Veradale United Church of Christ
An Open & Affirming Congregation
Worshiping God in Christ – Welcoming All – Working for Justice & Peace
“No matter who you are, or where you are on life’s journey, you are
welcome here!”
March 31, 2024 • 10:30 a.m.
Easter
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10:20 Gathering and Prelude
Wayne Shull, Music Director
Charlie Salt, AV
Joe McSwain, AV and Usher
Jerry Brines, Usher
Joe McSwain, Scripture reader
Naomi Hanvey, Candle lighter
Scotty Patton, Zoom Monitor
Sue Ferrozzo, Fellowship Set-Up
Naomi Hanvey Fellowship Clean-up
Rev. Genavieve Heywood, Pastor
10:30am Land Acknowledgement
We worship on the unceded traditional territory of the Spokane, Cayuse,
Umatilla, Walla Walla, Coeur d’Alene, and other tribes. We acknowledge
the history of indigenous genocide, removal, and erasure that continues to
this day. We recognize the role that Christian communities played in these
injustices, and we recommit ourselves to seeking more peaceful, just, and
neighborly ways of sharing this land with all who call it home.
Worship Begins
God lives among us . . . all the time!
All the time . . . God lives among us!
Service and Fellowship Opportunities
String-A-Lings practice Monday 6pm
Bible Study Monday at 7pm
Silent Prayer, Tuesday 9:00 to 9:30am
Sing-A-Lings (a.k.a.Choir) practice Wednesday 6:30pm
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Community giving this month: Mardi-Bras
One Great Hour of Sharing – donating to global helping ministries.
Flowering the Cross and Welcoming the Light of Christ
We sing and flower the cross. You are invited to share the blessing of
peace with those around you as you place flowers on the cross.
Hymn: “Christ the Lord, is Risen Today” 233 (NCH)
1. Christ the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia! Mortal tongues and angels say,
Alleluia! Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia! Sing, glad heavens, and
earth, reply, Alleluia!
2. Let the Victor’s people sing, Alleluia! Where, O death, is now your sting?
Alleluia! Dying once, Christ lives to save, Alleluia! Where your victory, O grave?
Alleluia!
3. Love’s redeeming work is done, Alleluia! Fought the fight, the battle won,
Alleluia! Death in vain forbids Christ rise, Alleluia! God has opened paradise,
Alleluia!
4. Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia! Following our exalted Head,
Alleluia! Made like Christ, like Christ we rise, Alleluia! Ours the cross, the grave,
the skies, Alleluia!
Community Prayer
Taize chant: Where love and caring are there is God. (Repeat)
Prayers of Gratitude
Where love and caring are there is God. (Repeat)
Prayers of Concern
Where love and caring are there is God. (Repeat)
Silent Prayer
Where love and caring are there is God. (Repeat)
A version of The Lord’s Prayer from
The New Zealand Prayer Book
Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, Source of all that is
and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is
heaven: The hallowing of your name echo through the universe! The
way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world! Your
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heavenly will be done by all created beings! Your commonwealth of
peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth. With the
bread we need for today, feed us. In the hurts we absorb from one
another, forgive us. In times of temptation and testing, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us. From the grip of all that is
evil, free us. For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now
and forever. Amen.
Response: Sing Amen
(Sing Amen) Amen, we praise your name, O, God
(Sing Amen) Amen, we praise your name, O, God
(Sing Amen) Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen,
we praise your name, O, God
A Time of Offering
An Invitation to Share
Dedication Hymn: “Give Thanks”
Give thanks with a grateful heart. Give thanks to the Holy One. Give
thanks because God’s given Jesus Christ, the son. (Repeat) And now
let the weak say, “I am strong!” Let the poor say, “I am rich because
of what the Lord has done for us!” (repeat)
Give thanks. Give thanks.
Dedication prayer:
Renewer of Life, bless these offerings of our time, talent, and
treasure. May we live as your people overcoming hardship and
rejoicing in new beginnings. Bless all our gifts to Hope House and
Transitions Women’s Hearth. May our gifts signs of our love and
compassion. With gratitude, we pray. Amen
Listening for God
Message with Young Hearts
Scripture Passages
Acts 10:34-43 Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that
God shows no partiality, but in every people anyone who fears him and
practices righteousness] is acceptable to him. You know the message he
sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of
all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the
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baptism that John announced: how 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. We are
witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to
death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and
allowed him to appear, not 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. He 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. All the
prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives
forgiveness of sins through his name.”
John 20:1-18 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.”3 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’s 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 touch me, because I have not yet
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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.’ ” 1Mary
Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,”
and she told them that he had said these things to her.
Message: Mary, Why are You Weeping?
Silence
Our Light moves into the World God Loves
Hymn: “ In the Bulb there is a Flower” 433(NCH)
1. In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree; In cocoons, a
hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free! In the cold and snow of winter
there’s a spring that waits to be, Unrevealed until its season, something
God alone can see.
2. There’s a song in every silence, seeking word and melody; There’s a
dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me. From the past will
come the future; what it holds, a mystery, Unrevealed until its season,
something God alone can see.
3. In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity; In our doubt there is
believing; in our life, eternity, In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a
victory, Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
Benediction and Blessing
Be Yourself.
Grow in Christ.
Live with Compassion.