Metropolitan United Church
London Ontario, Canada
Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025
Introit: Surgens Jesus – Peter Phillips
Translation: The risen Jesus, our Lord, standing in the midst of his disciples, said: Peace be with you. Alleluia.The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Alleluia.
Lighting the Christ Candle
Call to Worship
Minister:He is risen!
All:He is risen indeed!
Minister:Thanks be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
All:We have an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.
Minister:Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. The Kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.
All: And he shall reign for ever and ever, King of kings, and Lord of lords. Hallelujah! Thanks be to God.
Processional Hymn
VU#157 – Christ the Lord is Risen Today – Easter Hymn
Opening Prayer
A New Creed: Let us declare our faith together:
We are not alone, we live in God’s world.
We believe in God: who has created and is creating, who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh, to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church: to celebrate God’s presence, to live with respect in creation, to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil, to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
Sanctus Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!
Welcome & Announcements.
Comment on Easter Bonnets ☺
The Training Choir – Sing and dance, children of God –
Michael Bedford (Training Choir)
Circle Time
Children’s Prayer
Anthem: To God be the Glory - Cynthia Dobrinski
Jubilate Bells
The Holy Gospel of St. John 20:1-18 Reader: Rick Wood
20 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. 2So 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.’ 3Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb. 4The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10Then the disciples returned to their homes.
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; 12and 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. 13They 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.’ 14When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ 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.’ 16Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew,‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). 17Jesus 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.” ’ 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Prayer of Confession (theme joy but not always living resurrection life)
Assurance of Pardon
VU#165 – Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain – Ave Virgo Virginum
Pastoral & Lord’s Prayer
Call for the Offering
Offertory Prayer
O Lord, giver of life and source of freedom
We know that all we have received is from your hand.
You call us to be stewards of your abundance,
the caretakers of all you have entrusted to us
Help us to always use your gifts wisely
and teach us to share them generously.
May our faithful stewardships bear witness
to the love of Jesus Christ in our lives. Amen.
Doxology (VU#541)
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Anthem Let all the world in every corner sing –
Ralph Vaughan Williams
The Scriptures – Acts 10:34-43
34 Then Peter began to speak to them: ‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality, 35but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. 37That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; 40but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, 41not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. 43All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’
Message: “Soar We Now”
Sing Again – 157 (with alternate verse)
Christ the Lord is risen today, Hallelujah!
All creation join to say; Hallelujah!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Hallelujah!
Sing, O heavens, and earth reply, Hallelujah!
Soar we now where Christ has led, Hallelujah!
Following our exalted Head, Hallelujah!
Made like him, like him we rise, Hallelujah!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Hallelujah!
(verse 4 in many hymnals incl. United Methodist Church Hymnal, 1989)
VU#164 – The Day of Resurrection - Ellacombe
Choral Benediction -Hallelujah – George Frederich Handel
Commissioning & Benediction
Organ Postlude: Sarabande for Easter Morning –
Herbert Howells
