Adventures in Liturgy and Music + Aventuras en la liturgía y la musica: 14.05.04 Easter 3A English

Song: We worship Christ (Patrick Matsikenyiri, Mozambique)*

Call to Worship
Song: It all depends on where I’m going (Colin Gibson)
Prayer of Confession
Song of Praise: Themba Amen (Sunrise Hospice, Themba, South Africa)*

Prayer of the Day

Gospel Acclamation (William Ramirez, El Salvador)

Gospel Reading: John 20:19-31

Sermon
Song: O sons and daughters (Jean Tisserand, O FILII ET FILIAE, French)
Affirmation: Little resurrections

Prayer Song: Peace before us (based on a Navajo prayer / David Haas)*
Silent Meditation
Prayers of the People
Announcements

Songs: You came down (Cameroon)

Jesus Christ is risen (Ghana)

*seasonal for Easter

Forces:
Soprano
Piano

May 4 2014

3^rd Sunday of Easter

Please stand, all who are able.

Song

One: We worship Christ!

All: //We worship Christ!//

There is no one who will ever be like him.

One: There is no one who will ever be like him.

All: There is no one who will ever be like him.

One: Christ is alive!

All: //Christ is alive!//

There is no one who will ever be like him.

One: There is no one who will ever be like him.

All: There is no one who will ever be like him.

One: Christ conquered death!

All: //Christ conquered death!//

There is no one who will ever be like him.

One: There is no one who will ever be like him.

All: There is no one who will ever be like him.

One: Hallelujah!

All: //Hallelujah!//

There is no one who will ever be like him.

Call to Worship

NOT ON PPT
We gather here to celebrate life's beauty and find healing for its pain;
to honour our kinship with each other and with the earth,
and to be inspired to create a more compassionate world,
beginning with ourselves.

One: God grant us the gift of dreaming:
All: The dream of a world enjoying its extraordinary colour and beauty;
not viewing life through tunnel-vision, grey-tinted spectacles.
One: The dream of breadth and variety in glorious harmony;
not definition through division, prejudice and ignorance.
All: The dream of acceptance and inclusion;
not judgement and exclusion.
One: The dream of your love and humour;
not our idolatry and self-righteousness.
All: The dream of 'we might'; not 'we can not'.

—silent reflection—

One: God give us the vision and imagination to dream
and enable us to make the dream a reality.

Please be seated

Song

1. It all depends on where I'm going
if I reach my anywhere,
but this I'm surely, surely knowing,
that I'll never leave God's care;
it all depends on when I'm travelling,
maybe now or maybe then,
but the Son of God will lead me
through each where and why and when.

2. It all depends on how I'm choosing
for the life that is in me,
but I will never lose the hand of Christ,
the one who walks with me;
if I stumble or I falter
he will steady me once more,
for there is no darkest pathway
that we cannot both explore.

3. It all depends on who comes with me
if I break or if I bend,
but this I'm surely, surely knowing,
God will be there at the end
in the laughter and the sadness,
in the pleasure or the pain,
by my side and all about me
God's own Spirit will remain.

Prayer of Confession

NOT ON PPT

When we were dead in our sins, God made us alive with Christ.

Through our baptism, we were buried with Christ, so too are we raised with him by the power of God – so that we too may live a new life.

One: Do you accept God’s call to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever guise they present themselves?

All: We do.

One: Do you truly and earnestly recognize your human limits and brokenness and desire to grow in grace?

All: We do.

One: Do you accept Jesus as the symbol of unconditional grace, the source of your freedom to act – to act boldly – in this world?

All: We do.

—Silent reflection—

One: Merciful God, we pray that as we confront our weakness and limitations, we will continually be confronted by your grace.

All: Strengthen us when we doubt;

challenge us when we become too self-assured.

One: Let us struggle for justice and meaning and love;

and be filled and surrounded by your spirit.

All: And, O God, we pray especially that you will at all times

remind us that we are each others',

and that all of us are yours.

Amen.

Please stand, all who are able.

Song of Praise

Amen!

Prayer of the Day

NOT ON PPT

Living God,
long ago, faithful women
proclaimed the good news
of Jesus' resurrection,
and the world was changed forever.
Teach us to keep faith with them,
that our witness may be as bold,
our love as deep,
and our faith as true. Amen.

Gospel Acclamation

All: //Aleluya, aleluya, aleluya.//

//Aleluya, aleluya, aleluya.//

One: The boundless universe belongs to Jesus.

Christ is the King of all creation.

All: //Aleluya, aleluya, aleluya.//

//Aleluya, aleluya, aleluya.//

Gospel Reading

John 20:19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father-Mother God has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Chosen One of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Reader: The gospel of Jesus Christ.

All: Thanks be to God!

Sermon

Please stand, all who are able.

Song