Worship on the Lord’s Day
Easter Sunday and Communion
10:00 am March 31, 2024
Minister: Rev. Brad Childs
Music Director: Binu Kapadia
Vocalist: Kara Little
Welcoming Elder: Renita MacCallum
Sunday School starts at 10am on Communion Sundays
*indicates that those who are able may stand
We gather to worship God
Music Prelude
Greeting
L: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you
P: and also with you
Lighting of the Christ candle
Welcome and announcements
Silent preparation for worship
Call to worship:
L: Christ is risen!
P: He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!
L: The stone had been rolled back and the tomb was empty. The angel told the faithful woman, ‘He has been raised. He is not here.”
P: And so we have hope – a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. “May the God of hope go with us every day.”
*Opening praise: Graves into gardens
Prayers of approach and confession
God of mystery and power, we have heard the Good News of Easter, and we are glad to be caught up in its joy today. Your love fills us with expectations. Darkness will never overcome the light you shine in Christ Jesus. Just as Jesus spoke to Mary in the garden that first Easter day, you call each of us by name because you love us. We are so grateful for the hope we have in your resurrecting power, embracing us this day. We also do so as imperfect people attempting to learn and grow together and with you.
God of mystery, we confess that faith doesn’t come easy every Easter.
When we face loss in our own lives, we sometimes lose track of the promise in Christ’s resurrection.
Sorrow can weigh us down.
Illness breaks into our world.
Loneliness and death take hold of us and fears control our actions. Our challenges can feel like a stone too heavy to roll away.
Forgive us, O God, and let the joy of this day assure us that the power of your love will never let us go. Amen.
Response: Glory, glory, hallelujah
Assurance of God’s grace
John reminds us all of Christ’s words: “I do not call you servants any longer, but I have called you friends. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Christ has laid down his life for us and invites us to love one another as he has loved us.
In Jesus’s name, we are forgiven and expected to forgive others in kind. Thanks be to Christ. Amen
We listen for the voice of God
*Song: Jesus Christ is risen today (243)
Scripture readings: Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Mark 16:1-8
Response: Glory to the Father
Message: “Empty”
Philip Johnson was born in Bowling Green Kentucky. And like almost 1 in every 1,000 children born in the United States Philip Johnson happened to be born with the chromosomal disorder most often labeled “Down’s syndrome”. As with many children with Down’s syndrome Philip had additional complications. He had constant ear infections, a hypoactive thyroid, as well as severe chest pains caused by a combination of both gastro-reflux disease and congenital heart defect. Being born in a small town in secluded south Kentucky in 1979 didn’t help Philip when it came time to make friends. But every Sunday morning Philips’s mother would drop him off in the 3rd grade Sunday school class at Westside United Baptist Church with 15 other children.
One Easter Sunday Miss Milton the teacher of Phillip’s class brought a large box filled with LEGGS pantyhose containers, (the kind that used to come in large plastic eggs) and she dumped them out across the tables. Each child was told to take one egg and go out to find one symbol for new life and put it in the egg to share with the rest of the class. After running about the church property in wild confusion, the children finally returned to the classroom and placed the newly filled containers before the teacher. Surrounded by the children, the Misses Milton began to open them one by one. After each one, whether flower, butterfly, or leaf, the class would ooh and ahh and clap for the other kids. But one container was opened, revealing nothing inside. One of the children blurted out “That’s stupid”. And it was quickly followed by laughter from the other children and a scowl from the teacher. Philip spoke up, “That’s mine.” “Philip, never does anything right!” came a voice from the back, “There’s nothing there!” “I know”, said Philip, “it’s empty… just like the tomb they put Jesus in!” Silence, the chuckles stopped.
From the far west coast of present-day Turkey, in a city called Ephesus; around 55 A.D. the Apostle Paul writes a letter to a struggling church in Corinth and sends it just over 300km west over the Aegean Sea near Athens Greece. Since Paul had left Corinth, the church had become divisive and disorderedly as very different people with varying belief systems gathered together for worship along the large Corinthian Trade Route.
It appears that one of the loudest voices of division came from a philosophical school of thought called Epicusianism. Around 350 years earlier the group’s founder Epicurus began to teach that God or the gods were fully transcendent; and that they didn’t interfere in earthly life. It’s important to note that Epicureans did however believe in an afterlife but not in the same way that the Christians did. The Epicureans found the Christian idea of the afterlife disgusting. They did not like the idea of a resurrection because the flesh was thought of as something to shed so that a person’s ghost could be free from human trappings. For the Epicureans, the body was just a shell that held the soul. Because their view of the afterlife held no rewards or punishments Epicurus also taught a kind of hedonism to which Paul overtly objects. Many people know and quote Paul’s verse of objection without realizing that he is saying this view of life is evil. It is “eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die”. Paul uses this Epicurian saying for a final insult, saying that this is how we should all act if there is no God and nothing matters. What is most odd about the Epicureans within Corinth is that they seem to have accepted the idea that Jesus has risen from the dead without any objection. They appear to have believed fully that Jesus returned to life. What they didn’t like was the resurrection of, well… the rest of us.
You see there is something odd about present-day Christianity. The influence of the Epicureans and other Greek cultures has grasped it and never let loose. It may surprise many modern-day Christians to hear this, but the Bible never really seems to speak of the “soul” as if it were a spirit separated from a body. The idea that after a person died, their soul left and went into the afterlife leaving the body behind is not something found directly in Christian Scriptures. That is true for a simple reason, the idea simply is not a Christian concept. The idea was the invention of two other well-known Greek philosophers – Socrates and his student Plato.
For the Jews and Christians the “soul” rightfully belonged to the body. The two were not distinct entities. In Leviticus 5:2 where the laws of cleanliness are laid out, it says, “Your soul should touch nothing unclean”. In Lev. 7:8 it says, “Your soul shall not eat the peace offering”. In many of the Psalms the word “Nepesh” for “Soul” is used for “neck” or “breath”. If you were about to drown, the water might be up to your “soul”. In other places, the word is used synonymously with the word life. And in other places “soul” designates where a person’s intellect comes from. While it appears that in some scriptures a person’s soul or “life” could leave its body, a spirit floating around somewhere was not the intended end. No, the Jews and Christians taught that the believers, who had died and had been buried, would someday, somehow, in some way, physically reform and come up out of their graves.
This Greek belief that the body separated from the soul may explain why the authors of our gospels felt the need to say that Jesus ate a fish and offered to all the disciples a change to a finger in Jesus’ wounds to prove he was not a disembodied ghost but rather the same Jesus they had always known, just raised from the dead.
In a similar fashion Apostles Creed says, “I believe in the holy catholic (meaning Unified) church, the communion of saints (never being cut off from the living worship of God), the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting”. And when it says this “resurrection of the body”, it’s not talking about the resurrection of Jesus or at least not exclusively. In its strictest sense, this statement is about us saying that we believe someday we will be resurrected (not as ghosts) but in the physical body, the same way that Jesus did. This is Why refers to Jesus as the “first fruits” of the seeds of life God has planted.
So what does this mean for us? Somewhere along the lines Christianity and Greek Philosophy seem to have melded together. It is perhaps now even more a part of our churches than it was a problem in the church in Corinth. Does this mean that there’s no place to doubt, for inquiry or questions? No.
Like the Epicureans, we question what exactly happens to us after we die or question how God is going to find all our little particles and put them back together. Do we go to heaven as spirit? Are we raised for judgment? What happens to “those who have fallen asleep? Are we just phonies or traders to our faith if we say we aren’t sure? No, no I don’t think so. Because I think God can handle our questions and our honesty no matter what it is. The truth today might be great. The truth for you today might be that your faith is stronger than ever. On the other hand the truth for you today might not be all that pretty. It might be ugly. Maybe the truth for you today is “I don’t think I believe any of this” … and while most people just can’t handle that… I think God can handle that. Say it to Him. But also listen. I think the Bible can handle that. It gives us the Book of Job and the Book of Ecclesiastes filled with questions for God. And it’s everywhere.
In the book of Matthew vs. 28:17, Matthew describes the moment when the resurrected Jesus first comes before the disciples. It says, “17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.” Even at the gathering of Jesus’ inner circle, even as he stood before them with a hole in his side and wounds in his hands, the Bible says that even among the people who knew him best, they did not all believe. But what is truly amazing is that even in their doubt… they still worshiped him.
Maybe they didn’t fully understand but they worshiped anyway and they knew there was something to this whole Jesus thing. They didn’t know – but they had faith.
Back to Kentucky. Back to the story of Phillip Johnson. Phillip died just 4 months after Easter 1988. But his funeral was not a sad occasion at all. For the last few months of his life, Phillip had earned the respect he deserved from his classmates and changed a lot of young minds in the process. The quick quips and judgements of the others had turned to attention and interest. Phillip made a lot of friends in that Sunday School class (one of whom wrote this story).
And as the funeral began that same class of children which first mocked Phillip for putting nothing in his little egg tomb, well… they all marched up to the coffin, one after another… not with flowers, or with goodbyes but each one… with an empty egg container in hand.
Said the final child placing her egg in the casket, “We can’t wait to play again Phillip, when your grave is empty too”.
Because of what Christ has done,
This is the message of Easter. The tomb is empty and God willing, with faith, ours will all be empty too. Whatever that looks like.
Thanks be to God. Amen .
*Song: This is the day (78)
We respond to serve God
Our time of giving & Prayer of gratitude, and for others and ourselves
P
Prayer
God of power and possibility, you broke open the tomb that held our Lord.
Now break into your church where your people are distracted by old quarrels, meaningless diversions, or unhelpful divisions about mission and service.
God of resurrection and new life, you broke into the hearts of Jesus’ fearful friends. Now break into our relationships with one another. Where they are vibrant and life-giving, nurture them. Where they are strained by old hurts and misunderstandings, or carelessly taken for granted,
God of might and mercy, you broke the schemes of those who stood in the way of your love. Now break into the governance of your world. Stir the minds and hearts of leaders to work for justice and equitable sharing. Where laws are corrupt, or people suffer under harsh rule,
God of healing and hope, you broke the bonds of death which tried to shackle new life. Now break into situations of illness, pain, grief, and loss. Wherever people are sick in body, mind, or spirit, and wherever someone mourns the loss of any relationship or dream,
God of Easter Renewal and Resurrection, you have broken into our lives again this day. Break into all our moments of celebration and joy. Give us gratitude, the impulse to share, and a spirit of grace and understanding.
And break into the circumstances, places, and lives we name in the silence of our hearts… (Hold a brief silence for those closest to our hearts)
Resurrect, renew and revive your people! God, in your mercy, Hear our prayer. Amen.
The Sacrament of Holy Communion
Invitation
The Eucharistic meal is a memorial of Christ’s life, death and resurrection.
Come to the front Take the elements back to your seat and we will all eat at the same time.
For you and for your children
All those who love the Lord
It is also intended to represent in some small way, a heavenly banquet in the presence of the Father and all the Saint’s loved and lost.
Make no mistake about this, The idea is not that we are inviting God and the heavenly court into our space.
In this act, we are lifted into a glimmer of His Kingdom, where all of us are One Body together.
*Song: Lift up your hearts/Sing Hallelujah (526: vss 1-4)
Lift up your hearts unto the Lord: lift up your hearts unto the Lord. Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah; lift up your hearts unto the Lord
In Christ the world has been redeemed: in Christ the world has been redeemed. Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah; in Christ the world has been redeemed.
His resurrection sets us free: His resurrection sets us free. Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah; His resurrection sets us free.
Therefore, we celebrate the feast.
Therefore we celebrate the feast.
Sing hallelujah, sing hallelujah.
Therefore we celebrate the feast.
The Apostles’ Creed (539)
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. AMEN..
The Communion Prayer
At the beginning, before time began You were. You formed the cosmos. You brought order and life. And when your people ran from you Your first act was to go wandering through creation calling out to the ones who wronged you.
While we are impressed by the vastness of space and the complexity of creation. It is your love for us, which continues to search us out that draws us close to you.
Though we may not always see you; though we may at times act as if we do not know you, though we tend to lose sight of you. You are nevertheless always there and always calling out to us. Today we earnestly lift our hearts to you in thanks and call you Lord.
With Your Holy Spirit you have made us born again. You have given us new life. Opportunities to do better, counsel, gifts and a shoulder to lean on. Though some have changed you to be a crutch for the weak, we are not afraid to admit our weaknesses, errors and failing and thus proudly proclaim that you are not our crutch but rather the whole hospital. We thank you lord that you provide us with so much and with so many other wonderful people. We praise you that you provide us opportunities to help others and gives us the strength to carry on. And now we ask that Your Spirit be present in this bread and this fruit of the vine as we partake together as one body united in you – and disciples of Christ. Amen.
Sharing of the Bread and Wine
As he was having a festival meal with friends, Jesus, knowing what lay ahead took a piece of bread, Thanked the Father for what he had, broke it, and gave it to them.
Take, Eat, he said, This is my body, Given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.
Jesus also picked up a cup, saying, This is the blood of a new covenant. Drink this in remembrance of me.
As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s Death until He comes again.
The gifts of God for the Children of God. Please now come to the front.
Incidental music
Song: Eat this bread (527)
Eat this Bread, drink this Cup. Come to Me and never be hungry. Eat this Bread, drink this Cup. Trust in Me and you will not thirst.
Prayer after Communion
Whenever we gather like this, We do so to remember HIM. Not his teaching alone, not his death alone, but HIM. Life, death, resurrection, ascension, alive and well, currently building rooms in a heavenly mansion, Him. So, let’s take a second and thank him.
God of grace and love, who gives it all, we have everything and yet nothing to say. All we have comes from you. Everything we are comes from you. And all that we shall be comes from you. Lord we praise you and thank you for this day and ever other one like it. Amen.
*Song: Thine be the glory (258)
Sending out with God’s blessing
The Lord bless you and keep you, make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord turn His Face toward you and give you peace.
Amen, amen, amen. Amen, amen, amen
Music postlude
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The Communion liturgy is based on the liturgies of the PCC’s 1991 Book of Common Worship. Numbers in brackets after a song/hymn indicate that it is from the 1997 Book of Praise of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Those and other songs are being used in accordance with the specifications of Dayspring’s licensing with One Licence (3095377) and CLC (A735555).
The Rev. Brad Childs retains the copyright (© 2024) on all original material in this service. As far as Brad Childs is aware, all of the material that has not been attributed to others is his own creation or is in the public domain. Unacknowledged use of copyrighted material is unintentional and will be corrected immediately upon notification being received.