Worship Guide
March 31, 2024
Easter Sunday
Creating Disciples of Jesus who Transform the World
ENTRANCE WITH PRAISE
Greetings:
Minister: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!
People: And also with you!
Opening:
Very early, still in darkness, we set out. Sorrowful, uncertain, knowing only our loss, we return to the tomb in our anguish and our love. Love looks back at us and calls us by name. You are seeking Jesus, who died on the cross. He has been raised. He is not here in your loss. The tomb could not hold him. Risen, he goes before you with new life from the world.
Special Music: “He’s Alive” Meagan
Centering Words:
Are you searching tombs and memories for Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified? Open your eyes to wonder. Our God is full of surprises.
*Call to Worship:
Leader: This very day, God has acted.
People: Today, we will rejoice and be glad!
Leader: We know the message that God sends to all people.
People: God’s peace, preached by Jesus Christ, is available to all through the Lord of life.
Leader: The one who lived among us,
People: doing good and healing all,
Leader: was crucified, dead and buried.
People: But God raised him on the third day.
Leader: This very day, God has acted.
People: Today, we will rejoice and be glad!
Leader: Let us pray.
ALL: God, just as you raised Jesus from the dead, you offer us new and transformed lives in the risen Christ.
We rejoice and give thanks for this good news, which has been handed down to us from generation to generation.
May we, too, be witnesses of Jesus, who you anointed with the Holy Spirit to bring blessings of mercy and healing.
May we be witnesses of Jesus’ suffering and death, and how he meets us in the broken places of our lives.
Most of all, may we be witnesses of the resurrection, sharing your promise of forgiveness and grace with all people.
This is your doing, O God.
It is marvelous in our eyes. Amen.
Hymn: “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today”
Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!
Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!
Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!
Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!
Soar we now where Christ hath led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!
Hail, the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail, the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!
King of glory, soul of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing and thus to love, Alleluia!
PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD
Words of Assurance
Beloved of God, the grace of God is with you, and God’s grace has not been in vain.
Receive forgiveness and mercy through the name of Jesus Christ.
Praise God! Amen
Special Music: “Blessed Assurance” Charles
*New Testament Reading: Acts 10:34-43
34 Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. 37 That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39 We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; 40 but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
WORD AND RESPONSE
Special Music: “Jesus Does” Stefanie & Charles
Time with Young Friends: “Jesus Loves Me”
Children’s Message: “The Best News”
Hymn: “Easter Alleluia”
Alleluia alleluia, alleluia!
Glory to God who does wondrous things,
let all the people God's praises now sing,
all of creation in splendour shall ring: Alleluia!
Alleluia alleluia, alleluia!
See how salvation for all has been won,
up from the grave our new life has begun,
life now perfected in Jesus, the Son: Alleluia!
Alleluia alleluia, alleluia!
Now in our presence the Lord will appear,
shine in the faces of all of us here,
fill us with joy and cast out all our fear:
Alleluia!
Alleluia alleluia, alleluia!
Call us, Good Shepherd we listen for you,
wanting to see you in all that we do,
we would the gate of salvation pass through: Alleluia!
Alleluia alleluia, alleluia!
Lord, we are open to all that you say,
ready to listen and follow your way,
you are the potter and we are the clay:
Alleluia!
Alleluia alleluia, alleluia!
If we have love, then we dwell in the Lord,
God will protect us from fire and sword,
fill us with love and the peace of his word!
Alleluia
Alleluia alleluia, alleluia!
Sermon: “You Are Looking for Jesus” Mark 16:1-8
1 When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. 2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. 3 They had been saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” 4 When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. 6 But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” 8 So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
RESPONSE TO THE WORD
Hymn: “In the Garden”
I come to the garden alone
while the dew is still on the roses,
and the voice I hear falling on my ear,
The Son of God discloses.
And he walks with me, and he talks with me,
and he tells me I am his own;
and the joy we share as we tarry there,
none other has ever known.
He speaks, and the sound of his voice,
is so sweet the birds hush their singing,
and the melody that he gave to me
within my heart is ringing.
And he walks with me, and he talks with me,
and he tells me I am his own;
and the joy we share as we tarry there,
none other has ever known.
I’d stay in the garden with him
though the night around me be falling,
but he bids me go; thru the voice of woe
his voice to me is calling.
And he walks with me, and he talks with me,
and he tells me I am his own;
and the joy we share as we tarry there,
none other has ever known.
Special Music: “How Can It Be” Meagan
Prayers of the People: Joys and concerns
Silent Prayer, Pastoral Prayer
SENDING FORTH
Hymn: “Because He Lives”
God sent his Son, they called him Jesus;
he came to love, heal, and forgive;
he lived and died to buy my pardon,
an empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.
Because he lives, I can face tomorrow;
because he lives, all fear is gone;
because I know he holds the future,
and life is worth a living just because he lives
How sweet to hold a newborn baby;
and feel the pride and the joy that he gives;
but greater still, the calm assurance,
this child can face uncertain days because he lives.
Because he lives, I can face tomorrow;
because he lives, all fear is gone;
because I know he holds the future,
and life is worth a living just because he lives
And then one day, I'll cross that river;
I'll fight life's final war with pain;
and then as death gives way to victory,
I'll see the lights of glory and I'll know he reigns.
Because he lives, I can face tomorrow;
because he lives, all fear is gone;
because I know he holds the future,
and life is worth a living just because he lives
Benediction
