Faith & Worship

The Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) offers a three-year cycle with four readings for every Sunday in the Church Year.

These readings are:
A Lesson from the Hebrew Scriptures (or Acts during the Season of Easter)
A Psalm
A Lesson from the Epistles or Acts
A Lesson from the Gospels

The following prayers follow a traditional form using the pattern of ACT (Adoration, Confession and Thanksgiving).

There is also an opening prayer which can be used at the beginning of a service.

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Easter Sunday
Resurrection of our Lord
Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26; John 20:1-18

OPENING PRAYER

This is the day when we acknowledge the truth of the Resurrection and all that it means to us today. This is the day when we join with the Psalmist and proclaim, ‘The Lord has become my salvation. I will not die but live, and will proclaim what He has done!’

Resurrection God, we raise our voices and hands to you in worship. For the great mystery of your love for us. For the necessary sadness of Good Friday and for the hope that Easter brings. Speak to us through your Word and the beauty of the hymns and songs we sing, that this place may resound with joy. Amen.

ADORATION

Halleluia!
Jesus is risen!
He is risen indeed!
May our declaration of faith
resound not only within these walls,
but touch the hearts of those we love,
as the truth of those words lives in our lives.
Your love, once sown within the beauty of a garden
nurtured for the good of your own people
neglected and ultimately rejected
now spreads its sweet perfume
throughout this world
Halleluia!
Jesus is risen!
He is risen indeed!

CONFESSION


When our faith
stands at the grave,
grieving
at a stone that’s rolled away,
forgive us.

When our faith
is short of
understanding,
though the truth is there to see,
forgive us.

When our faith
is beset by
doubting
at an empty tomb today,
forgive us.

Bring to mind
the cry of Mary,
‘I have seen the Lord!’
and grant us faith to believe!

THANKSGIVING

We thank you,
that Easter is not about
a people,
but all people,
that your love,
and your Salvation
are for all who confess
with voices, hearts and lives
that the tomb is empty
because Jesus is risen,
that we might know
forgiveness,
that lives might be
reborn,
and that your name is
glorified
both now and for eternity. Amen.

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