FIRST SERVICE
SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
Is God’s Love for Us “Iffy”?
May 10, 2026
AS WE GATHER
Throughout our lives, we look for a helper. Maybe that’s a parent who can hold our hand to cross the street, a spouse who can open the pickle jar, or an expert who delivers wisdom we don’t have. Our Lord Jesus Christ sends us a helper, the promised Holy Spirit. The Spirit opens our heart to faith and then fills it with heavenly wisdom. Present in our Baptism and present today in worship, the Spirit keeps our hand firmly in our Savior’s, so that linked by love, we can walk confidently in His promises.
+ PREPARATION +
HYMN Father Welcomes LSB 605
Refrain: Father welcomes all His children
To His fam’ly through His Son.
Father giving His salvation,
Life forever has been won.
Little children, come to Me, For My kingdom is of these,
Life and love I have to give, Mercy for your sin.
In the water, in the Word, In His promise, be assured;
Those who are baptized and believe Shall be born again.
Let us daily die to sin; Let us daily rise with Him,
Walk in the love of Christ our Lord, Live in the peace of God.
INVOCATION
Pastor: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen.
OPENING SENTENCES Psalm 124:8; John 14:18; Hebrews 13:6
Pastor: Our help is in the name of the Lord,
People: who made heaven and earth.
Pastor: Jesus said, “I will not leave you as orphans;
People: I will come to you.”
Pastor: So we can confidently say,
People: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION John 14:19
Pastor: We confess: Father, we have neglected You and Your commandments.
People: Forgive us, Lord.
Pastor: Jesus, we have doubted Your Word and failed to display Your love to others.
People: Forgive us, Lord.
Pastor: Spirit, we have trusted our own sinful hearts rather than seeking Your truth.
People: Forgive us, Lord.
Pastor: O Triune God, look on us in mercy and make Your dwelling within us.
People: Restore us as Your rescued people to seek Your holy will. Amen.
Pastor: To save you from sin, the Father gave you His very own Son. On His cross, Jesus paid your debt and rose to declare, “because I live, you also will live.” By the Spirit’s power, we trust in the pardon won for us by Christ, our Lord. In the stead and by the command of Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen.
+ WORD +
PRAISE HYMN Praise the One Who Breaks the Darkness CH 293
Praise the One who breaks the darkness with a liberating light.
Praise the One who frees the pris’ners, turning blindness into sight.
Praise the One who preached the Gospel,
healing ev’ry dread disease,
Calming storms and feeding thousands with the very bread of peace.
Praise the One who blessed the children
with a strong yet gentle word.
Praise the One who drove out demons
with a piercing two-edged sword.
Praise the One who brings cool water to the desert’s burning sand.
From this well comes living water quenching thirst in ev’ry land.
Praise the one true love incarnate: Christ, who suffered in our place.
Jesus died and rose for many that we may know God by grace.
Let us sing for joy and gladness, seeing what our God has done.
Praise the one redeeming glory, praise the One who makes us one.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Pastor: Let us pray. O God, the giver of all that is good, by Your holy inspiration grant that we may think those things that are right and by Your merciful guiding accomplish them; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
People: Amen.
FIRST READING Acts 17:16–31 (Paul preaches Jesus and the resurrection, pointing Athenians to the “unknown God” who has been raised from the dead.)
16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. 22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ 29 Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
EPISTLE 1 Peter 3:13–22 (Saved by Baptism, believers are prepared to give a reason for their hope in Christ the Lord.)
13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, 20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. 21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
HOLY GOSPEL John 14:15–21 (Until He returns, Jesus promises to surround His disciples with truth by sending the Holy Spirit.)
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE
HYMN Alleluia! Sing to Jesus CH 377
Alleluia! Sing to Jesus; His the scepter, His the throne;
Alleluia! His the triumph, His the victory alone.
Hark! The songs of peaceful Zion thunder like a mighty flood:
"Jesus, out of ev'ry nation has redeemed us by his blood."
Alleluia! Not as orphans are we left in sorrow now;
Alleluia! he is near us; faith believes, nor questions how.
Tho’ the cloud from sight received Him when the forty days were o'er,
shall our hearts forget His promise: "I am with you evermore"?
Alleluia! Bread of Heaven, You on earth our food, and stay;
Alleluia! here the sinful flee to you from day to day.
Intercessor, Friend of sinners, earth's Redeemer, hear our plea
where the songs of all the sinless sweep across the crystal sea.
SERMON
NICENE CREED
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made: who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. And he will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And I believe one holy Christian and apostolic Church, I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.
GREETING/ANNOUNCEMENTS
OFFERING
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
Pastor: Let us pray for the whole people of God in Christ Jesus, and for all people according to their needs in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen.
Pastor: O Triune God, You have placed Your name on us in Holy Baptism, making us Yours and saving us from death and darkness. Teach us to quiet our consciences with the assurance of all You have accomplished for us.
People: For our good and Your glory, O God, we pray.
Pastor: O Triune God, we proclaim Your name in a world that does not yet know You. Bless all who bring Your Gospel to new places, and make us fit proclaimers in our homes and neighborhoods, that our words and works would witness to Jesus Christ, the risen one.
People: For our good and Your glory, O God, we pray.
Pastor: O Triune God, Your grace makes a home for us within Your kingdom. We pray for orphans, the widowed, the homeless, and the lonely who do not currently know the warmth of home and family. Surround them with Your care and send us to show them Your love.
People: For our good and Your glory, O God, we pray.
Pastor: O Triune God, those marked by Your name are not immune from suffering. We lift up to You those who are struggling, sick, and grieving, [including . . .]. Be the helper they need most.
People: For our good and Your glory, O God, we pray.
Pastor: O Triune God, we rejoice in Your faithfulness. Make Your dwelling in us, and keep us in faith until the day of Christ’s returning.
People: Amen.