Easter Sunday Home Worship Guide

The following worship guide is based on our regular weekly worship at Cullowhee Baptist Church. It is not an obligation, but a suggestion. Follow or amend as needed. Home worship will be more brief than corporate worship in the sanctuary. Involve all the people at your home in the worship time who are able. To prepare, have open a copy of the worship guide, and designate a space to gather. A table is a good place because it is safe for candles and limits distractions. Set out one or two candles to represent the presence of God.

May the Lord bless our worship today.
Grace and peace, Tonya and Jeffrey

The Worship of God

Light two candles in recognition of Christ’s presence. In our practice, one candle represents Jesus’ divinity and the other Jesus’ humanity.

The Blessing of Music
a Vivaldi piece/organ and trumpet

Gathering for Worship

Call to Worship
We’re here because we’re people who have heard a rumor
that there’s life to be found on the other side of death.

We’re here because just the rumor is enough to bring us hope
and just the hope is enough to bring us a moment of life.

We’re here because even though it is only a flicker, a moment, a breath
it’s changed our death forever.

Easter Greeting
Alleluia. Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

A Time of Great Thanksgiving

Verses of the famous Easter hymn, Christ the Lord is Risen Today, is interspersed with readings of thanksgiving from the book of Psalms.

A Hymn of Praise
Christ the Lord is Risen Today

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!

A Psalms of Praise
Psalm 136:1-9, 23-26
O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
O give thanks to the God of gods,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
O give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
who alone does great wonders,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
who by understanding made the heavens,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
who spread out the earth on the waters,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
who made the great lights,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
the sun to rule over the day,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
the moon and stars to rule over the night,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
It is the LORD who remembered us in our low estate,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
and rescued us from our foes,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
who gives food to all flesh,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
O give thanks to the God of heaven,
for his steadfast love endures forever.

A Hymn of Praise
Christ the Lord is Risen Today

Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to you by both be given, Alleluia!
You we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

Psalm 16:5-11
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
I have a goodly heritage.
I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
For you do not give me up to Sheol,
or let your faithful one see the Pit.
You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Hymn of Praise
Christ the Lord is Risen Today

King of glory, soul of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
You to know, your power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing, and thus to love, Alleluia!

Prayer
Almighty God, thank you! Through Jesus Christ you have clearly shown us that death has been overcome and the gates of everlasting life have been opened. We celebrate with joy the day of the Lord’s resurrection! Raise us from the death of our sins by your life-giving Spirit. Amen.

The Gospel Lesson for Easter Day

John 20:1-18

Listen to a collection of our church members reading the gospel lesson.

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”  Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb.  The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.  He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.  Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.  Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.  They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”  When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.  Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”  Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).  Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”  Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Reflection from Jeffrey

Let me note first that the circumstances of this year’s Easter celebrations are unique. We are not gathering for Easter sunrise in the cemetery, or for breakfast with our sisters and brothers in Christ, or even for worship in the sanctuary. We are separated from each other while we live under the threat of a global pandemic. Even on this holiest day of the year as we remember the resurrection of Jesus, we are keenly aware that God wants us to be healthy and to give each other life and hope rather than illness or grief. Worship is a priority yet during times of human crisis we adapt. And so we have done this Easter. As we are isolated at home we are not removed from God. Perhaps this year we lean into our separation from each other and embrace enough simplicity to focus on the joy of resurrection more than Easter lilies, bonnets, and bow ties. Without the crowds and pomp and beauty of ceremony, the simple hopeful truth of God may take center-stage as that which sustains life and evinces hope. Perhaps the monks and nuns in our Christian tradition were onto something when they recognized that withdrawing from the frills of life in public can sometimes eliminate barriers and help us know God better. Although our time in isolation is brief (at least I hope so!) may these days of simplicity highlight something new about the joy of living and the hope of resurrection.

The Sabbath day of Jesus’ death must have left the disciples tottering between faith and doubt, remembering and desolation. While the setting sun and the rising moon told her that the new day began several hours ago, the first waking moments of this dawn had a purpose for Mary. She had to gather her grief over the loss of Jesus enough to take the first steps forward without knowing what might come after. Grief disorients us all. Now in the dark, which for me simply means, as soon as she possibly could, this disciple came to serve her Lord once more–to complete the ordinary after-death care for his body.

What she discovered on that early morning was a sequence of unexpected surprises. Where she expected to find a tomb, she found a stone out of place. Where she had assumed that returning with Simon Peter she would discover someone had stolen Jesus’ body, instead she encountered two angels with a message. Where she thought she saw a gardener who could explain it all, she heard the voice of Jesus calling her name. Where she had wanted to stay and cling to Jesus as long as allowed, she was told to go and provide witness to life. Each one of these morning surprises changed her life. Yet none of these life-altering moments were within Mary’s imagination for how the day would go when she started out in the dark of the new morning. The limitation of Mary’s imagination was eclipsed by the willed intent of God. Where Mary imagined death and grief, God showed the reality of life and joy. Resurrection doesn’t reveal what we can become, it displays what God envisions. And God’s possibilities are always more than we imagine.

Mary had seen Jesus heal, heard him preach, confessed him as her Lord. But none of these moments of awe or realizations of belief prepared her for the surprise of resurrection.

We are prone to take the resurrection for granted. We tend to turn its promise into an assurance that salves our fear about death. It certainly does that and with great confidence in God’s miraculous ability to create and recreate anew. Nevertheless we must not allow the resurrection to remain a future reality. And we equally cannot limit God’s intent for our resurrection living now by our own dreams or shortcomings.

Resurrection means more than just something new. Resurrection is an awe that moves us into the possibility of God’s Way. The resurrection doesn’t teach us to be a better person, but gives us the courage to be the person God created us to become. I have dreams and hopes for my life and calling. I know my likes and wants. I understand my gifts and limitations. But the resurrection is not just a happy announcement that I’m alright after I die. It is the reality that God imagines for me something I did not wake up this morning expecting. And if it is God’s call, I will need to rearrange my expectation to meet God’s request. If I had plans for how I’d live my life, perhaps God gives an opportunity that was beyond what I could imagine but fully within what God knew was the reality of my life. But let’s be clear, resurrection is not a motivational device. Instead it opens our eyes to the possibility of what God can do. Resurrection shows us that God’s possibilities are beyond us but include us.

As much as we want to talk about Mary, oh and Peter and John, and of course the other disciples isolated back at home, let’s not forget that Jesus remains the central focus of our confession and life. Jesus exemplifies for all of us what it is possible to do with one human life living in every way within the will of God. Jesus is what it means to be human. He also demonstrates what it means to make the possibility of a peaceable community with others become true in our lives together. These too are part of the human possibility of living in the miracle of the resurrection.

And there’s more. I am convinced that it is possible to read the New Testament book of Romans as a long Easter sermon. Although Paul does not recount the events of Easter Sunday morning, his ideas represent one of the earliest known attempts to understand the death and resurrection of Jesus. As a sermon illustration, Paul turns to the story of Adam. Yes, that first Adam, in the garden with Eve enjoying paradise. Trained as a Jewish Pharisee, Paul read, and likely memorized, the stories in Genesis. Adam in the garden established the first three truths about God and humanity—one, God created all things good; two, God’s first expectation is obedience; and three, the inevitability of disobedience carries consequences, primarily the loss of paradise. In Romans, then, Paul makes a point about Jesus by comparing him to Adam. Adam was the first born, and Jesus the first resurrected. Adam gives life on Earth to the entire human family, Jesus gives life everlasting to all humanity. From Adam comes the human propensity to sin, and from Jesus comes complete forgiveness. After Adam is cast out from the garden paradise, all of us experience death. As Jesus is resurrected from the garden tomb, all of us are welcomed in life eternal.

Paul’s claim, therefore, is that Jesus’ resurrection is the miracle of God for Jesus first, but for all of us as well. The resurrection of Jesus has forever changed the human condition. It alters that third lesson from the Garden—the consequences of our sin no longer bind us to death. God’s forgiveness is an essential truth and a humanity reality. We can set aside the idea that God sees us as inherently flawed and replace it with the reality that God knows us to be good. We are not, given this divine opinion of us, freed from the obligation for obedience. We still only live well when we live in God’s Way with each other in this world. But we need not fear a God of revenge for Jesus has revealed the mystery of God’s resurrection and assured forgiveness as an everlasting grace. God does not exact vengeance on us (no matter what Jonathan Edwards once said) but has unleashed resurrection on the world through that first Easter morning when Mary gave witness to the empty tomb and the resurrected Jesus.

Prayer of Thanksgiving. (Offer a prayer of thanksgiving to God for helping us to see the world with different eyes, for changing our hearts, for helping us treat one another as friends, for opening our minds to be able to think differently about things.)

Sending Out from Worship

Benediction
Colossians 3:1-4

So since you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Closing Song.  In our tradition, we close worship by singing the first verse of Blest Be the Tie.  Mindy starts us each week, and so she does today as well.

Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above. Amen.

______________ 

Credits:  The image is Ukrainian Easter Eggs purchased in Kiev while the church was on a mission trip. The Blessing of Music was offered by Dr. Brad Ulrich (trumpet) of Western Carolina University and Dr. Vance Reese (organ) of Brevard College. The Call to Worship was written by Cheryl Lawrie. Charles Wesley wrote the words for Christ the Lord is Risen Today.  The video was persistently prepared by Ally and Elizabeth but did not work with our slagging internet speed here in the mountains, so an audio file is offered instead. The gospel was read by Brenda and Kristin.  Blest be the Tie was sung by Mindy.