BETHEL COLLEGE MENNONITE CHURCH
May 4, 2025
Third Sunday of Easter

Christ Candle Lighting

Centering Music—Lift High the Cross (Weber)—Karen Unruh
Land Acknowledgement—Jim Robb
Welcome & Prayer 
*Hymn—I Know That My Redeemer Lives (verses 1-4)—VT 347
Children and Youth Conversation—Deb Gering 
Worship Music—Do Lord, O Do Lord (Bill Ingram)—Chancel Bells, Verlene Garber, director 
Scripture Reading—John 21:1-19—Dorothy Nickel Friesen
*Hymn—Seeking Warmth from Charcoal Blazing—VT 344
Sermon—From the Miraculous to the Mundane—Nathan Koontz
*Hymn—Now the Green Blade Rises—VT 353   
Prayers of God’s People 
*Hymn—The Risen Christ—VT 345
(During the hymn those with April birthdays come forward to receive a birthday blessing.) 
*Birthday Blessing and Benediction  
Postlude–“Excerpts from The Best of John Williams” (arr. Wagner)
                                     (“May the Fourth be With You”)–Chancel Bells

*You are invited to stand
VT—Voices Together
Audio visual—Francis Toews

Land Acknowledgement  from words by Mark Charles and VT #878 
As we do on the first Sunday of each month,  
  we acknowledge that we worship  
  on the land of the Kanza, Osage, and Wichita.   
We thank them for their care and respect for this land      
  and acknowledge the injustice of their forced removal. 
We ask the Spirit to heal our histories 
  and find new paths of right relationships with them 
  and all of creation.   

GOING BEYOND LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
From the Repair Coalition:  
“While the Supreme Court has yet to take any action on the Apache Stronghold case, the federal government on Thursday, April 17, 2025, announced that it plans as early as June 16, 2025 to publish a final environmental impact statement and begin moving forward with the transfer and destruction of Oak Flat.  On Friday, April 18, Becket Law filed a letter with the Supreme Court explaining that this makes it even more urgent for the Court to hear the case. 
Thanks to the federal government’s haste, Apache Stronghold now has legal standing to request an injunction, a legal order for ‘the courts to stop this move in its tracks and ensure justice can be delivered before Oak Flat is permanently destroyed,’ with the District Court as another avenue in case the Supreme Court decides to not hear Apache Stronghold’s case.”
BCMC Task Group will be organizing a prayer vigil and letter writing campaign next week on behalf of the Apache Stronghold and Oak Flat. Watch for a request for your help!  “May we lament all that has been and is destroying life.”