Hello Union Church Presbyterians,
Worship this Sunday, April 17 will be in-person and streamed on YouTube to view at home. We will share prayers, songs, and reflections.
YouTube broadcast will begin at 10:25 am, https://www.youtube.com/user/NewburghPresby
ORDER OF WORSHIP
April 17, 2022 10:30 am
EASTER SUNDAY
USHERS today are Dave Young and Bob Beams. If you would like to usher, contact Dan Olson.
NO FELLOWSHIP TODAY. Hosts needed for May and June. Signup chart in the Fellowship Hall.
We are pleased to have a special guest soloist, Carla Loy Song, who will offer the Holy City.
FUNDRAISING had 43 people attend the Palm Sunday Brunch, raising $430.
OUTREACH: Prom Night is coming in May to NFA and not all girls can afford a dress for the occasion. Sue Young has arranged for us to help! If you have Prom-like dresses that you are no longer using, please donate! Teachers are collecting them from various sources, advertising their availability, and allowing students to come and take a dress that works for them. Bring any dresses on hangers to church and hang them on the coat rack in the Narthex. DO NOT put these dresses with Food Pantry clothes. Call Karen Olson (845) 564-0572 or Sue Young (845) 561-4477
HABITAT Annual Walk for Housing Sunday, Apr 24 at 1 pm (registration at 12pm). Donations from Union church will go to Unity Build, a group of Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, and other congregations that will fund a Habitat Newburgh Home. More information is available on the bulletin board in the Narthex.
FOOD PANTRY: NEXT OPEN Monday, Apr 11 and Wednesday, Apr 13 from 9:30-11:30 am. Serving LOTS of people! If you would like to help, contact Kathy or Debby.
Union Food Pantry is part of Stop & Shop’s Bloomin' 4 Good program for April. For every Bouquet sold, $1 is donated to a local hunger organization. Should you need flowers in April, you can help to support our program!
ORDER OF WORSHIP
**Kindly stand if you are able
We begin this Easter morning in silence and darkness. The Pastor will enter with the First Fire of Easter. As the candles are lit, the cross in undraped and the Pastor declares: CHRIST IS RISEN!
Congregation Responds: “JESUS CHRIST IS RISEN INDEED!”
**OPENING HYMN Christ the Lord Is Risen Today! Red #234
WELCOME and ANNOUNCEMENTS
CALL TO WORSHIP (adapted from Psalm 118) Leader: The LORD is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. PEOPLE: There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous: "The right hand of the LORD does valiantly; Leader: I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD. PEOPLE: Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD. Leader: This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it. PEOPLE: I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. Leader: This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. PEOPLE: This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
INVOCATION
Dear Lord, this is your doing: Christ has passed through the gates of death, but today you have brought him through the gates of life. Now, you open those gates even for us, who nailed him to a tree. Let the gates swing wide that all might enter with praise and thanksgiving. This we pray in Jesus’s name, Amen.
(A moment for silent personal confession)
MESSAGE FOR CHILDREN OF ALL AGES
CALL TO CONFESSION
In the joy of this Easter Sunday, let us draw nearer to our Gracious God’s love and understanding in our lives and in those around us: Join with me in our prayer of confession.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Compassionate God of All, we confess our regrettable tendencies to live as though we are still under the covering and veil of death, rather than as those who share in your victory in Christ over death and all its powers. Forgive us, we pray. Make us once again witnesses to your miraculous garden gift of Easter. Fill us with eternal life that sprang forth on that wonderful morning as we pray in His name, Amen.
(A moment for silent personal confession)
ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS
Friends, even as he defeated death Jesus brings us a new hope for our lives. By the grace of God and the Love of Jesus, we are forgiven.
**GLORIA PATRI
**HYMN OF PRAISE Thine is the Glory Red # 251
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Gracious God, as we turn to your Word for us, may the Spirit of God rest upon us. Help us to be steadfast in our hearing, in our speaking, in our believing, and in our living. Amen.
SCRIPTURE READINGS
OLD TESTAMENT Isaiah 65:17-25 John Safran
NEW TESTAMENT Acts 10:34-43
GOSPEL Luke 24:1-12
SERMON Amazed at What had Happened John Redman, CRE
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & THE LORD’S PRAYER
Merciful God, you have torn apart the temple curtain to reveal the glory of your begotten Son who defeats death and intercedes for all of us. As he dwelt as flesh among us, he ministered to the least of your people, so that we too can know the hope he brings on this day and all those to come. We give you thanks that through Christ your law is written within us, upon us and among us. Fill us with hope as we greet the dawn of your endless Easter, standing with you on your mountain to see the earth spring forth with blossoms, and new life abounding around us. And let us enter into your temple to dine with our Savior, to break the bread that sustains us and to drink the cup of new life even as we ask for your healing touch on those we name here:
And Lord we pray for those in our own hearts whose names you already know, for their own healing and comfort, in your name and that of our redeemer Jesus Christ, who taught to pray, saying:
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
COMMUNION HYMN For the Bread Which You Have Broken Red #772
HOLY COMMUNION
Invitation to the Table
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Words of Institution
Concluding Prayer
**PASSING OF THE PEACE
OUR TITHES AND OFFERINGS
Let us all consider what we have been blessed with and how we can best share it with those in greater need, even as we gift our church for its greater work to the Glory of God and the undying love of Jesus.
OFFERTORY The Holy City Carla Loy Song, soprano
**DOXOLOGY
PRAYER OF THANKS
We thank you, our Lord for those gifts to us that we send to you for your work and ours in congregation, community, and culture. Guide us in good use as we ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.
**HYMN OF PARTING Lift High the Cross Red # 229
BENEDICTION
My sisters and brothers may the joy of resurrection fill your lives and your hearts, as our Lord and creator sent us Jesus to begin his journey in a manger. And God emptied the manger to fill the cross. And he emptied the cross the fill tomb. And he emptied the tomb to fill our hearts. In his risen name,
Amen.
POSTLUDE The Strife is O'er! arr. Wilbur Held
Blessings!
John Redman, CRE
Mobile: (914) 474-0722
Union Church
44 Balmville Rd, Newburgh NY 12550
Phone: (845) 562-0954 Fax: (845) 562-0955