Is a Resurrection Be Happening Here?

Easter Sunday!      April 4, 2021, 11:00 am  (Printable PDF) 
Video will be posted LIVE on the church’s FB page at 11am.  Livestream will be cross-posted here ASAP once the livestream starts.  Prepare some food and wine/grape juice for communion.

PRELUDE: The Strife Is O’er (VICTORY, Palestrina)— Jason W. Krug
Resurrection Sunday Call to Return to Our Soul!

Pastor:      Another Easter is here. Imagine – another Easter beginning now, within us! I will let faith begin to live within me – and fear die!  I will let hope come alive within me – and my despairs die!
All:            The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!
Pastor:      We will see ourselves as if we personally walked out of darkness into dawn. As if the midnights of our fears and failures passed! And we walked into an enlightened, new life!
All:            The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!
Pastor:      I will see myself as if I personally walked with The Risen Christ on the first Easter! All the death behind me! All the dead places within me disappearing.
All:            The Lord is risen. He is risen indeed!
Pastor:      Another Easter is here! Imagine – another Easter beginning now – Within me! Within us! Within our world!
All:            The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed!

HYMN:   Jesus Christ is Risen Today #232
CALL TO CONFESSION AND COMMITMENT    (in unison)

We have been blind. Let us see.
We have been silent. Let us speak up
We have been wounded. Heal us.
We have closed our hearts. Open our hearts.
We have fed our despair. Strengthen our hopes.
We have forced solutions. Deepen our trust in You.
We have sinned. You are the Source of Sweet Grace. Amen

HYMN:   Be Not Afraid (sing twice)  #243
SCRIPTURE:        Mark 6:1-8        John 20:1-18       Neal Long
SUNG RESPONSE TO SCRIPTURE: In the Garden       
SERMON:  Is a Resurrection Be Happening Here?
CHORAL ANTHEM: The Lord Is Risen Indeed—William Billings
WELCOME
CELEBRATION OF HOLY COMMUNION
SUNG PREPARATION FOR COMMUNION: Let Us Eat (call and response) #528
INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE:

Pastor:       Let us gather around the table with the offering of bread and drink upon it and the promise of the Living Christ among us.
People:      This is the welcome table of God where all who seek to be at peace with their neighbor and all who seek the sweet grace and strong love of God in Christ are embraced.
Pastor:       Come, for we are invited in to this holy mystery. Come!
People:      We are ready!
Pastor:       Jesus said: “I am the bread of life. All who come to me shall not hunger, and all who believe in me shall never be thirsty.”
People:      We are hungry for Your Love, O God.  We are thirsty for Your Deep Peace, O Lamb of God. We come with prayers of thanksgiving and hope, Seeking an unusual gift— an experience of wonder and joy.
Pastor:       Come, Holy Spirit. Come. Open our eyes to the mystery of Christ’s presence in these ordinary things in these our ordinary lives. May they be for us the very essence of the living Christ in our midst. Through the broken bread…
People:      We are becoming the Body of Christ
Pastor:       Through the cup of blessing…
People:      We celebrate the new life Christ gives us.
Pastor:      Let us pray by singing, then lift up names of people we wish to pray for,  concluding with The Lord’s Prayer

CONGREGATIONAL SUNG PRAYER: Come, Bring Your Burdens to God  (SING TWICE) #851
BREAKING AND SHARING OF THE BREAD
POURING AND SHARING OF THE WINE…………then…………

     Pastor:       The Grace, Peace, Love and Joy of Jesus Christ be with you.
     People:      And also with you.
     Pastor:       Let us pray together…..

UNISON PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING: 

You have made us one in the body of Christ. We discovered after a catastrophic fire in 2011, That if we were one body, our name would be Pat, A person named Pat—he/she/they. Once again You have strengthened us, Pat, for the work by providing holy food and spiritual drink. Now send us into the world to do that work which You have given us to do; to find the lost and lonely, to heal wounded souls, to free people—including ourselves— who are in bondage, Give compassion to the vulnerable, including each other, To fall in love with Beauty, the Planet and Sky and all good things that live among them, to persevere in resisting evil, and to proclaim in all we say and do your breaking good news about the weight of glory all may experience by following Jesus.  Amen

SUNG RESPONSE TO COMMUNION: Christ Has Risen   STF#2115
OFFERTORY SOLO: I Know that My Redeemer Liveth (from Messiah)—Handel; Neal Long, tenor
                 Offering link
PRAYER OF DEDICATION:  

May each of us know the honor of being a human being. May we each share the honor of being a human being.  Let us unite a frightened world by acts of self giving kindness.  Let’s replace apathy with curiosity. Let’s replace violence by creating global community. Watch your generosity spread! Feel your capacity for God continuing to grow. Together, repeat after me the longer translation of the Hebrew “Amen”.
May it be so…..
May it be soon…..   

HYMN:  The Strife is O’er      #236
BLESSING
SUNG BENEDICTION RESPONSE: That Easter Day with Joy Was Bright #254
POSTLUDE: Fugue in C Major — Dietrich Buxtehude

Link for Lent Fundraiser: http://westportpresbyterian.org/mission-outreach/water-project/

Participants:
Pastor- Scott Myers
Piano- Emily Davidson
Choir- Josh Stark, Neil Long, Jennifer Weiman, Em WitbolsFeugen
Camera/Facebook/Prayer requests: Deanna Capps
Webpage- Martine Roesel