April 5, 2026
Bulletins are posted on the day prior.
Sunday, April 5
APRIL 5, 2026 • 9:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Worship Service
Gather around the Word
PRELUDE
Easter Overture
Robert Nagel
Christ Lay in Death’s Dark Prison
Johann Sebastian Bach
O God, Thou Faithful God
J. S. Bach, arr. Harry Herford
Praise the Lord with Drums and Cymbals
Sigfried Karg-Elert
The Heavens Declare the Glory of God
Benedetto Marcello
INTROIT
An Easter Hallelujah
Vulpius
Allelujah, allelujah! We proclaim Christ the Paschal Lamb; He has been sacrificed for us. Let us all feast with 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: Jesus Christ, we greet you! Your hands still have holes in them, your feet are wet from the dew; and with the memory of our names undimmed by three days of death you meet us, risen from the grave.
All: We fail to understand how; we puzzle at the reason why.
One: But you have come: not to answer our questions, but to show us your face.
All: You are alive, and the world can rejoice again. Hallelujah!
*HYMN
Jesus Christ Is Risen Today
Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia! our triumphant holy day, Alleluia! who did once upon the cross, Alleluia! suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!
Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia! unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia! who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia! sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia!
But the pains which he endured, Alleluia! our salvation have procured. Alleluia! Now above the sky he’s King, Alleluia! where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!
Sing we to our God above, Alleluia! praise eternal as God’s love. Alleluia! Praise our God, ye heavenly host, Alleluia! Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Alleluia!
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Glorious God, as we turn our faces to the light to greet our risen Lord, we seek your forgiveness for the many ways that we have rejected your grace and denied your presence.
Where you have created pathways to peace, love, and hope, we have rolled stones of contempt, estrangement, and indifference.
Have mercy on us, O Holy One. Give us the courage to rise again, and walk with Jesus into the promise of new life. 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.
WELCOME
Please take a moment to let us know you are worshiping with us today. There are information pads in the pews for those in the Sanctuary and a digital form (use the link or QR code on screen) for those online.
ANTHEM
Festival Allelujah
Kenneth Jennings
Good Christian friends, rejoice and sing! Now is the triumph of our King! To all the world glad news we bring: Alleluia!
The Lord of life is risen today! Bring flowers of song, bedeck the way. Alleluia. Let all the world rejoice and say, “Alleluia, alleluia!”
Praise we in songs of victory that love, that life which cannot die, and sing with hearts uplifted high, alleluia!
Your name we bless, O risen Lord, and sing today with one accord, the life laid down, the life restored: alleluia!
LISTENING FOR THE WORD
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
FIRST SCRIPTURE LESSON
Psalm 118:1–2, 14–24
1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let Israel say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
14 The Lord is my strength and my might;
he has become my salvation.
15 There are glad songs of victory
in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
16 the right hand of the Lord is exalted;
the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”
17 I shall not die, but I shall live
and recount the deeds of the Lord.
18 The Lord has punished me severely,
but he did not give me over to death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the Lord.
20 This is the gate of the Lord;
the righteous shall enter through it.
21 I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
23 This is the Lord’s doing;
it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day that the Lord has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.
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.
SECOND SCRIPTURE LESSON
John 20:1–18
The Resurrection of Jesus
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 toward 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’s 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.
Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene
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.”
14 When she had said this,
she turned around and saw Jesus standing there,
but she did not know that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her,
“Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?”
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 touch 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.
SERMON
Camille Cook Howe
RESPONDING TO THE WORD
*HYMN #260
Alleluia! Sing to Jesus
Alleluia! Sing to Jesus; his the scepter, his the throne;
Alleluia! his the triumph, his the victory alone!
Hark! The songs of peaceful Zion thunder like a mighty flood:
“Jesus out of every nation has redeemed us by his blood.”
Alleluia! Not as orphans are we left in sorrow now;
Alleluia! he is near us; faith believes nor questions how.
Though the cloud from sight received him,
when the forty days were o’er,
shall our hearts forget his promise:
“I am with you evermore”?
Alleluia! Bread of angels,
here on earth our food, our stay;
Alleluia! here the sinful flee to you
from day to day.
Intercessor, friend of sinners,
earth’s redeemer, hear our plea
where the songs of all the sinless
sweep across the crystal sea.
Alleluia! King eternal,
Lord omnipotent we own;
Alleluia! born of Mary,
earth your footstool, heaven your throne.
As within the veil you entered,
robed in flesh, our great high priest;
here on earth both priest and victim
in the eucharistic feast.
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
he descended into hell;
the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth on the right hand of God
the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come
to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost;
the holy catholic church;
the communion of saints;
the forgiveness of sins;
the resurrection of the body;
and the life everlasting.
Amen.
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
Easter Rejoicing
Jonathan Willcocks
Good Christian friends, rejoice and sing!
Now the triumph of our King!
To all the world glad news we bring:
Alleluia!
The Lord of life is risen this day;
Alleluia!
Bring flowers of song, bedeck the way;
Alleluia!
Let all the world rejoice and say Alleluia!
Praise we in songs of victory,
Alleluia!
That love and life which cannot die,
Alleluia!
And sing with hearts uplifted high,
and sing with hearts uplifted,
sing Alleluia!
Your name we bless, O risen Lord,
and sing today with one accord,
the life laid down, the life restored:
Alleluia!
Good Christian friends, rejoice and sing,
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!
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
God of renewal,
you offer the promise of joy
from the soil of worldly sorrow.
Accept these fruits of our labors
and the offering of our lives
as a desire to live more fully
in the reign of your Risen Son.
As instruments of your love,
may we join in making Christ’s joy
available to all people.
Amen.
BEARING THE WORD INTO THE WORLD
*HYMN #238
Thine Is the Glory
Thine is the glory, risen, conquering Son;
endless is the victory thou o’er death hast won.
Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
kept the folded grave-clothes where thy body lay.
Refrain
Thine is the glory, risen, conquering Son; endless is the victory thou o’er death hast won.
Lo! Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb;
lovingly he greets us, scatters fear and gloom.
Let the church with gladness hymns of triumph sing,
for the Lord now liveth; death hath lost its sting.
(Refrain)
No more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of life!
Life is naught without thee; aid us in our strife.
Make us more than conquerors through thy deathless love;
bring us safe through Jordan to thy home above.
*CHORAL BENEDICTION
Hallelujah Chorus
from Messiah by G. F. Handel
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth
Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
The kingdom of this world is become
the kingdom of our Lord
And of His Christ, and of His Christ
And He shall reign for ever and ever
King of kings (Forever and ever Hallelujah! Hallelujah!)
And Lord of lords (Forever and ever Hallelujah! Hallelujah!)
And He shall reign forever and ever
King of kings (Forever and ever)
And He shall reign (Hallelujah! Hallelujah!)
POSTLUDE
Toccata from Symphony No. 5
Charles Marie Widor
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