Welcome to Westminster United Church We are a faith community building relationships with God, all people and our world 101 6 Street SE, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 1G7 Phone: 403-526-5247 Fax: 403-526-5983 Email: reception@westminsteruc.com Web: www.westminsteruc.com Easter Sunday April 16, 2017 The Peace Candle is lit as a reminder to Christians to pray for and work for world peace. South Alberta Presbytery requests your prayers this week for McNeill, Acadia Valley, Bindloss, United Churches now a part of Coronation Presbytery & Pastoral Charge Supervisor, Rev. Helen Reed Help us keep the air we share healthy and fragrance-free. The chemicals used in scented products can make some people sick, especially those with asthma, allergies and other medical conditions. Please do not wear perfume, cologne, aftershave and other fragrances. (When you see this symbol, please rise in body or spirit, as you are able) Today s Worship Leaders are the Reverends Jan Stevenson and Chelsea Masterman Clergy: Rev Jan Stevenson and Rev. Chelsea Masterman Director of Music: Chris White Book Keeper: Sara Stickel Jr. Choir Leader: Anna Marie Hancock Ministers: All the People Secretary: Cheryl Finnie Custodian: Chris White Security: Kelly Grozell Assisting with the Service This Morning Elder-in-Charge: Greeters & Ushers: Coffee Hosts: Scripture Reader: Sound System Operator: PowerPoint Operator: Arlea Harper Linda Kisell Isaac Hintze, Dale & Lenora Stein Helen Reid Lorenz Fedrau Kathy Nielsen We Gather Prelude LIFE AND WORK: SHARING THE PEACE: One: May the peace of the Risen One be with you all. ALL: And also with you. One: Let us share a sign of peace with each other. PROCESSION OF THE CHRIST CANDLE: Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Give Thanks (VU 179) Hallelujah, hallelujah. Give thanks to the risen Christ; hallelujah, hallelujah! Give praise to God's name. 1 Jesus is Lord of all the earth, firstborn of all creation. Hallelujah, hallelujah.
Give thanks to the risen Christ; hallelujah, hallelujah! Give praise to God's name. 2 Spread the good news o'er all the earth: Jesus has died and is risen. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Give thanks to the risen Christ; hallelujah, hallelujah! Give praise to God's name. CALL TO WORSHIP 1 : One: In this moment -- All: where mystic and modern meet; One: In this moment -- All: of empty tombs and heavenly messengers, One: In this moment All: of life, of death, of resurrection; One: welcome. All: We come to wonder, we come to hope, we come to be. One: But, most of all -- All: We come to worship God! Alleluia! OPENING PRAYER 2 : (Unison) Lord of new life and new beginnings! Lord of healing and hope! We gather to rejoice! We gather to sing praise! We gather to worship your Holy Name! All of nature proclaims you, Risen Lord. Even the stones will shout out! Hear us, Lord, as we shout loud Hosannas and hallelujahs! Amen. HYMN: Jesus Christ is Risen Today (VU 155) 1 Jesus Christ is risen today, hallelujah! our triumphant holy day, hallelujah! who did once, upon the cross, hallelujah! suffer to redeem our loss. Hallelujah! 2 Hymns of praise then let us sing hallelujah! unto Christ, our heavenly King, hallelujah! who endured the cross and grave, hallelujah! sinners to redeem and save. Hallelujah! 3 But the pains which he endured, hallelujah! our salvation have procured; hallelujah! now above the sky he's King, hallelujah! where the angels ever sing. Hallelujah! 1 Written by Richard Bott, Gathering Lent/Easter 2017, p. 38 2 Written by Heather Blaikie, Gathering Lent/Easter 2017, p.40
4 Sing we to our God above, hallelujah! praise eternal as God's love; hallelujah! praise our God, ye heavenly host, hallelujah! praise the Son and Holy Ghost. Hallelujah! CHILDREN S TIME: HYMN: Allelulia (MV50) vs 1&2 PRAYER OF CONFESSION 3 : One: O God, help us! ALL: Help us! One: From virgin birth to bodily resurrection ALL: From walking on water to Lazarus, come out! One: You call our scientific minds to non-rational thought. ALL: You call us to believe the unbelievable. One: Help us in our unbelief. ALL: Help us in our unbelief! One: Make us into your Easter people ALL: that we might see the truth of your presence in the life that surrounds us. One: For this we believe: Christ is risen. ALL: Christ is risen, indeed! One: Alleluia. ALL: Alleluia! Amen. WORDS OF ASSURANCE 4 : One: God says, let go of the things that are not life-giving. Let go of all that needs to die in order that you may rise to new life. All: In letting go, we are free to embrace new life. In our dying is our rising. PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION (Unison): All: Like the disciples who looked into the empty tomb and saw nothing, we sometimes look at the scriptures and see no meaning. Challenge us with your message. Open us to the living Word alive in the world, just as the disciples learned to welcome the Risen Christ into their lives. Amen. SCRIPTURE: Colossians 3: 1 4 1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, 3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. RESPONSE TO WORD: 3 Wr Written by Richard Bott, Gathering Lent/Easter 2017, p. 41 4 Written by Cindy Randall, Gathering Lent/Easter 2017, p.41
One: This is the witness of the Church. ALL: Thanks be to God. ANTHEM: Early in the Morning on Easter Day SCRIPTURE: John 20: 1 18 1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him. 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes. 11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them, They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him. 14When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking? Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away. 16 Jesus said to her, Mary! She turned and said to him in Hebrew, Rabbouni! (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God. 18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lord ; and she told them that he had said these things to her. RESPONSE TO THE WORD: SERMON: One: This is the Good News of Jesus Christ. ALL: Praise to Christ, the Living Word. WE RESPOND IN CREATIVITY: (Angie Irvine) HYMN: Joy Comes with the Dawn (VU 166) 1 Weeping may come; weeping may come in the night, when dark shadows cloud our sight.
2 Sorrow will turn, sorrow will turn into song, and God's laughter make us strong. 3 We will rejoice, we will rejoice, and give praise, to the One who brings us grace. INVITATION TO OFFERING 5 : God has blessed us with so much! Let us give thanks with our gifts, so that others may be blessed as well. Local offerings support the ministries of this church to bless our local community; gifts to Mission and Service bless others across Canada and around the world. The offering will now be received. OFFERTORY: DOXOLOGY: Your Work, O God, Needs Many Hands (VU 537) 1 Your work, O God, needs many hands to help you everywhere, and some there are who cannot serve unless our gifts we share. 2 Because we love you and your work, our offering now we make: be pleased to use it as your own, we ask for Jesus' sake. DEDICATION 6 : Jesus gave all he had, and he continued to give even beyond the grave. He just couldn t help it. Bless these gifts with that extraordinary love. Amen. INVITATION TO PRAYER: Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying (VU 400) 5 Written by Dale Lowe, Gathering Lent/Easter 2017, p.42 6 Written by Sheryl Spencer, Gathering Lent/Easter 2017, p. 43
Lord, listen to your children praying, Lord, send your Spirit in this place; Lord, listen to your children praying, send us love, send us power, send us grace! PRAYERS OF GOD S PEOPLE: (Worshippers are invited to light a candle and share a prayer concern with the congregation.) Response after each prayer: One: God of Love, ALL: Hear Our Prayer 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 trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass 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 and ever: Amen. HYMN: Now the Green Blade Rises (VU 186) 1 Now the green blade rises from the buried grain, wheat that in dark earth many days has lain; love lives again, that with the dead has been: 2 In the grave they laid him, love by hatred slain, thinking that he would never wake again, laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen; 3 Forth he came at Easter, like the risen grain, he that for three days in the grave had lain; raised from the dead, my living Lord is seen; 4 When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain, your touch can call us back to life again, fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been; BENEDICTION:/COMMISSIONING: One: As you go into this Easter Day, put faith in God, who want fullness of life for you; Put trust in your own ability to be a blessing to the world; Put hope in the minds of those who see no way ahead; And now go, with the Easter joy deep within your hearts. All: Thanks be to the Holy Spirit! One: Go, with the hopeful message of Easter clear in your minds. ALL: Thanks be to Christ! One: Go, certain that in time and beyond time, God s love is with you and will never leave you. ALL: Thanks be to God! CHORAL AMEN: VU 974 Amen, amen! Hallelujah, amen! Amen, amen! Hallelujah, amen!
SENDING FORTH: The Day of Resurrection (VU 164) 1 The day of resurrection! Earth, tell it out abroad; the passover of gladness, the passover of God! From death to life eternal, from earth unto the sky, our Christ has brought us over with hymns of victory. 2 Our hearts be free of evil, that we may see aright the Christ in rays eternal of resurrection light, and, listening to the accents, may hear so calm and plain Christ's own 'All hail!' and, hearing, may raise the victor strain. 3 Now let the heavens be joyful, let earth its song begin, the round world keep high triumph, and all that is therein; let all things seen and unseen their notes of gladness blend, for Christ indeed is risen, our Joy that has no end. Postlude Please join us in Memorial Hall for the Refreshments and Fellowship! Announcements: The office will be closed Monday, April 17, for the Statutory Easter Holiday. If you need urgent pastoral care, please contact the Reverend Chelsea Masterman at 403-458-1241. The funds that are contributed at coffee time this month are donated to the Westminster UCW. Victory Lutheran Church is holding an interdenominational prayer service on Wednesday, April 19 at 7pm. Magic! Friday, April 21, 7:00 pm at Victory Lutheran Church. Local Christian magician, Scott Cowan, will present an entertaining program with a gospel message in support of Oasis Canada s Outreach to Slovakia. All ages are welcome to attend. Free will offering. Next Sunday is Camp Sunday! If you are comfortable doing so, please feel free to wear your camping clothing to church. If you have a story about camping you would like to share, please contact Angie Irvine, or if you have pictures from church camp experiences, Cheryl would be happy to include them in the powerpoint presentation. The WOC of St. John s Presbyterian Church (504 2 Street SE) are hosting an Old Fashioned English Tea on Saturday, April 29th from 2-4:00 PM. Tickets ($10) to be pre-purchased through the Church Office (403-526- 4542. Everyone is welcome to join in on the entertainment, bake sale, jewellery sale, and more. Start collecting your items for the Garage Sale to be held on May 6, 2017! Items can be brought to the church the week before the sale, for sorting and pricing. Spring Tea at St. Barnabas Church (635 4 Street SE) on May 6, 2017, from 2:00 4:00 pm. Bake table, books, jewelery. The outdoor worship service is planned for Sunday, June 4, 2017, at 10:25 am in Central Park.