You can watch some parts of the service in this video here (mostly bible readings and sermon) or scroll down and read the prayers and songs in the order they happened.
CHRIST CANDLE
On the first day of the week. They came to the tomb. The angel said he is not here he has risen.
Go quickly. Tell the others. He goes ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.
For we are Christ’s Easter People.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF COUNTRY
With flannel flower and wattle, with acacia and blue gum branches we dance our own corroboree in celebration of the crucified and Risen One, Christ Jesus, the Prince of Peace. We welcome him into our lives on Dharawal land, gifted by the Creator since time immemorial.
We acknowledge their land and their elders past and present listening to their voices in search for reconciliation and justice making. And as we welcome the Christ, you are all welcome in this place and space as together we seek the One who makes all things new.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Let us draw near in worship
laying down our anxieties and fears.
Let us listen for the voice of the risen Christ
who leads us into Life and Peace.
Let us Pray…
Creator God, you are present with us as we gather today. Not because we say so but according to your loving faithfulness and promise to be with us, always. Open our ears to hear your voice, open our hearts to receive your guidance & help us to rest in your peace. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen
HYMN
Jesus calls us here to meet him
as through word and song and prayer
we affirm God’s promised presence
where his people live and care.
Praise the God who keeps his promise
praise the Son who calls us friends
praise the Spirit who, among us,
to our hopes and fears attends.
Jesus calls us to confess him
Word of Life and Lord of All
sharer of our flesh and frailness
saving all who fail or fall.
Tell his holy human story
tell his tales that all may hear
tell the world that Christ in glory
came to earth to meet us here.
Jesus calls us to each other:
found in him are no divides.
Race and class and sex and language –
such are barriers he derides.
Join the hand of friend and stranger
join the hands of age and youth
join the faithful and the doubter
in their common search for truth.
©John Bell & Graham Maule. Wild Goose Worship Group. Used with permission CCLI 49053
WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS
PASSING OF THE PEACE
PRAYER OF CONFESSION & THANKSGIVING
Holy God, your love for us is never ending. Our love for you and each other often ends.
Even when we do not deserve it, you come and you call to us. We give thanks for your persistence: for the ways you seek us out and yearn to be in relationship with us. We often give up after a first or second attempt convincing ourselves we’ve ‘done all we can’ before walking away.
We can scarcely comprehend such love for it is too powerful and different to our own experience of life to understand. And yet, again and again you have shown us that we are loved to bits. Forgive us for ever doubting this. We give thanks for the gift of Christ Jesus who showed us what true love looks like, what true faithfulness means; who was not afraid to follow love’s call, even to the cross.
All praise, honour and glory be yours now and forever. In his name, we pray. Amen
FOR THE YOUNG AT HEART Whose name tags are these?
GOSPEL READING John 10: 1 – 10 selected verses (NRSV)
“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
HYMN
The King of love my Shepherd is
Whose goodness never fails me;
I nothing lack if I am His
And He is mine forever.
Perverse and foolish oft I strayed
But yet in love He sought me
And on His shoulder gently laid
And home rejoicing brought me.
In death’s dark vale I fear no ill
With You, dear Lord, beside me;
Your rod and staff my comfort still,
Your Cross before to guide me.
Henry William Baker 1821 – 1877 Public Domain
GOSPEL READING
John 14 1 – 6, 27 (NRSV) “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
Words of invitation and life. Thanks be to God
HYMN
There’s a spirit in the air
Telling Christians everywhere
Praise the love that Christ revealed
Living, working in our world.
Lose your shyness, find your tongue
Tell the world what God has done
God in Christ has come to stay
Live tomorrow’s life today.
When believers break the bread
When a hungry child is fed
Praise the love that Christ revealed
Living, working in our world.
May the Spirit fill our praise
Guide our thoughts and change our ways
God in Christ has come to stay
Live tomorrow’s life today.
©Brian Arthur Wren. Used with permission CCLI 49053
OFFERING
PRAYERS FOR EACH OTHER
LORD’S PRAYER
God is our Creator and Lord. We are God’s children.
With the bread we need for today. Feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another. Forgive us.
In times of temptation. Strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure. Spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil. Free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love now and forever. Amen
HOLY COMMUNION
GREAT PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
The Lord be with you
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
With all we are, we give you glory; Trinity of love, the one and Holy God, Sovereign of all time and space. We bless you for this wide, red land For its rugged beauty, its changing seasons, for its diverse peoples And for all that lives upon this fragile earth.
You have called us to be the Church in this place To give voice to every creature under heaven.
We rejoice with all that you have made As we join the company of heaven in their song:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might
Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
To Adam and Eve, children of dust You gave the world and its wonders, but we misused your gift of freedom: We reached out rebel hands to be like you. We bless you for your mercy For you never cease to call our restless hearts, until they find their rest in you.
Again and again, you raised up men and women to speak your word To guide, to challenge and convert. At the last, our Creator, you sent Jesus Christ, child of your love, God with us.
Born as one of us, he lived our life and died our death offering us, both now and forever, eternal life with you. Through him, in him and because of him, we affirm the Church’s faith:
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again!
HYMN
Sent forth by God’s blessing, our true faith confessing
The people of God from this table take leave.
The supper is ended: may now be extended
The fruits of Christ’s service in all who believe.
The seed of his teaching, our hungry souls reaching
Shall blossom in action for all humankind.
God’s grace shall incite us, God’s love shall unite us
To work for his kingdom, her purpose to find.
With praise and thanksgiving to God ever-living
The tasks of our everyday life we will face.
Our faith ever sharing, in love ever caring
Embracing as neighbours all those of each race.
One feast that has fed us, one light that has led us
Unite us as one in Christ’s life that we share.
Then may all the living, with praise and thanksgiving
Give honour to Christ and his name that we bear.
Copyright 1964 World Library Publications. Omer Westendorf 1916 – 1997 CCLI 31951
BLESSING & BENEDICTIONGo in peace to love and serve the Lord, with all that you are in body, mind, spirit & heart.
And the blessing of God: Creator, Redeemer & Life-giving Spirit, delight in you who are, and
in whom you are becoming.
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