April 9, 2023  Easter 

Lighting the Christ Candle 

We kindle a flame to lighten the dark
and take all our fear away

 

Welcome and Announcements 

Called to Worship:
From the rising of the sun, till its setting in the West
The Resurrected Christ is among us
In the cries of infants and on the lips of children
The Resurrected Christ is praised
In the visions of the old and the dreaming of the young
The Resurrected Christ is revealed
With those gathered by the throne and those gathered here on earth
The Resurrected Christ is in our midst
From the setting of the sun, till its rising in the East
The Resurrected Christ is among us 

Hymn: 243  Jesus Christ is risen today

 

Prayer of Adoration 

We praise you O God, that Jesus has risen in glory like a bright morning star, and that with his presence lights up the darkness of our lives.  As we worship you we turn to the light of your love in him, so that our lives may also reflect your glory.  Come among us O God, be in us and with us, fill us with your Spirit and your power that we may faithfully bring that same love and glory into the world.   

Gracious God, Power of life, we praise you that you have not abandoned us to the living death of sin and despair therefore, with confidence we pray to you confessing our sinfulness.   

Unison Prayer of Confession:
God of life, we come to you as a people hungry for good news. 
We have missed the signs of the world’s rebirth.  We have overlooked the joy you offer us.  We have missed the life you give us, and failed to see Jesus among us. 
Forgive us, Gracious God. 
Open our eyes to see Jesus risen among us.  Open our hearts to receive the gift of life.  Open our lips to share the good news with all whom we meet.  Open our hands to share the gifts of grace in acts of mercy. 
In the name of Jesus, who lives in our midst we pray.  Amen

Assurance of Pardon 

WE are reminded that God is merciful and just.  So if we make a prayer for forgiveness.  If we ask for the healing of our souls.  If we ask for the renewal of our faith, we can do so with confidence.  God sent Jesus to die for our sins and caused him to come to life again that we, who believe will enjoy his gift of eternal life.  Look to Jesus and see the joy of grace bestowed to all believers.  Amen 

 

The Peace 

Hymn:  258 Thine be the glory

 

Scripture Lessons:

Acts 10:  34-43
John 20: 1-18 

Sermon:  Witnesses to the Resurrection 

On first Easter morning there were witnesses that spoke of what they saw.   

Mary saw that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb and ran to tell the disciples.  They went to go and see and they saw a tomb that contained only the grave clothes.   

They went back and the confirmed that what Mary had said was true.  The stone had been rolled away and the tomb was empty, Jesus was missing. 

But the Scriptures record that they still did not understand the scripture which said that he must rise from death.   

When Peter and John returned to the upper room they were not able to give an account of the resurrection—they had not seen Jesus so they could only report on the empty tomb. 

The commentator Harmon points out, that for someone to be a witness to the resurrection they must first go on a journey of discovery and enlightenment. 

This is what Mary did when she remained at the tomb after the disciples left.  The journey of discovery, then, takes time, and it takes commitment.  It also requires a second look.  And listening.     

it requires really listening to what is being told to us. 

We cannot be witnesses to what we do not understand. 

Mary stays at the tomb. 

She looks in and she sees the angels sitting there.    They ask her why she is crying.  She says that Jesus is missing and she doesn’t know where he is.  That is the second time we hear her saying that.  All she wants to know is where is Jesus?   

Up to this point she is only a witness to his disappearance. 

Then she turns around and sees a man, but she didn’t know it was Jesus.  Jesus asks:   Woman, why are you crying?” “Who is it that you are looking for? 

She sees him, she hears him speak, but in her focus on finding the body of Jesus, she presumes he is a gardener or someone else who may know something.    She has stopped asking and is she is now demanding answers, saying, “If you took him away, sir, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.” 

Harmon suggests that she discovers the truth because she persists.  She wants to find Jesus.   

When everyone else goes back to their lives she stays, perhaps to mourn, perhaps to ponder what had happened; but mostly because she had a job to do. 

Mary is there to anoint Jesus for burial and she is going to complete her mission.  she asks again “where is he?  Tell me and I will go.” 

Jesus spoke a second time, calling her by name, and then she heard and in hearing, understood. 

That’s the way that God works, he finds a way through the fogginess of our thinking, and shows us what he needs us to know.   

This is an account filled with grace.  Clearly God’s grace plays a role in the understanding that grew in Mary’s heart.   

This is an account filled with love.  Surely we hear the love and the tenderness when Jesus says, “Mary”.  He wants her to see him and to know him. 

It is only as Jesus says her name, that she looks, really looks at who she is speaking with, and in that moment of recognition, she really listens and she comes to understand.   

Jesus is not missing, he is alive and present.   

From that point on she is able to witness to the Resurrection, and in obedience goes as Jesus asks to tell the other disciples that she had seen him and what he had told her.   

Interesting that when she demands to be told where Jesus is, that she says she will go.  Now having found him, she is obedient to her vow and his command.  Instead she goes to tell the disciples, “Jesus is alive and I have seen him.”   

He is alive!   

I have seen the Lord! 

What a wonderful truth to tell.   

We are also called to witness to the Resurrection, and we, like Mary and the disciples cannot be true to that calling until we see, we hear and we understand. We each must take our own journey of discovery and understanding before we can be those who witness to his presence among us.   

The truth is, we like the disciples have been taught.  We know the Scriptures talk about the Messiah who must die for the people’s sins.  We know that the Scriptures tell us that Jesus rose from the dead to bring life to all of us. 

But knowing, without understanding, is empty knowledge.  When we have understanding that knowledge becomes a part of us, in our hearts, our minds and our souls.  That’s so very different from just reading the words and speaking them.   

We, like Mary, need to ask questions, to seek to know where Jesus is, to seek to minister to and for Jesus.  We, like Mary, need to have that moment when our hearts soar with joy.    

All of that is a part of the process. 

Seeing, understanding, joyful acceptance and obedience in telling all work together for witnesses to the Resurrection.  

Thomas Goodwin, in “Of the Object and Acts of Justifying Faith”  writes that Mary is an exemplary woman of faith.  He then urges his readers not to be like Peter and John who don’t look more deeply into the first news that she brings.  Referring to the Gospel of Matthew he dismisses them as those who first received the account of the witnesses as an “idle tale.” 

An “idle tale” is all this can be, until we have an encounter with the Risen Christ.  Until we see the resurrected Christ in our midst, we cannot be witnesses to the Resurrection.   

And yet, I think that Goodwin may have been too hard on Peter and John.  They just needed time to discover and see and to process.  For everyone that journey of enlightenment takes the time that we each need.   

In time the disciples came to that place, where they saw the Risen Christ, spoke with him and understood, finally understood, everything the Scriptures had to say about the Messiah. 

This happened for the disciples on the Emmaus Road, and so stirred their hearts that they rushed back to Jerusalem.  That happened for all those who were gathered in a locked upper room when Jesus suddenly appeared in their midst.   

When they saw the Risen Christ in their midst, they saw, they heard, and they understood. 

Then finally it happened for Thomas, who had difficulty believing the accounts that the other disciples were telling of seeing Jesus and speaking with him.   

Each one of them had a different journey.  No one forced Thomas to believe.  Each one of them were given the grace they needed to discover for themselves that the Risen Christ was among them, and that his presence made all the difference in the world.   

The journey of discovery is a journey filled with grace and love.  Believing truly comes from seeing, hearing and understanding.   

Witnessing then arises from understanding.  But it is also a journey of grace and love.   

Our job is to simply tell the story.   Again and again we are asked to tell the story.  All those who hear us tell story will come to that understanding in their own encounter with Jesus, and through grace and love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.  

Too easily we forget, that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to help open hearts and minds to see and hear and understand.  As we journey through these next months to the account of Pentecost we will realize that what really made the disciples witnesses to the resurrection, was that the power of the Spirit came upon them.  Up to that point they spoke only with each other and listened with new understanding as Jesus taught them again what the Scriptures said about the Messiah.   

It is the same for us.  We must see.  We must know.  We must hear.  We must understand.  We must believe and then… we must go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit; trusting that the Spirit will do his job and bring understanding to those with whom we speak.   

This is a journey of discovery, a journey of discernment and enlightenment.  We can not be witnesses to that which we don’t understand.  At first Mary could only speak of the stone being rolled away and the missing body.   Then with the joy and the understanding of seeing Jesus and speaking with him she witnesses to the Resurrection.  When the others saw Jesus and believed they were able to witness to the Resurrection. 

This tells us that the journey of discovery is not linear.  It is a journey with many starts and stops.  Some of us take that journey quickly.  Some of us have to go back and relearn something that we forgot in a moment of distress and trouble.  Some of us stay in one place for a long time.  

We know that for each one of us there is a significant difference in our seeing and understanding.   

This is especially true for all the generations following the disciples.  They had the benefit of seeing Jesus in person.  We do not have that benefit.  

None of us who have believed by the word of Scripture have actually seen Jesus…. And that is why the Holy Spirit’s role in the unfolding of our understanding is so important. 

The commentator, Scott Hoeve, asks the question, “Why did God rely on uneducated fishermen and woman whose testimony was suspect?  Why was this important truth entrusted to a group of rag-tag followers?’   

I am reminded of a story that is often told on Ascension Sunday.  When Jesus arrives in Heaven an angel asks him, who is going to tell the story? 

Jesus points to the group of disciples gathered on earth, with mouths agape, straining to see where Jesus had gone and seeing nothing but empty sky.  These people will be my witnesses he tells the angel.   

The angel looks at them for a while and asks, “what’s the backup plan?” 

It doesn’t make sense, does it?  Or maybe it does make sense?  They walked with him, talked with him, learned from him, grieved his death and rejoiced to see him again.  That makes them excellent first account witness.  Then, when the Holy Spirit filled them with power they became even better witnesses. 

The sheer fact that the church exists now is itself a grand miracle, proving that the testimony of this rag-tag bunch was full of the power of God to make the truth known.  It is also proof that the Holy Spirit filled their words and gave them power, as well as opening the hearts of those who listened.   

That plan has not changed over the millennia.  Telling the story of Jesus is still the job of a rag-tag group of people.   

We still can tell only of what we know.  Jesus is alive.  We still can tell only of what we understand.  Jesus has made a difference in my life.  We still can witness only in the power of the Holy Spirit who takes our words and makes them a revelation of God’s grace and mercy.   

That story and that power is still available to the church.   

The work of the Holy Spirit in the church is every bit as surprising and as earth shatteringly shocking as what the disciples knew when they saw the Resurrected Christ. Their journey of discovery and understanding and the power of the Spirit made a big difference for them. 

That same journey and that Spirit is important for each one of us as we take on the mantle of being witnesses to the Resurrection.  We can do that because the Risen Christ dwells among us.   

What is important as we take on the mantle of witnesses is to come to the understanding that as a congregation we are called to work together.  This is not a job relegated to individuals all alone out in the world. 

As a congregation we are also on a journey of discovery.  Learning about the Risen Christ in our midst.  Learning how his presence works in us as a congregation.  Learning as a congregation how we are meant to reach out and touch the lives of the community outside our doors.  We are all together on a journey to learn and understand how to be the church that witnesses to the Resurrection.   

Let us rejoice, the Risen Christ dwells among us.  Let us like Mary proclaim the truth.   

He is alive. 

He is among us.  

His life among us makes all the difference in our living.  

Amen 

 

Hymn:  247 Christ the Lord is risen today

 

Offering
Doxology

Offering Prayer
Thank you, God, for the gift of this amazing day of resurrection!
Our hearts are overflowing with the joy and excitement of Easter.
We pray that you will take our exuberance, our joy, our talents and our wealth and use it to bring light and hope to those trapped in darkness and despair.
May with in the presence of Christ work with those who have not yet seen the risen Lord in their midst.
Use the gift of our very lives to empower our calling
to carry your Incarnate Love into the world.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.  

 

Gathering Prayer Requests
Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer 

We thank you, loving God, for the vulnerable yet wonderful gift of life.  To be alive and to know it is an unspeakable honour.  We thank you, that from start to finish our life is precious in your sight. May we always praise you for it...  

 

We thank you, loving God, that our movement towards death and decay is not the final sentence in our life story.  We thank you that by your faithfulness we are born to a new and living hope in a future where love will never be terminated and life will never end.   

We thank you that the Risen Jesus is among us and in our hearts and that he directs our thoughts and prayers so that we may serve your world as he has served it. 

Into the light of Easter morning, we offer our personal joy and thanks.   

Requests 

Most of all that you sent Jesus to live and die for the forgiveness of our sins.  Thank you for his resurrection which brings us eternal life.   

May the light of Christ continue to shine upon us. 

into the light of Easter morning, we raise those who are struggling with illness, and with despair  

requests 

Those recovering from tornadoes in the states 

 

May the light of Christ shine upon them. 

Into the light of Easter morning, we bring those places in our world where war, violence, poverty and need are the experiences of everyday life.  

The Ukraine
Israel and Lebanon 

Requests 

May the light of Christ shine upon them. 

Into the light of this Easter morning we bring our thanks that the risen Jesus is with us in all ways, and we bring you the prayer that he has taught us, saying,  

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 do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the power and the glory, forever AMEN. 

 

Prayer of Easter joy…unison 

As Christ was offered in obedience to you, O God, we offer ourselves and our gifts to be used in your service.  As you filled Christ with your life and power, so fill us that our lives may be transformed and that we may be the living presence of Jesus who lives and moves and breathes among us.  Amen. 

Hymn:  249 The day of resurrection

 

Charge and Benediction 

You had not imagined that something so empty could fill you to overflowing and now you carry the knowledge like a  treasure, in your heart: 

So do not linger here.  You have seen the Resurrected Christ among you and so you are already blessed.   

There is no other word you need.  There is simply to go and tell.  There is simply to begin. 

May the grace of God, the love of Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit be with you, now and evermore…. 

Benediction Song 

Sung Blessing
252  He is Lord

He is Lord, he is Lord,
he is risen from the dead and he is Lord,
every knee shall bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. 

Amen.  Amen.  Amen