Weekly Worship Material
This page is updated weekly and will have the weekly worship materials available for those who are unable to join us in person to follow along with the service.
Order of Service for April 27th, 2025
Second Sunday of Easter
WE GATHER TO PRAISE GOD
GATHERING MUSIC
PRELUDE
In the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
Who calls us to be the church
And to celebrate God’s presence,
Let us worship.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE LAND:
We give thanks for the land and our ancestors who have cared for it, for Indigenous and for settlers. Thank you to the people called Haudenosaunee, Mississauga, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Mohawk, and Tuscarora (Ska-Ruh-Reh) Six Nations.
are located on the shared traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishnaabe (Anish-nah-bay), and Haudenosaunee (Hoe-den-no-show-nee) peoples.
Upper Canada Treaty and the Haldimand Treaty of 1784
INTROIT
CALL TO WORSHIP: Inspired by Psalm 150
ONE: Christ is risen!
ALL: Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
ONE: Let’s show up with joy today— to celebrate the One who brings life out of death, hope out of despair, and music out of silence.
ALL: We praise the Holy One— not just here in this space, but everywhere! In the sky, in the streets, in every corner of creation.
ONE: Let’s lift up every kind of sound— trumpets, strings, drums, dancing feet— whatever helps us give thanks.
ALL: With every breath we’ve got, we’ll praise the One who gives us breath.
Let everything that lives praise Love itself! Alleluia!
PASSING OF THE PEACE:
We are called to prepare ourselves to worship and offerings: to pray for those we’ve hurt, and those who have hurt us; to confess what which we need to confess, and to receive God’s forgiveness; and then to be reconciled, one with another, as a symbol of our new life in Christ.
The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you… And also with you.
*OPENING HYMN: VU #161 Welcome, Happy Morning
♫1 Welcome, happy morning!
age to age shall say;
hell today is vanquished,
heaven is won today:
come then, True and Faithful,
now fulfil your word;
this is your third morning:
rise, O buried Lord!
Welcome, happy morning!
age to age shall say,
hell today is vanquished,
heaven is won today!
2 Earth with joy welcomes,
clothes itself for spring;
greets with life reviving
our returning king:
flowers in every pasture,
leaves on every bough;
speak of sorrows ended,
Jesus triumphs now!
Welcome, happy morning!
age to age shall say,
hell today is vanquished,
heaven is won today!
3 Author and sustainer,
source of life and breath;
you for our salvation
trod the path of death:
Jesus Christ is living,
God for evermore!,
Now let all creation
hail him and adore.
Welcome, happy morning!
age to age shall say,
hell today is vanquished,
heaven is won today!
4 Loose our souls imprisoned,
bound with Satan's chain;
all that now is fallen,
raise to life again!
Show your face in brightness,
shine the whole world through;
hope returns with daybreak,
life returns with you.
Welcome, happy morning!
age to age shall say,
hell today is vanquished,
heaven is won today!
~Children are welcomed to the front of the Sanctuary
for Children’s Time following the hymn~
CHILDREN’S TIME
LORD’S PRAYER:
Abba with us,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth, as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil:
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
forever and ever. AMEN.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION & ASSURANCE OF PARDON:
One: Risen Christ, you stood among your disciples, offering peace and showing your wounds. You did not turn away from Thomas in his doubt— instead, you drew near, inviting him to see, to touch, to believe.
All: We confess that, like Thomas, we struggle to believe what we cannot see. We crave proof, demand signs, and hesitate to trust. We carry our doubts quietly, afraid they make us unworthy of your love. Forgive us, Lord, for the times we shut the door to faith.
One: You met Thomas not with judgment, but with grace. You spoke peace into his questions, and turned his doubt into worship.
All: Meet us in our uncertainties, O Christ. Speak peace into our troubled hearts. Help us believe not because we see, but because we have heard your voice. Help us live as those who are blessed—those who trust in you, unseen, but risen and alive. Amen.
MUSICAL OFFERING
PSALM: Psalm 150 *ALL in bold* spoken responsively by the verse.
Praise for God’s Surpassing Greatness
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty firmament![a]
2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;
praise him according to his surpassing greatness!
3 Praise him with trumpet sound;
praise him with lute and harp!
4 Praise him with tambourine and dance;
praise him with strings and pipe!
5 Praise him with clanging cymbals;
praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6 Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
*HYMN: VU #170 O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing
♫R Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
1 O sons and daughters, let us sing!
The King of heaven, the glorious King,
o’er death and hell rose triumphing.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
2 That Easter morn, at break of day,
the faithful women went their way
to seek the tomb where Jesus lay.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
3 That night the apostles met in fear;
amidst them came their Lord most dear,
and said, “My peace be on all here.”
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
4 So, on this holy day of days,
with faith in God our voices raise
in laud and jubilee and praise.
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
*CREED:
We are not alone,
we live in God’s world.
We believe in God:
who has created and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others
by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
OFFERING:
INVITATION TO INVEST IN GOD’S MISSION:
“Called by God, as disciples of Jesus, The United Church of Canada seeks to be a bold, connected, evolving church of diverse, courageous, hope-filled communities united in deep spirituality, inspiring worship, and daring justice.”
OFFERTORY:
*DOXOLOGY: VU #508 vs. 1
♫ Just as I am, without one plea,
But that thy blood was shed for me,
And that thou bidd’st me come to thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
PRAYER:
“We send forth our offerings in blessing and thanksgiving that they may serve God’s Holy mission that has this church. May we walk humbly in your way.”
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
SCRIPTURE READING: John 20:19–31
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
19 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
Jesus and Thomas
24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
The Purpose of This Book
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples that are not written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
The Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE: “Curiosity”
*CLOSING HYMN: VU #185 You Tell Me That the Lord is Risen
♫1 You tell me that the Lord is risen,
that you have seen his face.
Then tell me why you crouch in fear
and hide within this place.
You say that he spoke words of peace
and stood just as before.
But ‘til I touch his very flesh
I will not trust your joy.
2 You claim a resurrection here,
that God has broken death.
No easy words like these will soothe
the pain that tears my breath.
How well do I recall his face,
compassion, strength in fear.
How deep my grief that he should die.
Spare me your words of cheer!
3 “Now peace be with you. Come, my friend,
my wounded body see.
Let the rich courage of your doubt
bring you to fresh belief.
Fear not to wonder at the Word,
to search the depths of grace.
Reach out and touch, here is my hand.
Receive the gift of faith.”
4 “How blest are they, how fortunate
who know without the sight.
But Thomas, you are favoured too,
for searching yields its light.
So may each pilgrim in the Way,
each road to Christ be blest,
‘til lips declare, “My Lord and God!”,
Christ’s body one at last.
*COMMISSIONING
*SUNG RESPONSE:
♫ The Lord bless you, and keep you:
The Lord make his face shine upon you,
and be gracious unto you:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
and give you peace.
POSTLUDE