(All our songs this morning are from Singing the Faith (StF) numbers will be given where available)
Welcome to our Easter Sunday Service, today shared on paper across our circuit prepared by Rev Phil Drake, Rev Nick Blundell, Rev Christine Crabtree and Rev Joy Sykes.
Click on the blue links to follow them for bible readings and associated links
Call to worship
Yesterday we had lost so much
we lost the light
we lost the argument
we lost love
we lost life
we lost God
we lost Jesus
But this morning we found
the tomb – empty
the morning – bright
the gardener – walking
the stone – rolled
the disciples – running
the women – proclaiming
the resurrection – waiting
and Jesus – risen
It is good we have found our way here
this is Easter Day
love is back
good morning
written by Roddy Hamilton and posted on the New Kilpatrick Parish Church website
Song – StF 305 or H&P 202 – Low in the grave he lay
Prayer
Amazing God,
you shock our eyes awake as we encounter you.
We thought you dead and gone, Jesus,
but we see you here in the garden.
You are alive.
Changed,
no longer just the man we knew;
not come back from death
but gone through death,
showing us there is something more on the other side.
Amazing God,
we offer you our praise,
our lives,
our voices.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed – Alleluia!
Amen.
We join in the Lord’s Prayer.
Reading: Song of Songs 3:2-5 8:6-7
Lord My Heart Sings
Lord my heart sings,
Like the blackbird,
Feathered flautist,
Serenading the snowdrops,
Heralding the spring.
Lord my soul leaps
Like a hare,
Bounding across the fields.
Bursting with energy,
Heralding the spring.
Lord my spirit soars,
Like a bird, high above,
Descending to gather twigs,
Build a nest,
Heralding the spring.
Lord my heart sinks,
Plummeting into black despair,
Caught in a severe late frost,
Confronted with a sealed tomb,
Winter with no hope of spring.
Lord, bird song proclaims your victory,
Light floods the garden,
Revealing an empty grave,
Christ is Risen!
My heart sings.
Risen Lord, you sprang forth,
Strode out,
Into all the world,
Meeting people on their own patch,
My soul leaps.
Living Lord, we are uplifted!
Filled with joy and hope
Legacy of your costly victory,
Gaining direct access to God.
My spirit soars.
Lord my heart sings,
A glorious Easter Anthem,
Proclaiming Christ is Risen,
Happiness surges within me,
Lord, I will never stop singing.
Y Mochyn Daear
From Advent to Pentecost, URC publication, 2003
Song – StF 298 or H&P 193 – Christ the Lord is risen today
Gospel Reading:
Song – StF 322 – Led like a lamb to the slaughter
Reflection on reflection
In the Cardiff Circuit there used to be a decommissioned Lightship in the Bay, which had a Chapel, meeting rooms, and a cafe. It was a great attraction, and when the sun shone the deck was often full of people enjoying refreshments.
Each Easter Sunday morning there was a sunrise service on the Lightship, with worship out on the deck and coffee and croissants following. One year I was asked to lead the service, and was promised that I would see the sunrise reflected in the windows of the office block as it rose behind us during the worship.
Alas, it was pouring with rain the day I was there, and there was no beautiful sunrise, which was a real shame as I had based my talk on seeing that reflection, and leading from that to how we each reflect the ‘Son rise’ of Easter in our lives, so that others could see Jesus in us.
Of course I used the talk anyway, simply asking people to use their imagination to picture the sunrise.
But the point still stands: How do we reflect God’s glory, the glory of our risen Lord, in the world around us? Do people see him in us, and in what our churches are doing? How can we remove any impediment to that reflection? This Easter, will we be filled to overflowing with joy, and tell the Good News to someone who has not heard it? Will people look at us, and see the risen Lord?
Song – StF 296 – Christ has risen while earth slumbers
Easter intercessions
Christ who was laid in a borrowed tomb;
Christ to whose grave Mary came to grieve;
Christ who is absent, missing from his place;
Christ whose burial cloth is laid aside;
Christ who chooses not to greet the men;
Christ who notices her tears;
Christ who speaks her name;
Christ who charges her to go and tell;
Christ who is returning to the Father;
Christ Jesus, hear our prayers.
Christ who was laid in a borrowed tomb,
we pray for those with nothing to call their own, homeless, rootless, whether broken by their own actions or by the violence of others:
Christ Jesus, hear our prayers.
Christ to whose grave Mary came to grieve,
we pray for those who are weighed down with grief, whether that weight is complete and crushing or carried daily:
Christ Jesus, hear our prayers.
Christ who is absent, missing from his place,
we pray for those who are looking for that which is lost:
Christ Jesus, hear our prayers.
Christ whose burial cloth is laid aside,
we pray for those whose work is complete, who wonder what tomorrow holds:
Christ Jesus, hear our prayers.
Christ who chooses not to greet the men,
we pray for grace in those who are excluded so that others might be included:
Christ Jesus, hear our prayers.
Christ who notices her tears,
we pray for those whose hurt goes unnoticed, or whose cries go unheard:
Christ Jesus, hear our prayers.
Christ who speaks her name,
We pray for those who will not hear their name spoken today:
Christ Jesus, hear our prayers.
Christ who charges her to go and tell,
We pray for those who need to hear the news of Easter, and ask that we might be granted the courage to tell our stories and share our experience:
Christ Jesus, hear our prayers.
Christ who is returning to the Father,
We pray that all may find their way home:
Christ Jesus, hear our prayers. Amen.
Song – StF 313 or H&P 212 – Thine be the glory
Wow!
Amazing,
stupendous,
incredible,
remarkable,
startling,
marvellous,
wonderful,
glorious,
splendid,
superb,
astounding,
astonishing,
stunning,
fantastic,
extraordinary.
Jesus Christ is risen!
Hallelujah!
Nigel Warner
From Advent to Pentecost, URC publication, 2003
Blessing
May God, who came to us and who comes to us today;
Jesus who died to show us a new way to be;
and the Spirit who whispers words of love into our hearts,
bless us and keep us on Easter Sunday and always. Amen.
