As we gather, we recognize that we live, work, pray, and play in the traditional, unceded lands of the Cowichan Tribes and Coast Salish People.  We continue to commit ourselves to the work of reconciliation and relationship-building with our First Nations neighbours.

Call to Worship:

Christ our Passover
has been sacrificed for us;
therefore, let us keep the feast.

Come. Let Us Worship. 

We began this morning by singing Jesus Christ is Risen Today—Hallelujah!
This is a hymn that is a proclamation that we begin with on Easter Sunday morning to celebrate one of the most celebrated days in the Christian year—one of the most celebrated days around the world.

This day we observe that all our hearts are open,
all our desires have been known to God;
and from you, Lord, no secrets have been hidden.
And so, we ask you, as we celebrate your sacrifice of
giving your life and your resurrection today,
that you may cleanse the thought of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit
so that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your name
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Glory in excelsis deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Glory to God! Glory to God in the highest! Alleluia!

Collect for Today:

Lord of life and power,
through the mighty resurrection of your Son,
you have overcome the old order of sin and death
and have made all things new in him.
May we, being dead to sin
and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
reign with him in glory,
who with you and the Holy Spirit is alive,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Proclamation of the Gospel: Luke 24.1-12 

May the words of my lips and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to You, O Lord.  Amen.

The First Disciples & Those Disciples Who Have Followed After 

Welcome to the best Sunday of all time!

Today we mark the sacrifice of our Lord, but more important-we mark the resurrection of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and who gives us eternal life. 

On Friday, we marked the crucifixion.

We marked that moment of sacrifice that we recognize in our Christian tradition.  

Behind me, on the walls here in this room are plaques, remembering the sacrifice given by so many from this community here, in downtown Duncan, and surrounding areas in the great wars. 

In May, this year, our country--along with others--will celebrate their sacrifice, as we remember VE Day, which was the day of the surrender to the allied forces—a day that is sacred to so many—and so it should be.

Easter Sunday 2025.

We celebrate something that is so important to the world— it is the day of the resurrection.

Today around the world Christians will celebrate the most powerful moment, and the most hope-filled moment in their lives.  And so, we might ask, ‘Who was there first?’

Of course, it was the women: A group of women who had come to anoint the body of Jesus, and among them is Mary Magdalene, and three or four others.

They arrived to witness something totally unexpected, something astonishing.

The stone has been rolled away from the tomb! 

They go in and find that the tomb is empty – all that is left are the burial clothes.

Stop for a moment. Put this in time and place. Put these moments together.

It is the first day of the week. It’s Sunday.  It’s our Monday.

Life has not stopped. Life has not stopped being lived in the streets, and people going about doing their business, just like we witnessed on our Monday, and even now, on our Sundays. 

It’s the first day of the week.

The schools are open again. The children are about the streets. The businesses are busy marketing their goods. The people are hurrying, hurrying to make their purchases for the day. 

Business is happening. 

Except, let us stop for a moment to recall what has just happened. 

Today is the day of redemption.

It is the dawn of a new world—the dawn of a new world order. This is the day which forever changed the course of history.

Returning now. Let’s go back to the empty tomb.

Let us go back to the astonishment shown by the women in their confusion, their sense of fear.

Who has taken away the body of our Lord? Where is Jesus? Have the grave robbers taken him away?

Imagine the moment for this group of devout women, devout followers of Jesus!

And then what appears? Two angels. And in their astonishment, the women bow down, but the angels say,  “Do not fear. Do not be afraid. We know who you are looking for. We know you are looking for Jesus … he is risen! He is risen,  just as he said.” (Matthew 28. 5-6)

Then, there is this great moment when the women rush off to share what they have witnessed—to share what. has happened. They rushed to the disciples where the 11 are gathered together in their sorrow, and likely, in their weeping.

And they too are at a loss of what this will mean for their lives. Not knowing yet that our Lord has risen.

But on their way Mary Magdalene witnesses someone in the garden, and suspecting it’s a gardener, who she thought was a stranger, and believes him to be one of the gardeners and he stops her, and this supposed- gardener says, 

“Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” (Who is it you are rushing around, trying to find?)

Thinking He was the gardener, though, Mary pleads with Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him.”

Then Jesus spoke to her.  “Mary.”

Imagine this moment! 

Mary Magdalene, you might say, has stopped in her tracks, and here is Jesus, standing in the garden speaking to her. 

Of course, Mary now recognizes Him, and her expression: Rabboni!

The events of the day unfold very rapidly, as we can only imagine. (You get that sense of things unfolding very quicky, reading that short gospel message today.) 

First though—the little part that’s missing, in Luke’s Gospel, or not, is that on their way to Emmaus, there’s another encounter, an encounter of which there is a picture that hangs above my desk, and I look at daily. 

This is followed by Jesus’ encounter with the disciples. For proof, He shows them His hands and side and says—these next words are possibly some of the most compelling and powerful – not just for that day – but for us to hear them every day, to be reminded of everyday in our lives.

He says to the 11, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” (John 20:21)

So, it begins.

On this day so long ago, the world being changed forever, goes beyond the disciples and their experience.

This is the day God exercises His power to give us eternal life for all who believe. 

Today is a day of hope, a day of comfort, a day of inspiration, a day for millions to celebrate!

So, it begins – each and every Easter Sunday, we share in this new beginning – this new commissioning – this new commissioning of discipleship, the beginning of a movement which would change the world and continues to change the world to this very day.

Yes, although we may not see it, or experience it, except it is happening! It is unfolding and has unfolded before our very eyes.  

The message of Jesus is alive and well! Jesus is alive, and through him we too can experience, and do experience, New Life.

It is this new life which continues to encourage and give faith in the same way as those first disciples – the women who went to the tomb on that first day—the day we now reference in our Christian tradition, the day of Easter.

They were the first to take the message to the world.

Today is the day we celebrate victory over death, light over darkness, and hope over despair.

Today is the day we reflect not only on that first day of the week, or Easter Sunday.

It is our moment to reflect, not just today – but every day—a day to reflect with thanksgiving on all the disciples who have followed in the path of those who went first, the women who went to the tome, who rushed to tell the disciples. 

On Easter, our Easter greeting is much more than: 

The Lord is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! 

Today, and each day, these words give us hope, joy, and purpose.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let Us Pray

Holy God, we come to you in prayer for the church, your good creation, and all who are in need.

You unite all the baptized in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Empower the church to proclaim your redeeming love for all the world, and bless all who are newly welcomed into the body of Christ.
God of grace,
hear our prayer.

In the beginning, you breathed life into the world.
Fill your Creation with the spirit of life, that all the waters and dry lands, all the vegetation and creatures of the air, sea, and land might flourish.
God of grace,
hear our prayer.

You delivered your people from slavery into freedom. 
Release all who are bound by unjust systems. Transform the evils of white supremacy, patriarchy, and all forms of oppression, that every person flourishes in wholeness and new life.
God of grace,
hear our prayer.

You call to the waters to all who thirst.
Hear the cries of your people, comfort those who weep, console all who grieve, and bring healing to all who suffer in body, mind, or spirit.
We continue to pray for John, Sheila, Geoff, and those on our hearts.
God of grace,
hear our prayer.

You delight in all the generations.
Bless children and elders alike as they discover the central stories of our faith, and energize storytellers in their sharing in worship and at home. 
God of grace,
hear our prayer.

You welcome your saints to eternal rest at your side.
We sing in thanksgiving for all the faithful departed and entrust them to your care, until we join them in the life everlasting.
God of grace,
hear our prayer.

We commend these and all our prayers to you, O God, trusting that you are always with us; in the name of
Jesus Christ, our risen saviour.   Amen.

Who taught to pray

Our Father,
who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven. 
Give us today our daily bread. 
Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us  not into temptation, but deliver us fom evil.  
For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever and ever.  Amen.

And the peace of God, which passes all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God,
and of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord;
And the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be with you, and remain with you, always. Amen.

May we celebrate this day in Thanksgiving that we have been brought to the glory of the Resurrection promised by our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and may we treasure the Easter Sacrament of love, and peace, and joy. Amen.