Easter SONrise Service

Center Harbor Beach

March 23, 2008 7:00 AM

WELCOME

EASTER PROCLAMATION

“Christ is risen!”

(response) “Christ is Risen, Indeed!”

EASTER SONG “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today”

Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!

All creation, join to say, Alleluia!

Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!

Sing, O heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!

Where, O death, is now your sting? Alleluia!

Jesus died, our souls to save, Alleluia!

Where your victory, O grave? 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!

CALL TO WORSHIP

L: The women were looking for a dead friend,

ALL: Mourning a loss,

L: Caught up in grief,

ALL: Worrying about stone-cold tombs.

L: They were prepared for death,

ALL: But not for life.

L: They were ready for sadness,

ALL: But not for joy.

L: Yet, Easter turned it all around!

ALL: Easter turned the world upside down!

L: It set love on the throne,

ALL: Hope on the horizon,

L: Joy in each moment.

ALL: Easter still turns darkness around.

L: Makes all lives different,

ALL: Renews our hope,

L: Fills us with courage,

ALL: Gives us a song to sing.

L: Christ is risen!

ALL: Christ is risen, indeed!

SCRIPTURE Mark 16: 1-8

(the original ending was lost…

but the truth will NOT be lost!)

MEDITATION “The Good News Does Not End…

It Transforms!”

EASTER AFFIRMATION

L: Easter turns doubts upside down, sets loose new possibilities.

All: Easter reveals our God who is stronger than death, and a love mightier than despair.

L: Easter brings us the risen Christ, who knows our wounds, forgives our denials, and sends us out to love and serve.

All: Easter shows us the risen Christ who is not bound by a period in history but finds us wherever we journey.

L: Easter reveals the mystery of Immanuel—our “God with Us”.

All: Christ is the One who receives our questions, whispers a word of peace and causes our hearts to be warmed.

L: Easter releases the Holy Spirit, setting us free from sins that wound, resentments that smolder, anger that burns.

All: Easter empowers us to be witnesses to truth and obedient to a higher authority; causing us to walk with joy in our steps, hope in our hearts and a song on our lips.

All: (loudly!) ALLELUIA!

EASTER HYMN “He Lives!”

I serve a risen Savior, he’s in the world today;

I know that he is living, whatever others say.

I see his hand of mercy, I hear his voice of cheer,

And just the time I need him, he’s always near.

REFRAIN:

He lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today!

He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.

He lives, he lives, salvation to impart!

You ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart.

In all the world around me I see his loving care,

And though my heart grows weary, I never will despair.

I know that he is leading through all the stormy blast;

The day of his appearing will come at last.

REFRAIN:

OUR EASTER CHALLENGE

BENEDICTION

Because Easter Follows Lent (Ray Jennings)

IF life is only what we see and know in our daily walk—

only the gain we struggle to obtain; the pang of parting pain—

THEN vain would be our every breath…

and death would reign supreme.

IF sunrise did not come each day in wake of midnight dark—

replacing night with light, dispelling solitude,

THEN we would walk in loneliness as we live out our days.

IF verdant spring did not replace the winter's ruthless cold—

and changing seasons brought no seedtime or harvest—

THEN life would perish from the earth

and birth (and rebirth) would be no more.

IF time is but the passing of brief intervals of life—

and fast fleeting moments measured only by ticking clocks—

THEN we are prisoners of time and hope is running out.

IF Jesus Christ has not stepped forth from the confining tomb—

removing death's cold sting, triumphing over the grave

THEN sin and death would rule the world

and Easter would be a myth.

BUT... the testimony is clear!

On Friday in the tomb; on Sunday raised to life

Christ arose!

Easter came and comes again to us.

Christ arose! Easter comes today!

BECAUSE Christ's death gave way to God's renewing power—

like daylight chasing dark, like the seed that bears new life—

Christ stands as the promise of our rebirth in faith.

BECAUSE Christ lives, we too shall live!

He sets all people free! He brings hope devoid of fear,

He proves immortality.

CHRIST is the Lord of Life and

solemn LENT brings EASTER JOY.