The Celebration of the Gospel
April 20, 2014 — Easter Sunday
“Do not be afraid. I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.
He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said.”
— Matthew 28. 5-6
This emptied tomb
Before dawn
I come to this tomb as if it were mine,
to anoint with grief like oil
my lord and victim.
Within are all my murders, all my deaths;
all my fears in well-bleached linen laid.
Behind dark eyes my hiding heart
looks into this dark tomb,
death peering into death.
By this, my faith, to look full-faced
into the dark of death, the depth of doubt,
God grants this grace: that death peers back
with sorrow, not with wrath.
I see within my grave my grieving God,
sob-wracked for all the life entombed in me.
I am pierced, and emptied of all darkness.
Bleeding light, a winded, weeping angel rests
against the great stone he has rolled away
from my heart.
Steve G-H
______________ We Gather as The Body of Christ
GREETING
PRELUDE Easter, from Five Mystical Songs Ralph Vaughan Williams
* GOSPEL PROCLAMATION Matthew 28. 1-10
RESPONSE: This is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. People: Thanks be to God.
* ACCLAMATION
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 Crucified One is risen!
Christ has conquered by the cross!
All our hope is in him! Alleluia!
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not,
will not,
can not overcome it.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Alleluia! ALLELUIA!
* HYMN OF PRAISE 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 his 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’s thy victory, boasting grave? 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!
CHILDREN’S TIME
______________________ We Attend to the Word
THE WORD IN SONG
Christ, Victorious; Christ, Now Reigning Stephen Caracciolo
PRAYER OF THE DAY
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 oppression 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 READING Acts 10: 34-43
* PSALTER Psalm 118. 14-24
The Lord is my strength and my power;
the Lord has become my salvation.
There are joyous 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.
This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
SERMON
RESPONSE (1 Pet. 1.3; Eph. 2. 4-6 Rom. 6.4; Col. 3.3 Ps. 51.10)
Alleluia! Blessed be the God and Life-Giver of our Lord 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.
Heal us, redeem us, and set us free.
Spirit of Blessing, be our freedom and our life!
Through your risen Son grant victory over the enemies of life,
and crush beneath your children’s feet all evil and the power of oppression.
Through your crucified and risen Christ,
may we die and rise to newness of life.
By the grace of your life-giving resurrection
make us a new and holy people. Amen.
GOSPEL HYMN Christ Is Risen
Christ is risen! Shout Hosanna!
Celebrate this day of days!
Christ is risen! Hush in wonder:
All creation is amazed.
In the desert all-surrounding,
See, a spreading tree has grown.
Healing leaves of grace abounding
Bring a taste of love unknown.
Christ is risen! Raise your spirits
From the caverns of despair.
Walk with gladness in the morning.
See what love can do and dare.
Drink the wine of resurrection,
Not a servant, but a friend.
Jesus is our strong companion.
Joy and peace shall never end.
Christ is risen! Earth and heaven
Nevermore shall be the same.
Break the bread of new creation
Where the world is still in pain.
Tell its grim, demonic chorus:
Christ is risen! Get you gone!
God the First and Last is with us,
Sing Hosanna, everyone!
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
RESPONSE: This is my prayer. All: This is our prayer.
PASSING THE PEACE
—————————————We Share at Christ’s Table
OFFERING OUR GIFTS
Because He Lives Wm. & Gloria Gaither, arr: Bill Wolaver
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is good to give God thanks and praise.
THE PRAYER OF JESUS
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.
SHARING THE HOLY MEAL
[Everyone is welcome at the table of Christ’s self-giving love.
The bread is wheat-, soy- and dairy free. We dip the bread in the juice.]
PRAYER OF BLESSING
Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. May the Resurrection of Christ be food for our souls. May the living presence of Christ be light for our feet. Having fed upon the eternal life of Christ, we give thanks that death no longer has dominion over us. Send us into the world to proclaim the good news; to live lives of love and healing, made new by your grace; and to devote ourselves to the healing of the world, in the name of the crucified and risen Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
NEW TESTAMENT Colossians 3. 1-4
______ We Are Sent in Ministry to the World
* SONG Resurrection Light Steve G-H
Holy God, we sing your praises, and we give our thanks to you!
On this day of resurrection all things are created new!
Sin and death you have defeated, raising Christ from death to life.
All of life now shines, transfigured by your resurrection light.
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.
[All who wish to join the choir for the “Hallelujah Chorus” are invited to come forward during the song.]
* BLESSING AND SENDING FORTH
* RESPONSE Hallelujah from “Messiah” G. F. Handel
POSTLUDE Grand Recessional Alice Jordan
_________________________
He goes free of the earth.
The sun of his last day sets
clear in the sweetness of his liberty.
The earth recovers from his dying,
the hallow of his life remaining
in all his death leaves.
Radiances know him. Grown lighter
than breath, he is set free
in our remembering. Grown brighter
than vision, he goes dark
into the life of the hill
that holds his peace.
He’s hidden among all that is,
and cannot be lost.
Wendell Berry, “Three elegiac Poems – III”