Click HERE for a printable version of Order of Worship
Dear Church Family,
We want to share with you the Order of Worship that we will use on the morning of Sunday, April 28, 2024. We will start the service at 10 am.
Please join us in-person or virtually by using either the conference call number, the live stream via Zoom, Facebook, or our website.
We want everyone to have the opportunity to worship. Thank you so much. Welcome to St. Matthew’s UMC!
If you have difficulties with the Facebook link, feel free to join Zoom.
Live-Stream
-
- Meeting ID: 996 0251 9769
- Password: 14900
- St. Matthew’s UMC via Facebook
- St. Matthew’s UMC via Website
Conference Call
- Conference Call Dial-In: +1-301-715-8592
- Enter Access Code: 996 0251 9769 #
- Password: 14900 #
- Then, please wait for the host to begin.
Closed Captioning Available
Worship, classes, and meetings Zoomed now have the capability for closed captioning. The catch is that you must “turn it on”.
To do that, click on the button labeled “More…”. Then in the droplist, click on “Show Subtitles”.
If you need further assistance with this, please contact georgewood@stmatthews-bowie.org
April 28, 2024: The Fifth Sunday of Easter
Worship & Music Sunday
Prelude: Glorious Proclamation —Kurt Meyer
Welcome
*CALL TO WORSHIP (Cf. Ps 34:1 & 3; Ps 57:8-10)
L: I will bless the Lord at all times;
God’s praise shall continually be in my mouth.
A: O magnify the Lord with me,
let us exalt God’s name together.
L: Wake, my soul! Awake, lyre and harp!
I will awake the dawn!
A: I will give thanks to you among the peoples;
I will sing praise to you among the nations.
L: For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens.
A: Your faithfulness, O God, is above the clouds.
*OPENING HYMN: Gather Us In TFWS 2236
CCLI #109164 CCS#11256
*OPENING PRAYER: UMH 69
Glorious God, source of joy and righteousness,
enable us as redeemed and forgiven children
evermore to rejoice in singing your praises.
Grant that what we sing with our lips
we may believe in our hearts,
and what we believe in our hearts
we may practice in our lives;
so that being doers of the Word and not hearers only,
we may receive everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
*ACT OF PRAISE: Gloria Patri UMH 71
Joys & Concerns
Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
*HYMN BEFORE SCRIPTURE:
When in Our Music God is Glorified UMH 68
CCLI #109164 CCS#11256
Our first reading today is from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 8:26-40)
26 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) 27 So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” 30 So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 32 Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
so he does not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” 38 He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
The Word of the Lord. THANKS BE TO GOD.
CHORAL RESPONSE TO THE READING: Wana Baraka
—arr. Shaun Kirchner
Today’s Epistle reading is taken from the First Letter of John (1 John 4:7-21)
7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. 15 God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
The Word of the Lord. THANKS BE TO GOD.
*Please stand as you are able for the Gospel Acclamation & remain standing for the reading of the Gospel.
*GOSPEL ACCLAMATION: Celtic Alleluia TWFS 2043
This morning’s Gospel reading is from the Gospel of John (John 15:1-8)
Jesus said: 15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
The Gospel of the Lord. THANKS BE TO GOD.
CHORAL RESPONSE TO THE GOSPEL READING:
I Am the Vine, You Are the Branches —Mark Patterson
Rumination: —Isaac Borocz
Choral & Congregational Response to the Rumination:
Nada Me Falta —Mark Sedio
CCLI #109164 CCS#11256
Offertory Prayer
Music during the Offertory:
All Blessings Flow (Voluntary on Old Hundredth)
—John Atteberry
*DOXOLOGY UMH 95
Prayer of Thanksgiving
CHORAL RESPONSE TO THE PRAYER:
I Will Give Thanks to You —Craig Courtney
Announcements
*CLOSING HYMN:
Crown Him with Many Crowns UMH 327
CCLI #109164 CCS#11256
*CHORAL BENEDICTION:
The Lord Bless You and Keep You
—Peter C. Lutkin (1858-1931)
Postlude: Allegro in C Major
—Cynthia Dobrinski (1950-2021)
The flowers on the altar today are given to the glory of God.
DAILY SCRIPTURES
Mon: Galatians 5:13-24 Tues: Romans 5:1-11
Wed: Ephesians 5:1-20 Thur: Hebrews 13:1-6
Fri: Deuteronomy 7:6-16 Sat: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
SPECIAL THANKS TO TODAY’S VOLUNTEERS!
Greeters |
St. Matthew’s Members |
Ushers |
Pat Clunies*, Pat Clark, Angela Cockrell, Susi Smith |
Acolytes |
Cheyenne Belcher, Sarai Sommerville |
Liturgists |
George Huffman |
Counters |
Scot Dahl (lead), Pat Layfield, Bruce Thoman |
Musicians |
Gloria Ringers, Chancel Choir & Cora Vare, oboe |
Broadcasting |
The Hulens, George Wood, Steve Smith, Bruce Thoman, Zoom Team |
Welcome Desk |
Jackie Gerard ~ Jane Thessin |
Coffee Hour |
The Berfields |
WHAT’S HAPPENING…
Today |
11am |
Coffee Hour |
Fellowship Hall |
|
|
Adult Sunday School |
Parlor |
|
|
Children’s Sunday School |
Room 126 |
|
1pm |
UWF Executive Meeting |
Parlor |
Mon. |
7pm |
Gloria Ringers |
Music Room |
Tues. |
830am |
S.E.A.L.S |
Room 125 |
|
945am |
Bible Study In-person |
Parlor |
|
11am |
Angel Gang |
ZOOM |
|
6pm |
Endowment Committee |
Room 125 |
|
7pm |
ZOOM Bible Study |
ZOOM |
Wed. |
8am |
Men’s Breakfast |
Rip’s Country Inn |
|
7pm |
Simple Prayer |
Sanctuary |
|
730pm |
Mission Committee Meeting |
ZOOM |
Thurs. |
7pm |
Chancel Choir |
Music Room |
Fri. |
7pm |
Saavy Ally Book Club Meeting |
Parlor |
Sat. |
8am |
Church Spring Clean Up |
Church Wide |
|
1030am |
Altar Guild |
Sanctuary |
MORNING PRAYER CALL: Monday-Saturday, 630-645am
Dial 267-807-9601 and enter access code: 111-576-270 #
April 29-May 4 : Dennis Deensie
Opportunities to Study and Worship
– Tuesday Morning Bible Study meets at 945 am in the Parlor.
– Tuesday Evening ZOOM Bible Study meets 7pm on ZOOM.
– Wednesday Evening Simple Prayer – Join us in the Sanctuary at 7pm.
– Adult Sunday School meets at 11am in the Parlor.
– Children’s Sunday School will meet at 11am in Room 126.
– Youth Group Sunday evenings from 5-7pm. All Middle and High School age youth are welcome!