Sunday Service:
Holy Eucharist
at 9:30 am
Child care is available
Church of Our
Saviour
191 Flanagan Way (Rt 153) Secaucus, NJ 07094
Tel: 201-863-1449
Fax: 201-863-1474
Mark A. Lewis, Vicar MLewis@secaucus.org
Dorothy Fowlkes
Pastoral Associate
This page revised 4
May 08
http://www.secaucus.org/
oursaviour
The Church of
Our Saviour
in the Town of Secaucus, New Jersey
Home | Welcome | News | Sunday | Bulletin | Sermons
Bookshop | Stewardship | Justice | Community | Links
Worship
for the Lord's Day
The
Seventh Sunday of Eastertide
The Sunday in Ascensiontide
4 May 2008
Holy Eucharist - 9:30 am
O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your son Jesus with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior has gone ahead. We ask this with confidence in your love. Amen.
Today's
Lessons
Ezekiel 39:21-29 / Psalm
47
Acts 1:1-14 / John 17:1-11
Today's
Hymns
450
- All hail the power of Jesus' name
470
- There's a wideness in God's mercy
561
- Stand up, stand up for Jesus
460
- Alleluia! sing to Jesus!
A reading
from
the Book of Ezekiel 39:21-29
THUS SAYS THE LORD GOD, "I will display my glory among the nations; and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. The house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God, from that day forward. And the nations shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity, because they dealt treacherously with me. So I hid my face from them and gave them into the hand of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword. I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and hid my face from them."
Therefore thus says the Lord God: "Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for my holy name. They shall forget their shame, and all the treachery they have practiced against me, when they live securely in their land with no one to make them afraid, when I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from their enemiesÕ lands, and through them have displayed my holiness in the sight of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord their God because I sent them into exile among the nations, and then gathered them into their own land. I will leave none of them behind; and I will never again hide my face from them, when I pour out my spirit upon the house of Israel," says the Lord God.
(To be read by Thurman Hart)
Psalm 47 Omnes gentes, plaudite
Clap your hands, all you peoples;
shout to God with a cry of joy.
For the LORD Most High is to be
feared;
he is the great King over all the earth.
He subdues the peoples under
us,
and the nations under our feet.
He chooses our inheritance for
us,
the pride of Jacob whom he loves.
God has gone up with a shout,
the LORD with the sound of the ram's-horn.
Sing praises to God, sing
praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises.
For God is King of all the
earth;
sing praises with all your skill.
God reigns over the nations;
God sits upon his holy throne.
The nobles of the peoples have
gathered together
with the people of the God of Abraham.
The rulers of the earth belong to
God,
and he is highly exalted.
(To be read by Hania Qubain)
An artistic reflection on the Psalm by Australian liturgical artist Susan Daily
A reading
from
the Acts of the Apostles 1:1-14
DEAR THEOPHILUS, in the first volume of this book I wrote on everything that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he said good-bye to the apostles -- the ones he had chosen through the Holy Spirit -- and was taken up to heaven. After his death, he presented himself alive to them in many different settings over a period of forty days. In face-to-face meetings, he talked to them about things concerning the kingdom of God. As they met and ate meals together, he told them that they were on no account to leave Jerusalem but "must wait for what the Father promised: the promise you heard from me. John baptized in water; you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit. And soon."
When they were together for the last time they asked, "Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now? Is this the time?"
He told them, "You don't get to know the time. Timing is the Father's business. What you will get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world."
These were his last words. As they watched, he was taken up and disappeared in a cloud. They stood there, staring into the empty sky. Suddenly two men appeared in white robes.
They said, "You Galileans&emdash;why do you just stand here looking up at an empty sky? This very Jesus who was taken up from among you to heaven will come as certainly -- and mysteriously -- as he left."
So they left the mountain called Olives and returned to Jerusalem. It was a little over half a mile. They went to the upper room they had been using as a meeting place: Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James, son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, Judas, son of James. They agreed they were in this for good, completely together in mission, the women included. Also Jesus' mother, Mary, and his brothers.
(To be read by Thurman Hart)
The
Gospel According to
John 17:1-11
JESUS LOOKED UP to heaven and said, ÒFather, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.
"I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one."
(To be read by Dorothy Fowlkes)
The Prayers of the People will
be led by Eleanor Reuther
Comments on the Readings
This week's reading from the
Acts of the Apsostles from TheMessage, a "paraphrase/translation" of the Bible,
completed by Eugene Peterson in 2002. The Message was
written 
in order to recreate the spirit of the
original language of scripture, the street language of the
day. Peterson notes that in the course of the project, he
realized that this was exactly what he had been doing in his
thirty-five years as a pastor, "always looking for an
English way to make the biblical text relevant to the
conditions of the people". To purchase your own copy of The
Message, link to Amazon.com. There's also a new kid's version:
My
First Message.
The Diocese of Montreal offers an attractive and useful guide to the lectionary readings (including the Psalm and Gospel). Because it comes from of the Anglican Church of Canada which follows the Revised Common Lectionary, the readings sometimes may vary from those of the Episcopal Church, but it still can be most helpful. Link
The Sunday Bulletin Link
Reflections on Sermons
Mark Lewis's
sermons have been interpreted for reading on the internet.
They are indexed at the bottom of the Sunday
page.
Link
Home | Welcome | News | Sunday | Bulletin | Sermons
Bookshop | Stewardship | Justice | Community | Links
Bookshop | Stewardship | Justice | Community | Links