"Being Christian in the Home"

Call to Worship: Praise the Lord, all the people! For our Savior has been raised on high! Jesus Christ who was crucified and has risen from the dead Now sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Jesus will come again, bringing the fullness of God’s kingdom. Praise be to our Lord! AMEN.

Opening Prayer: Astounding God, we come before you this day as witnesses to Christ’s ascension from this realm to the heavenly kingdom. We stand in awe and wonder at what we hear and see. Open the eyes of our hearts to see the power and truth of your words. Give us courage and joy that we might be witnesses to your eternal love through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Offertory

Lord, with a cheerful heart, I sow my seed.

Today, I planted it in good ground.

I believe my needs are met,

my family is blessed, and I’m expecting a supernatural harvests in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Generous God, we pause to recall the gifts you give us, then ask you to use what we now return to you today. Help us live out our identity as followers of Jesus, just as Paul and Silas did so many years ago.  Give us a song of thanksgiving as the soundtrack for our lives, and grant us joy in serving you as we give thanks for the new life you give us through the resurrected Christ,  AMEN

Prayer

Life-giving God, we rejoice,    for we are able to gather in person and on-line to offer you our praise. We do see your glory,    and give thanks for the ways you grant strength to us. We rejoice in your power, shown in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. We anticipate your strength in our lives, as we’re blessed by your Spirit. May your “raised-up Jesus” light which dawns in us,    break forth in our community, and throughout your cosmos, AMEN

Ephesians 5:21-6: New International Version Instructions for Christian Households 21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3 “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Benediction: You are called to witness to God’s love. Prepare your hearts and spirits to receive power from on high. Go into God’s world in confidence, offering healing and hope to all you meet. Go in peace and may God’s peace be with you. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.