Easter Worship - Live on Facebook at 10:00am on Sunday, April 12, 2020!

​Dear Friends,

Easter is almost here!  Our cross is up outside the church, and you are welcome to deck it with flowers beginning Easter morning.  Please join us for Easter Sunday Worship at 10am on www.facebook.com/woodforestpc/.  Don't forget to contact Cassandra at 713-444-1254 or pastor@woodforestpc.org with any prayer concerns.

For those who asked for it, here is the Easter Order of Worship, including the words to all the hymns:

Introit  -- Lord, I Lift Your Name on High 
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

One:  Christ is risen!
All:  He is risen indeed!

Welcome

Call to Worship

One:  Day has dawned and shadows are left behind.  The stone is rolled away and hope is born anew.
All:  This is the day that our God has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it!
One:  God opens to us the gates of righteousness.  We enter to give thanks to our God.
All:  We give thanks, for our God is good.  God’s steadfast love endures forever.  
One: Set your mind on things that are above.  Look up and welcome Christ’s appearing.     
All:  We have been raised with Christ.  Glory is being revealed to us on this holy day.   

Prayer of Praise and Adoration

Hymn #123  -  Jesus Christ is Risen Today
1 Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
Who did once, upon the cross, Alleluia!
Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!

2 Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
Unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia!
Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
Sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia!

3 But the pains which He endured, Alleluia!
Our salvation have procured; Alleluia!
Now above the sky He's king, Alleluia!
Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!

4 Sing we to our God above, Alleluia!
Praise eternal as God's love; Alleluia!
Praise our God, ye heavenly host, Alleluia!
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Alleluia!

Prayer of Confession

O God, the message of Easter has come again before we are fully prepared to receive it.  The Palm Sunday parade demanded very little of us.  We could join in the hosannas.  But the betrayal and denial, the suffering and the shame, the agony and death, have left us fearful and shaken.  We have become enemies of Jesus without ever intending to be disloyal.  We have left him in the tomb, lest he upset our daily lives.  The Jesus of long ago seems more comfortable, convenient, and safe to us than the Christ who is risen today in our midst.  We confess our reluctance to let Christ claim us and change us.  O God, we need forgiveness!  Amen.

Assurance of Pardon
Gloria Patria
Passing the Peace

Prayer of Illumination
Scripture Reading:  Acts 10:34-43
Sermon:  Matthew 28:1-10     

Affirmation of Faith -- from A Brief Statement of Faith
In life and in death we belong to God. Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we worship and serve. We trust in Jesus Christ.  Fully human, fully God. Jesus proclaimed the reign of God: Jesus was crucified, suffering the depths of human pain and giving his life for the sins of the world. God raised Jesus from the dead, God makes us heirs with Christ of the covenant. Like a mother who will not forsake her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home, God is faithful still. We trust in God the Holy Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer of life. The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith, sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor, and binds us together with all believers in the one body of Christ, the church. The same Spirit  who inspired the prophets and apostles  rules our faith and life in Christ through Scripture, engages us through the Word proclaimed,  claims us in the waters of baptism, feeds us with the bread of life and the cup of salvation, and calls women and men to all ministries of the church. We rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Prayers of the People
The Lord’s Prayer
Gifts of Tithes and Offerings
Doxology

Offertory Prayer
By Your hand, O God, we have been blessed with life, with food, with refreshment, and with hope.  Day by day You are saving us, healing our brokenness, calling forth our gifts, and granting us strength to serve with Christ as a part of Your revelation to the world.  Thank you, God, for times of resurrection!  Thank you for this day of celebration!  May we dedicate ourselves anew with our offerings this day.  Amen.  
                                                    
Hymn #118 -- The Day of Resurrection!
1 The day of resurrection! 
Earth, tell it out abroad;
The Passover of gladness, 
The Passover of God.
From death to life eternal, 
From this world unto the sky, 
Our Christ hath brought us over
With hymns of victory.

2 Our hearts be pure from evil, 
That we may see aright
The Lord in rays eternal 
Of resurrection light;
And listening to His accents, 
May hear, so calm and plain, 
His own "All hail!" and, hearing, 
May raise the victor strain.

3 Now let the heavens be joyful, 
Let earth the song begin, 
Let the round world keep triumph, 
And all that is therein;
Let all things seen and unseen 
Their notes of gladness blend, 
For Christ the Lord his risen, 
Our joy that hath no end.

Benediction
Recessional -- Because He Lives
Because He lives I can face tomorrow.  
Because He lives All fear is gone.
Because I know He holds the future 
and life is worth the living just because 
He lives

Postlude

The Spirit is kind, and we look forward to being together at this special time.  We are still and always the Church Together.