Expanding on Thomas

Sunday, April 24, 2022
10:30 AM 11:30 AM 10:30 11:30

Union Presbyterian Church 200 E Main St Endicott, NY, 13760 United States (map)

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Every year the Revised Common Lectionary sends a love letter through time to those of us who are trying to grasp the resurrection and all it implies today, in our own time and space. It’s the story of the one we have called “doubting” Thomas. This day, we will expand on his story—I’ll tell you everything I know about him—and we’ll see what words of reassurance he and Jesus offer us.

Join us as we continue celebrating this season of Easter. Worship with us in our sanctuary, or join us here via live-stream, whether you are at home or on the road. You are invited! Alleluia! The Lord is Risen!

2nd Sunday in Eastertide

Expanding on Thomas

Psalm 150; John 20:19-31

Union Presbyterian Church

April 24, 2022

Sharing the Light of Christ, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Liturgist: Doug Moore Preacher: Rev. Pat Raube

Prelude Chris Bartlette

“Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” Stephen Walley

Announcements Doug Moore

Prelude Chris Bartlette

“Make Me a Channel of Your Peace,” Jane Holstein

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

Welcome Rev. Pat Raube

Call to Worship

Easter is not a day, but a long and glorious season.

We are called to enter into a season of new life.

Faith is not a destination, but a long and surprising journey.

We are called to travel this path with Christ as our companion,

encouraging us to learn and grow.

God is not out there, but in, among, and all around us.

We are called to a life of hospitality,

welcoming the One who knocks at the doors of our hearts.

Let us worship God.

Hymn #311 W & R

“Now the Green Blade Rises,” J.M.C. Crum

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

Now the green blade rises from the buried grain,

Wheat that in dark earth many days has lain;

Love lives again that with the dead has been;

Love is come again like wheat arising green.

In the grave they laid him, love by hatred slain,

Thinking that he would never wake again,

Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen;

Love is come again like wheat arising green.

Forth he came at Easter, like the risen grain,

He that for three days in the grave had lain;

Raised from the dead, my living Lord is seen;

Love is come again like wheat arising green.

When our hearts are wintery, grieving, or in pain,

Your touch can call us back to life again,

Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been;

Love is come again like wheat arising green.

Call to New Life  

Prayer for Wholeness and Peace

God of all goodness, who are we when we falter?

What does it mean when we fail?

How do we go forward from the moments that make us cringe,

and the words we wish we could rewind and unsay?

Does it make sense to measure our faith with yardsticks?

Or is it your faith we should be paying attention to?

Take all our doubts and uncertainties, O God,

and fill us with an overwhelming confidence in your love,

which is all that matters.

Gratefully we pray. Amen.

Assurance of God’s Love

With the whole church:

We affirm that we are made in God’s image,

befriended by Christ, and empowered by the Spirit.

With people everywhere:

We affirm God’s goodness at the heart of humanity,

planted more deeply than all that is wrong.

With all creation:

We celebrate the miracle and wonder of life and the unfolding purposes of God, forever at work in ourselves and the world. Thanks be to God. Amen!

Sharing of the Peace

Jesus comes among his disciples breathing peace:

the peace that eludes the world is available to us in the very next breath we take.

May the peace of God, Creator, Christ, and Spirit, be with all of us.

And also with you.

Let us offer one another a sign of God’s peace.

Scripture Psalm 150

Hallelujah! Praise God in the Holy Temple!

Praise God in the mighty firmament!

Praise God for mighty acts!

Praise God for exceeding greatness!

Praise God with trumpet sound!

Praise God with lyre and harp!

Praise God with tambourine and dance!

praise God with strings and pipe!

Praise God with resounding cymbals!

Praise God with loud clanging cymbals!

Let everything that has breath

praise the Lord! Hallelujah!

Children’s Message Rev. Pat Raube

Music: "Easter Song,” Anne Herring

Used by Permission. CCLI License #CSPL068847

Scripture John 20:19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 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.”

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.” 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.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 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.”

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Response Holy Wisdom, Holy Word:

Thanks be to God!

Meditation Rev. Pat Raube

Anthem

“True Faith Needs No Defense,” Daniel Charles Damon

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

True faith needs no defense,

It echoes in the soul;

A faithful life gives evidence

Of grace that makes us whole.

True faith, like music, soars

Beyond cathedral walls;

On city streets and ocean shores,

From age to age faith calls.

Expect your faith to grow;

Begin by being still,

And in the quiet come to know

God’s living, breathing will.

To live the faith we find

Is all that love can ask,

To sing God’s praise with heart and mind,

And rise to meet the task.

Prayers of the People

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

Prayer Response  #450 W & R

“Be Still and Know,” Jack Schrader 

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

Be still and know that I am God, 

Be still and know that I am God. 

Call for Offering    

Doxology   

“Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” 

Tune: Public Domain  

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;  

Praise God, all creatures high and low.  

Praise God, in Jesus fully known:  

Creator, Word, and Spirit one.  

Prayer of Dedication

Hymn #287 W & R

“Lift High the Cross,” Kitchin/Newbolt/Nicholson

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim

Till all the world adore his sacred name.

Come, Christians, follow where our Savior trod,

Our King victorious, Christ, the Son of God.

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim

Till all the world adore his sacred name.

All newborn servants of the Crucified

Bear on their brow the seal of Christ who died.

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim

Till all the world adore his sacred name.

O Lord, once lifted on the glorious tree,

Your death has brought us life eternally.

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim

Till all the world adore his sacred name.

So shall our song of triumph ever be;

Praise to the Crucified for victory.

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim

Till all the world adore his sacred name.

Benediction

Postlude Chris Bartlette

“Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” Robert D. Vandall

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.     

Prayers of the People adapted from “A Wee Worship Book'“ of the Iona Community.