Celebration of the Gospel
Easter Sunday
April 21, 2019
“Why do you look for the living among the dead?
He is not here, but has risen.”
–Luke 24. 5
—————— We Gather as the Body of Christ————
PRELUDE Easter Proclamation – Albert Zabel
* GOSPEL PROCLAMATION Luke 24. 1-12
[The women come to Jesus’ tomb and find that he has been raised. They go and tell the others, who find it hard to believe.]
On the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.
Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told of the empty tomb to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
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* RESPONSE
Christ emptied himself and became obedient to death,
obedient to death on a cross.
But Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed!
He is not among the dead anymore!
The stone has been rolled away!
The Crucified One is risen again!
He has come out of the tomb!
Christ has conquered by the cross!
All our hope is in him! Alleluia!
God has rescued us from the power of darkness
and brought us into the dominion of God’s beloved Son.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! ALLELUIA!
* SONG – Christ the Lord Is Risen Today
Christ the Lord is ris’n 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!
King of glory, Lord of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this: Alleluia!
Thee to know, thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing, and thus to love! Alleluia!
———————— We Attend to the Word————————
(10:30) CHILDREN’S TIME
(10:30) THE WORD IN SONG – Jesus Christ Is Risen Today – Paul Leddington Wright
PRAYER
Holy God, we thank you and praise you for the mystery of your grace. For on the cross Jesus your Christ bore all that separates us from you and from life; yet sin and evil and suffering and death were unable to defeat him. By his glorious resurrection you have delivered us from the power of death. Gracious God, make us die every day to sin. Birth us anew, so that we may walk in newness of life with Christ, in the joy of eternal life and in the company of the Holy Spirit, O God, our Creator and Redeemer. Amen.
NEW TESTAMENT Acts 10: 34-43
[Peter tells the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.]
Peter said to them: Truly God is not partial, but in every nation anyone who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to God. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, who is ruler 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.”
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* PSALTER – Psalm 118. 14-24
[A song of God’s victory. What we thought was failure God has made triumph: “the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”]
O give thanks to the Lord, for God is good;
God’s steadfast love endures forever!
Let Israel say, “God’s steadfast love endures forever.”
The Lord is my strength and my might;
God has become my salvation.
There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
the right hand of the Lord is exalted;
the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”
I shall not die, but I shall live,
and recount the deeds of the Lord.
The Lord has punished me severely,
but he did not give me over to death.
Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
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SERMON – Raised with Christ
RESPONSE (1 Pet. 1.3; Eph. 2. 4-6; Rom. 6.4; Col. 3.3 Ps. 51.10)
Alleluia! Blessed be God, who has given us Jesus Christ.
In Mercy God has given us a new birth into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
God, rich in mercy, out of great love for us, has made us alive together with Christ,
and raised us up and seated us with Christ.
We have been buried with Christ by baptism into death,
so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of God,
we too might walk in newness of life.
Gracious God, we have died, and our life is hidden with Christ in you.
Spirit of Life, create us anew!
Create in us a clean heart, and put a new and right spirit within us. Forgive our sin, and
wash us clean in the water of new birth. Heal us, redeem us, and set us free.
Spirit of Blessing, be our freedom and our life!
Through your risen Christ give us courage to love fearlessly,
and to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.
Through your crucified and risen Christ, we pray for your church,
that, committing our spirit into your hands,
we may die and rise to newness of life.
We pray for all those who suffer, struggle or despair,
that they may find renewal, hope and peace.
Grant us the joy of your life-giving resurrection,
and make us by your grace a new and holy people. Amen.
SONG – Resurrection Light – Steve G-H
Lord, we stand before the grave, the dark of death, the depth of sin,
all that would prevent our loving, all that kills the life within.
Here is buried our Beloved: wine poured out and broken bread.
But we find the grave is empty! Christ is not among the dead!
In your mercy you have shattered every tomb we cannot flee.
From whatever binds and traps us you have set your children free:
free to live in every moment life that is a gift from you,
life unfettered, in your Spirit, life unbounded, always new.
Help us to receive this life that rises up and soars above.
Grant us courage for self-giving; grant us trusting, fearless love.
Help us lose the lives we cling to; with compassion and delight
give our lives, receiving new ones, bright with Resurrection light.
THE PRAYERS
PASSING THE PEACE
(10:30) THE WORD IN SONG – Hallelujah! Resurrection Day! –Larry Shackley
————————We Share at Christ’s Table———————
OFFERING OUR GIFTS – 8:15: Morning Has Broken – arr: Fred Bock
10:30: We Welcome Glad Easter— arr. Brian Childers (Bells of St. Matthew’s)
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to our God.
Let us give thanks to the Faithful One our God.
It is good to give God thanks and praise.
THE 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, forever. Amen.
SHARING THE HOLY MEAL
[Everyone is welcome at Christ’s table. We receive the bread
(soy, dairy and gluten free) and dip it in the cup (grape juice).]
PRAYER OF BLESSING
Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. You have fed us with the body of the risen Christ, the bread of life, life that is eternal, and deeply beautiful. By the grace of these gifts, may the power of resurrection be within us. Send us out into the world, unafraid, to give of ourselves; to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with you, in the name and the Spirit of the risen Christ, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.
———We Are Sent in Ministry to the World———
* SONG – The Day of Resurrection
The day of resurrection! Earth tell it out abroad;
the Passover of gladness, the Passover of God.
From death to life eternal, from slavery made free,
our Christ has brought us over, with hymns of victory.
Our hearts be pure from evil, that we may see aright
you, Lord in rays eternal of resurrection light;
and listening to your accents, may hear, so calm and plain,
your kind “All hail!” and, hearing, may raise the victor strain.
Now let the heavens be joyful! Let earth the song begin!
Let the round world keep triumph, and all that is therein.
Let all things seen and unseen their notes in gladness blend,
for Christ the Lord has risen, our joy that has no end.
* BLESSING AND SENDING FORTH
* RESPONSE – Hallelujah from “Messiah” – G. F. Handel
POSTLUDE – Jubilation – Jason D. Pane