Sixth Sunday of Easter
Theme of the Day: The Risen Savior Gives Love In His Friends
The entirety of God’s Word can be summed up in one word: love. God’s Law is all about love. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The gospel is all about love: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” From his compassion for the sick and broken, to his sacrificial death on the cross, to the peace he provided after his resurrection, Jesus was the perfect embodiment of love. Love is his business.
Therefore, love is our business too. The resurrection reality is that with the same supernatural power by which God raised Jesus from the dead, God now enables us to live a new life—one marked by radically selfless love. The motivation and ability to do this comes from seeing the endless love Christ has for us. We love only because he first loved us.
John 15:9-17
Acts 9:36-42
1 John 4:7-11,19-21
Psalm 89A
728 – This Is My Will
537 – Word of God, Come Down on Earth
557 – Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice
697 – May We Your Precepts, Lord, Fulfill
Prayer of the Day: O God, you are the giver of everything good. Inspire us, your humble servants, to long for what is right and, through your gracious guidance, accomplish it to your glory; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. Alleluia.