WORDS ON WHICH TO MEDITATE AS WE PREPARE FOR WORSHIP
Living Lord,
with all creation we sing a new song:
Alleluia; Alleluia!
The darkness surrounded us;
God’s light was hidden.
In the clamour of the world,
God’s Word was drowned out.
Emptiness consumed us,
God’s presence eluded us.
Yet the dawning of this day makes us bold to step out of the shadows,
to find ourselves taking in new hope and new life.
We leave behind us the broken landscape of desert and the cold,
impenetrable tomb as we find ourselves in a garden of the greatest beauty,
where all things flourish and respond to the drumbeat of God’s creation.
We hear the voice,
the only voice that matters,
calling us to respond.
Living Lord,
we will go on singing this new song:
Alleluia: Alleluia!
THE GATHERING OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD
An elder will carry in an open Bible and place it on or near the communion table.
In true Reformed tradition this simple act is a reminder that our authority is God’s Word revealed to us in Scripture open before us.
WE ARE ALL ASKED TO STAND AS THE BIBLE IS BROUGHT INTO CHURCH AND PLACED BEFORE THE CONGREGATION AND REMAIN STANDING FOR THE CALL TO WORSHIP
CALL TO WORSHIP
Alleluia!
Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Alleluia!
HYMN 232: Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia! (Tune: Easter Hymn. Music: Adapted from a melody in Lyra Davidica. Words: Charles Wesley.)
PRAYERS OF GLORY AND CONFESSION
COLLECT FOR THE DAY
HYMN 234: Alleluia, alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord (Tune: Alleluia. Music: Don Fishel arranged by Norman Warren. Words: Don Fishel.)
NOTICES FOR THE COMING WEEK AND THE ELDERS WAIT ON YOU FOR YOUR MORNING GIFTS
OFFERTORY PRAYER
God of all glory and grace,
we offer our gifts and our lives to you in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who gave his life for us, whom you raised from the dead, and who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
AMEN
MINISTRY OF THE WORD
READING FROM ACTS: Acts, Chapter 10, Verses 34 to 43
Bench ‘Good News Bible’ New Testament page 162: A speech showing the transforming power of Christ’s resurrection. It had a life-changing effect. After a revelatory vision, Peter came to see that the God of salvation shows no partiality: it is for all who will believe. However, although the arms of the risen Christ are stretched wide to receive all persons, only some show evidence of the work of the Spirit within them.
- EPISTLE: 1 Colossians, Chapter 3, Verses 1 to 4
Bench ‘Good News Bible’ New Testament page 254: Easter celebrates the faithfulness of God, whose promises are secure. In Jesus Christ, God signals the redemption of humankind shaped and motivated by the Christ who sits at God’s right-hand. The experience empowers believers in the present time.
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HYMN 236: Come, ye faithful, raise the strain of triumphant gladness (Tune: Ave virgo virginum. Music: Melody from Horn’s Gesangbuch. Words: John of Damascus translated by JM Neale.)
GOSPEL: John, Chapter 20, Verses 1 to 18
Bench ‘Good News Bible’ New Testament page 144: The resurrection is a new creation. The risen Lord is a transformed Jesus. Peter and the beloved disciple only see the empty tomb at this stage. Mary comes to know Jesus in a new way. She is to be sustained in the new era without the historical Jesus, an era, nonetheless, in which Jesus’ God and Father is the God and Father of the church.
- A WORD IN SEASON
OUR RESPONSE TO GOD’S GRACE
HYMN 238: Good Christians all, rejoice and sing! (Tune: Vulpius. Music: Melody by Melchior Vulpius harmonized by Erik Routley. Words: CA Alington.)
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION AND THE LORD’S PRAYER
On this extraordinary day we remember those who have died between Easter 2010 and Easter 2011 and in the certainty of the resurrection hope it was our privilege to conduct their funeral service.
* James Henry ABRAM * Carol Ann ATHERTON * Charles Henry BROWN * Margaret BURROUGHS * Peter CHESTERMAN * Nancy COTTAM * John Philip CROPPER * Henry Alan DAWE * Ronald FOOTE * Pauline GIBSON * James Lee GREENWAY * Richard de HAVILLAND * Brenda HOLMES * Margaret HORNBY * June HOUGHTON * Jean HUGHES * Margaret JOHNSON * William KERR * Margaret MOSS * Paul O’BRIEN * Christopher QUEEN * Joan RAWCLIFFE * Leslie REDDINGTON * Sheila REDMAN * Anne Hamilton ROBERTSON * Edith ROBINSON * Norman SIMEY * John SLIMON * Norman SMEDLEY * Pamela STAUNTON * Colin STEWART * Edith SUMNER * Ann TAYLOR * Elizabeth WALSH * Muriel WHITTAKER * John Fredrick WILSON * Evelyn Mary WOOD * Stephen Leslie WOODMAN * Florence Maud WRIGHT
THE INVITATION TO THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION
The risen Christ came and stood among the disciples and said:
‘Peace be with you!’.
Then they were glad when they saw the Lord.
Alleluia!
The peace of the risen Christ be always with us.
At this point in the service, none need feel they have to leave. In this Church all are invited to share in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. However, if you cannot, for whatever reason, accept the bread and wine when it is offered to you then, simply, make an indication to the elder. There is no obligation to accept, and no offence not to take. But please stay and share in the rich fellowship of the Sacrament. In our Reformed tradition, you may see people move forward to gather round the Table of the Lord. They occupy alternate rows starting from the front benches. You can join them. However, you can remain where you are sat and the elders will come to you with the bread and wine.
HYMN 247: Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son (Tune: Maccabeus. Music: GF Handel. Words: Edmond Bundry translated by RB Hoyle.)
THE PREPARATION OF THE GIFTS: THE BREAD AND WINE
A PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
- ‘Panis angelicus’ from ‘Sacris Solemnis’. Music: Cesar Frank. Words: Thomas Aquinas. Sung for us by Denise & Liz. Accompanied by John Gibson.
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Panis angelicus fit panis hominum; Dat panis coelicus figuris terminum: O res mirabilis! Manducat Dominum Pauper, servus et humilis. Te trina Deitas unaque poscimus: Sic nos tu visita, sicut te colimus; Per tuas semitas duc nos quo tendimus, Ad lucem quam inhabitas. Amen. |
The angelic bread
becomes the bread of men; The heavenly bread ends all prefigurations: What wonder! The Lord is eaten by a poor and humble servant. Triune God, We beg of you: visit us, just as we worship you. By your ways, lead us where we are heading, to the light in which you dwell. Amen. |
- THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE BREAD AND WINE
It is our usual practice to wait until all have received the bread and we eat together, and then similarly with the wine, waiting until all have received a glass and drinking together. If you cannot, for whatever reason, accept the bread or wine when it is offered to you then simply, make an indication to the elder. There is no obligation to accept, and no offence not to take.
A TIME OF QUIET REFLECTION
We came seeking the dead,
but it was not death that terrified us in the garden,
but a life we could not understand.
We came feeling our grief, but it was not sorrow that wrung our hearts,
but a love which would not let us hold on to what was precious.
We came seeing an end,
but it was not finality that cast a wall across our sight,
but a new beginning we had never imagined.
We came expecting nothing,
but it was not memory which sang us into wonder and joy,
but an answer,
a marvel,
a glory.
- HYMN: Now is Christ risen from the dead (Tune: Lasst uns erfreuen. Music: Geistliche Kirchengesang arranged by David Peacock. Words: Timothy Dudley-Smith.)
THE BLESSING
God the Father,
by whose glory Christ was raised from the dead,
strengthen us to walk with him in his risen life;
and may almighty God bless us,
the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit.
AMEN
Alleluia!
Go in joy and peace to love and serve the Lord.
In the name of Christ,
Alleluia!