
Holy Communion Service in English
Worship Service
Lectionary Theme: Jesus Christ, the co-traveller (Fourth Sunday after Easter)
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Exodus 40:34-38 New International Reader's Version First Lesson
1. The Lord spoke to Moses:
2. On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.
3. You shall put in it the ark of the covenant, and you shall screen the ark with the curtain.
4. You shall bring in the table, and arrange its setting; and you shall bring in the lampstand, and set up its lamps.
5. You shall put the golden altar for incense before the ark of the covenant, and set up the screen for the entrance of the tabernacle.
6. You shall set the altar of burnt offering before the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting,
7. and place the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it.
8. You shall set up the court all around, and hang up the screen for the gate of the court.
9. Then you shall take the anointing oil, and anoint the tabernacle and all that is in it, and consecrate it and all its furniture, so that it shall become holy.
10. You shall also anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar, so that the altar shall be most holy.
11. You shall also anoint the basin with its stand, and consecrate it.
12. Then you shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting, and shall wash them with water,
13. and put on Aaron the sacred vestments, and you shall anoint him and consecrate him, so that he may serve me as priest.
14. You shall bring his sons also and put tunics on them,
15. and anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may serve me as priests: and their anointing shall admit them to a perpetual priesthood throughout all generations to come.
16. Moses did everything just as the Lord had commanded him.
17. In the first month in the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was set up.
18. Moses set up the tabernacle; he laid its bases, and set up its frames, and put in its poles, and raised up its pillars;
19. and he spread the tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent over it; as the Lord had commanded Moses.
20. He took the covenant and put it into the ark, and put the poles on the ark, and set the mercy seat above the ark;
21. and he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the curtain for screening, and screened the ark of the covenant; as the Lord had commanded Moses.
22. He put the table in the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the curtain,
23. and set the bread in order on it before the Lord; as the Lord had commanded Moses.
24. He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle,
25. and set up the lamps before the Lord; as the Lord had commanded Moses.
26. He put the golden altar in the tent of meeting before the curtain,
27. and offered fragrant incense on it; as the Lord had commanded Moses.
28. He also put in place the screen for the entrance of the tabernacle.
29. He set the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering as the Lord had commanded Moses.
30. He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it for washing,
31. with which Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet.
32. When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed; as the Lord had commanded Moses.
33. He set up the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and put up the screen at the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work. The Cloud and the Glory
34. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
35. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
36. Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their journey;
37. but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out until the day that it was taken up.
38. For the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.
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Acts 8:26-40 Second Lesson
26. Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.)
27. So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship
28. and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
29. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.”
30. So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
31. He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.
32. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.
33. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.”
34. The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?”
35. Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.
36. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?”
38. He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
39. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
40. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
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Philippians 3:4-14 Epistle
4. even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more:
5. circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
6. as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.
7. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.
8. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
9. and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.
10. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death,
11. if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Pressing toward the Goal
12. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
13. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
14. I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.
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Luke 24:13-33 Gospel
13. Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem,
14. and talking with each other about all these things that had happened.
15. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them,
16. but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
17. And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad.
18. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?”
19. He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,
20. and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him.
21. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place.
22. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning,
23. and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.
24. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.”
25. Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!
26. Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?”
27. Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
28. As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on.
29. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them.
30. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
31. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.
32. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”
33. That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together.