Tell the Tale

Good Morning and Welcome to Worship! Worship is often the first place that new people come into contact with this growing community of faith. And so, if you are joining us for the first time, I say to you what is said every Sunday: You are welcome here. Here is a place where all are welcome. For such is the love of God for God’s Very Good Creation.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise God, all creatures here below; praise God above, ye Heav'nly host: praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Christ is risen! Christ is Risen indeed! Alleluia! Celebrate God in this sacred space! Celebrate God in all places under heaven! Give praise for the love of God! Give praise for God’s resurrecting power! Praise God with a fanfare of trumpets. Praise God with the harp and the violin! Praise God with tambourines and dancing! Praise God with flutes and guitars! Praise God with cymbals and drums! Let everything with life and breath praise God! Amen.

Holy One, you have made us and redeemed us through Christ to be your Kindom and your children, serving with you through your Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Help us to be wounded healers who bring your peace into the world.

We pray for the church around the world in all its local expressions, that we and our leaders may truly be agents of your kin-dom, serving not ourselves but your glory and your dominion.

We pray for religious and secular authorities who speak truth to power. And we pray for those who wield their power unjustly, that they may come to know the error of their ways.

We pray for those who need healing and hope, who cannot see the possibility of new life. And we pray for those who seem bent on destruction and are threatened by new and evolving diversity.

We pray for those in our world who are wounded, those who suffer from war, famine, disease. And we pray for the war mongers, the climate change deniers, and the science skeptical.

God who is and was and is to be, be for us the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the All loving. Grant that we might be your forgiveness, your peace, and your resurrecting good news, through Jesus the Christ who taught us your way of love.

Living God, as the named disciples received the tale of your resurrecting love in Jesus and dismissed it as an idle tale, the world around us has also taught us to look with skepticism upon your way of love, light and transformation. May your word enter into us, by the power of your Holy Spirit, and open our hearts to your resurrecting way of transformation. Amen.

¹But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. ²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³but when they went in they did not find the body. ⁴While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. ⁵The 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. ⁶Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ⁷that the Son of Man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified and on the third day rise again.” ⁸Then they remembered his words, ⁹and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. ¹¹But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. ¹²But 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.

What does it mean for us to tell the tale of Jesus in a world, particularly in a country where Christianity seems more aligned with empire than with Jesus? Is the tale of empire the story of Jesus you have been told? Maybe it’s the one you have been telling, how might you tell the tale of Jesus who sought not to be king?

God gives new life to all that is, including ourselves and all that sustains us. So let our tithes and offerings be our songs of praise and thanksgiving in response to the gift of God who loves us! Amen.

Holy One, bless these gifts and transform them into healing for the wounded, hope for the disheartened, courage for the frightened, and faith for the embittered. In the name of Jesus the Christ. Amen.

My siblings, the Holy Spirit is breathing the resurrecting life into you and sending you out with the grace and peace of God to bring the kin-dom of God — the way of love into being. May we be the hands and feet of Jesus into the community around us. Amen.