Sunday,  May 3, 2026
Fifth Sunday of Easter Year A
John 14:1-14 | "Do the Works"

Call to Worship (inspired by Psalm 31)
One: In You, Holy One, we seek sanctuary. In you, Sovereign God, we seek refuge. 
Many: Holy One, for your name's sake lead us and guide us. 
One: You are indeed our rock and our fortress. Our times are in your hands. Strengthen us in your righteousness.
Many: Holy One, for your name's sake lead us and guide us. 
One: Shine upon us this day as we worship you. Saturate us in your steadfast love.
Many: Holy One, for your name's sake lead us and guide us. 

Invocation
Holy and Living God, build us into a spiritual house, a gathering of witnesses for the world and in the world to declare your goodness, to follow in your way, to do the work of your hands, voice, and heart  Renew our spirits as we worship you and bask in your presence. Fill us with your Spirit that we collectively proclaim ourselves as your people, called to the fullness of your glorious and radiant being. Amen.

Prayer for Transformation and New Life
Redeemer of our lives, we come to you knowing that we participate in a world often crushed by tyranny and evil. Our hearts are troubled, overwhelmed, and dismayed. At times, we feel helpless and hopeless by the enormity of the problems presenting all around us. We believe the lie of the enemy that there is nothing that we can do or that someone else is the one to do it. May you, Holy and Righteous One, be glorified in the tumbling of walls cemented in evil and fortified by hate. For this, we pray for courage and resolve to do the works needed in this hour. For this, we pray for faith, trust, and hope to believe that the realm of the possible eclipses the narrow places of improbability. For this, we pray for the boldness to pray for what the world needs and more than our imaginations may hold. Amen.

Words of Grace
Chosen of God, receive the mercy of God, who calls you from despair into hope, from suffering into repair, from hopelessness into resolve. God has given you capacity for strength and compassion. The Holy One journeys with you. Grace is available for you. Know that your prayers are met and amplified by the Spirit, and Christ will lead the way to life and love everlasting on earth as in heaven. 

Invitation to Generosity
Generous ones, you bear the image of the Generous God, who has provided for all needs and gives good gifts. Accept the invitation to share, sacrificially and from abundance, resources needed in this community and by our neighbors throughout the world for the glory of God. 

Prayer of Dedication and Thanksgiving
Generous God, may the gifts that we bring reflect the image we bear. Be glorified through our generosity and the meeting of needs among and beyond us. Amen. 

Benediction
Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in the power of God in you and through you.
Do the work of loving God, neighbor, and self.
Do the work of holding the complexity of life in tension with compassion and care.
Do the work of believing a future with hope is possible.
Do the work of nurturing that hope into a vision and vision into reality.
Do the work of glorifying God by following the way of Christ and praying with our lives.
Do the works. Amen.

Do the Works:  Service Prayers for the Fifth Sunday in Easter Year A was written by the Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Minister for Worship and Theology for the United Church of Christ.