Author: THERESA JACOBSON

Sixth Sunday of Easter	May 10, 2026
Prayer of the Day
O God, all good things can come from you alone; generously consider then our humble prayers. Inspire us to consider what is true, and direct us to accomplish what is right; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord. He lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
First Reading: Acts 17:16-31
^16Now while Paul was waiting for {Silas and Timothy} at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. ^17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. ^18Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities” — because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. ^19And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? ^20For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” ^21Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. ^22So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. ^23For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. ^24The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, ^25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. ^26And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, ^27that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, ^28for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ ^29Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. ^30The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, ^31because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”
Psalm 66:7-18*
^7Bless our | God, you peoples;*
	make the voice of his praise | to be heard;
^8Who holds our | souls in life,*
	and will not allow our | feet to slip.
^9For you, O | God, have proved us;*
	you have tried us just as sil- | ver is tried.
^10You brought us in- | to the snare;*
	you laid heavy burdens up- | on our backs.
^11You let enemies ride over our heads; we went through | fire and water;*
	 but you brought us out into a place | of refreshment.
^12I will enter your house with burnt offerings and will pay | you my vows,*
	 which I promised with my lips and spoke with my mouth when I | was in trouble.
^13I will offer you sacrifices of fat beasts with the | smoke of rams;*
	I will give you ox- | en and goats.
^14Come and listen, all you | who fear God,*
	and I will tell you what he has | done for me.
^15I called out to him | with my mouth,*
	and his praise was | on my tongue.
^16If I had found evil | in my heart,*
	the Lord would | not have heard me;
^17But in truth | God has heard me;*
	he has attended to the voice | of my prayer.
^18Blessed be God, who has not reject- | ed my prayer,*
	nor withheld his | love from me.
Psalm 66:8-20 (ESV)
^8Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of his praise be heard,
^9who has kept our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip.
^10For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried.
^11You brought us into the net; you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
^12you let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.
^13I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will perform my vows to you,
^14that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
^15I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. 
^16Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
^17I cried to him with my mouth, and high praise was on my tongue.
^18If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
^19But truly God has listened; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
^20Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me!
Second Reading: 1 Peter 3:13-22
^13Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? ^14But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, ^15but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, ^16having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. ^17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. ^18For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, ^19in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, ^20because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. ^21Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ^22who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.
Gospel: John 14:15-21
^15{Jesus said,} “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ^16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, ^17even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. ^18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. ^19Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. ^20In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ^21Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
Lessons for Next Week:
Acts 1:12-26; Psalm 68:1-10; 1 Peter 4:12-19, 5:6-11; John 17:1-11
* The Book of Common Prayer verse numbers for this psalm are different from the numbering in the ESV.