Sermon Tone Analysis

Prelude

Welcome

Call to Worship

Leader: The entire world can change in the span of one Holy Week.

We have seen shouts of joy at the arrival of the king turn into cries for execution.

But execution is not the final act.

The final act is resurrection!

The Lord is risen!

\\ People:* He is risen indeed!* \\ Leader: We have seen the loyalty of the disciples veer quickly into betrayal.

But betrayal is not the last word.

The last word is, “He is risen!” \\ People: *He is risen indeed!

\\ *Leader: We have seen the sky torn apart and the world go dark.

But the darkness is demolished in the light of morning, and the great good news floods the world like the dawn: Christ is risen!

\\ People: *He is risen indeed!*

~*Hymn of Praise                       He Has Made Me Glad                                                insert   

*Alleluia*

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia,

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

He is Risen, He is Risen, He is Risen, He is Risen,

He is Risen, He is Risen, He is Risen, He is Risen!

He’s my Savior, He’s my Savior, He’s my Savior, He’s my Savior,

He’s my Savior, He’s my Savior, He’s my Savior, He’s my Savior!

I will praise Him, I will praise Him, I will praise Him, I will praise Him,

I will praise Him, I will praise Him, I will praise Him, I will praise Him!

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia,

Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!

Invocation        (the Lord’s Prayer) As we wait in awe this day, we pray that the signs of the risen Christ will be made real among us.

Be present with us in ways that go deeply into our life, O God, that we may find the passion of your life within us and around us.

*This we pray in faith because we believe that you are indeed alive.

Amen.*

Choir                                        *Christ Arose*

Psalm 118 NLT

1     /Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!

/

/      His faithful love endures forever./

2     *“His faithful love endures forever.”*

14    /The Lord is my strength and my song;/

/     he has become my victory./

17    *I will not die, but I will live*

*      to tell what the Lord has done.*

20    /Those gates lead to the presence of the Lord,/

/      and the godly enter there./

21    *I thank you for answering my prayer*

*      and saving me!*

24    */This is the day the Lord has made./*

*/ We will rejoice and be glad in it./*

Our  Offering to God                Let us bring our offerings in celebration of Easter Day.

Doxology

Prayer of Dedication     We give you all that we have at this moment, O God.

What less can we offer in the face of your abundant life for us!  Receive all that we bring in faith, loving Jesus.

Amen.

Baptism candidates

“They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and I don’t know where they have put him!”

“Why are you looking in a tomb for someone who is alive?

He isn’t here!

He has risen from the dead!

Jesus said, “go find my brothers and sisters and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.”

~*Hymn of Prayer                      # 168               The Day of Resurrection

Pastoral Prayer             Living God, even as we announce your rising, we confess that hidden within our lives lie questions that challenge our faith.

Doubts beset us as we look at the world around us, fears that we may be wrong in holding to faith when your life among us seems so often to be defeated.

*Forgive our doubts, O God.  Spring forth in truth before us, we pray.

~/~/~/~/~/ *What words will ever be enough, O God?  What songs can we sing to shout aloud our praise?

The universe springs up in joy at the sound of your voice, assuring the world that the winter of death gives way to the summer warmth of life.

We thank you that we cannot destroy you.

*We thank you that you give us this living sign that the Christ will be among us forever.

Amen.*

~*Hymn of Praise                       # 158               I Serve a Risen Savior

Scripture Reading                     Luke 24:1-12

Message                                   *The Empty Promises of Easter* 

~*Hymn of Response                 # 163               Christ the Lord is Risen Today

 

~*Sending forth

And may the power of life in Christ

lift up the life of the world,

the power of love in the creator

swing wide above us like the blue of the sky

and the faithfulness of the Holy Spirit

raise our faith to the heights of hope.

Amen.

Dedication of   Leksie Lynn Parker

                                    Breanna Jeannine Francis Bianchi

~*Postlude

Baptisms:                      Kayla Hope McConaghy                                  (#439)

                                    Kalee Marie Butler                                           (#304)

                                    Hannah Amelia Wroblinski                                (Here I am)

                                    Nicholas Michael Berouty                                 (# 260)

                                   

\\ *What is Easter?* \\ \\ Easter is a sigh of relief, \\ \\ and a jangling bell, \\ \\ and an empty chrysalis, \\ \\ and a shocking bloom of color on a winter landscape, \\ \\ and a chorus of Hallelujahs you can’t help but stand to hear, \\ \\ and a gaping empty tomb, \\ \\ and a Savior on the loose, \\ \\ and an incomprehensible hope that death is not the end.

\\ \\ Go out into the world to live as Easter people!

\\ \\ He is risen!

_______________________________

 

Tomb, You shall not hold Him longer, \\ Death is strong, but life is stronger \\ Stronger than the dark, the light; \\ Stronger than the wrong, the right; \\ Faith and hope triumphant say; Christ will rise on Easter Day.

\\ \\ While the patient earth lies waiting \\ Till the morning shall be breaking \\ Shuddering beneath the burden dread \\ Of her Master, cold and dead, \\ Hark! she hears the angels say; Christ will rise on Easter Day.

\\ \\ And when sunrise smites the mountains \\ Pouring light from heavenly fountains \\ Then the earth blooms out to greet \\ Once again the blessed feet; \\ And her countless voices say; Christ has risen on Easter Day.

\\ (Copied, Author Unknown) \\ * \\ The Empty Promises of Easter* by Steven Kellett \\ I recently came across this story, it was told by “Dear Abby” in a response to someone’s question.

\\ A young man from a wealthy family was about to graduate from high school.

It was the custom in that affluent neighborhood for the parents to give the graduate an automobile.

"Bill’ and his father had spent months looking at cars, and the week before graduation, they found the perfect car.

\\ On the eve of his graduation, his father handed him a gift wrapped Bible.

Bill was so angry that he threw the Bible down and stormed out of the house.

\\ He and his father never saw each other again.

It was the news of his father’s death that brought Bill home again.

\\ As he sat one night going through his father’s possessions that he was to inherit, he come across the Bible his father had given him.

\\ He brushed away the dust and opened it to find a cashier’s check, dated the day of his graduation - in the exact amount of the car they had chosen together.