CLICK FOR ORDER OF WORSHIP PDF

Order of Worship, Sunday April 19, 2020
2nd Sunday of Easter

“He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.”
1 Corinthians 15:4

Greeting and Welcome

Prelude Music

Call to Worship (Acts 2, Ps 16, 1 Pet 1)

Pastor: Come into God’s presence with joy.
All: In God, we have an inheritance that is imperishable.
Pastor: Come into God’s presence with hope.
All: In Christ, we have an inheritance that cannot be defiled.
Pastor: Come into God’s presence with longing.
All: In the Spirit, we have an inheritance that never fades.
Pastor: Come into God’s presence with love.
All: In God, we have an inheritance that brings new life.

Opening Prayer (Acts 2, Ps 16, 1 Pet 1)

All: God of signs and wonders, breathe new life into us this day, that our spirits may awake to the joy and the hope of our glorious inheritance through the living Christ. Clear our vision, Holy One, that we may see the promise of Easter in the stirrings of this precious earth and in the life energy flowing through our bodies. Help us find the faith to believe where we have not seen, that others may see, in our living and our loving, the glory of the risen Christ.  Amen.

Hymn “Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain”
UMH #315 Text: John of Damascus; trans. by John Mason Neale, 1818-1866. Music: Arthur S. Sullivan, 1842-1900.

1. 1. Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
      of triumphant gladness;
      God hath brought forth Israel
      into joy from sadness;
      loosed from Pharaoh’s bitter yoke
      Jacob’s sons and daughters,
      led them with unmoistened foot
      through the Red Sea waters.
   2. ‘Tis the spring of souls today;
      Christ hath burst his prison,
      and from three days’ sleep in death
      as a sun hath risen;
      all the winter of our sins,
      long and dark, is flying
      from his light, to whom we give
      laud and praise undying.
   3. “Alleluia!” now we cry
      to our King immortal,
      who, triumphant, burst the bars
      of the tomb’s dark portal;
      “Alleluia!” with the Son,
      God the Father praising,
      “Alleluia!” yet again
      to the Spirit raising.

Prayer of Confession (1 Pet 1, John 20)

All: Merciful God, you come offering us peace, but we hold onto our fears; you come offering us faith, but we cling to our doubts; you come offering us a future filled with promise, but we retreat to pleasant memories of the past. We want to believe that you offer us an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.  We want to see ourselves as you see us.  We want to live as you would have us live.  We want to believe that life is stronger than the death we see all around us.  Help our unbelief, O God, that we may truly know and live your gift of resurrection. Amen.

Words of Assurance (1 Pet 1, John 20)

Pastor: The inheritance that God promises us is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.  Even when we are consumed by doubt, God is always faithful.  Even when we lose our way, God is able to find us and bring us home.  Even when we are at war with ourselves, God is able to bring us peace. Thanks be to God!

Scripture Reading 1 Peter 1:3-9

Meditation “Living Hope” Rev. Matthew Sergent

Response to the Word (1 Pet 1, John 20)

Pastor: Even though we have not seen the Lord, we can still love God.
All: Even though we cannot touch God’s hands, we can still believe.
Pastor: As the body of Christ, and seeing Christ’s love in one another, we can say without doubt:
All: We have seen the Lord!
Pastor: When we witness the hands that touch us and behold the eyes that shine Christ’s love and peace, we can proclaim with faith:
All: My Lord and my God!
Pastor: Do not doubt but believe.

Prayers of the People

Hymn “Blest Be the Tie That Binds”
UMH #557 Text: John Fawcett, 1782. Music: Johann G. Nageli; arr. By Lowell Mason, 1845.

1. Blest be the tie that binds
   our hearts in Christian love;
   the fellowship of kindred minds
   is like to that above.
2. Before our Father’s throne
   we pour our ardent prayers;
   our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,
   our comforts and our cares.
3. When we asunder part,
   it gives us inward pain;
   but we shall still be joined in heart,
   and hope to meet again.

Benediction (1 Pet 1)

Pastor: Through Christ, God has given us a new birth into a living hope.
All: God has given us an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading—an inheritance protected by the power of God.
Pastor: Rejoice, therefore, even if for a while we suffer various trials.
All: For life is stronger than death, love is stronger than hate, joy is stronger than sorrow, and the promises of God are sure.

Postlude

(The Call to Worship, Opening Prayer, Prayer of Confession, Response to the Word, and Benediction taken from Abingdon Worship Annual, B.J. Beu, April 19, 2020.)