A Sunrise Service to Celebrate Easter
Cleeve Hill, starting at the Quarry Car Park
About 30 of us gathered together, not quite at dawn! But with the sun low over the horizon we did an imaginary walk over the limestone hill of the Cotswold Escarpment to a quarry suggestive of the empty tomb and on to the top of the hill. On the way we shared again the Easter story ...
He is Risen!
An Easter Celebration
R) It was just outside the city of Jerusalem, on
a barren hill top of limestone rocks and quarries not unlike the rocks around
here, that they crucified Jesus. They called it Golgotha or The Place of the
Skull. It was a Friday.
1) All who knew Jesus personally, including the
group of women who had been with Him from the beginning in Galilee, stood at a
distance, watching all of these things unfold.
2) Meanwhile a man named Joseph had been at
work. He was a member of the council, a good and fair man, from a Judean town
called Arimathea. He had objected to the plans and actions of the council; he
was seeking the kingdom of God. He had gone to Pilate and asked for the body of
Jesus. He removed the body from the cross and wrapped it in a shroud made of
fine linen. He then laid the body in a cave-like tomb cut from solid rock, a
tomb that never had been used before.
1) It was Preparation Day—the day before the
holy Sabbath—and it was about to begin at sundown. The women who had
accompanied Jesus from the beginning in Galilee now came, took note of where
the tomb was and how His body had been prepared, then left to prepare spices
and ointments for His proper burial. They ceased their work on the Sabbath so
they could rest as the Hebrew Scriptures required.
2) Early on Sunday morning, even before the sun
had fully risen, these women made their way back to the tomb with the spices
and ointments they had prepared. They
included Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, along with a
number of others.
R) I wonder
how they felt. At this moment that morning there was no elation, no excitement,
nothing that gave them hope. There was sadness in their hearts and maybe fear
too. Jerusalem was a city set on mountains twice the height of this hill and
more. Those women knew they could look to God and find in God help in their
sadness. Maybe they looked up to the mountains and asked where their help could
come from.
I lift my eyes up
Up to the mountains
Where does my help
come from?
My help comes from You
Maker of Heaven
Creator of the earth
Oh, how I need You
Lord
You are my only hope
You're my only prayer
So I will wait for You
To come and rescue me
Come and give me life
(Brian
Doerksen CCL 3540)
R) With a
heavy heart filled with sadness and apprehension they made their way towards
the place where he had been buried.
To
the Place of the Skull …
R) It was not
far from the spot where he had been crucified. They brought to mind the words
he shared from the cross
3) My God, My
God, why have You turned your back on me?
4) (to the believing
criminal who, turning to Jesus, said, Jesus, when you come into your kingdom
please remember me) Jesus said, I promise you that this very day, you will be
with me in Paradise.
5) (to Mary,
His mother motioning to the beloved disciple) Dear woman, this is your son.
6) (to John,
his beloved disciple), This is now your mother.
7) Father,
forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.
8) Father, I
entrust My Spirit into Your hands!
9) It is
finished!
R) Seeing
that cross on the hill side gave them some sense of peace, some sense of hope.
When I survey the
wondrous cross
where the young Prince
of Glory died,
my richest gain I
count but loss,
and
pour contempt on all my pride.
Forbid it, Lord, that
I should boast,
save in the death of Christ,
my God:
all the vain things
that charm me most,
I
sacrifice them to his blood.
See, from his head,
his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow
mingled down;
did e’er such love and
sorrow meet,
or
thorns compose so rich a crown?
Were the whole realm of
nature mine,
that were an offering
far too small;
love so amazing, so
divine,
demands my soul, my
life, my all.
(Isaac Watts)
To
the Tomb …
10) When they
arrived at the tomb, they found the stone was rolled away from the tomb
entrance, and when they looked inside, the body of the Lord Jesus was nowhere
to be seen.
11) They
didn’t know what to think. As they stood there in confusion, two men suddenly
appeared standing beside them. These men seemed to glow with light. The women
were so terrified that they fell to the ground facedown.
Man 1) Why are
you seeking the living One in the place of the dead?
Man 2) He is not
here. He has risen from the dead.
Man 1) Don’t you remember what He told you way back
in Galilee?
Man 2) He told
you that the Son of Man must be handed over to wicked men, He must be
crucified, and then on the third day He must rise.
11) The women
did remember Jesus’ words about this, so they returned from the tomb.
10) One of
them, Mary Magdalene, turned around to see Jesus standing before her, but she
did not recognize Him.
Jesus: Dear
woman, why are you sobbing? Who is it you are looking for?
10) She still
had no idea who it was before her. Thinking He was the gardener, she muttered:
Mary Magdalene: Sir, if
you are the one who carried Him away, then tell me where He is and I will
retrieve Him.
Mary Magdalene Rabboni,
my Teacher!
Jesus: Mary, you
cannot hold Me. I must rise above this world to be with My Father, who is also
your Father; My God, who is also your God. Go tell this to all My brothers.
10) Mary
Magdalene obeyed and together with the other women returned from the tomb and
found the eleven and recounted for them—and others with them—everything they
had experienced.
Song:
Lord, I lift your name on high
11) The Lord’s
disciples heard their stories as fiction, a lie; they didn’t believe a word of
it.
10) Peter,
however, got up and ran to the tomb. When he reached the opening, he bent down,
looked inside, and saw the linen burial cloths lying there. But the body was
gone. He walked away, full of wonder about what had happened.
11) That same
day, two other disciples (not of the eleven) are traveling the seven miles from
Jerusalem to Emmaus. As they walk along, they talk back and forth about all
that has transpired during recent days. While they’re talking, discussing, and
conversing, Jesus catches up with them and begins walking with them, but for
some reason they don’t recognize Him.
R) What
happened next is one of the most remarkable of all the Easter stories … and we
are going to tell that story back at church … it was quite some time later that
the disciples and those women made their way back to Galilee , to the mountain
where they were to meet Jesus.
To
the top of the hill …
R) When the
disciples saw Jesus there, many of them fell down and worshiped, as Mary and
the other Mary had done. But a few hung back. They were not sure (and who can
blame them?).
R) Jesus came forward and addressed His beloved
disciples.
Jesus: I am here
speaking with all the authority of God, who has commanded Me to give you this
commission: Go out and make disciples in all the nations. Ceremonially wash
them through baptism in the name of the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. Then disciple them. Form them in the practices and teachings that I
have taught you, and show them how to follow the commands I have laid down for
you. And I will be with you, day after day, to the end of the age.
Jesus we celebrate Your victory
Jesus we revel in Your love
Jesus we rejoice You've set us free
Jesus Your death has brought us life
It was for freedom that Christ has set us free
No longer to be subject to a yoke of slavery
So we're rejoicing in God's victory
Our hearts responding to His love
His Spirit in us releases us from fear
The way to Him is open
With boldness we draw near
And in His presence our problems disappear
Our hearts responding to His love.
John
Gibson CCL 3540
No matter what comes,
we will always taste victory through Him who loved us. For we have every
confidence that nothing—not death, life, heavenly messengers, dark spirits, the
present, the future, spiritual powers, height, depth, nor any created thing—can
come between us and the love of God revealed in the Jesus our Lord and Saviour.
Bible
passages from the Voice translation
We returned to Highbury for breakfast and for our Easter celebrations where we walked once again on the Emmaus Road and met with the risen Jesus.
Happy
Easter!
Welcome
to our celebration of Easter and a special welcome to any worshipping with us
for the first time. Before or after today’s services do take a moment or two to
walk through the Easter story. Pause at each display and pray. Start at the
table at the back of the church and remember the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem
on Palm Sunday. Then move round anti-clockwise and pause for a moment,
reflecting on the way Jesus broke bread with his closest friends and shared a
cup on Maundy Thursday. Pause then at the foot of the cross and recall the
words of Jesus, Father forgive them … and know that you are forgiven! Then move
round the front of the church to the opposite side and the empty tomb. The last
of our windows invites you to walk the road to Emmaus. Take your seat and in
our worship be prepared to meet with Jesus on the Road to Emmaus. Pray that
through all we share your eyes will be opened and that you will recognise the
risen Lord. Then take with you the presence of the risen Christ into all that
lies ahead, knowing that his promise will ever be in your hearts: Lo, I am with
you always to the end of the age!
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