PRELUDE/ENTRANCE
GREETING/ANNOUNCEMENTS
*OPENING SONG
"Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" UMH 302
*CALL TO WORSHIP
Liturgist: Beloved, Christ is risen!
People: Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Liturgist: Our Savior is risen!
People: Our Savior is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Liturgist: Steadfast Love is risen!
People: Steadfast Love is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Liturgist: This is the day that God has made;
ALL: Let us rejoice and be glad! Alleluia!
Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, September 2024.
OPENING PRAYER (Together)
Lord Jesus, today we come celebrating God, who looked beyond our faults and saw our needs. We come celebrating that victory is ours today. We come rejoicing that sin and evil did not get the last word. We praise you and we thank you for being a loving, patient God and for sending us Jesus Christ!
Thank you for giving sinners like us a second, third, and endless chances to right our wrongs and follow the Author of Grace. Thank you for giving the Good News of your Son’s resurrection to the dutiful Mary Magdalene. You called her name, and she finally believed and proclaimed that she had seen the Risen Lord! Like Mary, time and time again, you have called our name. You have gotten our attention, and we stopped wallowing in despair, sin, and self-reliance. We turned, and there you were! Assuring us that God delivered you from death and God will deliver us also from sin and death.
Today, we put Mary’s proclamation in our hearts and on our lips. May our tears turn into laughter as we hold fast to the Easter knowledge that in Christ, all things are possible, if we will only believe. Amen. Adapted from Sherrie Dobbs Johnson in The Africana Worship Book, Year C (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 2008), 127.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
WORDS OF ASSURANCE
SHARING GOD’S PEACE
JOYS AND CONCERNS
PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
A TIME FOR CHILDREN
SPECIAL MUSIC
FIRST SCRIPTURE John 20:1-18
SECOND SCRIPTURE Acts 10:34-43
MESSAGE “He Lives Through Us!”
RESPONSE TO THE WORD
*SONG OF RESPONSE
“He Has Made Me Glad” TFWS 2270
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
THE LORD’S PRAYER
*OFFERING OF OURSELVES
*”The Apostles’ Creed” UMH 881
*DOXOLOGY UMH 95
*PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
SENDING FORTH
*SONG OF DISMISSAL
"Go, Tell it on the Mountain” (Easter words on screen) UMH 251
*BENEDICTION
*PEACE Shalom To You UMH 666