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Dear Church Family,
We are delighted to gather for worship over the phone or in person for our Simple Prayer Service. We share with you
the Order of Worship that we will use on the evening of
Wednesday, May 7, 2025.
We will begin the service at 7 PM. Please join us by using our Conference Call. We want everyone to have the opportunity
to worship. We are so happy to have you join us.
Welcome to St. Matthew’s UMC!
Conference Call
Please Dial-in: 267-807-9601
Use access code: 111-576-270#
Simple Prayer for May 7, 2025
Wednesday OF THE 3rd WEEK OF EASTER
Greeting and Welcome
*Lucenarium: Lighting of the Christ Candle
Leader: Jesus Christ is the light of the world
All: A light no darkness can extinguish.
Leader: The Lord is risen!
All: The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Leader: The Lord be with you.
All: And also with you.
Leader: Lift up your hearts.
All: We lift them up to the Lord.
Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
All: It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Leader: Blessed are you, Lord God of our salvation,
to you be praise and glory forever.
All: As once you ransomed your people from Egypt
and led them to freedom in the promised land,
so now you have delivered us
from the dominion of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of your risen Son.
May we, the first fruits of your new creation,
rejoice in the new life you have given us,
and praise you for your mighty acts.
Leader: Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
All: Blessed be God for ever and ever. Amen.
Hymn Now the Green Blade Riseth UMH 311
A sheet of music with notes
and text for Now the Green Blade Riseth UMH 311
Epistle Reading: Acts 8:1b-8
That day a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison.
4 Now those who were scattered went from place to place proclaiming the word. 5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them. 6 The crowds with one accord listened eagerly to what was said by Philip, hearing and seeing the signs that he did, 7 for unclean spirits, crying with loud shrieks, came out of many who were possessed, and many others who were paralyzed or lame were cured. 8 So there was great joy in that city.
The Word of the Lord. THANKS BE TO GOD.Congregational Response Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
1 O give thanks to the Lord, for the Lord is good;
God’s steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let Israel say,
“God’s steadfast love endures forever.”
14 The Lord is my strength and my might;
the Lord has become my salvation.
15 There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
16 the right hand of the Lord is exalted;
the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”
17 I shall not die, but I shall live,
and recount the deeds of the Lord.
18 The Lord has chastened me sorely,
but he did not give me over to death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through it.
21 I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
GOSPEL LESSON: John 6:35-40
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away, 38 for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose
nothing of all that he has given me but raise it up on the last day. 40 This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day.”
The Gospel of the Lord. THANKS BE TO GOD.
MUSIC FOR MEDITATION
REFLECTION: The Colors of a Day —Christopher Pramuk
Preaching the word. Tremendous deeds. Delight. Unending joy. Eternal gladness.
Severe persecution. Trying to destroy the Church. Loud lament. Scattered.
Which of these words or phrases reverberates loudest in your heart? Now take that word or phrase and turn it over in your mind. Why this one, more than another?
Today’s scripture readings juxtapose such radically contrary images and emotions, it would be tempting to banish one group from our hearts in favor of another. To cling to every taste of gladness and joy; to languish in fearful apprehensions and sadness. Yet the church holds them all together and asks us to do so as well. Why?
Look again at both sets of images. Together they describe the existential reality of the nascent church as it learns to bear the Paschal mystery of Jesus’ shocking, violent death—lament, persecution, scattering—and his miraculous, ineffable resurrection—delight, unending joy, eternal gladness.
It is not for us to try to wrest these realities apart. Like God at the dawn of creation, like Christ standing before the tomb of Lazarus, like a painter choosing from a palette awash in colors, we are called to delight in their mysterious, and sometimes fearful, admixture. The beautiful breaks through in the refraction of light through shadow.
Lord, there are so many disparate colors in a day! Help us to create something this day that brings gladness to You, to myself, to others. Something unexpected. Something beautiful.
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE:
As candles are lit and prayers are lifted up from the silence of our hearts by those assembled, all may sing as the musicians lead
Alleluia, alleluia UMH 186
THE LORD’S PRAYER
CLOSING PRAYER (all in unison):
Lord, You have arisen forever in my heart.
May the sunrise remind me to shine in Your light.
May the caress of a gentle breeze
remind me of Your compassion.
May the fragrance of a flower
remind me to blossom in Your love.
May the singing of birds
bring a song of joy to my lips.
And in the closing of each day
may I remember to quietly pray.
Wherever I am, whatever I do,
may my thoughts in joy return to You. Amen.
—Susan Helene KramerBenediction
Response: Triple Amen UMH 898