April 28, 2019
Worship Resources for
the Center for Faith and Giving
Easter 2
Call to Worship (from Psalm 118)
One: Come! Give thanks to the Lord, who is good!
Many: The stone that the builders rejected is now the chief cornerstone.
One: What a marvel!
Many: This is the day the Lord has made.
One: Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
Many: Rejoicing, we bless the name of the Lord as we pray.
Opening Prayer
God of Resurrection Life,
You brought us up from the caverns of despair;
you give us light and you are our God!
The echoes of our “Alleluias” continue to ring out
as we gather to rejoice and worship you.
So accept our offering of thanksgiving and praise for your steadfast love,
which endures forever! AMEN
Moment for Stewardship (John 20:19-31)
John’s Gospel tells several stories from that first resurrection Sunday, including the story of Jesus appearing in the locked room where the disciples were holed up.
Astonishingly, the disciples were able to rejoice and receive a new gift when they saw Jesus! Just as God breathed life into all creation with God’s own “ruach” (“breath” or “wind”), now Jesus breathes dynamic life into the fear-filled disciples: the Holy Spirit!
Equipped with the Spirit, the disciples shared the Good News of God’s love, eventually spreading the Gospel to all the known world.
We’ve been given that same gift: the Holy Spirit at work in each of us. As we step into this Easter season, we are sent out to share that Good News, too. One way is through our financial support of this congregation, so our Gospel witness and outreach ministries might pass on to others what those first disciples received.
With your tithes and gifts, let us offer ourselves as resurrection people, sharing God’s gift of abundant life in the Spirit!
Prayer of Thanksgiving
All that we have comes from you, Living God.
You continue to breathe life into each of us,
and into this coming-to-spring creation around us.
We rejoice in your gifts, and especially in your gift of the Spirit.
So accept our gratitude and our gifts this day.
Allow us to be gifts,
speaking “Good News” to the world thru’ what we offer today. AMEN
Invitation to Communion (Revelation 1:4-8)
Early in the book of Revelation, the author pronounces a blessing over the seven churches: “Grace to you and peace from the one who is and who was and who is to come…”
Week by week as we come to our time of communion, we experience that gift of grace and peace when we focus on the elements which fill this table, both bread and cup. These symbols stand as signs of the One who “loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood”.
Today, we recognize this not so much as a table of remembrance, but as a table of promise. Come! You are invited to become servants in God’s Realm, giving glory to the “Alpha and the Omega, who is and was and who is to come”.
As you pass the trays, please hold them for the person next to you. Your action anticipates a time when we will honor Jesus Christ and eat at the table with all God will gather from north and south, east and west.
(consider using “Of the Father’s Love Begotten”, Chalice Hymnal #104, a 4thcentury blessing, as your communion hymn).