Worship Service at Church of the Dawntreader Thursday March 28, 2013 10:00 a.m. SLT
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
    Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™
    Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
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"New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989,
Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved." Designated by the initials, (NRSV).

Invocation:
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen
Confession and Absolution
We come before you, our Loving Father, Mother God, confessing most of all our need of you.
We confess that we have not always acknowledged just how much we depend on you.
We confess that we have not always loved you with all our heart, soul and mind.
We have not always loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We ask that you will forgive us and grant us your strength to conform more fully to your loving will for us.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Amen.
In obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is my privilege to declare to you and to myself, the entire
forgiveness of all our sins.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen

Prayer of the Day
Let us pray.
O God, you gave your only Son to suffer death on the cross for our redemption,
and by his glorious resurrection you delivered us from the power of death.
Make us die every day to sin, that we may live with him forever in the joy of the resurrection,
through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen

First Lesson: Acts 10: 34 - 43 (NRSV)
34 Then Peter began to speak to them: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality,
35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
36 You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ--he is Lord of all.
37 That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced:
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
39 We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree;
40 but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear,
41 not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.
43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
Here ends the First Lesson

Psalm 118 (NRSV)
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.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Second Lesson: Colossians 3: 1 - 4  (NRSV)
1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth,
3 for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.
Here ends the Second Lesson.

Gospel Lesson: John 20: 1 - 18 (NRSV)
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Mag'dalene 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' 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.
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, "Rabbou'ni!" (which means Teacher).
17 Jesus said to her,
"Do not hold on to 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 Mag'dalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Here end the Readings from Holy Scripture.

 - Sermon -

He is risen!
He is risen, indeed!
With those words, we hear the greatest sermon ever preached.
Nothing anyone can ever say about God's love for us will equal it.
Nothing inspires more hope.
It is a sermon preached by God,
not only with words,
but with actions.
When God raised His Son from the grave,
He gave Him back to us,
not only for a time,
but forever.
Thereby God also gave us the most powerful assurance we could have
of our own resurrection to eternal life with Him and with His Son, our Lord.
The first sign of that assurance came on the first Easter morning.
Mary Magdalen was the first witness to the resurrection,
and so she was the Apostle to the Apostles.
This took place in a time in which women were not given positions of authority.
As an aside,
it was God's own choice to do so.
What do you suppose that is meant to tell us about the ordination of women?
In any case, she found the tomb empty.
She ran to the other disciples to tell them about it.
Peter and John (assuming that John is the Beloved Disciple) ran to the tomb to see for themselves.
John outran Peter but stopped before going inside.
Peter stormed in, and then John followed.
They both found the grave clothes empty.
Immediately John believed.
Something in that moment touched his heart with a faith that reached all the way forward out of time into eternity.
Such is the power of Easter.
Such is the power of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Think on it and you will hear in your heart
the best sermon of all time.
The Holy Spirit touches us all with the same faith with which She touched the hearts of all the disciples in those early days.
Starting with Mary Magdalen, then with John and Peter, and with 500 people who saw Him in the weeks between Easter and His Ascension.
You and I are not, and we cannot be,
the ones chosen to see Him in person and to eat and drink with Him.
Yet... we have our own privilege and blessing,
as we can and will see over and over again.
We know the risen Lord in our hearts.
The Holy Spirit creates faith deep within us,
and we can feel the presence of Him who lives in our hearts,
our Emmanuel,
God with us,
God alive within us.
We know He is risen
because by faith we can feel His eternal and powerful presence in our hearts and minds, in our souls, spirits and bodies.
Jesus Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed.
Our hymn for this week reminds us of exactly this:

He Lives

1. I serve a risen Saviour,
He's in the world today;
I know that He is living,
Whatever people say;
I see His hand of mercy,
I hear His voice of cheer,
And just the time I need Him
He's always near.

Chorus:
He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and He talks with me
Along life's narrow way.
He lives, He live, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives:
He lives within my heart.

2. In all the world around me
I see His loving care,
And tho my heart grows weary
I never will despair;
I know that He is leading
Thro' all the stormy blast,
The day of His appearing
Will come at last.

Chorus:
He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and He talks with me
Along life's narrow way.
He lives, He live, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives:
He lives within my heart.

3. Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian,
Lift up your voice and sing
Eternal hallelujahs
To Jesus Christ the King!
The hope of all who seek Him,
The help of all who find,
None other is so loving,
So good and kind.

Chorus:
He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and He talks with me
Along life's narrow way.
He lives, He live, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives:
He lives within my heart.

Amen.

Prayer of the People
Please type your spontaneous petitions in chat.
Each prepared petition is intended to remind us of the things we need to pray about,
so a brief pause will be provided for us to pray our own petitions,
either sharing them in the chat window
or praying them in our own hearts.

Loving God, we pray for each other, for those who depend upon us for prayer, and for all people according to their needs.
We ask that your healing power may prevail in our lives.
We pray that those in positions of public trust may be worthy of that trust as they act as stewards of power and wealth
for the benefit of all.
We pray that conflicts may be resolved in the context of relationships,
so that violence of thought word and deed may be diminished all through our world.
We ask your blessing for all who bear witness to the Gospel, so that relationships with you may be deepened for all people.
All these things, and whatever else you see that we need, we ask that you will grant for the sake of your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, in Whose name we pray.
Amen.
Our Lord's Prayer
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 sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever and ever,
Amen.
Benediction
May the Lord bless us and keep us.
May the Lord make His face to shine upon us and be gracious to us.
May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, and give us peace.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen +