God, whom we have not seen, while hating fellow Christians, whom we regularly
     see. Love toward God is to be matched by love toward others because the
     essence of God is love.

7Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves
     is born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, for
     God is love. 9God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only
     Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we
     loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for
     our sins. 11Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one
     another. 12No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us,
     and his love is perfected in us.

     13By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of
     his Spirit. 14And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as
     the Savior of the world. 15God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God,

and they abide in God. 16So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

     God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
     17Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the
     day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. 18There is no fear in
     love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and
     whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 19We love because he first
     loved us. 20Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are
     liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot
     love God whom they have not seen. 21The commandment we have from him is
     this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

​​​​GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Alleluia. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in
     them bear much fruit. Alleluia. (John 15:5)

GOSPEL READING
JOHN 15:1-18

       On the night of his arrest, Jesus taught his disciples about the relationship they
     would have with him. Those who abide in his word and love bear fruit, for apart
     from him, they can do nothing.

[Jesus said:] 1“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2He removes
     every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to
     make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed by the word that I have
     spoken to you. 4Abide 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.
     5I 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. 6Whoever does not abide
     in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered,
     thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you,
     ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by
     this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

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Worship Service Content is used via permission through Augsburg Fortress Liturgies

Annual License #SB144368. The next Subscription Renewal Date is 2/28/2025.
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License #11327166. The next Subscription Renewal Date is 1/31/2025.

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