UNITED CHURCH OF GAINESVILLE 

Easter Sunday
March 31, 2024 – 10:00 a.m.

Our live stream begins at 10:00 a.m. Click here to join.

WELCOME – Rev. Bromleigh McCleneghan

THE EASTER STORY – John 20:1-18

PRELUDE – “Our Hallelujahs Sound Better in Community” by Amanda Meisenheimer – shared by our United Tribes classes under the direction of Julia Crawford and our Lead Teachers

CALL TO WORSHIP from enfleshed – Rev. Chad McGinnis 

One: Do not look for signs of life amidst the halls of cruelty—
ALL: The Way-Makers are walking around in the Garden of Life—
One: pulling weeds of despair, tending to the ways of thriving.

One: Christ is Living! Magdalene saw the stone rolled away herself!
ALL: Even in despair the Holy Spirit surprises us with a jolt of Hope!
One: Can you feel it? Wild possibility—brimming and unfurling?

One: Alleluia, the Ways of Life expand beyond systems of evil!
ALL: Resurrected Christ—inspire our compassion for the world. We 
will shake off our grave clothes and dance towards New Life!      

OPENING PRAYER

Please join in the unison prayer.

Holy Spirit, you show us the meaning of hope — that after tragedy, after death, there is more meaning to be lived. There is more beauty to witness, more intimacy to experience, more relationships to delight in, more liberation to embody. Embolden us to be a people who practice this hope. Amen.

OPENING HYMN – “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” – Accompanied by Carl Carter, Carlos Frenock, Ewan Johnson, Brian Martin, David Martin, Tim Martin, and Larry Reimer, trumpet; Mark Burlingame, flugelhorn; Lucia Nelson, trombone; and Ruth Saunders, baritone 

TIME WITH CHILDREN – Rev. Talia Raymond and Rev. Bromleigh McCleneghan

INTERLUDE

SPECIAL MUSIC – “Morning Glow” by Stephen Schwartz – Offered by our Youth Choir under the direction of Phillip Herr-Klepacki

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE – Rev. Talia Raymond

INTRODUCTION TO THE OFFERING

OFFERTORY – “The Angel Roll the Stone Away” trad. American spiritual, arr. Russell Nagy – Offered by the UCG Choir under the direction of Phillip Herr-Klepacki

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SCRIPTURE LESSON – 1 Corinthians 15:1-2a, 4b-8 – offered by Rev. David Aune

Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved . . . that Jesus was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.

Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

SPECIAL MUSIC – “Alleluia” by Dave and Jean Perry – Offered by the UCG Choir under the direction of Phillip Herr-Klepacki

READING – “What It Looks Like to Us and the Words We Use,” by Ada Limón – offered by Cadien Archer
All these great barns out here in the outskirts,
black creosote boards knee-deep in the bluegrass.
They look so artfully abandoned, even in use.
You say they look like arks after the sea’s
dried up, I say they look like pirate ships,
and I think of that walk in the valley where
J said, You don’t believe in God? And I said,
No. I believe in this connection we all have
to nature, to each other, to the universe.
And she said, Yeah, God. And how we stood there,
low beasts among the white oaks, Spanish moss,
and spider webs, obsidian shards stuck in our pockets,
woodpecker flurry, and I refused to call it so.
So instead, we looked up at the unruly sky,
its clouds in simple animal shapes we could name
though we knew they were really just clouds—
disorderly, and marvelous, and ours.

SERMON – “You Say Tomato” – Rev. Bromleigh McCleneghan

REJOICING TOGETHER – “The Hallelujah Chorus” G.F. Handel – Led by the UCG Choir and brass musicians

BENEDICTION – The Ministers                                            
As the Risen Christ called out, “Mary” on the other side of death,
may you hear your own name
on the lips of the Beloved
calling you into hope,
even when your heart is shattered.
Evil cannot keep us down.
Love rises. Love persists. Love always will . . .  Let us go forth in a collective hallelujah.

ALLELUIA!

POSTLUDE