St Ansgar Lutheran Church, London

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Sunday Morning

We invite you to join us for the following worship services:

Sundays
10:30 a.m. Worship service

Hand sanitizer will be available at the entrance and other locations in the church for
your use.

Washrooms will be available for use.

In the service: The service will be shown on the screen. The offering will not be gathered and presented, but there will be an offering plate at the back of the sanctuary where you can put your offering as you enter or leave. Pastor David distributes the communion wafers and an Assisting Minister distributes wine or grape juice in individual glasses.

We have coffee and fellowship time available again in Luther Hall after the service.

We will continue to evaluate our worship service procedures on a monthly basis.

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, APRIL 21, 2024

St. Ansgar Lutheran Church, Outline for Worship (with sermon)
April 21, 2024 – Fourth Sunday of Easter
Based on ELW Setting Four

GATHERING

WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS

BRIEF ORDER FOR CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
P: In the name of the Father, and of the ☩ Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.

P: God of all mercy and consolation, come to the help of your people, turning us
from our sin to live for you alone. Give us the power of your Holy Spirit that we
may confess our sin, receive your forgiveness, and grow into the fullness of
Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.
C: Amen.

P: Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and one another.

Silence is kept for reflection.

P: Most merciful God,
C: we confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.
We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we
have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you
with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.
For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us,
renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in
your ways, to the glory of your holy name.
Amen.

P: In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for
his sake God forgives us all our sins. As a called and ordained minister of the
church of Christ, and by his authority, I therefore declare to you the entire
forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the ☩ Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.

ENTRANCE HYMN - Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee (ELW #836)

GREETING
P: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion
of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
C: And also with you

KYRIE
A: In peace, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: For the peace from above, and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the Church of God,
and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: For this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and praise,
let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.
C: Amen.

HYMN OF PRAISE (sung) (ELW p. 149)
P: This is the feast of victory for our God. Alleluia.
C: Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain,
whose blood set us free to be people of God.
Power and riches and wisdom and strength,
and honour and blessing and glory are his.
This is the feast of victory for our God. Alleluia.
Sing with all the people of God
and join in the hymn of all creation:
Blessing and honour and glory and might
be to God and the Lamb forever. Amen.
This is the feast of victory for our God,
for the Lamb who was slain has begun his reign.
Alleluia. Alleluia.

PRAYER OF THE DAY
P: Let us pray.
P: O Lord Christ, good shepherd of the sheep, you seek the lost and guide
us into your fold. Feed us, and we shall be satisfied; heal us, and we shall
be whole. Make us one with you, for you live and reign with the Father and
the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen

WORD

FIRST READING: Acts 4:5-12
5 The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem,
6 with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who
were of the high-priestly family. 7 When they had made the prisoners stand
in their midst, they inquired, "By what power or by what name did you do this?"
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people
and elders, 9 if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to
someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed,
10 let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is
standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. 11 This Jesus is 'the
stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.'
12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
given among mortals by which we must be saved."

A: The word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.

PSALM: 23
1 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not be in want.
2 The Lord makes me lie down in green pastures
and leads me beside still waters.
3 You restore my soul, O Lord,
and guide me along right pathways for your name’s sake.
4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil;
for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil, and my cup is running over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

SECOND READING: 1 John 3:16-24
16 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us--and we ought
to lay down our lives for one another. 17 How does God's love abide in
anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need
and yet refuses help? 18 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech,
but in truth and action. 19 And by this we will know that we are from the
truth and will reassure our hearts before him 20 whenever our hearts
condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.
21 Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God;
22 and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his
commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment,
that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another,
just as he has commanded us. 24 All who obey his commandments abide
in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us,
by the Spirit that he has given us.

A: The word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
C: Alleluia. Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. Alleluia.

GOSPEL
P: The Holy Gospel according to John 10:11-18
C: Glory to you, O Lord.
11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the
sheep. 12 The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the
sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away--and the
wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 The hired hand runs away because
a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know
my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know
the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that
do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.
So there will be one flock, one shepherd. 17 For this reason the Father
loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. 18 No one
takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it
down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command
from my Father."

P: The Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to you, O Christ.

SERMON
1 John 3:16-24
Let us pray: May the words of my mouth, and the prayers of our hearts,
always be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer.
AMEN
Love one another. It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Of course, if you have ever
really tried it, you know that this love thing is incredibly hard. Maybe that is
why Jesus mentioned love so many times. Jesus knew how hard it is to love.
Love one another. It is an important commandment. In the Gospel of John,
we hear Jesus say, in as many ways as he possibly can, that we are to love
one another. But Jesus does more than just say the words. Jesus shows love
in how he lives his life, and in his final sacrifice.
In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus teaches his disciples about the good
shepherd, saying plainly that he is the good shepherd who lays down his life
for his sheep. Now the first people who heard Jesus say these words may
have thought he was speaking metaphorically about actually laying down
his own life. But after Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross, they realized that
Jesus meant it literally. Jesus is the shepherd who gave his life for his sheep,
the ultimate act of love.
This is also the way our second reading from 1 John begins. “We know love
by this, that he laid down his life for us.” As followers of Jesus, we who are
committed to go where Jesus went and do what Jesus did, ought to lay down
our lives for one another too. Then John does something unusual in his letter here.
He gets specific. He offers a concrete example of how we can practise this,
how we can lay down our lives for one another. “How does God’s love abide
in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need
and yet refuses to help?” There are times when I really wish John had not
asked that question. John tells us to put our love where our mouth is when
he writes, “Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth
and action.” In other words, John is saying, “Let’s not just talk about love.
Let’s practise real love.”
We need to look a little closer at that very blunt question that John asks:
“How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees
a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?” Now, we will all be quick
to offer examples of ways we help people in need. We donate to our church
food drives. We donate to the food bank throughout the year. We give to the
Men’s Mission and to the Women’s Community House; we support the special
projects of our church, and charities that we feel are worthy. There are lots of
things we could list. But I hope we do not think that lets us off the hook so that we
can just pat ourselves on the back for doing our part and move on with our lives.
It sometimes seems that when it comes to giving to the poor, we have this
little monitor that we are not even aware of. This monitor allows us to give
just as much as we need to give to feel good about ourselves, but not so
much that it affects our desire to first take care of ourselves in the way we
think we deserve.
Lately, I have been reflecting on the way we respond to the poor and
wondering if it is done in a loving way or a judging way. Loving and judging
are opposites. If we are loving someone, it means that we are not judging
them. And if we are judging someone, it means that we are not loving them.
When we give to the poor, are we giving in love? Or are we giving in judgement?
I am afraid that deep down inside most of us pass judgement on the poor.
We may want to help them, and we may feel compassion for them. But there
is a part of us that believes they are poor because of something they did or
didn’t do, that their poverty is a consequence of the way they lived their lives.
When we give to the poor, we often give the stuff we don’t want. It is assumed
that if someone is poor, they should be grateful for anything they are given.
After all, it is not as if they worked for it like we have. The really nice stuff is
for those who have earned it. Former Archbishop Desmond Tutu said that
when we give to the poor, we should give as if we were giving to our own family.
In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to
one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”
Even when someone asks us directly for our help, the judging part is always
part of our decision. We want to give to the ones who are telling us the truth.
We want to give to the ones who will make the best use of what we are offering.
We want to give to the ones who will appreciate it. We don’t want anyone to
take advantage of us.
We worship a God of grace. God loves us unconditionally, even though we
can do absolutely nothing to earn that gift. God gives us love freely, with no
strings attached. It is a challenge for us to love like God and that is an area
which we all need to work on for our personal growth and improvement in
our Christian life.
We know we cannot give money to everyone who asks us. We also know that
giving money isn’t always helpful. Sometimes the loving response is to help
people help themselves. But the question John poses should cause us to
examine our own consciences when it comes to the way we interact with
people who need our help. Are we loving them or judging them?
A person who exemplified this passage from 1 John about putting love into
action by helping those in need was Mother Teresa. She understood the
connection between loving and judging and said simply, “If you judge people,
you have no time to love them.” Her mission was not to give people material
stuff but to give them love, recognizing the most terrible poverty of all is
loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted.
Personally, I find all of this very challenging. Judging does interfere with
loving more times than not in my own life. As a Christian, I need to be more
loving than judging. Being aware of my feelings when I am asked for help,
or sharing what I have, is an important first step. I need to always beware
of what I am thinking before responding to someone’s call for help.
We all want our congregation to grow. But while we might immediately
associate growth with more people in our pews or more programming for
our community, the most important way we can grow is in loving. To quote
Mother Teresa one more time, she said that ministry is not “how much we do,
but how much love we put into action.” We will make a difference in the world
around us, not as we grow in doing more, but as we grow in loving more.
“And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son
Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he commanded us. All who obey
his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them.”
AMEN

HYMN OF THE DAY – The King of Love My Shepherd Is (ELW #502)

NICENE CREED
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God, begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father; through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the scriptures;
he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
A: Rejoicing that Jesus is risen and love has triumphed over fear, let us pray
for the church, the world, and all those in need of good news.
A: God of our church, send forth your Spirit as we pray for our National Bishop
Susan Johnson. Empower her with your wisdom to lead the church. We also
pray for our Synod Bishop Michael Pryse and the Eastern Synod Office and
Support Staff. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: Shepherding God, gather your church whenever we wander from you and
one another. Empower our church in ministries around the world to worship and
serve alongside global companions as equal partners and coworkers in the
gospel. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: Nurturing God preserve the health of biomes and ecosystems. Inspire
scientists, researchers, conservation organizations, and all people entrusted
with the task of caring for creation, that we may be better stewards of the world
around us. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: Almighty God, lead nations and communities to share resources, cooperate
in solving conflicts, and listen to the wisdom of Indigenous peoples. Help all
those with power to share it and to use such power for good. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: Loving God, protect the very young and the very old, those living without
housing, victims of domestic abuse, and all who live with chronic illness or
compromised immune systems. Guide communities to actively care for people
who are vulnerable. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: Gracious God, help this and all communities of faith to listen for your voice.
Call us away from things that distract us from following you. Invite us to more
deeply love and serve people who are lonely, isolated, and on the margins.
God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: Merciful God, we pray for peace as war continues to rage in Ukraine and
in Israel and Gaza. Shelter all living in fear; protect those seeking refuge in
neighbouring countries; sustain families separated by the horrors of war;
tend to those who are injured; comfort all who mourn their dead. Direct your
people into the way of peace. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: Living God, we give thanks for our ancestors in faith. Strengthen us to share
the good news in our own day. God of grace,
C: hear our prayer.

A: Into your hands, most merciful God, we commend all for whom we pray,
trusting in your abiding love; through Jesus Christ, our resurrected and
living Lord.
C: Amen.

PEACE
P: The peace of Christ be with you always.
C: And also with you.

LORD’S PRAYER
P: Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray.
C: 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 trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and 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.

SENDING

BLESSING
P: Alleluia! Christ is risen!
C: Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
P: The God of resurrection power, the Christ of unending joy, and the Spirit
of Easter hope + bless you now and always.
C: Amen.

SENDING HYMN – Praise the Lord, Rise Up Rejoicing (ELW #544)

DISMISSAL
A: Alleluia! Go in peace. Rejoice and be glad.
C: Thanks be to God. Alleluia!

DISMISSAL HYMN – The Lord Now Sends Us Forth (ELW #538)
Verse 1
The Lord now sends us forth
with hands to serve and give,
to make of all the earth
a better place to live. Repeat (2X)

Verse 2
The angels are not sent
into our world of pain
to do what we were meant
to do in Jesus' name;
that falls to you and me
and all who are made free.
Help us, O Lord, we pray,
to do your will today. Repeat (2X)