GATHERING
ENTRANCE
REFLECTION
The story begins when God puts on flesh and comes to walk among us. It ends, or perhaps it just beginsagain, when God’s spirit is uncaged by death, when the one who walked among us dies an individual and is born again as a community..
Rob Eller-Isaacs (from a sermon)
Quoted in inward/outward, April 9, 2007
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: This morning, the story begins again.
People: Christ calls to us
from beyond the empty tomb.
Leader: Today, the world is strangely different.
People: We begin to feel ourselves transformed,
living in the Resurrection Body.
Leader: Christ is risen!
All: Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
INVOCATION
HYMN
WORD FOR THE CHILDREN
SILENCE
PRAYERS
COMMON CONFESSION
Leader: Holy Source of Resurrection Power,
how hard it is for us to believe the Easter story.
Voice 1: We want to believe
that death is not the final word,
that love drives out fear.
Voice 2: We long to know the story endures,
to see ourselves
as part of your Resurrection Body.
Leader: But we stay locked in our upper rooms
of doubt and denial,
waiting for certainty before we believe.
All: Forgive our unbelief.
INDIVIDUAL PRAYERS OF CONFESSION
ASSURANCE
Leader: God knows how slow we are to believe
and does not give up on us.
The Risen Christ shows us the way again and again.
We are forgiven.
All: Amen.
PRAYERS OF THANKSGIVING AND INTERCESSION
PRAYER OF COMMITMENT
All: O Holy One, we come today
to claim our relationship with you.
We pray for the commitment to grow together,
sharing the gifts you give us with others
here and in the wider world.
Forgive us for the hurt we have inflicted,
and help us forgive those who have hurt us.
Give us strength and discipline
to nurture our relationship with you;
to care for every part of your creation;
to foster justice and be in solidarity with those in need;
to work to end all war, and violence, and discord;
and to respond joyfully when you call,
freely giving our selves as you have shown the way.
We open our hearts to you and your creation
in the name of Jesus, who is the Christ. Amen.
HYMN
THE WORD
SCRIPTURE
SERMON
SILENT REFLECTION
OFFERING
COMMUNION
GREAT THANKSGIVING
Leader 1: Holy, Living God, we are thankful
that your steadfast love for all creation
endures forever.
All: We offer our gratitude for the life, death
and resurrection of Jesus your child,
who calls us into a community of love and service.
Leader 2: We give thanks for your Holy Spirit,
alive in, among and through us,
leading us ever more deeply into you.
All: We give thanks for your Holy Church,
the living Body of Christ on earth,
broken daily, life poured out.
BLESSING THE ELEMENTS
Leader 1: Christ invites everyone to eat the bread of life,
to drink the cup of the new covenant.
Leader 2: Jesus said, I am the bread of life.
You who come to me shall never hunger,
You who believe in me shall never thirst.
Leader 1: On the night of his arrest, Jesus took bread,
and after giving thanks to God, broke it and said,
This is my body,
broken for the healing of the world.
Whenever you eat it, do so remembering me.
Leader 2: After supper, Jesus took the cup and said,
This is the cup of the new covenant,
poured out for you and for all.
Whenever you drink it, do so remembering me.
SHARE THE ELEMENTS
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING AND DEDICATION
All: God of abundance and mercy,
we give joyful thanks
for your eternal love and healing presence
in our celebration of bread and cup.
Bless this body of Christ
that we may attend faithfully
to our call to be your servants,
with each other and throughout the world.
Amen.
SHARED REFLECTIONS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
HYMN
BENEDICTION
Leader: Go out from this place remembering
we are called to be part of Christ’s body,
uncaged by death
and born again as community
to love and serve the world.
Christ is risen!
All: Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Amen!
