• Ushers: Please make sure that everyone is aware of our newsletter, "In The Loupe," on Sunday mornings. We do not print enough for every single person, but there are plenty for each family to have a copy. It is especially important that visitors have a copy to take with them. Thank you!

• Greeters: Please stand at the bottom of the west stairs on Sunday mornings when greeting. When you stand at the top of the stairs, it gets a little crowded and confusing since ushers are up there, too. Perhaps you could also suggest that folks pick up a copy of "In The Loupe" OR perhaps you'd be willing to have a few copies with you so that if someone wants a copy, they can grab one. Thank you!

• Mothers' Day is May 13

• Meals on Wheels: May 14-18

• Summer schedule begins May 27: one service each Sunday at 9:30 a.m.

• Diamond Lake offices will be closed Monday, May 28, 2012
  (Memorial Day observance)

• Fathers' Day is June 17

• Faith Statements by Confirmands (9:30 a.m. / Lakeview Room)

• A perfect song for spring: The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams, a tone poem based on the poem by George Meredith.

• Lutheran Social Service eNewsletter

• The Parish Paper (May)

• Vibrant Faith Ministries at Home eNewsletter

• Lorax Scavenger Hunt (for li'l ones)

• Please keep the following people in your prayers:

  • John Anderson (Debbie Bergman’s cousin)*

  • Adyn Clausen (Chris Clausen’s nephew)*

  • Fred Myren

  • Adam Nelson

  • Lynne Soderlund

  *Gustavus stdents involved in a head-on collision while driving to Florida for spring break (2 weeks ago).

• Tools for Youth Trip (Joplin) & Habitat for Humanity.

• Toilet paper for Welcome Home.

• Groceries for Emergency Foodshelf Network (grocery bags with a list of requested items are at The Welcome Center)

• Linens, etc. for Our Saviour's (Wish List)

• Lots of stuff going on this week - be sure to check the Diamond Lake calendar!

  • Faith Statements (9:30) & Confirmation (11:00), Sunday, May 6
  • Bell Choir Rehearsals (Mon.)
  • Men's Golf League begins (Mon.)
  • Bingo & Barbeque (Wed.)
  • The Fish Bowl (Wed.)
  • Congregational Dinner (Wed. - Lowry / Jacobi)
  • Spirit & Youth Choirs (6:30 p.m.), Senior Choir (7:30 p.m.) (Wed.)
  • Check out the Bend in the River Band (Chuck Linderkamp) schedule

• Youth & Senior choir @ 11:00 worship (Confirmation)

• CATCH THE SPIRIT! (Spirit CHOIR, that is.) Kids in grades 3-5 rehearse on Wed. evenings 6:30. Mrs. Mested is doing FUN stuff and singing FUN songs. Be there or be square and, hey, bring a friend!

• Confirmation is May 6: Faith Statements @ 9:30, Confirmation @ 11:00

• Youth Choir will sing on May 6 (Confirmation) at the 11:00 a.m. sercvice and June 3 (Youth Choir Sunday) at the 9:30 a.m. service.

FIRST READING: Acts 8:26–40

Led by the Spirit, Philip encounters an Ethiopian official who is returning to his African home after having been to Jerusalem to worship. Philip uses their encounter to proclaim the gospel to him. Upon coming to faith in Jesus, the Ethiopian is baptized by Philip.

²⁶Then 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.) ²⁷So 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 ²⁸and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it." ³⁰So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" ³¹He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. ³²Now 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. ³³In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth."
³⁴The eunuch asked Philip, "About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?" ³⁵Then 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?" ³⁸He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹When 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. ⁴⁰But 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.

PSALM: 22:25–31

²⁵From you comes my praise in the great assembly;
I will perform my vows in the sight of those who fear the Lord.

²⁶The poor shall eat and be satisfied,
Let those who seek the Lord give praise!
May your hearts live forever!

²⁷All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord;
all the families of nations shall bow before God.

²⁸For dominion belongs to the Lord,
who rules over the nations.

²⁹Indeed, all who sleep in the earth shall bow down in worship;
all who go down to the dust, though they be dead,
shall kneel before the Lord.

³⁰Their descendants shall serve the Lord,
whom they shall proclaim to generations to come.

³¹They shall proclaim God's deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying to them, "The Lord has acted!"

SECOND READING: 1 John 4:7–21

We love God and others because God first loved us. We cannot say we love God, whom we have not seen, while hating fellow Christians, whom we regularly see. Love toward God is to be matched by love toward others because the essence of God is love.

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. ¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

¹³By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. ¹⁵God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. ¹⁶So 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. ¹⁷Love 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. ¹⁸There 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. ¹⁹We love because he first loved us. ²⁰Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. ²¹The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

GOSPEL: John 15:1–8

On the night of his arrest, Jesus taught his disciples about the relationship they would have with him. Those who abide in his word and love would bear fruit, for apart from him, they could do nothing.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. ²He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. ³You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples

Diamond Lake Servant Schedule

Diamond Lake Lutheran Church

Sunday Bulletin

In The Loupe

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