Opening Hymn
Opening Sentence
Christ yesterday, today, tomorrow
the beginning and the end,
Alpha and Omega, all time belongs to Christ, and all ages;
to him be glory and power, through every age and forever. Amen.
Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and to you no secrets are hid. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may truly love you and worthily magnify your holy name, through Christ our Lord. AMEN.
Lighting the Easter Candle
Member of the Congregation:
Light breaks through the darkness — death does not get the last word.
Love is stronger than fear, and life rises where we thought all was lost.
People:
Christ is alive and so are we!
An acolyte or child lights the Easter Candle.
Easter Canticle
The Collect of the Day
Our God is with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray.
God of life beyond all endings, you said “no” to death and “yes” to life in Jesus. Today we celebrate not just what you have done, but what you are still doing. Lift us out of what holds us down,
wake us up to your Spirit moving in us, and send us out as people who live like resurrection is real, through Jesus Christ, alive and at work in the world, with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
The Ministry of the Word
Jeremiah 31: 1-6
“And when that happens,” says God,
“it will be plain as the sun at high noon:
I’ll be the God of every man, woman, and child in Israel
and they shall be my very own people.”
This is the way God put it:
“They found grace out in the desert,
these people who survived the killing.
Israel, out looking for a place to rest,
met God out looking for them!”
God told them, “I’ve never quit loving you and never will.
Expect love, love, and more love!
And so now I’ll start over with you and build you up again,
dear virgin Israel.
You’ll resume your singing,
grabbing tambourines and joining the dance.
You’ll go back to your old work of planting vineyards
on the Samaritan hillsides,
And sit back and enjoy the fruit—
oh, how you’ll enjoy those harvests!
The time’s coming when watchmen will call out
from the hilltops of Ephraim:
‘On your feet! Let’s go to Zion,
go to meet our God!’”
Hear what God’s Spirit is saying to you. To you! I am listening!
Psalm 118
Thank God for being good,
because God’s love never quits.
Tell the world, Israel,
“God’s love never quits.”
God’s my strength, he’s also my song,
and now he’s my salvation.
Hear the shouts, hear the triumph songs
in the camp of the saved?
“The hand of God has turned the tide!
The hand of God is raised in victory!
The hand of God has turned the tide!”
I didn’t die. I lived!
And now I’m telling the world what God did.
God tested me, pushed me hard,
but didn’t hand me over to Death.
Swing wide the city gates—the righteous gates!
I’ll walk right through and thank God!
This Temple Gate belongs to God,
so the victors can enter and praise.
Thank you for responding to me;
you’ve truly become my salvation!
The stone the masons discarded as flawed
is now the capstone!
This is God’s work.
We rub our eyes—we can hardly believe it!
This is the very day God acted—
let’s celebrate and be festive!
Salvation now, God. Salvation now!
Oh yes, God—a free and full life!
Colossians 3: 1-4
So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from Christ’s perspective.
Your old life is as dead as a doornail. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. Christ is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.
Hear what God’s Spirit is saying to our community. We are so grateful!
Gradual Hymn
John 20: 1-18
The Awesome News of our Saviour Jesus Christ according to John.
Glory to you, Lord Christ.
Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, gasping for breath. “They took the Master from the tomb. We don’t know where they’ve put him.”
Peter and the other disciple left immediately for the tomb. They ran, neck and neck. The other disciple got to the tomb first, outrunning Peter. Stooping to look in, he saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there, but he didn’t go in. Simon Peter arrived after him, entered the tomb, observed the linen cloths lying there, and the kerchief used to cover his head not lying with the linen cloths but separate, neatly folded by itself. Then the other disciple, the one who had gotten there first, went into the tomb, took one look at the evidence, and believed. No one yet knew from the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. The disciples then went back home.
But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus’ body had been laid. They said to her, “Woman, why do you weep?”
“They took my Master,” she said, “and I don’t know where they put him.” After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn’t recognize him.
Jesus spoke to her, “Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?”
She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, “Sir, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him.”
Jesus said, “Mary.”
Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” meaning “Teacher!”
Jesus said, “Don’t cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: “I saw the Master!” And she told them everything he said to her.
The Gospel of Our Jesus. Praise to you, Lord Christ.
The Sermon
A Contemporary Creed
Because We Believe
Words adapted from Because We Believe, Don Moen
We believe in God the Father
We believe in Christ the Son
We believe in the Holy Spirit
We are the Church
And we stand as one
Holy holy, Holy is our God
Worthy worthy, Worthy is our King
All glory and honor are His to receive
To Jesus we sing, because we believe
We believe in the Living Scriptures
We believe in all peoples’ worth.
We believe in the resurrection, That Christ calls us
To protect the Earth.
Holy holy, Holy is our God
Worthy worthy, Worthy is our King
All glory and honor are His to receive
To Jesus we sing, because we believe.
We believe it’s love that saves us
That we’re all meant for divine rebirth.
We believe that beyond our vision
Is a boundless realm of joy and mirth.
Holy holy, Holy is our God
Worthy worthy, Worthy is our King
All glory and honor are His to receive
To Jesus we sing, because we believe.
Amen.
The Prayers of the People
We know that when we center our minds and hearts and welcome God’s Presence among us, extraordinary things happen. Let us pray: May each of us be aware of the Spirit of God within us today and respond to the Good News.
God, we are praying.
Let us pray for world peace, especially in those places devastated by violence: in Palestine, Iran, Ukraine and Sudan, in homes torn by domestic violence, wherever fists and weapons are used to injure and kill.
God, we are praying.
Let us pray for inner peace. For a relief to crippling anxiety and to deadening complacency. For insight, for challenge, for comfort, for the knowledge that we are not alone.
God, we are praying.
Let us pray for an abundance of health, for prosperity, and for joy for all. For children around the world, and for the families that love them. For couples, extended families, and single persons, aunts and uncles by blood and spirit, friends and pets, work colleagues, mentors, and those whom we can influence and support.
God, we are praying.
Let us pray for the world, in this profoundly troubled time. For the leaders of this country and all countries, that they respect the rule of law, uphold civil and human rights, roll back prejudice and hatred, and truly work for the wellbeing of all and for the planet’s future.
God, we are praying!
Let us pray for those we love who may be facing troubles with health or life. For those who may be sick, suffering or troubled. For those who have lost jobs or need work For the challenges and dangers that we face. I invite you to add your own petitions, either silently or aloud.
(Silence)
Let us pray also for those we love who have died, naming them silently or aloud. (Silence) Together, let us say,
God, we are praying.
We lift up these prayers in the belief that we are bonded in God’s Spirit with everything that exists. We pray with faith and confidence.
Amen.
The Peace
Leader: Let us greet each other in the name of our Lord Christ. May Christ’s peace be with you, always.
And also with you.
Announcements
The Holy Communion
Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:2
During the Offertory, a hymn, psalm, or anthem may be sung.
Doxology
(Words: Isaac Watts (1674-1748), para. of Psalm 117; Music: Old 100th, melody from Pseaumes octante trois de David, 1551, alt.; harm. after Louis Bourgeois (1510?-1561?); Licensed for Use: CCLI Copyright License 20716203; CCLI Streaming License 20716210
The Great Thanksgiving
May God be with you
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to God.
Now let us give thanks to God.
Our Sustainer, Healer and Redeemer.
We give thanks and rejoice that Jesus lived, loved, died and lives on in God and among those who follow him. We rejoice that Jesus lives, as we all do, in the reality we call God.
We believe that death is not the end, but rather a transformation into new possibilities. Nothing that exists is ever completely destroyed. A star exploding or a leaf falling: both offer new possibilities and live on in ways unknown to stars and leaves.
Winter gives way to spring. What is once lifeless now abounds with life, new possibilities and delights. We, too, experience new possibilities arising from our failures or disappointments or what has come to an end.
We give thanks for all the influences in our lives that have helped us see beyond the present, that have called us to live in hope and trust whatever endings we have experienced.
We give thanks for Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus the Christ, who inspired us to put our hope and trust in Life and Love. We give thanks for the way he opened our minds and hearts to see and appreciate the deep and never-ending presence of God, who is Love.
We give thanks for the spirit of new life active in our lives as it was in the life of Jesus.
At this Easter gathering, we take bread, as Jesus took bread, and we remember, as Jesus remembered, God’s constant presence, as we say together the words he said:
Take, eat. This is my body, given for you. Do this to remember me.
We take wine and drink, as Jesus invited his friends to drink, mindful that God is love and trust, as we say together the words he said:
Drink this, all of you. This is my blood, poured out for you. Drink this to remember me.
We believe, with Jesus, that beyond pain and darkness and death is life unending, fresh, new meaning.
We believe that God sends a sacred spirit on these gifts that we offer, and turns them into God’s own body and blood.
We break and share this bread, as Jesus broke and shared it.
We share it as our pledge of openness to God in our midst, in acknowledgment of our eternal connection with the spirit of life.
Mindful of God’s great compassion, let us fill our hearts with compassion – towards ourselves and towards all living beings.
May all living beings realize that they are kin, all nourished from the same source of life.
May we ourselves cease to be the cause of suffering to each other.
May we live in a way which will not deprive other beings of air, water, food, shelter, or the chance to live.
With humility, with awareness of the existence of life, and of the sufferings that are going on around us, let us pray for the establishment of peace in our hearts and on earth.
For the journey that life has been, Amen.
for all that life is for us now, Amen.
for all that the future holds, Amen.
and for the mystery of life beyond death. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
And now, in the words that Jesus taught us, we pray:
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.
Lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.
Breaking of the Bread
Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Alleluia, Alleluia!
Therefore let us keep the feast. Alleluia, Alleluia!
These are the gifts of God for you, the people of God.
Post-Communion Prayer
Precious Savior, out of your abundance you have fed us what we need, sparing none of your good gifts in Jesus Christ. Thank you, Lord. Now may we live as you taught us to, open to the depth of your presence in our lives and the lives of all, and ready to follow where You lead. AMEN.
Blessing
Let’s extend our hands over one another for a final blessing:
May we all have the power to live life fully, the grace and passion to love generously, and the courage to be all we can be!
And the blessing of God, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of all, be with you now and always. Amen.
Closing Hymn
Dismissal
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Alleluia, Alleluia!
Thanks be to God, Alleluia, Alleluia!