Worship Resources for
the Center for Faith and Giving
Easter Sunday
Acts 10:34-43
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
Colossians 3:1-4
Matthew 28:1-10
Call to Worship (inspired by Colossians 3, The Message)
One: Christ is risen!
Many: Christ is risen, indeed!
One: So if you’re serious about living a resurrection life with Christ,
act like it!
Many: No longer will we shuffle along, downcast and discouraged.
We’re ready to live the way Christ lives.
One: Our old lives are dead.
Our new lives model every moment after the risen Christ!
Many: So let’s sing out our joy! Christ the Lord is risen today!
Opening Prayer
Life-Giving God, today we soar!
We raise our voices, clap our hands,
and make “hallelujah” the word of this day,
for you bring life out of death; you turn our weeping into laughter.
Great are you, Lord God of all life. Accept our praise and our gratitude,
knowing we rejoice in Love’s redeeming work, which raised Jesus,
continues in us, and is spreading throughout your whole creation! AMEN
Moment for Stewardship
The greatest offering comes from God, whose love is unending,
and whose love we see clearly in Jesus raised up from death into Life.
The work of ministry to which our congregation is called
is not to build a shrine to a dead Lord,
but to spread this Good News: Jesus Christ, ALIVE!
invites us to demonstrate our desire to follow him
by sharing our lives (including our tithes and our gifts) today.
Our offerings help us shout out the news of resurrection,
so all who long to encounter the LIVING GOD
may join in the Way of Jesus Christ.
Give, that we might share the great news of abundant life.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Including part of an Easter prayer by Walter Brueggemann called “Easter us” (found in his Prayers for a Privileged People, shown in italics).
God of abundance, surrounded by the joyous sounds of children, laughter, choir and people, we offer you these gifts as symbols of our lives. Point us to life-affirming use for all that has been collected. Use our tithes and offerings as signs of our desire for you to
Easter us,
salve wounds, break injustice, bring peace, guarantee neighbor,
Easter us in joy and strength.
Be our God, … your true self, lord of life,
(and through your presence and this offering)
massively turn our li(ves) toward your life
and away from our anti-neighbor, anti-self deathliness.
Hear our thankful, grateful, unashamed Hallelujah!
Amen.
Invitation to Communion
At this Table, we usually think about the Upper Room, and the death of Jesus.
But today I invite us to think about the Risen Christ as our Host.
It is the Risen Christ who extends an open invitation to any and all who would come.
It is the Risen Christ who joins us together,
making many into one at this Table,
just as many grains of wheat come together in one loaf.
So, as we receive bread and cup, remember the Christ who was raised,
now calling you and me to new and abundant lives
which echo with the reverberations of resurrection.