April 22 – Third Sunday of Easter

April 22 – Third Sunday of Easter

Earth Day

Acts 3:12–19

Peter preaches in Solomon’s Portico.

 

Psalm 4 (VU p. 727)

Answer me when I call, O God.

 

1 John 3:1–7

We are children of God.

 

Luke 24:36b–48

Jesus invites the disciples to touch his hands and feet.

Spark

Project pictures of different representations of Jesus Christ over the centuries. Include images where Christ is depicted as a woman, as a person from a variety of cultures, and in non-human terms.

Theme Engagement Question

What of Christ’s nature do you reflect in this world?

With Children

The “Spark” images could be shared with the children in Sunday school on a previous Sunday and the children could be invited at that time to draw their own images of Jesus Christ. Today, the children’s pictures could be displayed around the sanctuary, and the rest of the congregation could be invited to view them. Interview the artists (only those children who are comfortable participating). It would be helpful to rehearse these interviews prior to the service.

Sermon Starter

Today’s readings call us to question where we see our lives and the Spirit of Christ intersect. In the scriptures we are referred to as God’s children and Jesus as God’s Son. How then are we brothers and sisters with him? In the gospel reading the risen Christ has flesh and bones and an appetite. In the Epistle it is not Peter who heals, but the Spirit of Christ through him. Karl Barth asked an intriguing question: “What if the Son of God has taken our place that we might come to stand in his place? What if we might be permitted to become by grace what he is by nature?”[1]

Hymns

Book of Acts

VU 117            “Jesus Christ is waiting”

VU 570            “Jesus’ hands were kind hands”

MV 144           “Like a healing stream”

MV 171           “Christ has no body now”

 

Psalm

VU 314            “Come now, almighty King”

VU 367            “Come down, O love divine”

VU 385            “Spirit divine, attend”

MV 72             “Why stand so far away”

MV 73             “O God, why are you silent?”

 

Epistle

VU 555            “Our Parent, by whose name”

VU 659            “Eternal Father, strong to save”

MV 157           “I am a child of God”

 

Gospel

VU 137            “The Love that clothes itself in light”

VU 186            “Now the green blade rises”

VU 189            “Hail the day that sees him rise”

MV 47             “Born in human likeness”

MV 114           “Behold the face of Christ”

 



[1]   Karl Barth, The Knowledge of God and the Service of God According to the Teachings of the Reformation, trans. J. L. M. Haire and Ian Henderson (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 1938), p. 74. Used by permission of Wipf and Stock Publishers.