First Presbyterian Church of Niles Morning Worship
10:00 A.M. April 27, 2025
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(* = stand if you are able)
PRELUDE Medley Arr. Clark
REFLECTION TEXT Psalm 150: 1-2
Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.
Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
PREPARATION FOR WORSHIP The Day of Resurrection Arr. Burkhardt
CALL TO WORSHIP (Responsive)
God of peace, we enter this holy room knowing the gospel’s corner-
stones of grace and mercy are often rejected in our world.
Yet we understand that rejection is not the end of the story.
We know that those we have come to know as the builders and the
rulers of the world do not have the final word.
The Gospel of Grace is the Lord’s doing.
Despite powers and principalities, despite the clamoring of meanness
and cruelty,
this is the day that the Lord has made.
Grace is the ground upon which we walk.
Let us rejoice and be glad.
OPENING PRAYER
*HYMN 254 That Easter Day with Joy Was Bright PUER NOBIS NASCITUR
That Easter Day with joy was bright; the sun shone out with fairer light
When, to their longing eyes restored, the apostles saw their risen Lord.
He bade them see his hands, his side, where yet the glorious wounds abide,
The tokens true which made it plain their Lord indeed was risen again.
From every weapon death can wield, your own redeemed forever shield,
O Lord of all, with us abide in this our joyful Eastertide.
CALL TO CONFESSION
PRAYER OF CONFESSION (In Unison)
Holy God, we have found ourselves in fear, locked in rooms of inaction and indecision, unclear where we are called or what we could offer. We have lost ourselves in anxiety so loud we have not heard your voice. We have not recognized you on the move in the world, wounds in your side and life in your lungs. We have believed in the finality of your death and assumed all is left to our own meager efforts. We have refused to see, so we might not have to believe the gospel and live our lives accordingly. God of new life, restore hope throughout our bodies. Help us to breathe again. Strengthen us for the joy that is before us. Grant us eyes to see your beloved people all around us and ears to hear your good news through all the noise. Even as we have looked away, come to see us, call us forth from our locked rooms and bring us out to walk with you in the world you so love.
MOMENT OF SILENT AND PERSONAL CONFESSION
ASSURANCE OF PARDON (Responsive)
The God of truth is present to us in the speaking of truth. The Spirit of grace is present to us in the sharing of grace. In Jesus Christ, we 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 5: 27-32
SPECIAL MUSIC Lord, I Lift Your Name On High Arr. Maudlin
Chancel Choir
Lord, I lift your name on high; Lord, I love to sing your praises. I’m so glad you’re in my life; I’m so glad you came to save us. You came from heaven to earth to show the way; from the earth to the cross, my debt to pay. From the cross to the grave, from the grave to the sky; Lord, I lift your name on high. O for a thousand tongues to sing my great Redeemer’s praise, the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace. My gracious master and my God, assist me to proclaim, to spread through all the earth abroad, the honors of your name.
SECOND SCRIPTURE READING John 20: 19-31
MESSAGE Can You Find Christ Peace? Rev. Christopher Mergener
*HYMN 256 These Things Did Thomas Count as Real ROCKINGHAM
These things did Thomas count as real: the warmth of blood, the chill of steel,
the grain of wood, the heft of stone, the last frail twitch of blood and bone.
The vision of his skeptic mind was keen enough to make him blind
to any unexpected act too large for his small world of fact.
His reasoned certainties denied that one could live when one had died,
until his fingers read like Braille the markings of the spear and nail.
May we, O God, by grace believe and thus the risen Christ receive,
whose raw imprinted hands reached out and beckoned Thomas from his doubt.
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH (In Unison)
We trust in Jesus Christ, fully human, fully God. Jesus proclaimed the reign of God: preaching good news to the poor and release to the captives, teaching by word and deed and blessing the children, healing the sick and binding up the brokenhearted, eating with outcasts, forgiving sinners, and calling all to repent and believe the gospel. Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition, Jesus was crucified, suffering the depths of human pain and giving his life for the sins of the world. God raised this Jesus from the dead, vindicating his sinless life, breaking the power of sin and evil, delivering us from death to life eternal.
CALL FOR THE OFFERING
Offertory Christ Has Risen While Earth Slumbers Arr. Carter
*DOXOLOGY 826 (Vs. 4) Lift High the Cross CRUCIFER
(Refrain) Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim
till all the world adore His sacred name.
So shall our song of triumph ever be:
praise to the Crucified for victory. (Refrain)
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
PREPARATION FOR PRAYERS
Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart MORECAMBE
Spirit of God, descend upon my heart;
Wean it from earth, through all its pulses move;
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as you are,
And make me love you as I ought to love.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE (Responsive)
Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
THE LORD’S PRAYER (In 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 Love Divine, All Loves Excelling BEECHER
Love divine, all loves excelling, joy of heaven, on earth be found.
Fix in us a humble dwelling, all your faithful mercies crown;
Jesus, you are all compassion; pure, unbounded love impart.
Visit us with your salvation, enter every trembling heart.
Finish, then, your new creation; pure and spotless may we prove;
Let us see your great salvation perfectly restored in you;
Changed from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place,
Crowned as saints, we ever shall be lost in wonder, love, and praise.
*CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE
All music is reproduced under permission from ccli.com License #11146543.