10 May Bulletin – Sunday, May 10, 2026; Happy Mothers’ Day
WELCOME to MESSIAH & ST. PETER LUTHERAN CHURCHES
The Reverend Nancy Brody, Pastor
Greta Wright, Organist
Sunday, May 10, 2026
Sixth Sunday of Easter
ANNOUNCEMENTS
PRELUDE
THANKSGIVING for BAPTISM
Alleluia! Christ is risen.
Christ is risen, indeed. Alleluia!
Let us give thanks for the gifts of baptism: water, and the Word, anointing by God’s Holy Spirit.
Heavenly Father, Son and Holy Spirit, you formed and filled us with the water of creation. You give us morning dew, gentle rains, and splashing waves. We thank you for every drop of water that nourishes.
Blessed are you. Guide us to springs of life.
Jesus Christ, Word of God, you are the faithful witness who accompanies our journeys. We give thanks for your life-giving death and resurrection and praise you for joining us in joy and sorrow.
Blessed are you. Speak to us and stir our hearts.
Holy Spirit, we need you to inspire and guide this world. There’s far too much turmoil and harm being done. Unite us in the common purpose of seeking peace and being satisfied with enough. Let nothing cloud our ability to recognize you among us.
Blessed are you. Bring calm to places of chaos.
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.
ENTRANCE HYMN
Come, Thou Almighty King #522
KYRIE
🎶In peace let us pray to the Lord.
🎶Lord have mercy.
🎶For the peace from above, and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.
🎶Lord have mercy.
🎶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.
🎶Lord have mercy.
🎶For this holy house, and for all who offer here and online their worship and praise, let us pray to the Lord.
🎶Lord have mercy.
🎶Help, save, comfort, and defend us gracious Lord.
🎶Amen.
HYMN OF PRAISE
🎶Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.
🎶Lord God, heavenly king, almighty God and Father: we worship you, we give you thanks, we praise you for your glory. Lord Jesus Christ, only son of the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God: You take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us. You are seated at the right hand of the Father; receive our prayer. For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
🎶The Lord be with you.
🎶And Also with you.
Let us pray:
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Almighty and ever-living God, you hold together all things in heaven and on earth. In your great mercy receive the prayers of all your children, and give to all the world the Spirit of your truth and peace, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
FIRST READING ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 17:22-31
Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely spiritual you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all peoples to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps fumble about for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we, too, are his offspring.’ “Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortels. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
PSALM 66:8-20
Bless our God, you peoples; let the sound of praise be heard.
Our God has kept us among the living and has not allowed our feet to slip.
For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us just as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net; you laid heavy burdens upon our backs.
You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us out into a place of refreshment.
I will enter your house with burnt offerings and will pay you my vows—
those that I promised with my lips and spoke with my mouth when I was in trouble.
I will offer you burnt offerings of fatlings with the smoke of rams; I will give you oxen and goats.
Come and listen, all you who believe, and I will tell you what God has done for me.
I called out to God with my mouth, and praised the Lord with my tongue.
If I had cherished evil in my heart, the Lord would not have heard me;
but in truth God has heard me and has attended to the sound of my prayer.
Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer, nor withheld unfailing love from me.
SECOND READING 1 PETER 3:13-22
Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect. Maintain a good conscience so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight lives, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
🎶Alleluia, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Alleluia. Alleluia.
The Holy Gospel according to Saint John, the 14th chapter.
🎶Glory to you, O Lord.
GOSPEL JOHN 14:15-21
[Jesus said to the disciples:] “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you. “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
🎶Glory to you, O Christ.
SERMON
HYMN OF THE DAY
O Zion, Haste #397
PROFESSION of FAITH Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, creator 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, by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the virgin Mary and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered, died, 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 worshiped and glorified. He 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
Bless our God; let the sound of prayer for all creation be heard. Our God has kept us among the living and not allowed our feet to slip. (A brief silence)
We enter your house with offerings and a vow to keep the promises we spoke when in trouble. Guide the church and its leaders to spread love throughout the world. Blessed be God, who has not rejected our prayer, nor withheld unfailing love.
You create the world and all that is in it. Shelter budding plants and young animals, provide unpolluted habitats and clean water. Bring forth good stewards, wise advocates and regulations that are mindful of the environment. Blessed be God, who has not rejected our prayer, nor withheld unfailing love.
You set civil servants in the places where we live. Instill truth and equity among judges and lawyers, gentleness and courage among first responders, and peace among leaders of towns and nations. Blessed be God, who has not rejected our prayer, nor withheld unfailing love.
You provide comfort in times of trouble. Heal those who are sick, shelter any who are unhoused, feed those undernourished, and accompany and console all who are lonely, bereaved, anxious, or ill (especially those we bring to mind). Blessed be God, who has not rejected our prayer, nor withheld unfailing love.
You are love and you desire that we love one another. As a mother hen cares for her chicks, bless all who provide motherly care in our lives, and inspire us to care for one another. Blessed be God, who is both mother and father to us, who rejects not our prayers, nor withholds unfailing love.
God, thank you for those who came, listened, believed and testified to all that you did for them. Now we call out and praise you. May we never cherish evil nor have it dwell in our hearts. Blessed be God, who has not rejected our prayer, nor withheld unfailing love.
In truth, God has heard us and attends to the sound of our prayers. Inspire us by the example of your Son who delivered your promise of life and by the example of the faithful departed who clung to your forgiveness and salvation. Blessed be God, who has not rejected our prayer, nor withheld unfailing love.
Blessed be our God who has not rejected our prayer, nor withheld unfailing love through the Father, Son and Holy Spirit [+]. You meet the needs of all creation and allow the sound of prayer to be heard. Thank you for keeping us among the living and not allowing our feet to slip. May your resurrection power, proclaim good news and bring new life to all the world. In your holy name we pray. Amen.
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 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.
EXCHANGE of PEACE
OFFERING
OFFERTORY
🎶Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with your free Spirit.
BLESSING
CLOSING HYMN
Christ Is Alive! Let Christians Sing #363
DISMISSAL
POSTLUDE
Revised Common Lectionary copyright © 1992 Consultation on Common Texts. Used by permission. Prayers adapted from Sundays and Seasons, copyright © 2019, Augsburg Fortress. Used with permission. Psalm readings from Lutheran Book of Worship, copyright © 1978. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual Subscription #SB160715 Other quotations from Scripture from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989, National Council of Churches in Christ in the United States of America. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Altar flowers at St. Peter are presented by Sallianne Bechtel in memory of loved ones.