First Presbyterian Church of Niles
Sunday Morning Worship
10:00 A.M. April 19, 2026
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PRELUDE
REFLECTION TEXT Psalm 116:1-2
I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
PREPARATION FOR WORSHIP Aria Bach
CALL TO WORSHIP (Responsive)
I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice and call on the name of the Lord.
I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people,
in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
OPENING PRAYER
*HYMN Christ Has Risen While Earth Slumbers BEECHER
Christ has risen while earth slumbers’ Christ has risen where hope died,
As he said and as he promised, as we doubted and denied.
Let the moon embrace the blessing; let the sun sustain the cheer;
Let the world confirm the rumor: Christ is risen, God is here!
Christ has risen for the people whom he died to love and save;
Christ has risen for the women bringing flowers to grace his grave.
Christ has risen for disciples huddled in an upstairs room.
He whose word inspired creation can’t be silenced by the tomb.
Christ has risen and forever lives to challenge and to change
All whose lives are messed and mangled, all who find religion strange.
Christ is risen, Christ is present making us what he has been:
Evidence of transformation in which God is known and seen.
CALL TO CONFESSION
PRAYER OF CONFESSION (In Unison)
Merciful God, even as we proclaim the saving life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we fail to see the living Christ in our midst. We find ourselves preoccupied with our own well-being and success, forgetting your imperative to love our neighbor as ourselves. We turn away from systems that challenge our way of thinking, choosing to justify our actions instead of examining our intentions. Show us again how to live a resurrection faith, a faith that sees life and hope in the midst of death and destruction. Transform our hearts so that where they are hardened toward you, neighbor and self, they may once again be filled with love and moved to actions of grace and mercy. In your holy name, we pray. Amen.
MOMENT OF SILENT AND PERSONAL CONFESSION
ASSURANCE OF PARDON (Responsive)
In Acts 2:39, Peter says: “For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him.” Receive the good news, Children of God, you are forgiven.
Thanks be to God!
PASSING THE PEACE
As God has forgiven us in Christ let us also forgive one another.
The peace of Christ be with you all.
And also with you.
Please share the sign of peace with one another.
The sharing of Christ’s peace.
RESPONSE Peace is Flowing Like a River TRADITIONAL
Peace is flowing like a river, flowing out to you and me.
Flowing out into the desert, setting all the captives free.
His love is flowing like a river, flowing out to you and me.
Flowing out into the desert, setting all the captives free.
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION
FIRST SCRIPTURE READING Acts 2:14, 36-41
SPECIAL MUSIC Take My Life and Walk With Me Drennan
Take my life, and it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee; take my voice, and let me sing always, only for my King. Lord, I give my life to Thee, Thine forevermore to be; Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold; take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my will, and make it Thine, it shall be no longer mine; take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne. O Master, let me walk with Thee in lowly paths of service free; in peace that only Thou canst give, with Thee, O Master, let me live. Let me live with Thee.
SECOND SCRIPTURE READING Luke 24:13-35
MESSAGE Recognizing Jesus Rev. Christopher Mergener
*HYMN The Risen Christ TOULON
The risen Christ, who walks on wounded feet
from garden tomb through darkened city street,
unlocks the door of grief despair, and fear,
and speaks a word of peace to all who hear.
The risen Christ, who stands with wounded side,
breathes out his Spirit on them to abide
whose faith still wavers, who dare not believe;
new grace, new strength, new purpose they receive.
May we, Christ’s body, walk and serve and stand
with the oppressed in this and every land,
till all are blessed and can a blessing be,
restored in Christ to true humanity.
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH (Unison) The Confession of Belhar
We believe that Christ’s work of reconciliation is made manifest in the church as the community of believers who have been reconciled with God and with one another; that unity is, therefore, both a gift and an obligation for the church of Jesus Christ; that through the working of God’s Spirit it is a binding force, yet simultaneously a reality which must be earnestly pursued and sought: one which the people of God must continually be built up to attain. That this unity must become visible so that the world may believe that separation, enmity and hatred between people and groups is sin which Christ has already conquered, and accordingly that anything
which threatens this unity may have no place in the church and must be resisted.
CALL FOR THE OFFERING
Offertory Blessed Assurance Arr. Tounquist
*DOXOLOGY 240 Alleluia, Alleluia! Give Thanks (Vs. 1) ALLELUIA No. 1
(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. (refrain)
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
PREPARATION FOR PRAYERS O Savior, in This Quiet Place AMAZING GRACE
O Savior, in this quiet place, where anyone may kneel,
I also come to ask for grace, believing you can heal.
If pain of body, stress of mind, destroys my inward peace,
In prayer for others may I find the secret of release.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE (Responsive)
Lord in your mercy,
hear our prayer.
THE LORD’S PRAYER (Unison)
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.
*HYMN Let There Be Peace on Earth LET THERE BE PEACE
Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me;
Let there be peace on earth, the peace that was meant to be.
With God our creator, children all are we.
Let us walk with each other in perfect harmony.
Let peace begin with me; let this be the moment now.
With every step I take, let this be my solemn vow:
To take each moment and live each moment in peace eternally.
Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.
*CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE
All music is reproduced under permission from ccli.com License #11146543.
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