Sunday Worship 20 April 2025 – Easter Sunday
Today’s service is led by the Revd Ruth Whitehead
Welcome
Welcome to this act of worship. I’m Ruth Whitehead, and I’m the minister of the Landsker Pastorate of the URC – five chapels around Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire. This Easter Morning the five congregations will come together in a joint service of celebration, just yards away from the Irish Sea. It is as beautiful as it sounds.
Call to Worship
Christ is risen He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
Hymn Christ the Lord is Risen Today
Charles Wesley (1739) Public Domain, Worldwide Easter Choir United Methodist Voices
Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia
Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia
Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia
Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia
Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia
Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia
Where’s thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia
Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia
Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia
Prayer of Adoration, Confession, and Assurance of Pardon
God of all life, all joy, all hope.
We come to worship you, with hearts full of praise
that your love is stronger than death and that Jesus is alive.
We know that Jesus gave his life to set us free,
and that you raised him from death
so that we can know peace beyond measure – life in all its fullness.
We praise you that we may know the love of God our Father,
the healing of God the Son and the power of God the Holy Spirit:
love, healing, and power made real for us today.
We confess to you that we stand in constant need
of your love, healing and power each and every day:
to forgive us when we fail you;
to strengthen us when we are weak;
to help us begin again when all seems lost.
Thank you, loving God,
that the good news of Easter is that the worst that sin can do
is no match for the depth of your loving mercy.
As you raised Jesus, so raise us up,
so that we may walk your ways as your forgiven children.
Here us as we pray the words Jesus himself taught his disciples:
Our Father…
Hymn Now the Green Blade Rises
John Macleod Campbell Crum Public Domain Sung by the Choir of St Anne’s Copp
Now the green blade riseth, from the buried grain,
wheat that in dark earth many days has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again like wheat that springs up green.
In the grave they laid Him, Love who had been slain,
thinking that He never would awake again,
laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:
Love is come again like wheat that springeth green.
Forth He came at Easter, like the risen grain,
Jesus who for three days in the grave had lain;
quick from the dead the risen One is seen:
Love is come again like wheat that springs up green.
When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,
then Your touch can call us back to life again,
fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
love is come again like wheat that springs up green.
Reading Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24
The Psalmist rejoices in God’s amazing work
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures for ever!
Let Israel say, ‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’
The Lord is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.
There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
‘The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
the right hand of the Lord is exalted;
the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.’
I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the Lord.
The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not give me over to death.
Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Reading St Luke 24: 1-12
One version of the Easter story
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
Hymn Come Ye Faithful Raise the Strain
St. John of Damascus; Translator: J. M. Neale (1859) Public Domain. Sung by Chris Brunelle and used with his kind permission.
Come, you faithful, raise the strain of triumphant gladness!
God has brought his Israel into joy from sadness,
loosed from Pharaoh’s bitter yoke Jacob’s sons and daughters,
led them with unmoistened foot through the Red Sea waters.
‘tis the spring of souls today; Christ has burst his prison,
and from three days’ sleep in death as a sun hath risen;
all the winter of our sins, long and dark, is flying
from his light, to whom we give laud and praise undying.
Now the queen of seasons, bright with the day of splendour,
with the royal feast of feasts, comes its joy to render;
comes to gladden faithful hearts who with true affection
welcome in unwearied strains Jesus’ resurrection!
Sermon
I wonder how you feel about the response with which we began our worship: “Christ is risen”, “He is risen indeed, alleluia”?
There’s a mum I know who says to her children, when she doesn’t quite believe what they’re saying ‘really?’. It can be “we’re going on a school trip to the moon!” (“Really?”) or something as simple as “I’ve finished tidying my bedroom”. “Really?”. Sometimes I feel like making that my response to the statement ‘Christ is risen”… “Really?”
If you’re not quite sure about the whole resurrection thing this morning you’re in good company. The women went to the disciples with the story of everything they had seen and heard… the stone had been rolled away, they’d seen the empty tomb, then there were two men in dazzling clothes, who reminded them of what Jesus had said – that he would rise again – and these two angelic creatures had said ‘why look for the living among dead ? he is not here, he has risen’. The women arrived, on what we would call Easter Sunday morning, with their breathless and amazing and wonderful story.
And the disciples’ reaction? “pfft”.
They thought it was idle tales. In fact, the Greek word used there in the gospel, ‘leros’ gives us our word delirious. They thought the women were delirious. That they were talking rubbish, babble, nonsense. Maybe it’s an ordinary human reaction to this extraordinary Easter story. Christ is risen. Really?
But the evidence mounts, others see the empty tomb, and even meet an angel. Mary sees Jesus in the garden; the disciples meet him in the upper room; Thomas sees and believes; they all see Jesus on the beach and he cooks them breakfast, talks to them and forgives Peter. Christ is risen.
And so 2000 years on when we start our worship with the words “Christ is risen” we manage to say ‘ he is risen indeed, alleluia’ and not “really?”. But this gradual dawning of reality into the hearts and minds of Jesus’ disciples means 3 things;
Firstly, if we find it hard to believe.. It’s ok. We’re not expected to get it all in one go. We’re only human, we may need to hear this extraordinary story many times and in different ways before the truth starts to dawn on us. We may need our own proof, a realisation of where the risen Jesus can be seen and heard in our own lives. It may take time for us to move from ‘Really?’ to ‘he is risen indeed.’
And secondly, this story tells us that if we believe and tell others, but no-one believes us, that’s ok too. The very first eye-witnesses to the resurrection, their hearts still pounding with the excitement of it, failed to ignite immediately the interest of the remainder of Jesus’ friends. Babble, nonsense – leros – was their first reaction. This truth of resurrection is hard to grasp. It isn’t obviously true on first hearing. It’s not our fault if it sounds a bit too good to be true because that’s just what it is – amazingly, eye-poppingly, strange – but true. Christ is risen.
And thirdly, if this whole story doesn’t disturb us a bit , maybe we’ve become too used to the story and we’re not listening. There is something rather disturbing about this story of an empty tomb and a man raised from death.
I will admit right now that I cannot watch zombie movies. I just don’t like the whole idea of dead people walking around attacking other people. In real life, the dead stay dead and I can’t cope with a story-line of a film where the natural order of things is messed about with. The Easter story has an element of that level of disturbance. Jesus, who was dead, has risen. That seems at first like it cannot be true. The dead stay dead. But the women’s story – eventually accepted and experienced by all Jesus’ disciples – tells us that death is no longer the end. In God’s new kingdom all the rules have changed and the Good news is that now it is death itself that is dead. In God’s new kingdom we learn that we need to treat death in a new way – death itself is dead – but we also need to treat life in a new way, too.
The witness of the women – what seemed like ‘idle tales’, babble, delirium, is actually profound truth. If we are to look for God’s action in the world around us, bringing life from death; if we are to meet the risen Jesus this Easter; if the Spirit is to move among us – we might need to look in unexpected places and learn to listen to those whose witness we have previously dismissed. Jesus is alive, bringing the promise of new life to all people. Really. Alleluia. Amen.
Statement of Faith
If it is for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. Alleluia – Christ is risen
For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. Alleluia – we shall be raised
But each in its own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. Alleluia – God’s love will reign forever
For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. Alleluia – death is dead
Offertory
This Easter Day we celebrate that God has given us the gift of victory over death. In response to all God’s gifts, we bring our gifts and ourselves…
Hymn Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
From the Liturgy of St James paraphrased by Gerard Moultrie (1864) Public Domain recorded at St Francis of Assis Parish, Frisco, Texas for the Catholic Music Initiative.
Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand;
ponder nothing earthly minded, for, with blessing in His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth, our full homage to demand.
King of kings, yet born of Mary, as of old on earth He stood,
Lord of lords, in human vesture, in the body and the blood.
He will give to all the faithful His own self for heav’nly food.
Rank on rank the host of heaven spreads its vanguard on the way,
as the Light of light descendeth from the realms of endless day,
that the pow’rs of hell may vanish as the darkness clears away.
At His feet the six-winged seraph, cherubim with sleepless eye,
veil their faces to the Presence, as with ceaseless voice they cry,
“Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, Lord Most High!”
Holy Communion
Invitation
Jesus was often a guest. He shared many meals with his friends, and they long remembered his words at the table. Though some disapproved of the company he kept, Jesus ate and drank with all kinds of people and showed everyone the love of God. Wherever people met together Jesus was glad to be welcomed and to be fed. Today, we are the guests of Jesus. He welcomes us, whoever we are and whatever we bring, and he will feed us at his table. Old or young, rich or poor, joyful or in sorrow, Jesus invites us to share bread and wine with him, to remember the story of his life and death, and resurrection and to celebrate his presence with us today.
Alleluia. The risen Christ is with us. Alleluia! Alleluia!
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.
We give thanks to you, O God,
Because this day we learn that death is dead and Christ’s love is eternal.
We praise you for your work of creation – in all its beauty and diversity,
for your teaching through the law and the prophets –
through which you reach out to humankind –
for your coming to us in Jesus Christ –
the Word made flesh, full of grace and truth;
for his rising from the grave to live with us now and forever;
for your moving among us in the Holy Spirit,
growing faith where there was doubt.
Therefore we join with all your people in heaven and earth
to raise the hymn of your glory
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
We praise you that Jesus preached good news that the kingdom has come so that we may know the truth of your love with us forever.
The life and death and rising of Jesus Christ all show us the astonishing extent of your mercy to us. We remember, and we praise you with our lives and with these gifts of bread and wine, proclaiming with one voice the mystery of faith:
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
Come upon these gifts, Holy Spirit,
make them for us Christ’s body, Christ’s blood.
Come upon us, Holy Spirit,
make us one body in Christ, enlivened by his gift of life.
Come among us Holy Spirit,
take our prayers and transform our world,
as we pray for all those in need this day.
Come and fill this feast, Holy Spirit,
this day, and every day until that day
when we eat it in the beauty of heaven
and our Easter Alleluias will know no end.
All blessing, honour, glory and power be yours, Holy Triune God,
now and forever. Amen
Breaking and sharing
This is the body of Christ broken for you, Eat and be very thankful.
This is the blood of Christ given for you, Drink and be very thankful.
Amen.
Music for Holy Communion At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing
Robert Campbell (1814-1868) Public Domain, sung by North Stoneham and Bassett Parish Church choir.
Prayer after Communion
Loving God, you have fed us generously at this table,
as we have remembered Jesus and rejoiced that he is with us today.
We are ready now to follow him, and to be your people in the world.
May your Holy Spirit shine on us to show us the way,
make us holy and fill us with love. Amen.
Hymn Thine Be the Glory
Richard Birch Hoyle; Author: Edmond Budry (1904) Courtesy of St Andrew’s Cathedral & Choir, Sydney, Australia
Thine be the glory, risen, conqu’ring Son;
endless is the vict’ry Thou o’er death hast won.
Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
kept the folded grave-clothes where Thy body lay.
Thine be the glory, risen, conqu’ring Son;
endless is the vict’ry Thou o’er death hast won.
Lo! Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb.
Lovingly He greets us, scatters fear and gloom;
let the Church with gladness hymns of triumph sing,
for the Lord now liveth; death hath lost its sting.
Thine be the glory, risen, conqu’ring Son;
endless is the vict’ry Thou o’er death hast won.
No more we doubt Thee, glorious Prince of life!!
Life is nought without Thee; aid us in our strife;
make us more than conqu’rors, through Thy deathless love;
bring us safe through Jordan to Thy home above.
Thine be the glory, risen, conqu’ring Son;
endless is the vict’ry Thou o’er death hast won.
Blessing
May God bless you and keep you;
May God make eternal life dawn upon you and be gracious to you;
May God fill you with abundant love that nothing on earth can conquer
and give you peace, now and always. Amen.