Easter 07 B

As We Gather

On the eve of His Passion, Christ Jesus interceded for the disciples as their High Priest, asking His Father to protect and preserve them in His name. Then, by His self-sacrifice upon the cross, Christ consecrated Himself for the sake of His disciples, “that they also may be sanctified in truth.” To that same end, He gives them His Father’s Word, that is, Himself. His apostles, in turn, have written these things to you, “that you may know that you have eternal life.” By this testimony, disciples of all times are gathered as one Body in Christ, prayerfully waiting upon the Lord in “the upper room” of His Church on earth.

—www.LCMS.org

Introit (Psalm 27:1a, 4–5, 10, 14; antiphon: Psalm 27:7)

P:
Hear, O Lord, when I | cry aloud;* be gracious to me and | answer me!
C:
The Lord is my light and my sal- | vation;* whom | shall I fear?

P:
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek | after:* that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his | temple;*
C:
For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of | trouble;* he will conceal me under the cover of his tent' he will lift me high up- | on a rock.

P:
For my father and my mother have for- | saken me,* but the Lord will | take me in.
C:
Wait | for the Lord;* be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait | for the Lord!

C:
Glory be to the Father and | to the Son* and to the Holy | Spirit; as it was in the be- | ginning,* is now and will be forever. | Amen.

Collect of the Day

O King of glory, Lord of hosts, uplifted in triumph far above all heavens, leave us not without consolation but send us the Spirit of truth, whom You promised from the Father; for You live and reign with Him and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Acts 1:12–26

The first lesson is from Acts, chapter one.

Then [the apostles] returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120) and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) “For it is written in the Book of Psalms, ‘May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’; and ‘Let another take his office.’ 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 men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” And they put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show 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 numbered with the eleven apostles.

1 John 5:9–15

The Epistle is from First John, chapter five.

If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that 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, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

This is the word of the Lord.

John 17:11b–19

The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the seventeenth chapter.

Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Psalm 1

P:
Blessèd is the man who walks not in the counsel of the | wicked,* nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of | scoffers;
C:
But his delight is in the law | of the Lord,* and on his law he meditates | day and night.

P:
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not | wither.* In all that he does, he | prospers.
C:
The wicked | are not so,* but are like chaff that the wind | drives away.

P:
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the | judgment,* nor sinners in the congregation of the | righteous;
C:
For the Lord knows the way of the | righteous,* but the way of the wicked will | perish.

C:
Glory be to the Father and | to the Son* and to the Holy | Spirit; as it was in the be- | ginning,* is now and will be forever. | Amen.