Easter service 2025

The video this morning was recorded live on Tower Hill and at breakfast communion. (apologies for wind noise and for my singing near the microphone yet never being seen since I was in the part of the circle that was off camera!)

The manuscript below is for the 11am sanctuary service, which will not be online.

Happy Easter!

Sunday 20 April 2025, Easter Day
Gourock St. John’s Church of Scotland
Service prepared by Rev. Teri Peterson
Manse: 632143 
Email: TPeterson (at) churchofscotland.org.uk
Email Charlene, Parish Assistant: CMitchell (at) churchofscotland.org.uk

Prelude Music (praise band)

Welcome

*We Gather As God’s Family (As the Bible is brought in, we stand and sing)
A family gathered in love,
striving for justice and joy,
blessing the broken-hearted,
and sharing the hope of God’s kingdom.

Call to Worship
One: First thing on the first day
All: we can’t wait any longer — we want to see him!
One: We came as soon as we could
All: not knowing exactly what we would find, even though we knew what we expected.
One: Little did we know it was a whole new world!
All: Little did we know that today, Jesus has brought us into life!
One: Christ is risen—
All: He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

*Sanctuary Hymn 419: Thine Be The Glory

Prayer
You told us this would happen, Lord,
but we didn’t understand.
How could we?
You were changing the world entirely,
and everything we thought we knew, you turned upside down.
Even now we can hardly believe it!
But it’s true:
the tomb is empty,
the messengers are dazzling,
the words sound like gibberish,
and we have nothing but wonder,
hallelujahs tripping off our tongue before our minds can catch up.
Remember, you said.
Remember what you told us, all along the way.
Help us remember, O God, your story
of life and death and life,
of unexpected people bearing your word,
of the impossible being possible with you.
Let the memories we carry take shape in the present,
that we may find our way into your future.
Bring us to see for ourselves
that you are indeed more powerful than empire,
more powerful than death and sin,
more powerful than any door we have closed.
In this place where we have come to look for you,
show us resurrection life
receive our praise
and send us out to tell the others.
Amen.

Children’s Time
Song: Hallelujah Christ is Risen (a capella)

Scripture Reading: Luke 24.1-12
On the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women went to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The 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. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to the hands of sinners and be crucified and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But 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.

For the word of God in scripture
For the word of God among us
For the word of God within us
Thanks be to God.

Sermon: technicolour
At early dawn — the Greek actually says DEEP DAWN, like before it’s even light, just barely starting to change from pitch black to dark purple, a time of day I am highly unlikely to see — the women were up and ready.

The Sabbath ended at sundown the night before, but that’s hardly a safe or respectable time to be out and about, especially outside the city walls. So even though they could technically have gone hours ago, they had to wait. Maybe they used those hours to prepare what they needed, perhaps to talk through their plan for rolling away the large stone in front of the tomb, or how to deal with the scent of decay that would have begun. Maybe they even managed to rest, though being up and dressed and ready to go when it’s still dark out suggests they were as anxious as many of us might be before an early morning flight, probably not sleeping well at all, and especially not all crowded into one space with so many other distraught and exhausted disciples.

Before it was light but when they knew for sure another day would indeed dawn, they went out.

They knew what they would find, of course, so there was no logistical reason for a rush, only an emotional one. We all know what we’re going to find when we go to a funeral, or when we go to visit a grave. There will be a closed coffin, a closed curtain, a grassy space and a headstone that maybe needs some cleaning up now and then. We might sometimes be surprised by our emotions when we get there, but we are unlikely to be surprised as these women were — by two men so dazzling they lit up the dark morning even more than the imminent sunrise, standing inside an unexpectedly open and empty tomb.

Why do you look for the living among the dead?

What an insane question from these bedazzled messengers in a dark cave just before dawn.

Obviously they were looking for the dead among the dead. They never expected the living, so where else should they look?

Which makes me wonder: how often do our expectations steer us wrong — sending us rushing back to the last place we saw him, desperate to do what we think is expected of us?

It’s true that they saw Jesus’ body go into the tomb. It’s a reasonable expectation that it would still be there, that they could visit him in the graveyard as so many of us do.

We do a lot of things that seem like reasonable expectations, don’t we? Whether it’s things that churches or Christians are supposed to do, or things we used to do that were amazing and gave us a glimpse of God’s power and grace and presence, and we keep doing it again hoping to the same experience again. We do it with exercise, and with education, and with politics, and with baking, and really with basically everything we do.  It’s a reasonable expectation that if it worked before, it will work now.

Except it turns out that in between last time and this time, the world has changed, and we didn’t even know it. So we keep trying, pushing harder, getting more frustrated, blaming this that and the other, but never getting past the terrified part… so we can’t hear the angels speaking. We’re so scared that what we know how to do is no longer needed, what we planned isn’t going to work, that we can’t hear or see the new thing unfolding right in front of us.

To be clear I think it’s normal for the women to be terrified: these messengers are technicolour in the dark tomb when they expected the valley of the shadow of death. And just like when the screen changed from greyscale to colour in the Wizard of Oz, the whole world is different when those women turn up at the tomb before the sun even fully rises on the first day of the week. In fact it isn’t just the first day of a new week, it’s the first day of a brand new reality, the old has gone and the new has come: Christ is alive, everything we expected is out the window. Everything we know is out the window. The world changed between the last time and this time….and what we used to do just doesn’t make sense anymore. No wonder we’re afraid.

The question is: will we stay terrified, frozen by fear and uncertainty about what happens now, wondering if it’ll all go back to normal if we just hold still long enough? Will we keep looking for the living among the dead? Or will the words sink in: he is not here, he is risen. Remember how he told you?

Remember all the things you have read in the scriptures?

Remember the promises God has made — I will never leave you nor forsake you, You are my people and I am your God, I am doing a new thing and even now it springs forth…

Remember how Jesus fed people with just a school lunch box, and how his compassion healed people who couldn’t walk, who couldn’t see, who were excluded, and even raised a man from the dead? Remember his stories?

Remember he said terrible things would happen, the worst the world can do, and that he could handle it even though we couldn’t, and his power of life was stronger than sin and death?

Remember?

And what will we do if and when we remember?

When the women disciples remembered, they ran to tell the others, to spread this technicolour joy across the world…and the men couldn’t believe it. Their expectations were so set in stone they’re harder to shift than a tomb. Women are hysterical. They’re unreliable. They’re silly and probably went to the wrong place anyway. You can’t really trust them with important stuff, they always get confused. This is impossible nonsense.

Most of the men stayed in their greyscale world. Only Peter had enough guts to at least go check out what they said for himself, and he returned, amazed, but with no sign that was sufficient for the others.

I always wonder whether the women’s joy was deflated by their fellow disciples not believing them. Because that happens, doesn’t it? When someone else gets that technicolour flash and we just know it can’t be right because it doesn’t fit our preconceived notions, we poke holes and try to bring them back into the box. I bet it has happened to us, too.

But what if we went the other way instead, and let joy and peace and hope be infectious? I know it’s not very presbyterian, but maybe it’s time for us to try it. What full-colour-3-D joy are we missing out on because we can’t let go of our fear long enough to listen, to believe, to remember that with God, all things are possible? What changed world are we missing out on because we keep looking for the living among the dead? What if we shared the good news and refused to let anyone try to suck the colour out of the abundant life Jesus has given us?

Before the sun even came up, everything was already made new. Before anyone went looking into the gloom of the tomb, life was already shining out, dazzling. And just as the birds often begin to sing before the first light, so too in the deep dawn the women’s story bubbled over in that upper room before the other disciples were ready for the new day, let alone a whole new world.

It’s not just the first day of the week, it’s the first day of a new creation: Jesus is not where we left him, he’s alive and out in the world! Remember what he taught us, so that he can bring us along into impossibly real technicolour life, too.

May it be so. Amen.

*Sanctuary Hymn 417: Now the Green Blade Riseth

Offering

*Offering Response (PRAISE BAND): Draw Near the Tomb v 3/choruses (Resound Worship)
Fall at his feet, pour out your love and praise,

and see the world through brand new eyes.

Hear Jesus say, “There’s no need to be afraid.”

As resurrection people, rise.

“He is not here. He is risen from the dead!
Come see the stone is rolled away.
He is alive, he is risen like he said.
Go tell the world it’s resurrection day.”

Jesus is here. He is risen from the dead,
and worthy of eternal praise.
He is alive, he is risen like he said.
Now every day is resurrection day.

Now every day is resurrection day.

Concerns of the Church

*Book group meets at 7pm on Monday evenings in the Spinnaker, reading Jesus for Everyone, Not Just Christians, discussing chapter 5 tomorrow evening.
*Anchor Boys display Tuesday 6:30pm
*I’m away the rest of the week, so no Bible Study this week
*Prayer groups — Sunday morning 10:10 (Brian Ross), Intercessors (Fiona Webster)

Please consider yourself invited to participate, and to pray for all the activities, ministry, and mission God is calling us to do together.

I also invite you to be in prayer specifically for St John’s, and for our parish: for God to be visible here, for people to experience Jesus here, for the Spirit to transform lives and open hearts. Pray for our future, and for our capacity to live into all that God calls us to do.
Let us pray.

Prayer and Lord’s Prayer
On this first day of a new creation,
we come to you, O God,
for by your word the world is made fresh
and with the dawn, life is born from the darkness of the tomb.
We come holding grief, holding tenderness, holding uncertainty, holding fragile hope,
carrying the weight of the world,
and you roll away the stone,
dazzling us with the news:
he is not dead, but alive.
On this first day of your new creation,
we sing our hallelujahs and wonder how and why,
we praise your power of life and wonder what to do next,
we hear your word again and wonder how to let your impossible truth bloom in us today.
Make your resurrection life real once again, O God.
Make your resurrection life real for those who are caught among the dead,
those grieving endings in this life,
those whose challenges overwhelm,
those who see only closed doors and hear no good news.
Let there be hope, and light that shines in the shadows.
Make your resurrection life real for those who haven’t been believed,
those dismissed, ignored, or told they’re just being silly,
especially women whose truth is so often overlooked and undervalued.
Give them the courage to bear your word in the world,
and open the ears of those who would hear.
Make your resurrection life real for those who hide in fear,
those who no longer expect anything better,
those who can’t believe things could be different.
Surround them with peace and possibility.
On this 20th day of the month, we join our hearts as your St John’s family, praying you would make your resurrection life real
*Fro all who work in our transportation services — the trains, the buses, the ferries, and the taxis. For drivers and conductors and pilots and sailors and behind-the-scenes workers, and for all who travel in and out of our town.
*For the many volunteers who keep St John’s ministry vibrant: the pastoral care team, the flower team, Bowl & Blether volunteers, sound and powerpoint volunteers, those who count the offering, and so many others.
*For the land, people, and governments of the nations of Myanmar, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei.

On this first day of your new creation,
remembering your faithfulness and your promise,
we look into your empty tomb,
we wonder at the angels’ message,
we tremble before your powerful love that changes everything…
you have given us this gift,
of good news and life everlasting:
now strengthen us to go and tell the others.
We ask in the name of the risen One, Jesus the Christ,
who taught us to pray together:
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.

*Sanctuary Hymn 422: Christ Is Alive

Sending
Christ is risen — he is risen indeed! Just as he told you. Remember, and you will find the blessing of resurrection life already planted. Go to let that resurrection story bloom, in your life and the world.
And as you go may the Spirit of God go above you to watch over you. May the Spirit of God go beside you to be your companion. May the Spirit of God go before you to show you the way, and behind you to push you into places you might not go alone. And may the Spirit of God go within you, to remind you that you are loved more deeply than you can possibly imagine. May the fire of God’s love burn brightly in you, and through you into the world. Go in peace. Amen.

*Sung Benediction Response (John L Bell, tune Gourock St John’s)
Now may the Lord of all be blessed,
Now may Christ’s gospel be confessed,
Now may the Spirit when we meet
Bless sanctuary and street.

Postlude Music

Announcements

* We worship in the sanctuary on Sundays at 11am, and Sunday worship is also online. If you are able, please enter by the front door in Bath street, and only those who need step-free access should use the back door. If you feel unwell, please worship online, to protect both yourself and others in our community.
The Sunday evening service is on a break for Lent so that we can focus on the Monday evening book group (more info below). The Sunday evenings will re-launch after Easter.

* The first Sunday of the month at 11am is an all-age service, with different ways of encountering God’s word without a traditional sermon. All people — young and old, different personalities and learning styles, are welcome! You’ll find a more informal service with a variety of music, a Bible story, prayer, and some more interactive elements. The online service for the first Sunday will therefore also be different — there will still be a reading, prayers, and music, but usually not a sermon.

* The Anchor Boys display and prize-giving will be on Tuesday the 22nd of April at 6:30pm. It is also the last display for the current leadership team, who have been faithfully leading our Anchor Boys section for over 40 years. We are so grateful for their commitment and leadership that has formed so many young people over the years!

* Starter Packs are in need of bathroom/kitchen cleaner, handwash, shampoo, deodorant, soap, teabags, as well as Easter Eggs.
The FoodBank are in need of UHT milk, microwave rice, instant noodles, tinned tomatoes, and tinned soup.
You can bring donations to the church and place them into the boxes in the vestibule. Thank you!

* The Lent book group didn’t quite finish the book during Lent, so we continue another two weeks on Monday evenings in the Spinnaker at 7pm. The book is Jesus For Everyone, Not Just Christians. All are welcome — come along and have your dinner, or a drink, or just come for the discussion!

* We are having a Smarties fundraiser this season — it’s time to bring back your tubes!

* Did you know that the ministry we do at St John’s costs about £3000 per week? Everything we do is funded by your generous giving — all our support for young people, older people, bereavement care, community outreach, worship, study, spiritual growth, and community work is because of your offering. If you would like to set up a standing order in order to facilitate your spiritual discipline of giving, or if you would like to make an extra gift to support the ministry St. John’s does in our parish, you can give online by clicking here. If you would like to set up a standing order, please contact Teri and she can give you the treasurer’s details. You can also send your envelopes to the church or the manse by post and we will ensure they are received. 
It is also possible to donate to the work of the parish assistant, speak to Anne Love about how to go about directing new donations to that item in the budget.

* Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Youtube, and to sign up for our email newsletter! Midweek you can watch Wine and the Word on Youtube, pray with video devotions on Facebook, and consider a new angle on something with a devotional email. 

* Wednesday Evening Bible Study is NOT meeting this week, we’ll be back on Wednesday 30 April at 7:30pm in the manse.

* Free period products are available in the church toilets for anyone who might need them, thanks to Hey Girls and Inverclyde Council.