Worship for May 21, 2023

The video will stream live beginning a few minutes before 10:00 AM on Sunday, May 21, 2023. You may need to click Play to launch the stream. You can also watch the recorded video at this same place at any time afterward.

Welcome to Church of the Holy Cross’s live stream of its worship service for Sunday, May 21, 2023. Feel free to follow the service text by scrolling down. You are welcome to attend worship in person or to participate via live stream or recorded video.

Service of Worship, May 21, 2023
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Teacher Appreciation and Graduate Recognition Sunday

Rev. Eric S. Anderson, Pastor      

WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD

Please note that audio and video of this service are being live streamed on the Internet and will be recorded. The right rear section of the sanctuary will not be captured by any cameras. Please be aware that in other sections you may be visible at times.

Prelude: They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love             Kayleen Yuda

Lighting of the Candles

Ringing of the Bell

Welcome                                                                                                    Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Moment of Concern                                                                              Barbara Iwami

*Please rise if you are able

* Call to Worship: (based on Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35)                 Woody Kita

Leader: Sing to God, sing praises to God’s name!
People: Let us exult before God; let us be jubilant with joy.

Leader: Sing to God, sing praises to God’s name!
People: We raise our song to the One who rides upon the clouds, in whom we exult.

Leader: Sing to God, O nations of the Earth; sing praises to the LORD!
People: Awesome is God in the sanctuary, the One who gives power to the people.

All: Blessed be God!

* Hymn #257: Alleluia! Gracious Jesus! (v. 1-4)

* Invocation: (based on 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11)                       Woody Kita

We humble ourselves before you, mighty God. We cast our cares upon you, because we know you care for us. The world is filled with stresses and distractions and dangers. They prowl like a carnivore seeking something to devour. Restore, support, strengthen, and establish us, O God of all grace. To you be the power forever and ever. Amen.

Please be seated

Anthem: Sonatine Op. 266 No. 1 1^st mvt.                                        Kanako Okita

Recognition of Graduates and Appreciation of Teachers

Scripture: Acts 1:6-14                                                                           Woody Kita

So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He replied, ‘It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’ When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up towards heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up towards heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son ofJames. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.

John 17:1-11
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

 ‘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.

Sermon: Looking Up                                                                              Rev. Eric S. Anderson

WE RESPOND IN WORD AND DEED

Pastoral Prayer                                                                                       Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen

* Hymn #506: What a Friend We Have in Jesus (v. 1-3)

Call to Offering                                                                                        Woody Kita

We do not and cannot know the pathways of the future. We cannot change the directions of the past. What we can do is to make a difference in the present through our actions, through our words, and through our gifts. In this present time, make a difference. Whether you share your gift here in the church today, through a gift online, or via an envelope in the mail, let the offering now be received.

Offertory: Canzonet                                                                                Kayleen Yuda

* Doxology
Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost – Amen

* Offertory Prayer                                                                                 Woody Kita

You look to us, O God, for our faithful discipleship. Accept these gifts, we pray, as a part of our commitment to Jesus, his ways, and his Church. May we use them as faithfully as we give them. Amen.

* Hymn #259: A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing (v. 1-3)

Please be seated

Announcements                                                                                     Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Benediction                                                                                              Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Postlude: Rejoice, the Lord is King                                                   Kayleen Yuda

* Please stand if you are able.

Permissions

They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love
Peter Scholtes
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

Alleluia! Gracious Jesus
Text by William C. Dix, 1867
Tune HYRFRYDOL by Rowland H. Prichard, 1844
Arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1906
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

Sonatine Op. 266 No. 1 1^st mvt.
Heinrich Lichner
Public Domain

What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Text by Joseph Scriven, 1855
Tune ERIE by Charles C. Converse, 1868
Public Domain

Canzonet
Steward Landon
Tune: © 1949 Lorenz Publishing Company,
a division of The Lorenz Corporation
(Admin. by Music Services)
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing
Text by the Venerable Bede, 8^th cent.
Trans. by Elizabeth R. Charles (1858) & Benjamin Webb (1854)
Tune DEO GRACIAS English 15^th cent.
Arr. E. Power Biggs & Richard Proulx, 1985
© 1985 by G.I.A. Publications
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

Rejoice, the Lord is KingJohn Darwall, Arr. Albin Whitworth
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

Dates to Remember
Today, May 21 – Deacons Meeting after worship service

Pastor                                                                                  Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Moderator                                                                         Stefan Tanouye
Lay Reader                                                                        Woody Kita
Choir Accompanist                                                        Kanako Okita
Choir Director                                                                 Doug Albertson
Organist                                                                             Kayleen Yuda
Hand Bell Director                                                        Anna Kennedy
Chapel Decorations                                                       Ann Kanahele
Childcare Coordinator                                                Evonne Shioshita
Movement Leader                                                         Genie Phillips
Projected Imagery                                                        Sue Smith
Web Master                                                                      Ruth Niino-DuPonte  
Videographers                                                                Eric Tanouye, Bob Smith,
                                                                                                Eli Yamaki, Ruth Niino-DuPonte