mohonk easter 2015

7/17/2019 Mohonk Easter 2015

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/mohonk-easter-2015 1/11

An Easter Celebration

Mohonk Mountain House

April 5, 2015

9:30 am



Prelude Andrew Westphal, pianist

*Opening Sentences Samuel Speers, minister

Leader: Alleluia! Christ is risen!

People: Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Leader: Today Mercy and Truth have met together,

People: Righteousness and Peace now embrace;

Leader: Truth reaches up from the earth,

People: and Righteousness leans down from heaven.

(Cf. Psalm 85:10–11)

Welcome

Easter Litany

Leader: O God,

early in the morning,

when the world was young,

you made life in all its beauty and terror;

you gave birth to all that we know.

People: Hallowed be your name.

Leader: Early in the morning

when the world least expected it,

a new born child crying in a cradle announced that you had come among us,

that you were one of us.


*Please stand as you are able at the places in the service marked with an asterisk.



Leader: Early in the morning,

surrounded by self-interested religious leaders,

anxious statesmen

and silent friends,

you accepted the penalty for doing good,

for being God:

you shouldered and suffered the cross.


Leader: Early in the morning,

a voice in the guarded graveyard

and footsteps in the dew

proved that you had risen,

that you had come back

to those and for those

who had forgotten, denied and destroyed you.


This is the day that you have made.

We rejoice and are glad in it!



*Hymn Christ the Lord is Risen Today



1st Reading Isaiah 25:6–9

On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a

feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food lledwith marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. And he will destroy

on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet

that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever.

Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the

disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the

LORD has spoken.It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have

waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the LORD for

whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

2nd Reading We Look with Uncertainty Anne Hillman

We look with uncertainty

beyond the old choices for

clear-cut answers

to a softer, more permeable aliveness

which is every moment

at the brink of death;

for something new is being born in us

if we but let it.

We stand at a new doorway,

awaiting that which comes…

daring to be human creatures,

vulnerable to the beauty of existence.

Learning to love.



*Hymn Christ is Alive



3rd Reading Mark 16:1-8

When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and

Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. And very early on the rstday of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. They had been saying to

one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?” When

they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled

back. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting

on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed; you

are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucied. He has been raised; he is not here.

Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going

ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” So they went out and

ed from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to

any one, for they were afraid.

Easter Prayers

*Congregational Prayer (said in unison)

Each thing we have received,

From you it came, O God. Each thing for which we hope,

From your love it will be given.

Kindle in our hearts within

A ame of love to our neighbours,

To our foes, to our friends, to our loved ones all,

From the lowliest thing that lives, To the name that is highest of all.

Amen.

—Iona Prayers

Silent Reflection (introduced by the sounding of Tibetan singing bowls)



*Hymn I Danced in the Morning (to the tune of Simple Gifts)

I danced in the morning when the world was begun,

and I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun, and I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth,

at Bethlehem I had my birth.

Refrain: Dance, then, wherever you may be,

I am the Lord of the Dance, said he,

and I’ll lead you all, wherever you may be, and I’ll lead you all in the Dance, said he.

I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame;

the holy people said it was a shame.

they whipped and they stripped and they hung me on high,

and they left me there on a Cross to die. Refrain

I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black;

it’s hard to dance with the devil on your back.

They buried my body and they thought I’d gone,

but I am the Dance, and I still go on. Refrain

They cut me down and I leapt up high;

I am the life that’ll never, never die;

I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me -

I am the Lord of the Dance, said he. Refrain



4th Reading Roll Away The Stone Larry Robinson

This fecund earth has lain covered long enough.

It wants to throw off its asphalt blankets,

Stretch and yawn and send forth

Ten thousand blades of grass.

Behind their dams, rivers dream of the sea.

They yearn to burst their bonds and run wild,

To feel the caress of the banks and beyond,

To sing their ancient songs of joy and abandon.

Something has been calling to you

For longer than you can remember.

Calling you to step out into the light, into your life.

It doesn’t matter whether you think you’re ready or not.

The time has come.

Roll away the stone!

Roll away the stone!

Benediction

Peace between nations,

Peace between neighbours,

Peace between lovers,

In love of the God of life.

Peace between person and person,

Peace between wife and husband,

Peace between parent and child,

The peace of Christ above all peace. Bless O Christ our faces,

Let our faces bless everything.

Bless O Christ our eyes,

Let our eyes bless everything.

Amen.

Postlude Andrew Westphal, pianist



q q q

Notes on our Service

The Rev. Samuel Speers, D.Min., is Assistant Dean for Campus Life and Diversity and Director of the Religious and Spiritual Life Ofce at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY.

The Rev. Puja Thomson is an ordained minister of healing in the Healing Light Center

Church, and the founder of ROOTS & WINGS in New Paltz, NY. (www.rootsnwings.com)

The pianist is Andrew Westphal, a pianist and DJ from Ithaca, NY (see www.andrewpiano.com).

The poem, “We Look with Uncertainty,” is from The Dancing Animal Woman ~ ACelebration of Life, by Anne Hillman, © 1994, Bramble Books (used with permission).

The opening sentences (“Early in the Morning”), Congregational Prayer (“Each thing

we have received. . .”), and the Benediction are from the “Iona Abbey Worship Book”

(Iona Community Wild Goose Publications, 2001) and used by permission for one-time

use. “Roll Away the Stone” was among the poems Larry Robinson, poet & former mayor

of Sebastopol CA, shared at “The Alchemy of Peace-building” conference in Dubrovnik,

Croatia 2002, sponsored by Praxis Peace Institute, co-sponsored by The Institute of

Noetic Sciences; Rev. Puja Thomson, co-leading today’s service, attended the conference.

The hymn“Christ the Lord is Risen Today” printed in today’s bulletin is from the NewCentury Hymnal, Copyright © 1995 The Pilgrim Press. Permission is granted for one-

time use. The hymn “Christ is Alive” from The Presbyterian Hymnal: Hymns, Psalms,

and Spiritual Songs, © 1990 Westminster/John Knox Press and used by permission for

one-time use. The words to the hymn “I Danced in the Morning” were written by Sydney

Carter © 1963 by Stainer & Bell Ltd. (admin. by Hope Publishing Co., Carol Stream, IL

60188). Used by permission. CCLI#1933723.

mohonk easter 2015

Documents