Easter - A

Call to Worship
L:    This is the day:
P:    when healing touches the suffering;
       when loneliness discovers a family;
       when peace caresses the stressed.
L:    This is the day the Lord:
P:    breaks free of death's clutches,
       rolls away the stone,
       folds the grave clothes into a neat pile.
L:    This is the day the Lord has made:
P:    the day of sin's defeat,
       the day of resurrection,
       the first day of the new creation.
L:    This is the day!
P:     Christ is risen!  Hallelujah!

Prayer of the Day
Early in the morning
before chaos was awake,
you tiptoed quietly past,
Surprising God:
and whispered the Word
which caused grace and love
to blossom into creation.

Early in the morning
while the disciples slept,
Jesus, Son of the Living God:
you prepared a feast
to fill their emptiness;
you rolled away their hardened hearts
to open them to your grace;
you whispered their names
to awaken them to new life.

Early in the morning
while we are still drowsy,
you sing your songs to us,
Holy Spirit:
hymns of hope,
cantatas of compassion,
psalms of peace,
litanies of love.

God in Community, Holy in One,
early this morning we bring our prayer to you
as Jesus has taught us, saying,
 Our Father...

Call to Reconciliation
It was early in the morning, when God created
all the good and beauty in the universe.  It was
early in the morning that a baby cried in a manger.
It was early in the morning on that first day, when
a voice told us that death has been defeated and
Jesus is alive in our midst.  Let us confess the
fear, and the great joy, we bring with us, early
in the mornings . . .

Unison Prayer of Confession
  This morning, Wonderful God, in the company
of your church - saints and sinners  -  we gather to
celebrate your life, your ministry, your death and
resurrection, your great love for us.  Yet, we know
we often leave the celebration here in the sanctuary,
as we leave and go back to our homes, our jobs, our
fears, our doubts, our lives.
  Bring us a new life, God of the living, where we
are tired and stressed; transform our hardened hearts
into fountains of love; forgive us the hurts and harms
we have caused; fill us with the joy of your Holy
Spirit in the hollows of our souls.

 Silence is kept

Assurance of Pardon
L:    God, our Creator, gives us new life;
       Christ, our Reconciliation, invites us
           to a Table;
       Holy Spirit, our Teacher of the Way, the
          Truth, the Life;
       this is the Good News:  the tomb is empty,
       death is conquered, sin has lost its power.
P:    We are a new people, shaped by the Risen
       Lord into new life forever!  Thanks be to God.
       Amen.

Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
L:    The God of early mornings be with you.
P:    and also with you.
L:    People of the first day, lift up your hearts!
P:    We lift them to the One
       who makes every day Easter.
L:    People of Easter joy, give thanks
       to the One who is your salvation.
P:    We offer our hallelujahs
       to the God of steadfast love.

We lift our praise to you,
Gardener of Creation.
On the first day,
your Light split the shadows of chaos,
and all goodness flowed forth.
Gently and tenderly,
you gathered up the dust of the earth
and shaped us into your image.
But the day came
when we chose
to run away from you,
preferring our petty schemes
to your dreams for us.
You sang to us through the prophets,
hoping we would join you
in the heavenly chorus.
But we kept silent,
believing our wisdom
was far superior to your love.
And when we dug our heels in
through blind stubbornness,
refusing to follow you,
you became one of us
that you might lead us back to you.
Therefore we join our glad songs of Easter
with those in every time and in every place,
who sing to you their praise:

P:    Rejoice, heavenly powers!
       Sing, choirs of angels!
       Jesus Christ, our Lord, is risen!

You alone are holy, Steadfast God,
and blessed is your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
God's true Light,
he wandered the shadows of hell
to bring us out;
God's own Beloved,
he endured our sin,
to heal us forever;
God's own Glory,
he went into the grave,
that we might enter
the gates of righteousness.

As we remember you raising him
from the dead and giving us life,
we proclaim our faith:

P:    Sin is conquered;
       death is defeated;
       Christ is risen!
       Alleluia!

Here at this Table
we are nourished by your steadfast love,
Resurrecting God.
As you pour out your Spirit
upon the bread and the cup,
fill us with the grace of Jesus.
As we have been raised to new life,
may we reach out to those who have fallen;
as we have been fed,
may we fill the hunger of the world;
as we have seen the empty tomb,
may we bear witness to the presence
of the Risen Lord in our lives.

Then, when we are united with all the saints,
may we gather around your Table,
one people, lifting our voices in praise to you,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

(c) Thom M. Shuman