Event details

Join us online for Sunday Worship! The service will have magnificent music provided by Penna Rose, Director of Chapel Music, and Eric Plutz, University Organist and guest musician,  Melody Lindsay ‘13, harpist. The recorded service is available Sunday at 8am here Chapel Service . This service will remain archived after the premiere (along with concerts and other amazing programs), and we encourage you to return to them whenever you might find that to be helpful.

Please note this is a fully virtual event.

Preaching today, Sunday, May 2, is Rev. Dr. Theresa S. Thames, Associate Dean of Religious Life and of the Chapel, Princeton University.

Bulletin for Sunday, May 2, 2021 – Fifth Sunday of Easter

Invitatory: Pieces for a Musical Clock by Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Welcome and Announcements: Dean Thames

Call to Worship: Dean Boden

Reading: Acts 8:26-40 (Read by Jonathan A. Ort ’21)

Then an angel of God 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.) 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 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 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. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 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?” He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 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. 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.

Anthem: For the Beauty of the Earth by Philip Stopford (b. 1977)

Reading: 1 John 4:7-21

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent God’s only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us and sent Jesus to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and God’s love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in God and God in us, because God has given us of God’s Spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Creator has sent Jesus as the Savior of the world. God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because God first loved us. Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their siblings, are liars; for those who do not love a sibling whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from God is this: those who love God must love their siblings also.

Sermon: “Friend Request” by Dean Thames

Hymn: Sun of My Soul, O Savior Dear (Hursley)

Sun of my soul, O Savior dear, it is not night if you are near; O may no earthborn cloud arise to hide you from your servant’s eyes.

Watch by the sick; enrich the poor with blessings from your boundless store; be every mourner’s sleep tonight, like infants’ slumbers, pure and light.

Come near and bless us when we wake, as through the world our way we take, till through your love which knows no end we gain at last the peace of heaven.

Pastoral Prayer

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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer for Princeton: O Eternal God, the source of life and light for all peoples, we pray you would endow this University with your grace and wisdom: give inspiration and understanding to those who teach and to those who learn; grant vision to its trustees and administrators; to all who work here and to all who bear her name give your guiding Spirit of sacrificial courage and loving service.  Amen.

Anthem: The Voice of My Beloved Sounds (Spring) from Melodious Accord arranged by Alice Parker (b.1925) with Melody Lindsay ‘13, harpist

Benediction

Voluntary: Sinfonia to Cantata No. 29, "We Thank Thee, God," BWV 29 by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

The University Chapel is a welcoming community of faith.  We gather to sing God's praises, to hear God's living Word, to seek justice, and to proclaim God's love for all people.

University Chapel Staff: The Rev. Alison L. Boden, Ph.D., Dean of Religious Life and of the Chapel; The Rev. Dr. Theresa S. Thames, Associate Dean of Religious Life and of the Chapel; Penna Rose, Director of Chapel Music; Eric Plutz, University Organist; Elizabeth Powers, Chapel Administrator; Alexandra Miller-Knaack, Seminarian Intern; Edgar Gomez, Sexton; Lisa McGurr, Sexton

Calendar: All events are fully virtual and available online at chapel.princeton.edu

Sunday, May 9, 2021, University Chapel Service.  Student Appreciation Sunday.

For additional information, please visit chapel.princeton.edu or call 609-258-3047.