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New & Featured This Week

The Immediate Word

Thomas Willadsen
Nazish Naseem
Christopher Keating
Katy Stenta
Mary Austin
George Reed
Dean Feldmeyer
For April 19, 2026:

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Prayers usually include these concerns and may follow this sequence:

The Church of Christ

Creation, human society, the Sovereign and those in authority

The local community

Those who suffer

The communion of saints


These responses may be used:


Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Lord, hear us.
Lord, graciously hear us.
Janice B. Scott
Call to Worship:
When Jesus broke bread in a house in Emmaus, the eyes of his companions were opened, and they recognized him. Let us try to recognise Jesus in our worship today.

Invitation to Confession:
Jesus, sometimes I'm unable to see you or to discern your presence.
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus, sometimes I refuse to wait around long enough for you show yourself to me.
Christ, have mercy.
Jesus, sometimes I find it easier to ignore you than to seek for you.
Lord, have mercy.

StoryShare

John S. Smylie
Sandra Herrmann
Contents
What's Up This Week
"Speak the Truth in Love" by John Smylie
"Recognizing the Christ" by Sandra Herrmann


What's Up This Week

SermonStudio

Lee Griess
It is perhaps one of the most compelling narratives in all of the scriptures. So fascinating is this scene, in fact, that the gospel writer Luke includes it in detail near the end of his gospel writing. It is a story known well and beloved in the church -- the story of two disciples walking down a dusty road to the village of Emmaus, the evening of that first Easter day.
Richard L. Sheffield
"People die. Don't ya know." That's what Cleopas and his friend said to Jesus on Easter afternoon on their way home. People die!

Don't believe it? Don't want to believe it? Read about it in The Lima News. And not just in the obits. This is my copy of The Lima News from Good Friday, the day we remember that Jesus died.

Page 1: Cult Died in Shifts

Page 2: A headline so gruesome, let's just say, "Wife kills husband."

Page 3: A list of the dead from page 1, by age, sex, and the state where they got their driver's license.
Richard E. Gribble, CSC
Is the life you lead one for which you want to be remembered? That very challenging and thought-provoking question certainly came to the mind of the famous Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel one day. In the common everyday exercise of reading the morning paper, Nobel discovered the challenge of God and the need for conversion before his very eyes.
Mark Ellingsen
"What happens to you when you die, Dad?" "Of course, son, if you believe in God, you go up to heaven where you will be with God and the angels."
Harry N. Huxhold
A rather insightful novel about the problem of Christian missions to Africa is Barbara Kingsolver's story The Poisonwood Bible. Kingsolver weaves her story around Nathan Price, a fundamentalist, legalistic preacher who takes his wife and four daughters to serve in the heart of the Belgian Congo. While they are there, in l960 Patrice Lumumba emerges as the leader of his people when Belgium grants the Congolese their independence. Soon after, Mobuto comes to power. Nathan Price decides to remain and serve with his family even when the resources of his sponsors are cut off.
Bill Mosley
There's an old Uncle Remus story about Br'er Rabbit. Br'er Fox catches Br'er Rabbit and is fixin' to cook him for supper. Rabbit kinda giggles behind his hand. Fox grabs him by the ear, and says, "Why you laughin'?"

Rabbit says, "Jus' thinkin' 'bout my Laughin' Place." Fox says, "What Laughin' Place?" Rabbit says, "Oh, I cain't tell you about it. I got to show you!"
B. David Hostetter
CALL TO WORSHIP
Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus the Messiah, for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God may call.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Amy C. Schifrin
Martha Shonkwiler
Gathering Litany
Begin instrumental music for the Hymn of Praise when the spoken litany begins. A solo flute would be excellent.
P: Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
C: we rejoice that you have been raised from the dead.
P: Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
C: we rejoice in the gift of your Holy Spirit.
P: Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
C: we rejoice in your promise of baptism.
P: Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven,
C: we rejoice that we are born anew eternally.

Hymn Of Praise

Emphasis Preaching Journal

William H. Shepherd
My friend was overwhelmed by his first church convention. "It's all so big," he wrote in his report. "There is so much going on. I wish I had a manual to instruct me on what to do, where to go, and how to vote."

Someone responded to his report with a letter to an editor. "How sad," said the letter, "that a leader of our church would not know that we Christians already have a manual on how to live the Christian life. It's called the Bible."
The best way to learn about modern culture is to have a teenager; you learn quickly what is valued highly. One of those things that a teenager can teach you is the extreme value of being cool. Now "cool" means different things in different contexts. In general, it means desirable. In talking about clothes, it means fashionable. For 14-year-old boys talking about girls, cool means attractive. But at its root, cool means ... the opposite of hot. It means the opposite of passion. It means looking like nothing will get you stirred up. Like nothing bothers you. Like nothing can affect you.

CSSPlus

Good morning! I have here a newspaper article about a kidnapping. It seems that ... (tell them about the story in the clipping). Now when somebody is kidnapped, the usual reason for kidnapping them is money. The kidnappers want somebody to pay them money to release the prisoner. Does anybody know what we call the money paid to get someone released from the kidnappers? (Let them answer.) It's called a "ransom." A ransom is paid in order to get someone released by the bad guys.
Good morning! Did you know that after Jesus was raised from the dead, he went around showing himself to some of his followers? Some of the disciples saw him and recognized him right away. One of the disciples, Thomas, recognized him but he didn't believe that it was really Jesus. He wanted proof before he would believe.
After the resurrection of Jesus -- but before it was known -- two of his followers were walking along a road. They were sad about the crucifixion and mourning that their friend was gone. Jesus joined them on the road, but they did not recognize him. He challenged their lack of belief in the resurrection. Didn't the prophecies say that the Messiah would be brought back from the dead? Why, then, didn't they believe them? Jesus tells them that they are slow to believe.

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