May 20 – Seventh Sunday of Easter

Acts 1:15–17, 21–26

Matthias is elected as an apostle.

 

Psalm 1 (VU p. 724)

Blessed are those who delight in God’s law.

 

1 John 5:9–13

The testimony of God is greater than human testimony.

 

John 17:6–19

Jesus prays “That they may be one, as we are one.”

Spark

Create the sound and/or have video footage of an orchestra tuning. Also have jigsaw puzzle pieces (ideally made from a photo of a church activity) spread out on a table in the coffee area or in the narthex or a corner of the sanctuary where people can make “one” picture out of many pieces.

Theme Engagement Question

How does your congregation work as “one”? Or do they work as a whole bunch of individual “ones” side by side? Where are you in this?

With Children

Listen to the sounds of an orchestra tuning; then try getting voices “tuned,” i.e., have a pianist or other musician play a note (or use a tuning fork) and see if, one by one, people can join in to become one voice, one note. It takes effort; it doesn’t happen by accident; it requires listening—to the instrument/tuning fork and to one another. As Christians, God is the one who gives us the “note.” Jesus prayed we would all be able to “tune in” to it.

Sermon Starter

In what ways are Jesus and God one? What does “That they may be one, as we are one” mean? Church councils from ancient times have debated and created formulas to describe the relationship between God and Jesus. One contemporary attempt to understand the unity for which Jesus prayed is found in God’s Dream by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams. With references to the possibilities of sharing and caring as well as the realities of human ability to cause hurt, Tutu says, “God does not force us to be friends or to love one another.... Each of us carries a piece of God’s heart within us. And when we love one another, the pieces of God’s heart are made whole.”^[1]

Hymns

Book of Acts

VU 387            “Loving Spirit”

VU 562            “Jesus calls us”

VU 567            “Will you come and follow me”

 

Psalm

Pete Seger       “We shall not be moved”

 

Gospel

VU 376            “Spirit of the living God”

VU 402            “We are one”

VU 468            “Let us talents and tongues employ”

MV 154           “Deep in our hearts”

MV 170           “Ubi caritas”

MV 178           “Who is my mother”

 

General/Seasonal

VU 187            “The spring has come”

MV 2               “Come all you people/Uyai mose”