CANDLE LITURGY
Let the light of Christ pierce the deep shadows of Good Friday. May its light shine on us this most holy of days. May its light be a beacon for us, renewing all that is good within us, all the good within our community. Christ the Lord is risen today!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah, indeed!
     Used with permission Lent/Easter Gathering 2025; Jim McKean

Sung Response: VU 179 “Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Give Thanks”
Refrain: “Hallelujah, hallelujah. Give thanks to the risen Christ; hallelujah, hallelujah! Give praise to God's name”.

1.  Jesus is Lord of all the earth, firstborn of all creation.  Refrain:

2.  Spread the good news o'er all the earth: Jesus has died and is risen.  Refrain:

3.  We have been crucified with Christ, now we shall live for ever.  Refrain:

4.  Come let us praise the living God, joyfully sing to our Saviour.  Refrain:

1. CALL TO WORSHIP:
This is the place of joy.
Christ is risen!
This is the time of new hope.
Christ is risen!
This is the way of freedom.
Christ is risen!
Gathered with faithful friends,
Christ is risen!
Everything is possible now.
Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed.
Hallelujah!
     Used with permission Lent/Easter Gathering 2025; David SparksJ

2. OPENING PRAYER:
God of life and love, we are eager to hear the good news of new life. Enter our lives and cast our fears aside. Lead us on a journey from grief and despair to hope and joy. We are ready to celebrate and give thanks for your transforming love. We are eager to rejoice in the glory of this day! Give us Easter spirits and open hearts. Amen.
     From the Abingdon Worship Annual 2025.
     Copyright @2024 by Abingdon Press. Used by permission

3. LEARNING TIME:

4. HYMN: VU 224 “Sing a Happy Hallelujah”
Refrain: “Hallelujah, all creation, hallelujah everyone! Hallelujah, all creation, hallelujah everyone!”

1. Sing a happy hallelujah, sing it out with heart and style,
we're the echo of God's laughter, we're the image of God's smile.  Refrain

2. We're the proof of God's good humour, we're the twinkle in God's eye,
made to shine, reflect the glory, given light and space to fly.  Refrain

3.  Sarah laughed at God's good timing, Mary sang and David danced,
Jesus smiled and hugged the children, so is life for us enhanced.  Refrain

4.  Every day sing hallelujah! We are loved, though so absurd,
human, foolish, chosen people, God still takes us at our word!  Refrain

5. PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION:

6. SCRIPTURE LESSON:
Acts 10:34 - 43
34 Peter then said:
Now I am certain that God treats all people alike. 35 God is pleased with everyone who worships him and does right, no matter what nation they come from. 36 This is the same message that God gave to the people of Israel, when he sent Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, to offer peace to them. 37 You surely know what happened[a] everywhere in Judea. It all began in Galilee after John had told everyone to be baptized. 38 God gave the Holy Spirit and power to Jesus from Nazareth. He was with Jesus, as he went around doing good and healing everyone who was under the power of the devil. 39 We all saw what Jesus did both in Israel and in the city of Jerusalem. Jesus was put to death on a cross. 40 But three days later, God raised him to life and let him be seen. 41 Not everyone saw him. He was seen only by us, who ate and drank with him after he was raised from death. We were the ones God chose to tell others about him.
42 God told us to announce clearly to the people that Jesus is the one he has chosen to judge the living and the dead. 43 Every one of the prophets has said that all who have faith in Jesus will have their sins forgiven in his name.

Responsive Reading Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24 VU page 837 parts 1, 2, 3
Refrain: “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”

Part One (1-4)
Let Israel now say:
'God's love endures for ever.' Let the house of Aaron say:
'God's love endures for ever.' Let those who fear God say: 'God's love endures for ever.'   Refrain

Part Two (14-18)
God is my strength and my song; God has become my salvation.
There are shouts of joy and deliverance in the tents of the righteous.
The right hand of God does mighty things; the right hand of God raises up.
The right hand of God does mighty things.
I shall not die, but live; and I shall proclaim what God has done.
God indeed punished me, but did not give me over to death. Refrain

Part Three (19-24)
Open to me the gates of the temple, that I may enter and give thanks to God.
This is the gate of God; through it the righteous shall enter.
I thank you for you have answered me; you have become my salvation.
The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
This is God's doing, marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day that God has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!  Refrain

7. REFLECTION:

9. SCRIPTURE LESSONS:
1 Corinthians 15:19 - 26
19 If our hope in Christ is good only for this life, we are worse off than anyone else. 20 But Christ has been raised to life! And he makes us certain that others will also be raised to life. 21 Just as we will die because of Adam, we will be raised to life because of Christ. 22 Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us. 23 But we must each wait our turn. Christ was the first to be raised to life, and his people will be raised to life when he returns. 24 Then after Christ has destroyed all powers and forces, the end will come, and he will give the kingdom to God the Father. 25 Christ will rule until he puts all his enemies under his power, 26 and the last enemy he destroys will be death.

Luke 24:1 - 12
Jesus Is Alive
24 Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices they had prepared. 2 When they found the stone rolled away from the entrance, 3 they went in. But they did not find the body of the Lord[a] Jesus, 4 and they did not know what to think. Suddenly two men in shining white clothes stood beside them. 5 The women were afraid and bowed to the ground. But the men said, “Why are you looking in the place of the dead for someone who is alive? 6 Jesus isn't here! He has been raised from death. Remember that while he was still in Galilee, he told you, 7 'The Son of Man will be handed over to sinners who will nail him to a cross. But three days later he will rise to life.'” 8 Then they remembered what Jesus had said. 9-10 Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and some other women were the ones who had gone to the tomb. When they returned, they told the eleven apostles and the others what had happened. 11 The apostles thought it was all nonsense, and they would not believe.
12 But Peter ran to the tomb. And when he stooped down and looked in, he saw only the burial clothes. Then he returned, wondering what had happened.[b]

10. REFLECTION:

11. Hymn VU 155 “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today”
1.  Jesus Christ is risen today, hallelujah!
our triumphant holy day, hallelujah!
who did once, upon the cross, hallelujah!
suffer to redeem our loss. Hallelujah!

2.  Hymns of praise then let us sing hallelujah!
unto Christ, our heavenly King, hallelujah!
who endured the cross and grave, hallelujah!
sinners to redeem and save. Hallelujah!

3.  But the pains which he endured, hallelujah!
our salvation have procured; hallelujah!
now above the sky he's King, hallelujah!
where the angels ever sing. Hallelujah!

4.  Sing we to our God above, hallelujah!
praise eternal as God's love; hallelujah!
praise our God, ye heavenly host, hallelujah!
praise the Son and Holy Ghost. Hallelujah!

12.  PRAYER OF YEARNING:
Come, O God, and bring new life to the dead places in our hearts. When we are weary and afraid, help us trust your never-failing love. May this love banish our fears, nourish our spirits, and deepen our joy.  Amen.
     From the Abingdon Worship Annual 2025.
     Copyright @2024 by Abingdon Press. Used by permission.

13. WORDS OF ASSURANCE
God's love is faithful and everlasting. This is the day that God has made. It is filled with new life and hope.
     From the Abingdon Worship Annual 2025.
     Copyright @2024 by Abingdon Press. Used by permission.

14.  INVITATION TO OFERING:
Let us rejoice and give thanks this day, bringing our gifts to God by the presentation of our morning offering.
     From the Abingdon Worship Annual 2025.
     Copyright @2024 by Abingdon Press. Used by permission.

15.  OFFERTORY:   VU 540 “Grant Us, God the Grace”
Grant us, God, the grace of giving, with a spirit large and free, that ourselves and all our living we may offer faithfully.

16.  OFFERING PRAYER:
God of life and love, we are grateful for your promise of resurrection and new life. Your love is stronger than the powers of evil and injustice. With joy, we bring our gifts to you this day. Use our gifts and our lives to proclaim Chrit's triumph over death.  Amen.

17. SACRAMENT OF COMMUNION
Sacrament of Communion
Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Communion Hymn VU 468 “Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ”
1.  Let us talents and tongues employ,reaching out with a shout of joy:
bread is broken, the wine is poured, Christ is spoken and seen and heard.
Refrain: “Jesus lives again, earth can breathe again, pass the Word around: loaves abound!
Jesus lives again, earth can breathe again, pass the Word around: loaves abound!”

2.  Christ is able to make us one, at the table he sets the tone, teaching people to live to bless, love in word and in deed express.  Refrain

3.  Jesus calls us in, sends us out, bearing fruit in a world of doubt,
gives us love to tell, bread to share: God (Immanuel) everywhere!  Refrain

Hallelujah, thanks and praise, ever-living God, worker of wonders, maker of miracles, author of all life and giver of life eternal! Out of chaos and fear you bring beauty and hope. Out of despair and death you create courage and new life. And so, with the risen Christ, who makes all things new by the power of his resurrection, we join in the song of a new day, to sing your praise:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Let us remember together that vision of God's reign shown to us in Jesus at table: he shared food with followers and friends, with saints and sinners, with crowds of thousands on the hillside, and a few friends in an upper room.

On the night before he died, he had supper with his companions. He took a loaf of bread, and after giving thanks, he broke it, and gave it to them, saying: “Take, eat. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Then, he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he passed it among them, saying: “Drink this. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Through this loaf and cup, Jesus lives within us. In word and deed, Jesus lives among us.

Remembering your boundless love for us in Jesus Christ, we offer you our praise, as we proclaim the mystery of faith: We proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.

We pray you, God of Love, send your Holy Spirit upon us and what we do here, that we, and these gifts, touched by your Spirit, may be signs of life and love to each other, and to all the world.

Help us to love as Christ loved. Knowing our own weakness, may we stand with all who stumble. Sharing in his suffering, may we remember all who suffer.
Held in his love, may we embrace all whom the world denies. Rejoicing in his forgiveness, may we forgive all who sin against us.

Praise be to God, the Source of love! Praise be to Christ, Love incarnate! Praise be to the Spirit, Love's power! Praise be to God. Amen.

And so we pray as Jesus taught us “Our Father.....Amen.”

The bread which we break
is our communion in the body of Christ.
The cup of blessing which we bless
is our communion in the blood of Christ.
The gifts of God for the people of God. Amen.
(the distribution)

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
For the bread we have eaten, for the wine we have tasted, for the life we have received, we thank you God. Grant that what we have done and have been given here, may so put its mark on us, that it may remain always in our hearts. Grant that we may grow in Christian love and understanding, and that ours may be lives of faithful action, in Christ's name. Amen.

18. HYMN: VU 481 “Sent Forth by God's Blessing”
1.  Sent forth by God's blessing,
our true faith confessing,
the people of God from this dwelling take leave.
The supper is ended, O now be extended
the fruits of this service in all who believe.
The seed of Christ's teaching,
receptive souls reaching,
shall blossom in action for God and for all.
God's grace did invite us,
God's love shall unite us
to work for the kingdom and answer its call.

2.  With praise and thanksgiving to God ever living,
the tasks of our everyday life we will face.
Our faith ever sharing,
in love ever caring,
embracing God's children of each tribe and race.
With your feast you feed us,
with your light now lead us;
unite us as one in this life that we share.
Then may all the living
with praise and thanksgiving
give honour to Christ and the name that we bear.

19.  BLESSING
We have heard the story. Life triumphed over death. Grief became joy. Go now and ell the good news: Christ is risen!
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
     From the Abingdon Worship Annual 2025.
     Copyright @2024 by Abingdon Press. Used by permission.

Next Sunday:  Second Sunday of Easter
        April 27, 2025:
         Acts 5:27-32;  Psalm 118:14-29;
         Revelation 1:4-8;  John 20:19-31.

1. MAUNDY THURSDAY SERVICE, April 17, 2025  Wesley Hall  5:30 PM  Supper served at 6:00 PM  


2. GOOD FRIDAY, April 18, 2025  Rev. Jo-Ann Hills  10:45 AM  Hot Cross Buns & Coffee served after service in Logie Hall  EVERYONE WELCOME!


3. SUNDAY, April 20, 2025  “EASTER SUNDAY/COMMUNION”  Rev. Jo-Ann Hills  “REFLECTIONS!”  ALL ARE WELCOME!


4. SUNDAY, April 20, 2025  “SUNDAY BRUNCH”   11:30 AM - 1:00 PM   ALL ARE WELCOME!


5. SUNDAY, April 27, 2025  “Second Sunday of Easter”   11:30 AM - 2:00 PM   Wesley Hall  “ANNUAL MEETING” - To Follow Church Service  Muffins and Coffee   ALL CHURCH MEMBERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND