May 16, 2021 is the Seventh Sunday of Easter

Beginning this Sunday, May 16, 2021 — Fully Vaccinated Clergy & Readers will be permitted to remove their masks when reading lessons, preaching, or leading worship indoors.  Masks are required otherwise for indoor worship.  

Today is the Seventh Sunday of Eastertide.
The Church celebrates the resurrection with a feast of fifty days. On Fridays in Eastertide special acts of discipline and self-denial commemorating the crucifixion of the Lord are not practiced. “Alleluia” is said or sung repeatedly during our liturgy. The Paschal Candle burns throughout Eastertide. The central Christian belief is that Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead. In our worship this is not a past or an abstract reality. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is remembered and made present in our worship and in our common life. “Jesus Christ, yesterday and today, the Beginning and End, Alpha and Omega. His are all times and ages. To him be glory and dominion through all eternity.” “Easter” is the English language name for the Sunday of the Resurrection. In most languages, the given name is some form of the word “Passover.” Easter celebrates the “Passover” of Jesus from death to life.

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Today’s In Person Worship

• Every Sunday at 8am the Eucharist (Rite 1) is celebrated in the Church.  The service is from the red Book of Common Prayer, beginning on page 323, and includes 2 pre-recorded hymns, and lasts about 45 minutes. Weather permitting coffee and tea are available in Garden afterwards.
• Every Sunday at 10am the Eucharist (Rite 2) is celebrated in the Church. The service is from the red Book of Common Prayer, beginning on page 355.  See below for detailed music information.  The service lasts about an hour.  Weather permitting coffee and tea are available in Garden afterwards.
• Please review these Guidelines before attending worship at Christ Church.

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Today’s Live-Stream Worship & Sermon Archives

• You can view the live-stream of Sunday morning services HERE
• Our Sermon and other archives are here: https://www.youtube.com/c/christchurchpelham

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Sunday Offerings & Financial Donations to Christ Church

Christ Church is supported by the generosity of members and friends who donate time, talent, and money to the church to ensure that it is open, staffed, safe, and active. God has given each of us many gifts and we are called to use them to build up the church and to show the spread the love of God to our community. Click on the Donate Button for a variety of ways to support Christ Church, including one-time donations, annual pledges, and raising funds through FaceBook or Amazon.

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Today’s Propers (Collect & Lections from Holy Scripture)

The Collect

O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

The First Lesson
Acts 1:15-17, 21-26

In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, “Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus– for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry. So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us– one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.

The Response
Psalm 1

Beatus vir qui non abiit

1 Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, *
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the seats of the scornful!
2 Their delight is in the law of the Lord, *
and they meditate on his law day and night.
3 They are like trees planted by streams of water,
bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; *
everything they do shall prosper.
4 It is not so with the wicked; *
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes, *
nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, *
but the way of the wicked is doomed.

The Epistle
1 John 5:9-13

If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

The Gospel
John 17:6-19

Jesus prayed for his disciples, “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.”

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Today’s Music
At the 8am and 10am services, the following recorded hymns and anthems will be offered by our full choir:
Hymn: Hail the day that sees him rise, Alleluia!

Anthem: The Easter Song of Praise, by Richard Shephard (b. 1949)
Sing, choirs of heaven! Let saints and angels sing!
Around God’s throne exult in harmony!
Now Jesus Christ is risen from the grave!
Salute your King in glorious symphony!

Sing, choirs of earth! Behold, your light has come!
The glory of the Lord shines radiantly!
Lift up your hearts, for Christ has conquered death!
The night is past; the day of life is here!

Sing, Church of God! Exult with joy outpoured!
The gospel trumpets tell of victory won!
Your Savior lives: he’s with you evermore!
Let all God’s people shout the long Amen!

Words from The Easter Proclamation, metrical form, Common Worship.
Words copyright © 1984, 1986 The Central Board of Finance of the Church of England; The Archbishops’ Council, 1999.
Music copyright © 1988 by The Royal School of Church Music; GIA Publications, Inc., agent in North America. All rights reserved.
Licensed under OneLicense.net A-713125.

Choral Benediction: Peace I leave with you, by Jeffrey Hoffman (b. 1970)
featuring Laurelyn Watson Chase, soprano soloist
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
— John 14: 27, authorized version of 1611 (KJV)

Music © copyright 2016. Used with permission.

 

At the 10am Service the following music selections will be offered  live by Jeffrey Hoffman, organist and choir director, and soprano Laurelyn Watson Chase, our soloist, on Sunday morning:

Organ prelude: IX. Voluntary in G major from Ten Voluntaries, Op. VII by John Stanley (1712-1786)

At the offertory, solo: Air: I know that my Redeemer liveth from Messiah by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.
And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.
For now is Christ risen from the dead, the first-fruits of them that sleep.
— Job 19: 25-26; 1 Corinthians 15: 20, authorized version of 1611 (KJV)

At the communion, hymn: O Lord most high, eternal King

O Lord Most High, eternal King,
by thee redeemed thy praise we sing.
The bonds of death are burst by thee,
and grace has won the victory.

Ascending to the Father’s throne
thou claim’st the kingdom as thine own;
and angels wonder when they see
how changed is our humanity.

Be thou our joy, O Mighty Lord,
as thou wilt be our great reward;
let all our glory be in thee
both now and through eternity.

O risen Christ, ascended Lord,
all praise to thee let earth accord,
who art, while endless ages run,
with Father and with Spirit, One.

Words: Medieval Latin; sts. 1-3, tr. F. Bland Tucker (1895-1984); st. 4, tr. Benjamin Webb (1819-1885)
Music: Gonfalon Royal, Percy Carter Buck (1871-1947).
Words copyright © 1985 by Church Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted under OneLicense.net A-713125.
Music published 1918 by Oxford University Press. Public Domain in the United States.

Organ voluntary: Chorale Prelude on “Gelobt sei Gott” by Healey Willan (1880–1968)
Ye sons and daughters of the King
Whom heavenly hosts in glory sing,
Today the grave has lost its sting:
Alleluia!
Music copyright © 1950 by Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved. Licensed under OneLicense.net A-713125.

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Parish Prayer List

And we give thanks for the 26^th Anniversary of Michael Fawcett and Michael Moynihan (May 16).