Order of Service for the 9am Easter Service:

READING: “It Was on the Friday…”
It was on the Friday
that they ended it all.

Of course
they didn't do it one by one.
They weren't brave enough.
All the stones at the one time
or no stones thrown at all.

They did it in crowds ...
in crowds where you can feel safe
and lose yourself
and shout things
you would never shout on your own,
and do things
you would never do
if you felt the camera was watching you.

It was a crowd in the church that did it,
and a crowd in the civil service that did it,
and a crowd in the street that did it,
and a crowd on the hill that did it.

And he said nothing ...

He took the insults,
the bruises,
the spit on his face,
the thongs on his back,
the curses in his ears.

He took the sight of his friends turning away,
running away.

And he said nothing ...
He let them do their worst,
until their worst was done,
It was on Friday they ended it all ...
and would have finished themselves
had he not cried,"Father, forgive them ..."

SCRIPTURE READING: Luke 24: 1 – 12

HYMN # 155 (vs 1,2,4) Jesus Christ is Risen Today

CALL TO WORSHIP
One: This is the Good News:
The grave is empty,
Christ is Risen.
All: Hallelujah !!
One: This is the Good News:
The light shines in the darkness
and the darkness can never put it out.
All: Hallelujah !!
One: This is the Good News:
Once we were no people,
now we are God’s people.
All: Hallelujah !!
One: Christ is our peace,
The indestructible peace
we now share with each other
All: and with the world !! Amen.
One: The Church is Easter.
Out of Death:
Life.
All: Out of Darkness:
A lush green world.
Flowers in the ice,
Sunrays in the storm,
Mustard seeds galore.
One: Our souls enter a spiritual springtime,
All: our bodies given over to leaping and dancing,
our very beings saturated with hosannas.
One: Our shouting crashes in upon this world:
The Lord Lives.
All: We live !!
One: Resurrection resounds throughout our community !!
All: Christ is Risen !!! Hallelujah !!

HYMN # 179 Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Give Thanks

READING: “It Was on the Sunday”
It was on the Sunday
that he pulled the corn ...

They arrived with flowers,
shuffling through the dawn
as the dawn snuffed out
the last candles of night.
Their faces betrayed their belief
that yesterday would always be better
than tomorrow
despite what he said.
He would not say it again,
so why bother to beleive him on that score?

And the flowers,
they too were silent witnesses to disbelief.
Like the grass,
they were cut to be dried to death,
cut off from their roots,
their bulb, their source of life.
He was the flower they cherished,
the flower now perished
whose fate the lilies of the field,
now tight in hand
would re-enact.

So when they passed the crouched figure
at the edge of the road,
they thought little of him,
scarcely seeing his form through their tears.
Had they looked even a little,
they would have seen a man
letting grain fall through his fingers,
dropping to the earth
to die and yet to rise again.

It was on the Sunday
that he pulled the corn ...

PRAYER:
One: Jesus Christ, we greet you!
Your hands still have holes in them,
your feet are wet from the dew;
and with the memory of our names
undimmed by three days of death
you meet us,
risen from the grave.
All: We fail to understand how;
we puzzle at the reason why.
One: But you have come:
not to answer our questions,
but to show us your face.
All: You are alive
and the world can rejoice again.
Hallelujah !!
Amen.

HYMN # 175 This Is the Day That God Has Made

PRAYER:
One: Today and tomorrow,
All: Today and tomorrow,
One: Lo, I am with you always,
All: when we try to do your will,
One: I am with you always,
All: when we go where we do not know,
One: I am with you always,
All: when we meet one we do not recognize,
One: I am with you always,
All: where faith ends and doubt begins,
One: I am with you always.
All: and should we forget you…
One: I am with you always.
All: Today and tomorrow,
Today and tomorrow,
You are with us always
to the end of the world.
Amen.