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Easter Sunday - April 17, 2022

Join us in person or live-streamed at 10AM or find our recorded service at your convenience. Details on our Worship page. Service words are below.

Prelude: I Looked Up


Acknowledgement

Welcome


Gathering Hymn: CP 203 Jesus Christ is Risen Today


GATHERING

Jesus Christ is Risen from the dead. Alleluia

Rejoice heavenly powers! Sing choirs of angels! Alleluia

Christ our King is risen. Alleluia

Exult, all creation! Rejoice, O earth, in shining splendour! Alleluia

Christ our King is risen. Alleluia


Christ has conquered! Glory fills you!

Christ our King is risen. Alleluia


Darkness vanishes forever! Christ dispels the darkness of our night! Alleluia

Christ our King is risen. Alleluia


COLLECT

God unlimited by mortal fear or the tomb’s cold grip: in the lingering dark give us grace to know your life triumphant, your love undimmed, and your grace affirmed in the face of Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead. Amen. (Prayers for an Inclusive Church (2009) alt.)


LENTEN CANDLE LITURGY, EASTER SUNDAY

Proclamation

The light which the world tried to extinguish cannot be put out. Today we light the candles again, proclaiming the transforming power of God. As the light returns, we give thanks that God’s transforming love has been, is now, and will ever be at work within us. Today we celebrate: new life, new joy, new possibilities. Christ is alive and living among us!


As we light the candles, we acknowledge that there is still pain and suffering in the world, but we place our trust in God and in the way shown by Jesus Christ.

In the midst of darkness, there is light.

In the pain of death, there is life.

In the face of what appear to us to be overwhelming odds, God is at work in us and in the world, working for justice and peace, compassion and love, and life abundant.

Christ is risen; Christ is risen in us, for wherever we gather in his name, Christ is there.


(All candles are re-lit.)

Alleluia, Christ is risen; Christ is risen indeed!


PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD

A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles (10:34-43)

Then Peter began to speak to them: ‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 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. 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; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, 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. 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. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’

The word of the Lord R: Thanks be to God


Refrain: O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever!

1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever!

2 Let Israel say, ‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’ 14 The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.


Refrain: O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever!

15 There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: ‘The right hand of the Lord does valiantly; 16 the right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.’ 17 I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord. 18 The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death.


Refrain: O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever!

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.

20 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.

Refrain: O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever!


21 I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. 22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. 24 This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.


Refrain: O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever!


A Reading from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians 15:1-11

Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to someone untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.


Gradual Hymn: CP 235 Myrrh Bearing Mary


The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. John 20:1-18

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.


The Homily


Renewal of Baptismal Promises (Easter Liturgy (oremus.org)) Church of England

As we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, we remember that through the paschal mystery we have died and been buried with him in baptism, so that we may rise with him to a new life within the family of his Church. Now that we have completed our observance of Lent, we renew the promises made at our baptism, affirming our allegiance to Christ, and our rejection of all that is evil.

Therefore I ask these questions:


Do you turn to Christ?

I turn to Christ.


Do you repent of your sins?

I repent of my sins.


Do you renounce evil?

I renounce evil.


And now I ask you to make the profession of Christian faith into which you were baptized, and in which you live and grow.


Do you believe and trust in God the Creator, who made the world?

I believe and trust in God.


Do you believe and trust in his Son Jesus Christ, who redeemed humankind?

I believe and trust in God.


Do you believe and trust in the Holy Spirit, who gives life to the people of God?

I believe and trust in God.


This is the faith of the Church.

This is our faith. We believe and trust in one God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.


Almighty God, we thank you for our fellowship in the household of faith with all those who have been baptized in your name. Keep us faithful to our baptism, and so make us ready for that day when the whole creation shall be made perfect in your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.


Sharing 'The Peace' No matter who you are, or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome at this table with it's symbols of God's Creative Presence.

In company with all who seek nourishment at this table, we come to celebrate community, and to share these life-giving symbols. (Jerry Stinson. L&L Seminar)


May a heart of peace rest with you. And also with you.


The Offertory Hymn: CP 231 That Eastertide with Joy was Bright


Prayer over the Gifts

God our strength and salvation, receive all we offer you this day, and grant that we who have confessed your name, and received new life in baptism, may live in the joy of the resurrection, through Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen

The Great Thanksgiving (The Church of England)

he Lord is here. God’s Spirit is with us.


Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.


Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give him thanks and praise.

Creator God, we give you thanks and praise through your beloved Son Jesus Christ, your living Word through whom you have created all things;

Who was sent by you, in your great goodness, to be our Saviour; by the power of the Holy Spirit he took flesh and, as your Son, born of the woman Mary, was seen on earth and went about among us.

He opened wide his arms for us on the cross; he put an end to death by dying for us and revealed the resurrection by rising to new life; so he fulfilled your will and won for you a holy people.

And now we give you thanks because you raised him gloriously from the dead.


For he is the true Pascal Lamb who was offered for us and has taken away the sin of the world. By his death he has destroyed death, and by his rising again he has restored to us eternal life.


Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we proclaim your great and glorious name, for ever praising you and saying:


Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth of your glory are full. Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,

blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth of your glory are full. Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest.

Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest.

Lord, you are holy indeed, the source of all holiness; grant that, by the power of your Holy Spirit, and according to your holy will, these your gifts of bread and wine may be to us the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ;

Who in the same night that he was betrayed, took bread and gave you thanks; he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, after supper he took the cup and gave you thanks; he gave it to them, saying,

Drink this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins, Do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.

Christ has died: Christ is risen: Christ will come again.

And so, Father, calling to mind his death on the cross, his perfect sacrifice made once for the sins of all men, rejoicing at his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension, and looking for his coming in glory, we celebrate this memorial of our redemption;


We thank you for counting us worthy to stand in your presence and serve you; we bring before you this bread and this cup;

We pray you to accept this our duty and service, a spiritual sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving;


Send the Holy Spirit on your people and gather into one in your kingdom all who share this one bread and one cup, so that we, in the company of all the saints, may praise and glorify you for ever, through him from whom all good things come, Jesus Christ our Lord;


By whom, and with whom, and in whom, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honour and glory be yours, almighty Father, now and for ever. Amen.


The Lord’s Prayer


Breaking of the Bread

Lord, we died with you on the cross.

Now we are raised to new life.


We were buried in your tomb.

Now we share in your resurrection.


Live in us, that we may live in you.


These are the Gifts of God for the people of God

Thanks be to God


Communion Hymns: Instrumental, Roll Away the Stone


Prayer after Communion

God of life, bring us to the glory of the resurrection promised in this Easter sacrament. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ the risen Lord.


The Doxology

Glory to God,

whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation, in the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.


Closing Hymn: CP 237 Now the Green Blade Rises


The Blessing

Go out from this place to your daily journey through life.

Fashion relationships of inclusion and reconciliation, and a life-style that loves and treats people and the earth gently.


Remember always we are members of the body of Christ. And may the Holy One surprise you on the way. Amen. May it be so!


The Dismissal

Let us go in faith to ponder in our hearts the mystery and the wonder of this season...

And now may we go forth in the certainty of faith, in the knowledge of love, and in the vision of hope. And in our going, may we be blessed. Thanks be to God! Alleluia!


Postlude: God is Walking in the Garden

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