Fifth Sunday after Easter

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FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER EASTER
Sunday, May 26, 2019

Readings:
Lesson: Acts 13:15-31
Psalm: 107:1-16
Epistle: James 1:22-27
Gospel: John 16:23-33

ADORATION
Almighty God, I praise You as the exalted God of our ancestors. From the story of Your people Israel, I learn that You stop at nothing in order to enter into relationship with humanity, and therefore with me. As You brought Israel out of Egypt, so You bring me out of bondage to passion and sin. As You destroyed the seven nations, so You destroy the seven evil thoughts which afflict me. As You gave them judges and kings, so You show yourself to be my righteous Judge and my gracious King forever. As You sent John the Baptist to preach repentance, so You bid me return to Your presence. And as You raised Your Son from the dead, so also You raise me to new, eternal, and everlasting life.

CONFESSION
Lord God, heavenly Father, You ask me not only to hear Your Word, but also to do it. You warn me that if I do not do Your Word, I become shallow, forgetful and empty. I confess to You that I often read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest Your Word without being fruitful and multiplying it outwardly to others. I admit that it is very much easier to go to church weekly and worship, when You say that pure and undefiled religion is to visit the orphan and the widow, the marginalized and outcast of society. I acknowledge that I fail to understand that true salvation is the healing and integration of both my inner and my outer self.

THANKSGIVING
Lord, I give You thanks because You are gracious and because Your mercy endures forever. You redeem and deliver from the hand of the enemy. You bring me out of darkness and out of the shadow of death, and You break my chains asunder. I am renewed in the knowledge that I do not have to be perfect. When I rebel against Your words and do not heed Your advice, I only have to cry out to You in my trouble, and You deliver me from my distress. You satisfy my empty soul, and You will my hungry soul with goodness and mercy. You break through my soul’s brazen gates and my heart’s iron bars, and I celebrate the wonders You have done for me.

SUPPLICATION
Lord Jesus Christ, You have promised me that whatever I ask the Father in Your Name, He will give to me. You bid me ask and I shall receive so that my joy may be full. I pray that I may ever ask only for those things which accord with Your will. I pray that even now I may be offering You a reasonable, spiritual sacrifice in firm faith, certain hope, and fervent love acceptable before You. I pray that in You I may have peace, that peace which passes all understanding and keeps my heart and mind in the knowledge of God. And I pray that I may always be of good cheer because in Your victory, I have overcome the world—the illusion of the ego—and am risen into Your glorious Kingdom of light and truth.

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