* Denotes all are invited to stand.
Bold text indicates portions of the service to be spoken or sung by the congregation.
April 20, 2025
Easter Sunday
Music for Gathering:
Brian Jay
Organist
Hymn: #220 v.4 “Go to Dark Gethsemane”
PCM Chancel Choir
Welcome & Announcements
Rev. Aaron J. White
Peace Message:
Brenda Norton
Prelude: “Thine Is The Glory”
Master Brass
Call to Worship:
O give thanks to the Lord, for God is good.
God’s steadfast love endures forever!
Let Israel say,
God’s steadfast love endures forever!
Let the house of Aaron say,.
God’s steadfast love endures forever!
Let all who fear the Lord say,
God’s steadfast love endures forever! Let us worship the risen God!
* Hymn #232 “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today”
Please see screens for lyrics.
* Presentation of Sacred Symbols
Here is the cross, a sign of God’s love.
Jesus is our Savior and Lord, who lived and died and rose again for us.
Here is the candle, the light of Christ.
Jesus is the light of the world, showing us God’s holy way.
Here is the Bible, the book of faith.
Jesus is the Word of God made flesh who came to live among us.
Here is the water, a sign of God’s grace.
Jesus gives us living water so that we may never be thirsty.
Here is the bread, the body of Christ.
Jesus is the bread of heaven, the food of everlasting life.
Here is the cup, a sign of God’s promise.
Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, growing together in faith, hope, and love.
A Litany for Easter
Congregation Response:
Alleluia! The Lord is risen indeed!
Song of Praise: #243 “Be Not Afraid”
(Please see screen for lyrics.)
* Passing the Peace
Prayer for Illumination:
Kathleen Keefer, Worship Leader
First Reading:
Isaiah 65:17-25
17 “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth! The things of the past will not be remembered or come to mind!
18 Be glad and rejoice forever and ever in what I create, because I now create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight!
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it or the cry of distress.
20 No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or old people who do not live out their days. They die as mere youths who reach but a hundred years, and those who fall short of a hundred will be thought accursed
21 At last they will live in the houses they build, and eat the fruit of the vineyard they plant.
22 They will not build for another to inhabit; they will not plant for another to eat. For the days of my people will be like the days of a tree, and my chosen ones will enjoy the fruit of their labors.
23 They will not labor in vain or bear children doomed to die; for they and their descendants are a people blessed by God.
24 Even before they call upon me, I will answer; and while they speak, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed side by side; the lion will eat straw like an ox. Serpents will be content to crawl on the ground; they will not injure or destroy in all my holy mountain,”
says [Adonai].
Anthem: “Easter Chorale and Alleluia”
PCM Chancel Choir
Second Scripture:
John 20:1-18
1 Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance,
2 so she ran off to Simon Peter and the other disciple— the one Jesus loved —and told them, “The Rabbi has been taken from the tomb! We don’t know where they have put Jesus!”
3 At that, Peter and the other disciple started out toward the tomb.
4 They were running side by side, but then the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
5 He didn’t enter, but bent down to peer in and saw the linen wrappings lying on the ground.
6 Then Simon Peter arrived and entered the tomb. He observed the linen wrappings on the ground,
7 and saw the piece of cloth that had covered Jesus’ head lying not with the wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.
8 Then the disciple who had arrived first at the tomb went in. He saw and believed.
9 As yet, they didn’t understand the scripture that Jesus was to rise from the dead.
10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.
11 Meanwhile, Mary stood weeping beside the tomb. Even as she wept, she stooped to peer inside,
12 and there she saw two angels in dazzling robes. One was seated at the head and the other at the foot of the place where Jesus’ body had lain.
13 They asked her, “Why are you weeping?” She answered them, “Because they have taken away my Rabbi, and I don’t know where they have put the body.”
14 No sooner had she said this than she turned around and caught sight of Jesus standing there, but she didn’t know it was Jesus.
15 He asked her, “Why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?” She supposed it was the gardener, so she said, “Please, if you’re the one who carried Jesus away, tell me
where you’ve laid the body and I will take it away.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned to him and said, “Rabboni!” —which means “Teacher”.
17 Jesus then said, “Don’t hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to Abba God. Rather, go to the sisters and brothers and tell them, ‘I’m ascending to my Abba and to your Abba, my God and your God!’”
18 Mary of Magdala went to the disciples. “I have seen the Teacher!” she announced. Then she reported what the savior had said to her.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Time for Children:
Darla Holycross
Sermon:
Rev. Aaron J. White
* Hymn #241 “Woman, Weeping in the Garden”
Please see screens for lyrics.
Pastoral Prayer:
Congregation Response: Hear our prayer.
Invitation to Discipleship
The Lord’s Supper:
Invitation
Great Thanksgiving
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
…Therefore we praise you, joining the song of the universal church and the heavenly choir:
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, hosanna in the highest.
…great is the mystery of faith:
Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
…God of glory, now and forever.
Amen
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
The Bread is Broken and the Cup is Filled.
The Communion of the People.
The Prayer After Communion.
* Hymn #248” Christ Is Risen! Shout Hosanna!”
Please see screens for lyrics.
* Charge & Blessing
Music for Departing: “Ave Verum Corpus”
Master Brass