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URC Sunday Worship 11th April

 

Led by Rev. Rev. Elizabeth Gray King

 

 

Call To Worship

 

 

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!

Exult, all creation around God’s throne!

Jesus, our King, is risen!

Sound the trumpet of salvation!

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!

 

Rejoice, O Earth, in shining splendour, radiant in the brightness

of our King! Jesus has conquered! Glory fills you! Darkness

vanishes for ever!

Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!

 

Rejoice, O holy Church! Exult in glory! The risen Saviour shines

upon you! Let this place resound with joy, as we sing, echoing

the mighty song of all God’s people!

 

 

Jesus is risen, alleluia!

Worship and praise Him, alleluia!

Now our redeemer bursts from the grave

lost to the tomb, Christ rises to save.

 

Come let us worship Him, endlessly sing;

Christ is alive and death loses its sting.

Sins are forgiven, alleluia! Jesus is risen, alleluia!

 

 

Buried for three days, destined for death,

now he returns to breathe Easter breath.

Blest are the ears alert to his voice,

blest are the hearts which for him rejoice.

Come let us worship Him…

 

 

Don’t be afraid!” the angel had said,

“Why seek the living here with the dead?

Look where he lay, his body is gone,

risen and vibrant, warm with the sun.”

Come let us worship Him…

 

 

Go tell the others, Christ is alive.”

Love is eternal, faith and hope thrive,

What God intended, Jesus fulfilled,

what God conceived can never be killed.

Come let us worship Him…

 

 

Let heaven echo, let the earth sing”

Jesus is saviour of everything.

All those who trust him, Christ will receive’

therefore, rejoice, obey and believe!

 

 

Introduction

 

 

Prayers of Approach, Confession and forgiveness

 

 

Breathe on me, Breath of God, fill me with life anew,

that I may love what Thou dost love,

and do what Thou wouldst do.

 

 

Breathe on me, Breath of God, until my heart is pure,

until with Thee I will one will,

to do and to endure.

 

 

Breathe on me, Breath of God, till I am wholly Thine,

until this earthly part of me

glows with Thy fire divine.

 

 

Breathe on me, Breath of God,  so shall I never die,

but live with Thee the perfect life

of Thine eternity.

 

 

Prayer of Illumination

John 20 : 19 – 31

Acts 4 : 32 – 35

 

 

Faith begins by letting go, giving up what had seemed sure,

taking risks and pressing on, though the way feels less secure:

pilgrimage both right and odd, trusting all our life to God.

 

 

Faith endures by holding on, keeping mem’ry’s roots alive

so that hope may bear its fruit; promise-fed, our souls will thrive,

not through merit we possess but by God’s great faithfulness.

 

 

Faith matures by reaching out, stretching minds, enlarging hearts,

sharing struggles, living prayer, binding up the broken parts;

till we find the commonplace ripe with witness to God’s grace.

 

 

 

Sermon

 

 

 

Father of mercy, God of consolation,

Look on your people, gathered here to praise you,

Pity our weakness, come in power to aid us,

Source of all blessing.

 

 

Son of the Father, Lord of all creation,

Come as our Saviour, Jesus, friend of sinners,

Grant us forgiveness, lift our downcast spirit,

Heal us and save us.

 

 

Life-giving Spirit, be our light in darkness,

Come to befriend us, help us bear our burdens,

Give us true courage, breathe your peace around us,

Stay with us always.

 

 

God in Three Persons, Father, Son and Spirit,

Come to renew us, fill your Church with glory,

Grant us your healing, pledge of resurrection,

Foretaste of heaven.

 

 

 

Affirmation of Faith

God’s reconciling act in Jesus Christ is a mystery

which the Scriptures describe in various ways.

 

…God’s love for humankind.

They reveal the gravity, cost, and sure achievement

of God’s reconciling work in which we trust.

 

 

 

Intercessions

 

 

 

Offertory

 

 

 

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing tune my heart to sing Thy grace.

Streams of mercy, never ceasing call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it mount of Thy redeeming love.

 

 

Here I raise my Ebenezer. Here there by Thy help I come.

And I hope, by Thy good pleasure safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God.

He, to rescue me from danger interposed His precious blood.

 

 

Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be.

Let that goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it – prone to leave the God I love.

Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it seal it for Thy courts above.

 

 

 

Blessing