GPUMC
Easter Sunrise Service
Sunday 15 April 2007 7:30 AM
In the Great Hall
Prelude All Creatures of Our God and King - Chris Rice
Call to Worship

 Leader:    Dying, Christ destroyed our death.
People:   Rising, Christ restored our life.
All:           Christ will come again in Glory!
Leader:   The Lord is Risen!
People:    The Lord is Risen Indeed!
Passing of the Joy
Hymn

 #322 - Up From the Grave He Arose
Morning Prayer

 Dear God,
As the cold Winter slowly makes way for Spring,
    As the days of Lent finally reveal Easter,
We thank you for this day, when we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus.
It was Easter that made Sundays special.
Now every Sunday is another celebration of Easter –
    of your victory over death
    of your gift to us of eternal life
    of your gift to us of your Son.
He is the Word –
    He was with you at the beginning,
    He came to live with us,
    He died for us,
    and then He rose for us in victory over sin and death.
May this Word be always in our hearts, and on our lips.
May everyone we meet know that we are yours –
    that we have met and have been changed by knowing Jesus.
He sent the Holy Spirit to live in us –
    to strengthen and guide us
    and to keep us always in mind of the One
Who taught us to pray His prayer together when we say,

(Our Father, who art in heaven ....)
Lord's Prayer (in Unison)
It's Password Plus!
It's Password Plus? - Quinn

    You know, it was nice to have Oprah and Doctor Phil and Kevin Spacey here to help us celebrate Easter, but it seemed like they didn't really quite get it, didn't it?
    Sure, they finally caught on to the idea that the empty Easter egg was supposed to be like the empty tomb, but Jesus wasn't at the beginning of their Easter list.

    It's easy to let all the bunnies and Peeps and candy and stuff distract us from what Easter is really all about. Just think what happens at Christmas, when it's stockings and trees and carols that occupy us. We can worry about the trappings of the season, rather than about the whole point of it – God's gift to us in Jesus.

    Well, Easter hasn't been taken over quite as much as Christmas, but it's still easy to think of it as the beginning of Spring, or when you can finally pull out that special outfit you got, or a time of candy and eggs.
    But just like Christmas, Easter is all about God's gift to us in Jesus. This time, though, it's about how Jesus finished the work His Father gave Him to do.
    On Good Friday, Jesus died on the cross to pay for all our sins – all of them. But then, on Easter, Jesus rose from the dead. He conquered death to give us eternal life in Him. The tomb was empty – it really was empty!
    Remember in the scripture we just read, the chief priests didn't say, “Go tell everyone that Jesus is still in the tomb.” They didn't say that because they couldn't. He really wasn't there any more, and they knew it. And we know it too. Jesus isn't dead, He's alive; and the power of His resurrection offers us that same life – eternal life – if we'll just trust Him.

The Lord is Risen!
The Lord is Risen indeed!

Amen.
Benediction

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you.

May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.

Amen.
Postlude  - Newsboys


Kids Participating

Greg Blunden
Matt Blunden





Chris Thomas
Will Van de Putte
Quinn Wulf
Last update: 23 April 2007