April 22 Third Sunday of Easter
Earth Day
Acts 3:1219
Peter preaches in Solomons Portico.
Psalm 4 (VU p. 727)
Answer me when I call, O God.
1 John 3:17
We are children of God.
Luke 24:36b48
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 Christs 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 childrens 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
Todays readings call us to question where we see our lives and the Spirit of Christ intersect. In the scriptures we are referred to as Gods children and Jesus as Gods 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.