Trinity Presbyterian Church
Online Worship Service
for May 10, 2020 – Fifth Sunday of Easter
Welcome and Announcements
Welcome to Trinity Presbyterian Church’s worship service online!
This is the seventh online worship service for Trinity.
Briefly, a word concerning the technical presentation of this service. If you are having difficulty reading the words, look for your web browser’s “Zoom” settings. The keystrokes are typically ‘Ctrl-Shift-+’ to increase the zoom or ‘Ctrl-Shift-(minus)’ to decrease the zoom. Other devices may have a different mechanism (‘finger pinch’), but most support zoom.
Although the sanctuary doors will not be open, we hope you will have a meaningful Sunday worship experience!
This week’s bulletin is available at any time by clicking this link. The bulletin will open in a 
separate tab or window.
The bulletin is not needed to follow the order of the service (the order of service on this page matches the bulletin’s order of service), but there are additional items that may be of interest to you that are not included on this worship page.
We hope you healthy and well. For several weeks following Easter, we will be using the worship series “Unraveled” by A Sanctified Art on both Sunday Worship and Thursday Bible Study. This is meant to stand alone, as well as complement our weekly online worship, teachings and musical selections.
The service this day contains:
- Preparation for Worship
- Prelude “This Little Light of Mine”
- A Call to Worship
- Opening hymn #4 “Holy God, We Praise Your Name”
- Prayer of the Day
- A Prayer of Confession
- Declaration of Forgiveness
- Passing of the Peace
- An Anthem “The Lord is My Strength” by the Children’s Choir
- A Children’s Sermon from Brooke Tucker
- Scripture readings for the Fifth Sunday of Easter
- Meditation: “Discovering New Paths”
- Affirmation of Faith
- Prayers of the People
- The Lord’s Prayer
- Offering to God
- Doxology
- Closing Hymn “Faith of Our Mothers”
- Benediction
Preparation for Worship
Let us join together now and prepare for worship.
Dear Family of God – these are trying days in God’s beloved world.
As Christ’s Church, sustained by the Holy Spirit, we have gifts and a call by which to care for one another and our neighbors. Worship in which we encounter our living God and know ourselves connected to the body continues. So this day we expand our worship into our homes, knowing that as we read the same Scriptures, and share in the same prayers, we are held together on this Sunday morning.
Let us prepare our hearts and minds to worship the living Lord.
Prelude “This Little Light of Mine”
The Trinity Handbell Choir offers the prelude today.
Call to Worship
Please join in our Call to Worship.
You called Ananias by name, and he responded,
“Here I am”
You called Paul to the work of your Church, and he responded
By giving his life to your Word.
Similarly, you call us into community and faith,
So we respond with love and time, energy and hope.
We respond with worship.
Let us worship the God of transformation and grace.
Amen.
Opening Hymn #4 “Holy God, We Praise Your Name”
Lord of all, we bow before you.
All on earth your scepter claim;
all in heaven above adore you.
Infinite your vast domain,
everlasting is your reign.
angel choirs above are raising;
cherubim and seraphim,
in unceasing chorus praising,
fill the heavens with sweet accord:
“Holy, holy, holy Lord!”
as your sacred name they hallow;
prophets swell the glad refrain,
and the blessed martyrs follow,
and from morn to set of sun,
through the church the song goes on.
Holy Spirit: three we name you,
while in essence only one;
undivided God we claim you,
and adoring, bend the knee
while we own the mystery.
Grosser Got, Wir Loben Dich
Prayer of the Day
Our prayer for this day.
Living God, through Jesus Christ you emptied the power of death and gave us the gift of life in fullness. Now fill us with the breath of your Spirit to tell the good news of the gospel: Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.
Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Let us confess our sins before God.
God of new life,
What would we give to have you appear with a flash of light and a clear voice like you did for Saul?
Maybe then, our doubts would disappear.
Maybe then, we would live as you called us to live.
However, when our lives depend on faith, we forget your surprising grace.
Instead, we draw lines around enemies and friends, who’s in and who’s out.
We see the “other,” faster than we see our “neighbor,” and refuse second chances.
Pull the scales from our eyes.
Help us see as you see. Help us live as you live, and forgive us when we fail to.
Humbly we pray,
(Silence for Reflection)
Amen.
Declaration of Forgiveness
Hear the good news! Who is in a position to condemn?
Only Christ, and Christ died for us, Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us. (Romans 8:34) Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. The old life is gone and a new life is begun.
In Jesus Christ we are forgiven!
Passing of the Peace
May the peace of Christ be with you!
If you’d like to participate in the next Passing of the Peace video, read this how-to instruction page (a new window or tab will open).
Anthem “The Lord is My Strength”
The Trinity Children’s Choir sings today.
Children’s Sermon
Brooke Tucker has a special message for you on the Fifth Sunday of Easter.
Scripture Reading
For the readings, you may click on the links below. The links will take you to BibleGateway.com. A new window (or tab) will appear. After you finish the readings, you may close the window (or tab) to continue with the service. If you prefer, find your Bible and read the selections.
The Conversion of Saul: Acts 9:1-20
Today’s liturgist is Jane Pellmann reading from the Acts of the Apostles. Listen for God speaking to you today.
Meditation “Discovering New Paths”
The message from Rev Dr Jeffrey Beebe on this Fifth Sunday of Easter.
Affirmation of Faith
Let us affirm our faith.
I believe in God, the Great Sewer—
Who weaves us together in community,
Collecting our loose ends and turning them into belonging.
I believe in the Holy Spirit—
Who hems us in before and behind,
Catching us when we fall and writing us into God’s holy narrative.
And I believe in Jesus Christ—
Who loved and claimed the people society had thrown out, refusing to disregard
Anyone as scrap.
I believe God has woven part of God’s self into the fiber of our being,
Making us inherently worthy of love and belonging.
I believe the fabric of my life is weak,
That I am prone to error and need God’s handiwork to remind me of love.
I believe in the Church, and that like a quilt of different fabrics,
She is designed to be as diverse and beautiful as God’s creation.
And I believe that when life unravels,
God is there to stitch my wounds together,
To hold me in the palm of God’s hand, to tell me of love,
And to invite me into a new journey.
Amen.
— Liturgy by Sara Are, A Sanctified Art
Prayers of the People
Loving God, we belong to you.
The Bible says, “where two or three are gathered.”
And many, in this moment, will gather no closer than six feet.
The Bible says, “they were all gathered together in one place.”
And we do not know when we will be together next.
Triune God, you exist in eternal relationship.
You are One and yet are three.
In a time of isolation, draw us closer to this mystery.
May it remind us of your truth: even in physical isolation, we are never truly alone.
Your love links us together, making us a people.
For the Bible also says: We belong to each other. We belong to you.
Even now. Especially now. Amen.
— Bryce Wiebe, PCUSA Director of Special Offerings
The Lord’s Prayer
Let us pray together.
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 debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
Offering
Please continue to give your offering.
You can click the image to the right or this link to give online now. At the online Giving site, select “2020 Pledge” as the Fund to fulfill your 2020 pledge or use another fund if you’re directing your gift elsewhere. Note, the church must pay a small processing fee to receive your contribution via online giving. Increasing your gift would help cover the cost of processing and would be greatly appreciated.
If you’d like to see alternatives to online giving, please take a look at our Contribute page.
Doxology
Judith Spurrell, Lillian Warner, and Jason Wheeler sing with accompaniment by Jillian Koenig on flute, and Heasuk Che on piano.
Closing Hymn “Faith of Our Mothers”
Sung by Jody Dutton, Judith Spurrell, Lillian Warner, and Jason Wheeler with accompaniment by Jack Jeffe on viola and Heasuk Che on piano.
fresh in our memories, held in our hearts.
Here or in heaven, their deeds live on,
spreading the joy God’s love imparts.
[Refrain]
We will be true to thee till death.
praying for every daughter and son,
building us up as a family in Christ,
working that we may all be one.
[Refrain]
trusting the truth of kindness and grace,
sharing God’s Spirit in service and strength,
living life well, and running faith’s race.
[Refrain]
Benediction
The Service has Ended
Thank you for joining us online! We hope you will join us again as long as we need to be apart. We pray for the day when we can all meet again and worship God in the sanctuary and Trinity Presbyterian Church.
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.
ALL COPYRIGHTS ACKNOWLEDGED