Service Sunday April 20th, 2025
Happy Easter!
All are Welcome!
Watch a video recording of the whole service using YouTube below.
Worship Leader: Rev. Max Ward
Music Director: Melissa Stephens
(For a Printer Friendly PDF version click this link)
The Gathering
WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS:
FOCUSING MOMENT:
LIGHTING THE OF CHRIST CANDLE:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF TERRITORY: In Unison
Regardless of where we come from, we are all interconnected through the territory that we live on, water that we use, and air that we breathe. Generous Creator God, let us celebrate the abundance of this territory bursting with new life. Let us feel the cold waters gushing with promises. Let us experience the expanse of sky enfolding us in your love. Abundant Creator God, we remember the Anishnaabeg people who love and care for this territory. All these people have lived lightly and with respect upon this territory, a territory upon which we now live. Generous God, help us on the journey to reconciliation with the territory, the water, and the air, and among the people. Amen.
THE APPROACH
CALL TO WORSHIP:
One: This is the place of joy.
ALL: Christ is risen!
One: This is the time of new hope.
ALL: Christ is risen!
One: This is the way of freedom.
ALL: Christ is risen!
One: Gathered with faithful friends,
ALL: Christ is risen!
One: Everything is possible now.
ALL: Christ is risen!
One: Christ is risen indeed.
ALL: Hallelujah!
Written by David Sparks, Summerland, B.C.
Gathering, Easter*Lent 2025, p.43. Used with permission.
HYMN: “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” VU #155
1 Jesus Christ is risen today, hallelujah!
our triumphant holy day, hallelujah!
who did once, upon the cross, hallelujah!
suffer to redeem our loss. Hallelujah!
2 Hymns of praise then let us sing hallelujah!
unto Christ, our heavenly King, hallelujah!
who endured the cross and grave, hallelujah!
sinners to redeem and save. Hallelujah!
3 But the pains which he endured, hallelujah!
our salvation have procured; hallelujah!
now above the sky he's King, hallelujah!
where the angels ever sing. Hallelujah!
4 Sing we to our God above, hallelujah!
praise eternal as God's love; hallelujah!
praise our God, ye heavenly host, hallelujah!
praise the Son and Holy Ghost. Hallelujah!
OPENING PRAYER: Spoken in Unison
Jesus, our brother and teacher, our friend and master, in your resurrected glory, you have come to many: those who believe and turn to you and those who cannot. In this hour of worship, open our spirits to be attentive, our hearts to receive, and our faith to believe in you. Amen
Written by Kate Gregory, Trenton, Ont.
Gathering, Easter*Lent 2025, p.45. Used with permission.
MINISTRY OF MUSIC
LEARNING TOGETHER:
HYMN: “Christ Is Alive!” VU #158
1 Christ is alive! Let Christians sing.
The cross stands empty to the sky.
Let streets and homes with praises ring.
Love, drowned in death, shall never die.
2 Christ is alive! No longer bound
to distant years in Palestine,
but saving, healing, here and now,
and touching every place and time.
3 In every insult, rift, and war,
where colour, scorn, or wealth divide,
Christ suffers still, yet loves the more,
and lives, where even hope has died.
4 Women and men, in age and youth,
can feel the Spirit, hear the call,
and find the way, the life, the truth,
revealed in Jesus, freed for all.
5 Christ is alive, and comes to bring
good news to this and every age,
till earth and sky and ocean ring
with joy, with justice, love and praise.
THE WORD
SCRIPTURE: John 20:1 - 18
Leader: Hear and listen to what the Spirit is saying to the church.
ALL: Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE:
“When An Ending Is Actually A Beginning”
Listen to an audio recording of the Message below or read it at the bottom of this page.
OUR REPSPONSE
HYMN: “In the Bulb There Is a Flower” VU #703
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.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE and
THE LORD’S PRAYER: sung VU #960
MINISTRY OF MUSIC:
YOUR GENEROSITY MATTERS:
PRESENTATION OF OUR OFFERINGS
OFFERTORY PRAYER
Loving God, all good gifts around us come from you. God of all creation, thank you that in Jesus’ resurrection, we arise to new life in body, mind, and spirit. Bless us as we share the abundance of this resurrection, in our witness and service, as we join Creation in declaring your majesty. May we bear wonderful fruit that we might flourish in abundance and use all good gift to live for you. Amen. Written by Keith Mayers, Grace U.C>,Brampton, Ont.
Gathering, Easter*Lent 2025, p.48. Used with permission.
SUNG BLESSING: VU #161 vs 2
2 Welcome, happy morning! age to age shall say;
hell today is vanquished, heaven is won today!
Earth with joyful welcome clothes itself for spring;
greets with life reviving our returning king:
flowers in every pasture, leaves on every bough,
speak of sorrows ended; Jesus triumphs now!
Welcome, happy morning! age to age shall say;
hell today is vanquished, heaven is won today! ©
SENDING FORTH:
A Time of Fellowship
© Music Reproduced with permission under License number A-605748, Valid for: 26/10/2024 - 25/10/2025; One License - Copyright Cleared Music for Churches.
Sermon 2025 04 20
“When An Ending Is Actually A Beginning”
John 20: 1-18
Gracious God, be with us today in this place, in the Scriptures and in our words.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts praise your Holy name. Amen.
Easter is about endings and beginnings.
Mary Magdalene, on the way to the tomb on the first Easter, thought that she was in the midst of an ending.
In many of our communities on this day, families gather around grave plots, placing flowers on them.
Easter is about memory.
The women had gone to the tomb to care for the body of the dead Jesus.
It would be a time to remember.
It was an ending.
One of my wisest teachers would often make the comment:
“What looks like a beginning is actually an ending, and what looks like an ending is actually a beginning.”
One of our most profound contemporary hymns, VU #703, “In the Bulb There Is a Flower” also known as “Hymn of Promise” by Natalie Sleeth, expresses it well:
“In our end is our beginning”.
Life is about endings and beginnings.
Life is a succession of losses.
For Jesus it was the same: eating at table with those who would betray and abandon him—ending;
facing death, a redemptive death but an unjust death—ending;
feeling the strength and life and breath leave his body at the place of the skull, Golgotha—ending.
In our lives there are many Good Fridays.
You could probably make a list of the Good Fridays in your own life:
days when you have felt forsaken-ending;
days when strength and life and breath seem to be leaving your body-ending;
days when you were betrayed and you wrestled with forgiveness-ending.
And yet…Easter reminds us…what looks like an ending is actually a beginning.
Early, while it is still dark, she comes to the tomb.
The body is missing.
She thinks it has been stolen.
She runs to tell Peter and John.
They race back.
John goes into the tomb; it is empty.
He sees and believes.
It is like a new beginning.
But Mary is standing outside the tomb.
For her, this is an ending.
That sometimes happens, doesn’t it?
Two of us can be close together, near the same situation, one sees a beginning; another sees an ending.
Then she hears a voice, a message:
“Woman, why are you weeping?”
“They’ve stolen the body,” she says, “he is missing.”
And now we come to the heart of the story.
We know something that Many doesn’t know.
Have you ever listened to someone, maybe your child, maybe a friend, and they are describing a situation, and to them it seems like an ending, but you know that it is not an ending but a beginning?
We know the story here.
She thinks she is talking with the gardener.
Isn’t it amazing how God comes to us through ordinary people?
God’s grace never comes to us in the abstract but comes through ordinary people.
She tries to explain that the body has been stolen.
He looks at her and says, “Mary,” and it is Jesus.
And she says, “Teacher.”
Then she goes and announces to the others, “I have seen the Lord.”
What looked like an ending is actually a beginning.
That is our Easter faith.
· Easter faith makes us aware of the One who is with us, even when we mistakenly assume that we are alone.
· Easter faith is built upon the foundation of the One who rolls away the stone, even when we are at the end of our own strengths and efforts.
· Easter faith is rooted in the One who continually teaches us, if we have ears to hear and eyes to see, that endings can be beginnings.
· Easter faith gives birth to resurrection living, doubt as a way to belief, mourning as a way to dancing, despair as a way to hope, death as a way to life.
· Easter faith is about glory and victory, but it is also about fear and uncertainty.
Have you ever had the experience when watching a really good movie, and you think it’s over-everything has been tied together, maybe not the way you would have liked, but it is all done—and then there is a surprise?
On Good Friday even Jesus said, “It is finished.”
And maybe those who were listening were thinking,
“It’s all over, let’s go home.”
It looks like an ending.
Maybe you are here today because you’re here most Sundays; or maybe you are here because it’s Easter.
Maybe you are here because you have come to an ending.
Endings are about obstacles that seem too large for us to overcome, like a huge stone covering the entrance to a grave.
What are the obstacles in your life?
· Sometimes holding onto the past is an obstacle.
· Sometimes not seeing the holy in the ordinary is an obstacle.
· Sometimes being afraid is an obstacle.
· Sometimes doing it all yourself, in your own strength, is an obstacle.
· Sometimes avoiding the tomb is an obstacle.
In life, there are endings.
We reach an obstacle, and it seems to be over.
But, what looks like an ending, when seen through the lens of Easter faith, is always a beginning.
Easter is about overcoming obstacles.
Overcoming obstacles is the great theme of the Bible.
Abraham and Sarah are too old…it looks like an ending.
God speaks and says to them, “I am going to give you a child, and from you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (see Genesis 17).
What looks like an ending is actually a beginning.
Moses has obeyed God and led the people out of slavery under Pharaoh, and he finds himself at the edge of the waters of the sea…it looks like an ending.
God speaks and says, “Stretch out your hand and divide the seas, and you will pass through the waters”
They make it across the Red Sea to safety (see Exodus 14).
What looks like an ending is actually a beginning.
Israel has suffered in exile, they have been driven away from their land, their temple destroyed…it looks like an ending.
God speaks and says through the prophet Isaiah:
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid…
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together.
(Isaiah 40:1-2a,4-5a)
What looks like an ending is actually a beginning.
The writer of Psalm 30 has known illness and danger, fear and insecurity, sin and brokenness.
There are times when…it looks like an ending. And God speaks and says,
Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. (5b)
What looks like an ending is actually a beginning.
In the early morning, the darkness is just giving way to daybreak, and Mary is weeping…it looks like an ending.
Then someone speaks, and says, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” (John 20:15).
Then someone speaks, and says, “Mary.”
God says her name.
God always says our name.
She tells the disciples, “l have seen the Lord” (20:18).
What looks like an ending is actually a beginning.
In the early morning, the darkness is just giving way to daybreak; the disciples of Jesus know this hour.
Maybe you are here because you are at an ending, maybe there is some obstacle in front of you that seems insurmountable, maybe you are weeping …
Easter is about endings and beginnings.
Easter is about obstacles and the power of God to overcome them.
· Ending or beginning—“In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world!” (John 16:33).
· Ending or beginning—“I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die” (John ll25-26).
· Ending or beginning—“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me… I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28: 18, 20).
There is a parable about three trees that stood in the forest and prayed about their ultimate destinations.
· Ending or beginning—One tree wanted to be used in a magnificent building. Instead the tree was cut down and used for a trough in a stable, in Bethlehem.
· Ending or beginning—The second tree wanted to be used in the construction of a great merchant ship.
Instead, the tree was cut down, and used to build a small fishing boat to sail on the Sea of Galilee.
· Ending or beginning—The third tree wanted to point people to God.
This tree wanted to stay in the forest.
Instead, it was cut down and made into a cross.
Ending or beginning?
Our hopes are in a future that is “unrevealed until its season, /something God alone can see” (“Hymn of Promise,” by Natalie Sleeth, 1986).
Something God alone can see.
Sometimes, especially at Easter,
what looks like an ending is actually a beginning.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
