Order of Service – Easter Sunday

The Order of Service follows below.

For improved text clarity and easier reading, e.g. change text size, you can use ePub on iPhones, iPads and other devices with an ePub application. If you want to see it exactly as printed, or print your own there is a pdf.

Brougham Place Uniting Church
Kardlayirdi Karnungga
A Light on the Hill

Easter Sunday 20 April, 2025. 10.00am
Preacher: Pastor Trevor Phillips
Guest Choir: Hot Gospel. Conductor: Quentin Eyers
Organist: Rosemary Nairn OAM

We acknowledge the Kaurna people as the traditional carers of the land on which our church is built.

As you wait for worship to begin, please turn your phone to silent.

Prelude (Organ)

Selected pieces by Edward Elgar and Richard Blake

Prelude (Hot Gospel Choir)

Senzeni Na – composed jointly by many contributors in the 1950’s as a protest song supporting the struggle of coloured people in South Africa against apartheid. The meaning is “What have we done? We will see you in Heaven (regardless)”

Welcome and Easter Acclamation

Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed!

Alleluia!
Alleluia!

The light of the world shines once again!

Introit and Lighting of the Candles

Hallelujah – composed by American songwriters Karisma Longer and Sarah Nutting, (MaMuse) The song invokes a whole cluster of water imagery from the Bible.

Acknowledgment of Country

Naa marni?
(Are you all good?)
Marni Ai!
(Good I am)

Call to Worship

My dear friends,
we have known grief.
We have known loss.
We have known the long road, tired and winding.
We have whispered prayers on bended knees.
We have stared at the sky, empty of stars.

But today—
today we know hope.
Today we know life.
Today we know the sound of Alleluias.
Today we know that death does not have the last word.
Today we know that nothing can separate us from the love of God.

It is Easter.
May hope find you.
And may you know, deep in your bones,
that today is a new day.
Alleluia! Amen.

We Sing: Christ the Lord is Risen Today!

Christ the Lord is risen today:
Hallelujah!
Let the whole creation say:
Hallelujah!
Raise your joys and triumphs high;
Hallelujah!
Sing now, heaven, and earth reply:
Hallelujah!
Love’s redeeming work is done;
fought the fight, the battle won;
vain the stone, the watch, the seal:
Christ has burst the gates of hell.
Lives again our glorious king;
where, O death, is now your sting?
Once he died our souls to save;
where your victory, O grave?
Soar we now where Christ has led,
following our exalted Head;
made like him, like him we rise:
ours the cross, the grave, the skies.

Together in Song 370. Charles Wesley 1707-88 alt. Public Domain.

Prayer of Confession

The Gospel of Luke says: “It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told the apostles [of the resurrection]. But these words seemed to the disciples an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb.” (Luke 24:10-12)

When good news lands in our lap and we refuse to believe it…
Forgive us, God,

When grief and fear crowd out any room in our hearts for hope…
Forgive us, God,

When we dismiss the stories of others and minimise the voices of our neighbours…
Forgive us, God,

In a world that teeters between grief and hope, show us how to be like Peter.
Show us how to hold onto hope.
Show us how to run toward you. Amen.

Words of Forgiveness

God’s grace exists for us on the best days, the worst days, and every day in between.

Thanks be to God for this good news!
Alleluia! Amen.

Passing of the Peace

May the peace of the risen Christ be with you.
And also with you.

Community News and Notices

LentEvent

We stand with the poor and vulnerable on the frontlines of climate change through LentEvent: 40 days of faith-filled action for God’s Creation.
Pick up a brochure or go to: www.lentevent.com.au

Go to our website to view current or previous issues of BP E-news and to sign up to receive BP E-news by email.

Children’s Time

Children remain in during the service. Activities are available at the back.
At the conclusion of the service children are invited to meet at the back of the church for an Easter Egg hunt.

We Sing: Alleluia, Alleluia, Give Thanks ..

Refrain:
Alleluia, alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord,
alleluia, alleluia, give praise to his name.

Jesus is Lord of all the earth;
he is the king of creation.

Alleluia, alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord,
alleluia, alleluia, give praise to his name.
Spread the good news o’er all the earth:
Jesus has died and has risen.

Alleluia, alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord,
alleluia, alleluia, give praise to his name.
God has proclaimed the just reward:
new life for all! Alleluia!

Alleluia, alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord,
alleluia, alleluia, give praise to his name.
Come, let us praise the living God,
joyfully sing to our Saviour.

Alleluia, alleluia, give thanks to the risen Lord,
alleluia, alleluia, give praise to his name.

Scripture Reading: Luke 24:1-12

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified and on the third day rise again.”
Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

The Gospel of Christ, Light of the world.
Thanks be to God.

We Sing: Halle, halle, hallelujah!

Please stand to sing

Halle, halle, hallelujah!
Halle, halle, hallelujah!
Halle, halle, hallelujah!
Hallelujah, hallelujah! (repeat)

Caribbean Traditional. Public domain.

Homily

Affirmation of Faith

In the dark before dawn,
we believe that God is alive.

In the midst of our grief,
we believe the Spirit is at work.

In the chaos of our broken world,
we believe that love is on the loose.

For no stone could keep God at bay,
and no violence could keep God’s love from us.

So today we sing,
Alleluia!

For somewhere in between our belief and doubt,
hope lives.

Christ has died,
and Christ has also risen.

Thanks be to God! Amen.

Choral Anthem – Hot Gospel

Kyrie – the ancient Mass, re-imagined and re-arranged by Father Guido Haazen and Les Troubadours du Roi Baudouin in the Congo in the 1960’s, from the album “Missa Luba”

Communion

Invitation

Words of Institution

Great Prayer of Thanksgiving

May God be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts!
We lift them up to our God.
Let us give thanks to God our Creator.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

God of yesterday, tomorrow, and right now…

…We offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
Christ has died.
Christ is risen.
Christ will come again.

The Lord’s Prayer

With a mouth full of Alleluias, we join our voices once more to pray the prayer you taught us to pray, saying:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be Your name,

your Kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in Heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins,

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours

now and forever. Amen.

The Breaking of the Bread

We break this bread
and take this cup
so that we can all share in the life of Christ.
God’s gifts for us, the people of God.

The Communion

Prayer After Communion

Prayers of the People

Risen God,
Hear our prayers today,
as we listen to the needs of the world around us.

We think of all the places and people
who rarely share in the joy we experience this day
because their own lives are stifled
with the weight of war, of daily struggle
and the domination of oppressive powers.
We remember them before you now..

(Time of silence)

May your risen life be known in the places that cry out for life.
O God, rise in compassion and love,
rise in courage and strength,
rise in justice and truth.

May we be your risen life in the places we are able.
O God, rise in our commitment to those who struggle,
rise in our daring to dream for a fairer world,
rise in our faithfulness and hope in the way of Jesus.

Be alive in us this day and every day, living God,
for we long to be your people, bringing life and love to all people.
Amen.

Offering

To give electronically please go to bpuc.org/give

Alternatively, there is an offering bowl near the lectern on the left-hand side near the front of the church.

Offering Prayer

We Sing: Yours Be the Glory

Yours be the glory, risen, conquering Son,
endless is the victory over death you’ve won;
angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,
kept the folded grave-clothes, where your body lay.

Yours be the glory, risen, conquering Son,
endless is the victory over death you’ve won.
See, Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb;
lovingly he greets us, scatters fear and gloom;
let the church with gladness hymns of triumph sing,
for the Lord is living, death has lost its sting.

Yours be the glory, risen, conquering Son,
endless is the victory over death you’ve won.

No more we doubt you, glorious Prince of life;
life is naught without you; aid us in our strife;
make us more than conquerors through your deathless love;
bring us safe through Jordan to your home above.

Yours be the glory, risen, conquering Son,
endless is the victory over death you’ve won.

Sending Forth and Benediction

Go out into the world,
with arms open to love,
to share the good news
we have received this day.

Christ is risen.
Christ is risen indeed.
Alleluia!

Choral Benediction

Ise Oluwa – composed in the early 19th century by Nigerian evangelist Reverend Josiah Ransome-Kuti. The translation is “God’s work can never be diminished”

Postlude

Celebration for Trumpet by Robert Thygerson

The Easter egg hunt begins for the children after the service.
Come and share morning tea together, in the basement. There are stairs behind the organ and a ramp between the church and the car park leading down to the basement.

This service has been prepared with assistance from

SANCTIFIED ART EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN WORDS FOR WORSHIP

@sanctifiedart | sanctifiedart.org | contact@sanctifiedart.org

The Bible Reading is from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE). Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

L3: Liturgy, Learning, and (purposeful) Life.
Writer: Cathie Lambert