Just as grape vines intertwine and grow together, so too do we! We are connected to Jesus, the true vine, who sustains us and gives us life. But we are also connected to one another, supporting and loving one another just as God loves us.

Join us Sunday, May 2, at 9 am for Drive-In Church as we gather together to hear God's Word, to sing, to pray, and to be with one another safely. We celebrate Holy Communion this Sunday. Pre-packaged bread and juice will be available from the ushers as you arrive, or if you feel more comfortable, please feel free to bring your own elements.

Please enter the parking lot by the north entrance on Daniel Drive and follow the direction of the ushers. Bulletins will be available Sunday morning, or you may click below for a printable electronic bulletin.

If you are unable to attend in person, the service is livestreamed and may be viewed by clicking the link above.

Next Sunday, May 9, we will again worship outdoors with Drive-In Church. The service will also be available to livestream and to view later.

Beginning May 16, we will return to in-person worship in our sanctuary at 9 am. What a joy it will be to worship together again! Following New York State guidelines, we will need to maintain 6 feet distance and wear masks at all times, and there will be no congregational singing.

When you arrive, you will have your temperature taken, sign in, and provide contact information. Please arrive early, use the parking lot entrance, and follow the direction of the ushers. We are doing everything we can to maintain a safe space for worship and are following all safety protocols for cleaning and gathering together. However, if you feel ill or are running a fever of over 100 degrees, please stay home and keep yourself and others safe.

Services will continue to be livestreamed on YouTube Live each week. While we all “want” to come physically back together as a community of faith, we realize that what we want to do and what we feel comfortable in doing can be different. Please do not feel guilty or pressured to return to in-person worship. We will be continuing our services on-line. Please only come when you feel that you are ready.

Come immerse yourself scripture in a wonderful study based on Mark Allan Powell’s Fortress Introduction to the Gospels. Log in Sunday mornings, as we look at the background and the highlights of the four New Testament Gospels, as well as some of the other gospels. Join in on Sunday mornings at 10:10 via Zoom at:

Meeting ID: 892 4142 0205

Passcode: 891269

Or click the button to access the link directly.

So many people scratch their heads when it comes to the book of Revelation. We often speak of it as scary, uncomfortable, and therefore something we try to avoid. But this is first and foremost a letter of hope and promise (yes, it really is!) to a young, fledgling church that is struggling with what it means to live in the world as God’s people.

Come and explore the book of Revelation, Tuesday evenings on Zoom – May 4 - May 18, at 7 pm. We will try to unravel some of the mysteries and strange images to see this as a hope-filled promise of resurrection and God’s victory over death.

Contact Pastor Joanne if you have any questions. The log in information for Zoom is:

Meeting ID: 885 0398 7099

Passcode: 407447

or

O God, receive this gift as you receive us: like a mother receives her child, with arms open wide. Nourish us anew in your tender care, and empower us in faithful service to tend to others with this same love, through Jesus Christ, our saving grace. Amen.

               

Alleluia! Christ is risen.

Refreshed by the resurrection life we share in Christ, let us give thanks for the gift of baptism.

We thank you, risen Christ, for these waters where you make us new, leading us from death to life, from tears to joy.

We bless you, risen Christ, that your Spirit comes to us in the grace-filled waters of rebirth, like rains to our thirsting earth, like streams that revive our souls, like cups of cool water shared with strangers.

Breathe your peace on your church when we hide in fear.

Send us companions on our journey as we share your life.

Cleanse our hearts.

To you be given all praise, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God, now and forever.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

O God, you give us your Son as the vine apart from whom we cannot live. Nourish our life in his resurrection, that we may bear the fruit of love and know the fullness of your joy, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.       

First Reading    Acts 8:26-40

²⁶An 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.) ²⁷So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” ³⁰So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. ³²Now 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.

³³In his humiliation justice was denied him.

Who can describe his generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth.”

³⁴The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” ³⁵Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶As 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?” ³⁸He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹When 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. ⁴⁰But 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.

Word of God. Word of life

Second Reading  1 John 4:7-21

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. ¹⁰In 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. ¹¹Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

 ¹³By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. ¹⁵God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. ¹⁶So 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. ¹⁷Love 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. ¹⁸There 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. ¹⁹We love because he first loved us. ²⁰Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. ²¹The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

Word of God. Word of life

Gospel  John 15:1-8

[Jesus said:] ¹“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. ²He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. ³You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴Abide 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. ⁵I 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. ⁶Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

 Each petition concludes

Hear us, O God,

The Lord be with you.           

Lift up your hearts.                

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.         

hallowed be thy name,

thy kingdom come,

thy will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

as we forgive those

who trespass against us;

but deliver us from evil.

and the power, and the glory,

forever and ever. Amen.

~ Sending ~

Alleluia! Christ is risen.

Go in peace. Share the good news. Alleluia!

We Knot That Christ Is Raised, Text ©, John B. Geyer, Reprinted by permission under OneLicense #A-714459.

Like the Murmur of the Dove Song, Text © 1982, Music © 1969, Hope Publishing Company . Reprinted by permission under OneLicense #A-714459.

O Blessed Spring, Text © 1993,Susan Palo Cherwien, Music © 1993 Robert Buckley Farley, admin Augusburg Fortress . Reprinted by permission under OneLicense #A-714459.