April 12, 2026
Bulletins are posted on the day prior.
Sunday, April 12
APRIL 12, 2026 • 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Worship Service
Gather around the Word
PRELUDE
The Trumpet Shall Sound! (Messiah)
G. F. Handel
Bill McMurray, baritone
INTROIT
Praise Ye the Lord
Donald Cashmore
Praise ye the Lord, Praise O ye servants of the Lord, Praise the name of the Lord.
*DOXOLOGY
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise God, all creatures here below;
praise God above, ye heavenly host;
Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
*CALL TO WORSHIP
One: We bless the Lord who gives counsel,
who instructs our hearts in the secret of the night.
All: We keep the Lord always before us
so that we shall not be moved from God’s ways.
One: Our hearts are glad,
our souls rejoice,
and our bodies rest secure,
All: Because God keeps us from destruction
in this life and the next.
One: God shows us the path of life,
All: And in God’s presence
is the fullness of joy forevermore.
*HYMN #246
Christ Is Alive!
Christ is alive! Let Christians sing.
The cross stands empty to the sky.
Let streets and homes with praises ring.
Love, drowned in death, shall never die.
Christ is alive! No longer bound
to distant years in Palestine,
but saving, healing, here and now,
and touching every place and time.
In every insult, rift, and war
where color, scorn, or wealth divide,
Christ suffers still, yet loves the more,
and lives, where even hope has died.
Women and men, in age and youth,
can feel the Spirit, hear the call,
and find the way, the life, the truth,
revealed in Jesus, freed for all.
Christ is alive, and comes to bring
good news to this and every age,
till earth and sky and ocean ring
with joy, with justice, love, and praise.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God of everlasting love,
we confess that we have been unfaithful
to our covenant with you
and with one another.
We have worshiped other gods:
money, power, greed, and convenience.
We have served our own self-interest
instead of serving only you
and your people.
We have not loved our neighbor
as you have commanded,
nor have we rightly loved ourselves.
Forgive us, gracious God,
and bring us back into the fullness
of our covenant with you
and one another.
Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
DECLARATION OF PARDON
One: Friends, believe the good news.
All: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.
*SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all.
All: And also with you.
We invite you to greet those around you, wishing them “peace” or “the peace of Christ,” and encourage those online to text or email someone to let them know you are thinking of them.
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
PSALTER
Psalm 16 (NRSV)
Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
As for the holy ones in the land,
they are the noble,
in whom is all my delight.
Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names upon my lips.
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
I have a goodly heritage.
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
For you do not give me up to Sheol,
or let your faithful one see the Pit.
You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
One: The Word of the Lord.
All: Thanks be to God.
*GLORIA PATRI
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost:
as it was in the beginning,
is now,
and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen. Amen.
SCRIPTURE LESSON
1 Peter 1:3–9 (NRSV)
Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ!
By his great mercy
he has given us a new birth
into a living hope
through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance
that is imperishable,
undefiled,
and unfading,
kept in heaven for you, who are being protected
by the power of God
through faith
for a salvation
ready to be revealed
in the last time.
Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
SERMON
Rocky Supinger
RESPONDING TO THE WORD
*HYMN #772
Live Into Hope
Live into hope of captives free,
of sight regained,
the end of greed.
The oppressed shall be the first to see
the year of God’s own jubilee!
Live into hope!
The blind shall see
with insight and with clarity,
removing shades of pride and fear,
a vision of our God brought near.
Live into hope of liberty,
the right to speak,
the right to be,
the right to have one’s daily bread,
to hear God’s word and thus be fed.
Live into hope of captives freed
from chains of fear or want or greed.
God now proclaims our full release
to faith and hope and joy and peace.
*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
Apostles’ Creed Interpreted (PCUSA)
One: What do you believe when you confess your faith in “God the Father Almighty”?
All: That God is a God of love,
and that God’s love is powerful beyond measure.
One: What do you affirm when you confess your faith in Jesus Christ as “our Lord”?
All: That having been raised from the dead
he reigns with compassion and justice
over all things in heaven and on earth,
especially over those who confess him by faith;
and that by loving and serving him above all else,
we give glory and honor to God.
One: What do you believe when you confess your faith in the Holy Spirit?
All: That apart from the Holy Spirit,
our Lord can neither be loved,
nor known,
nor served.
The Holy Spirit is the personal bond
by which Jesus Christ unites us to himself,
the teacher who opens our hearts to Christ,
and the Comforter who leads us to repentance,
empowering us to live in Christ’s service.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
THE LORD’S PRAYER (UNISON)
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 debts,
as we forgive our debtors;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom
and the power
and the glory forever.
Amen.
CALL TO OFFERING
OFFERTORY ANTHEM
Salvation Is Created
Pavel Tschesnokoff
Salvation is created, in the midst of the earth, O God, O our God. Alleluia.
*OFFERTORY RESPONSE
Hymn #239 Good Christians All, Rejoice and Sing
Good Christians all, rejoice and sing!
Now is the triumph of our King!
To all the world glad news we bring:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
*LITANY OF DEDICATION
One: In thanks for all we have received from God,
All: we share with one another and with the world.
One: For those who are vulnerable,
All: we offer our strength.
One: For those who seek a witness,
All: we offer our vulnerability.
One: For those who are forgotten,
All: we offer our voice.
One: For those who have been silenced,
All: we offer our listening.
One: For those who live in daily need,
All: we offer what we have.
One: For those who have too much,
All: we offer a path through the eye of the needle.
One: To the demands of all false gods,
All: we offer resistance.
One: To the one who gives us life,
who has ended death’s dominion,
and who sanctifies us in the Spirit,
All: we offer our lives.
Amen.
BEARING THE WORD INTO THE WORLD
*HYMN #817
We Walk by Faith and Not by Sight
We walk by faith and not by sight;
with gracious words draw near,
O Christ, who spoke as none e’er spoke:
“My peace be with you here.”
We may not touch your hands and side,
nor follow where you trod;
but in your promise we rejoice,
and cry, “My Lord and God!”
Help then, O Lord, our unbelief;
and may our faith abound
to call on you when you are near
and seek where you are found.
And when our life of faith is done,
in realms of clearer light
may we behold you as you are,
with full and endless sight.
*CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
Go Now In Peace
Robert Lau
Go now in peace,
and may God’s peace go with you.
Believe, and trust God’s holy word.
Amen.
POSTLUDE
Concerto in A Minor (Allegro)
Vivaldi/Bach
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