Worship

Sunday, April 14, 2024 — Third Sunday of Easter

Procession Hymn Praise Him AA-172
Opening Prayer From “Black Liturgies” by Cole Arthur Riley
Celebrant: Breathe. In a position of rest, place the palm of your hand to your chest. If it feels safe to do so, close your eyes. Feel where you may be carrying tension in your body. Release what you can. Silently name and hold the first phrase as you inhale. Silently name and hold the second phrase as you exhale. Breathe deeply and slowly to start and adjust to what feels possible and right in your body. Amen.
INHALE: God is alive.
EXHALE: And God’s breath is freedom.
INHALE: Liberation is coming.
EXHALE: I will honor mine.
Collect Lectionary Insert
Hebrew Scriptures Isaiah (43:1-7)
Canticle Psalm (50:1-6)
New Testament Ephesians (1:7-14)
Gospel Hymn Amazing Grace AA-271
Gospel John (5:25-29)
Sermon Rev. Peter Jarrett-Schell
Nicene Creed BCP pg. 358
Calvary’s Mission Statement (composed by Yvonne Lee)
We, the members of Calvary Episcopal Church, believe in taking the journey of God’s love and service to those who know Christ, and those who seek Christ.
Prayers of the People Lectionary Insert
Peace
The on the altar are given to the glory of God.
Special rendition In Christ Alone
Offertory We Offer Paise (Combined Choirs)
If would like to make your offering electronically, you can do so at: www.calvarydc.net/donate
Doxology Praise God AA650
The Eucharist Our eucharist prayer was composed by the Rev. Dr. Gayle Fisher-Stewart
Celebrant: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Celebrant: Lift up our hearts.
People: We lift them to the Lord.
Celebrant: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
People: It is right to give God our thanks and praise.
Celebrant: Because you sent your beloved Son to redeem us from sin and death, and to make us heirs in him of everlasting life; that when he shall come again in power and great triumph to judge the world, we may without shame or fear rejoice to behold his appearing. Blessed are you, O God, who sets the table of creation and invites us to feast with you in a cosmic celebration of love and desire. As we again await, Immanuel, God with us, we thank you for Jesus, whose life, prayer, and ministry opened our eyes to the glory of life and fueled our hunger for your long anticipated reign of justice, mercy, and peace. You call all people to follow your paths of justice and peace, beating their swords into plow shares and their spears into pruning hooks. In the light of your holy Word we look for the day when nations shall not lift up sword against nations, or learn war any more. Therefore, with the entire company of heaven, and with your people on earth who live in this hope, we praise you and join in the never-ending hymn:
People: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Celebrant: We thank you for Christ’s passionate solidarity with the suffering of all the earth; for as he bore in his own body the wounds of creation, he embraced us in our brokenness and gathered us into his wholeness so that we might know ourselves beloved and serve with him as priests forever in an all-embracing Eucharist. Blessed is our brother Jesus, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh; who, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, blessed it and said:
People: This is my body which is given for you. Do this to remember me.
Celebrant: In the same way, Jesus took the cup after supper and said:
People: This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it, to remember me.
Celebrant: So, as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
People: Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
Celebrant: Here in this place, we celebrate the life that death could not hold, the life that Jesus has shared among his community through the centuries, and shares with us now. Made one with him, and thus, with each other, we lay before you these gifts of bread and wine, tokens of our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, for here we offer and present to you ourselves, our bodies, minds and spirits, to be a holy and continuous sacrifice to you.
People: Come, Holy Spirit, Come. Come, Holy Spirit Come.
Celebrant: Come and brood over these bodily things, this bread and this wine. May they be for us the body and blood of Christ; healing, renewing, and making us whole.
People: Come, Holy Spirit, Come. Come, Holy Spirit Come.
Celebrant: Come and embrace us with your life-giving power that as bread and wine are made one with us, we may become one with you; bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh.
People: Come, Holy Spirit, Come. Come, Holy Spirit Come.
Celebrant: Come and make your gathered people the real presence of Christ for the world, living our prayer and praying our life until heaven and earth are reconciled, and all are free as Christ is free.
People: Glory be to you, O God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; one God and Mother of all creation; as in the beginning, so now, and forever. Amen!
Lord’s Prayer BCP pg. 364 (sung)
Celebrant: Lamb of God
People: You take away the sins of the world.
Celebrant: Lamb of God
People: You take away the sins of the world
Celebrant: Lamb of God
People: Grant us your peace
Celebrant: These are the gifts of God for you, God’s people. This is the Lord’s table. Come, when you are fearful, to be made new in love. Come when you are doubtful, to be made strong in faith. Come, when you are regretful, and be made whole. Come, everyone; there is room for all!
Communion Hymn He Lives AA-275
Post Communion Prayer BCP pg. 365
Benediction from the “Black Liturgies”
Celebrant: May the God who made all things and holds together all things remind you of your making. May you rest in the immanence of your own worth, knowing you have nothing to prove and everything to love. Constant as the moon, which is tethered to us by unseen forces, which is suspended above us in the dark and the light, let our dignity remain, be it visible or invisible to those below. And may we remember the same dignity that holds us, so too holds together every person and piece of the cosmos at once and evermore. Go, in honor, to claim all that you are worthy of. May it be so. Amen.
Announcements
Final Hymn Joyful, Joyful AA-120

We are blessed to have Susan Walls lead our music service today.

LECTIONARY INSERT

Sunday, April 14, 2024 – Third Sunday of Easter
Our scriptural translations today are from. “A Women’s Lectionary for the Whole Church, Year B,” by Dr. Wil Gafney

Collect
O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (43:1-7)

And now, thus says the MAKER OF ALL, the one who created you, Jacob, Rebekah’s seed, the one who formed you, Israel of Sarah’s line: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. For when you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; even when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not scorch you. For I am the INCOMPARABLE ONE your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. Fear not, for with you am I; from the east will I bring your seed, and from the west will I gather you. I will say to the north, “Release them!” and to the south, “Do not keep them; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth.” Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.
The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

Psalm 50:1-6
God, the LORD God, speaks and summons the world
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
From Zion, perfect in beauty,
God appears in radiance.
Our God comes and is not silent, fire precedes her, devouring,
and around her, a whirling wind, storming.
She calls to the heavens above
and to the earth to judge her people:
“Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me over sacrifice!”
The heavens declare her righteousness,
for God is the one who judges. She alone. Selah.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen.

A Reading from the Second Letter of Paul to the Ephesians (1:7-14). In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of God’s grace. Grace which God has abundantly poured upon us along with all wis- dom and understanding. God has made known to us the mystery of God’s will according to God’s good pleasure that God set forth in Christ. A plan in the fullness of time to gather up all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on earth, all into Christ. In Christ there is also an inheritance from before time according to the purpose of the one who does all things according to God’s counsel and will. This so that we might live for the praise of God’s glory, we who first trusted in Christ. In Christ you also heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation and believed, and were marked with the seal of the prom- ised Holy Spirit. She is the deposit of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own possession to the praise of God’s glory.
The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

The Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to John
(5:25-29)
Glory to you Lord Christ.
“Truly, truly, I tell you all, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Living God has life internally, just so God has granted the Son to have life internally. And God has given the Son authority to render justice, because he is the Son of Woman. Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.”
The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you Lord Christ

Prayers of the People
In the name of Christ Jesus, let us pray for the needs of the world, saying: Hear us, O God,
Your mercy is great.
Holy One, as the risen Christ opened the minds of the disciples to understand the Scripture, open your people today to the heal- ing wisdom, and faith given in your Word: Hear us, O God . . .
Your mercy is great.
Prince of Peace, as Christ Jesus showed his wounded hands and feet to the terrified apostles, reveal to your church and to people of prayer in every faith, the wounds of our neighbors, the fears of individuals and families, and the avenues toward healing; Hear us, O God . . .
Your mercy is great.
Author of life, we beg for peace among nations, peace through- out our communities, peace within families. Guide leaders and voters, legislatures and parliaments, judges and juries. Teach di- plomacy and let our ways be guided so that all may have plenty; Hear us, O God . . .
Your mercy is great.
Peace of our lives, let your warmth burn in places shrouded in violence. Reveal the pains that are hidden in secret. Unveil the needs of our hearts so that we may know the power of vulnera- bility. Your son was raised to life even from the grave. Show us again that life comes from death: Hear us, O God . . .
Your mercy is great.
Healer of every ill, we pray for all who are in need, for refugees of war and violence, for those whose bones are weary, for those who show us the power of community to give hope to the frightened, and for all who have asked for our prayers; Hear us, O God . . .
Your mercy is great.
You command us to bring to you our deepest desires, O God, and we pray now for those persons or concerns that lie on our hearts, spoken aloud or in silence . .
We invite you to offer you prayers and thanksgivings.
Hear us, O God . . .
Your mercy is great.
Trusting in your abundant mercy, O God, we commend into your care all for whom we pray, and our own lives, through Je- sus Christ, our Savior. Amen.