Sunday, April 20, 2025
Order of Service
We welcome all gathering for worship this morning or later in the week. Whether you attend in-person, worship on ZOOM or YouTube, or are a viewer on Rogers TV20 - please know that we consider everyone to be a part of our worship experience and an integral member of our St. Andrew's Guelph community.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this morning's service, both in-person and virtually.
Join us on our St. Andrew's Guelph YouTube Channel, select the live service, and remember to invite your friends and families. You can also join us via ZOOM by following the link in your Sunday morning email. If you'd like to begin receiving our weekly emails, you can sign up here.
Happy Easter!
Welcome Everyone – old friend and new! Let us rejoice and be glad!
Prelude: Prelude, Fugue & Chaconne in C
D. Buxtehude
Bell Peal
Fanfare for Easter Day
Called to Easter Joy
Weeping comes for a night, but joy comes in the morning!
O God of power and might, Death has been defeated!
Love has prevailed! And we shout hallelujah!
This is the day of Your victory, O God. The stone the builders rejected has now become the most important stone!
This is Your doing O God!
How wonderful it is! It is amazing to us! We are grateful!
We celebrate and are glad!
Weeping comes for a night, but joy comes in the morning!"
This morning!
243 Jesus Christ is risen today
Prayer at Dawn
Almighty God of the empty cross and tomb, we come to this joyful Easter morning with the eyes of our heart on you. Guide us to see the cross and tomb and to rejoice in who is not upon it nor in it now. Help us to trust that in the resurrection of your Son, you have given us new life and renewed hope. Grant us wisdom to know what we must do, the will to want to do it, the courage to undertake it, the perseverance to continue to do it, the strength to complete it and the humbleness to say we are sorry when we do not. In your great mercy you gladdened the disciples with the sight of the risen Lord. Give us such knowledge of his presence with us, that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life and serve you continually in righteousness and truth. People with a Saviour, grateful and in awe, we pray. Amen.
Declaration of Forgiveness
Christ died for us. Christ rose for us. The One who suffered saves. The past is finished, and it is gone. You are forgiven of your sin. Everything has become fresh and new! Believe the Good News of this glorious morning! Be an Easter people every day and be at peace. Thanks be to God for salvation and new life! Let us cherish in our hearts that which we proclaim with our lips:
Good Friday. Easter.
All for us.
Love is stronger than hate.
Life is eternal.
260: Allelujah, allelujah
Story: Living Our Best Chocolate Easter Bunny Life!
Hymn 258 Thine be the glory
Prayer for Illumination:
Dear God of grace, rejoicing in the Risen Christ, open us to the power of your Son’s resurrection as we hear it proclaimed anew this day, that we too might rise to new life in Him. Amen.
Matthew 28:1-10
After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he[a] lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead,[b] and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
Sermon: Of immeasurable Good Affect!
“They came to him, took hold of his feet and worshipped him” Matt 28:9
Hymn 249 The day of resurrection
Call for the Offering
In wonder and gratitude may all our living and giving bring glory to God, through faith in the risen Christ!
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Offertory: Christ Arose arr. S. Eithun
(Bells of St. Andrew’s)
Doxology
tune: Lasst Uns Erfreuen
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Prayer of Dedication
With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
Acts 4:33
Anthem:
Come ye faithful raise the strain R.S. Thacher
Easter Prayer 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 trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
Hymn 248 At the dawning of salvation
Commissioning: Halleluia! Jesus is risen! He is risen indeed!
May this declaration resound not only in these walls but touch the lives of all we meet and forever be the truth by which we live and of which we speak.
Benediction
Choral Dismissal: Go out with joy
Johnson / Gingrich
Postlude: Gaudeamus
S. Campbell
We gather on the traditional territory of the Wendat, the Anishnaabeg and the Haudenosaunee Peoples. We are also on lands that are part of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum. We live and work, worship, learn and meet on lands that are the traditional territory of many different Indigenous Peoples who were here before the establishment of European colonies.
