Easter — all these branches

ORDER OF WORSHIP

St Paul’s United Methodist Mission Outpost

Liberty Park United Methodist Mission Outpost

All These Branches Community

SUNDAY APRIL 17th 2022

EASTER

** You are welcome to stand as you are able, for items with this symbol.

GATHERING AND SHARING GOD’S STORY

INTRO

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

GOSPEL READING John 20:1-18

Early on the first day of the week, Strong Tears (Mary) from Tower of Creator’s High Lodge (Magdala) came to the burial cave early in the morning while it was still dark. When she saw the stone had been removed from the burial cave, she ran to find Stands on the Rock (Peter) and He Shows Goodwill (John), the much-loved follower of Creator Sets Free (Jesus).

She found them and, catching her breath, she said to them, “They have taken the body of our Wisdomkeeper away, and we do not know where he is!”

Stands on the Rock (Peter) raced to the burial cave, but the other follower outran him and came there first. He stooped low to look inside but did not go in all the way. He saw strips of cloth lying there, but the cloth that had been wrapped around the head of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was rolled into a bundle, lying by itself. Stands on the Rock (Peter) arrived behind him and came to the cave. When he went inside, he saw the same things.

The other follower, who arrived first, now found the courage to go “inside all the way. He saw the burial cave was empty—and believed. But they still did not understand from the Sacred Teachings that he would return from death. Then they went back to the place where they were staying.

After the men left, Strong Tears (Mary) from Creator’s High Lodge (Magdala) went back to the garden.

Her heart was on the ground as she stood outside the cave, weeping. As the tears ran down her face, she looked inside. There she saw two spirit-messengers dressed in white. They were sitting, one at the head, the other at the feet, of where the body of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had once lain.

They looked at her and said, “Honored woman, why do you weep?”

“My Wisdomkeeper is gone,” she answered, “and I do not know where they have taken him.”

She turned around to see a man standing behind her. It was Creator Sets Free (Jesus), but she did not recognize him.

“Honored woman, why the tears?” he said to her. “Who are you looking for?”

She thought he was the keeper of the garden, so she said, “If you have carried him away, tell me where, and I will find him.”

“Strong Tears (Mary),” he said to her in a soft and kind voice.

She looked closer at him and her eyes grew wide. Then she hugged him close and whispered in his ear in her native language.

“Rabboni!” she said, meaning Wisdomkeeper.

“You must let me go,” he said back to her. “I have not yet gone up to the Father. Go to my brothers who walked the road with me and say to them, ‘I am going up to my Father and your Father, to the one who is the Great Spirit and Father of us all.’”

Creator Sets Free (Jesus) had chosen to show “himself first to a woman, Strong Tears (Mary) from Creator’s High Lodge (Magdala), the one he had set free from seven evil spirits.

Strong Tears (Mary) then went and found the followers of Creator Sets Free (Jesus) and said, “I have seen our Wisdomkeeper!”

She then told them everything she had heard from him.

**HYMN and PROCESSIONAL “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” UMH 302

[We gather the flowers and gifts and carry them in and decorate the worship space with them.]

GREETING One: Christ is Risen!

All: Christ is Risen Indeed! Halleluiah!

WORDS OF WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

CELEBRATING THE WATERS

OPENING PRAYER

God of the empty tomb, we come into your presence looking

for Jesus after his death on the cross. We find the risen Christ

and are delighted and transformed. As the stone was rolled

away from the tomb on the first Easter morning, may we

remove any obstacle in our hearts and minds to encountering

you in the holy mystery we remember today. Amen.

REFLECTING ON GOD’S STORY

PRAYER OF PREPARATION (from Psalm 19)

Preachers: May the words of our mouths

Congregation: And the meditations of our hearts

All: Be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

Amen.

REFLECTING ON THE WORD “Resurrection, Renewal, Re-membering”

by Pastor Mike and Pastor Deb

RESPONDING TO GOD’S STORY

PRAYERS FOR THE WORLD

Prayers for all those who need healing; for our families; for our church community; for our local community; for the world community; for our leaders; for the earth...

We invite you to post your specific

joys and concerns on the event page,

whether you are in the worship live,

watching the live-stream (now or later)!

THE LORD’S PRAYER a paraphrase from The New Zealand Prayer Book

Eternal Spirit,

Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,

Source of all that is and that shall be,

Father and Mother of us all,

Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!

The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!

Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom

sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.

In times of temptation and testing, 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 for ever. Amen.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Divine Mystery, we recognize the hopes and limitations in

our lives and we confess to you the times when we have not

followed your vision. We are Easter people, living the mystery

of the resurrection and experiencing the gift of transformation in our own lives. We know that all things are possible with You and we look for the gift of Your grace to transform our imperfect effort. Amen.

KYRIE (sung) TFWS 2275

WORDS OF ASSURANCE

SERVICE OF WORD AND TABLE

SPECIAL MUSIC Bread and Wine -- Anne McCaslin

GREAT THANKSGIVING

reflecting the Poor People's Campaign – A National Call for Moral Revival

One: Christ is Risen

Many: Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!

One: Let us celebrate resurrection.

Many: We celebrate the ways in which life is being renewed and justice is being restored in our lives and in our world.

One: Let us praise and thank our God of grace and justice.

Many: God we give you thanks and praise for all the ways you are at work in our lives and in our world.

You created us – human beings in your own image – and you breathed into us your Spirit-Breath, making us co-creators with you. You gave us responsibility for the Care of your Creation, from the tiniest flower to the mammoth whales.

You called the slaves of Egypt to come out of Egypt to be your people, leaving the bondage of slavery and making the journey to the promised land. You led them from slavery through the wilderness to freedom.

Remember Me v. 1 Tune: UMH 408

Remember me — the God who saves —

For back in Egypt you were slaves;

Then by my hand I set you free.

Now keep my law. Remember me.

In the fullness of your time, you took on our human form and lived among us, showing us how to love deeply and live gently. You fed the hungry, healed the broken, restored the lost. You chastised the leaders for their lust for power and wealth. You condemned their failure to care for the suffering and challenged them to free those whom they oppressed. “You taught us that your law takes us past the dualism of right and wrong and into a field where you lovingly and tenderly meet us in freedom.” ***

You reminded us of your vision for creation: humans living in harmony – with one another and with the whole of the universe. Swords beaten into tools of cultivation and harvest. The stranger welcomed at our table. Those who have been on the margins of community invited into the center.

As your life and work among us drew to it's close, you gathered your close friends together and shared with them your vision for their life and ministries.

And you shared a last meal together. At that table you took bread and, blessing it with thanksgiving, you passed it to your friends, saying 'Take and eat. This is the bread of life.' At that meal you also took a goblet of wine. After blessing it with thanksgiving, you shared it with your friends, saying 'Take and drink from this. It is the cup of the new covenant. It is my love poured out for you.'

In this sacrament, we re-member all that you have done and continue to do for us, your life, suffering, death and resurrection.

Remember Me v. 2 Tune: UMH 408

Remember me in bread and wine

Whene'er you share this meal of mine.

I gave my life to set you free.

With thanks and praise, remember me.

God of love and justice, pour out your Spirit on your gathered people and on these gifts. Let them be for us the very presence of the Christ of transformation, so that we may go from this table and be the evidence of transformation in which God is known and seen.

Unite us in communities of justice. Give us the grace to be one with our all our neighbors, and to unite in the fullness of your community of love, justice and grace.

Remember Me v. 3 Tune: UMH 408

Remember me in all you do,

For I'm alive! I walk with you.

I was, I am, and I shall be.

O church I love, remember me.

[Serving the elements]

Remember Me v. 4 Tune: UMH 408

O God, we hear! We're called and freed!

Your Spirit gives us memory

Now send us out, that we may share

Your love's great story everywhere.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION

For the bread we have eaten; for the cup that we have shared; for the life that we have received, we thank you God. As we celebrate our new life in your resurrection, grant that what you have done here, and what we have received, will create in us new hearts and minds so that we may go from this place to be your people in our world. Amen.

**MUSIC AS THE LIGHT GOES BACK OUT INTO THE WORLD “Christ Is Risen” UMH 307

GOING FORTH IN THE SPIRIT

***Quote from Rumi

NOTES:

Gospel text: Excerpt From First Nations Version; by Terry M. Wildman, Intervarsity press

“Christ the Lord Is Risen Today”, Words by Charles Wesley 1739, Tune: EASTER HYMN by Lyra Davidica, 1708. IN the public domain.

“Remember Me” Tune: Traditional English melody ("Though I May Speak")

Copied, with permission, from Songs of Grace: New Hymns for God and Neighbor by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette (Upper Room Books, 2009).

“Christ Is Risen” TUNE: HOLY MANNA is an Appalachian folk tune by William Moore and is in the public domain.