2nd Sunday in Easter, April 11, 2021

Dear Friends in Christ,

Peace to you this evening and a blessed Easter season to you!

Join us for virtual worship this weekend, as we celebrate “Holy Humor Sunday” at fpcw. It’s an ancient Christian tradition that recognizes the “Easter laugh” (risus paschalis), the supreme joke, if you will, that God played on the devil by raising Jesus from the dead on Easter morning.

The tradition goes way back to the early church, with the faithful gathering for picnics and parties as they celebrated “days of joy and laughter” in the week after Easter. Priests would include amusing stories and jokes in their sermons in an attempt to make the faithful laugh. After the service, people would play practical jokes on one another and tell funny stories. In recent years, more and more churches are discovering the wisdom of celebrating the second Sunday of Easter as “Holy Humor Sunday.”

So today’s worship service is a bit different. My prayer is that you’ll experience God through it and have a few belly laughs as we revel together in the good news of the resurrection. And please do let us know what you think! We’d love for this to become an annual tradition at fpcw.

Below you can find links to both the main worship service (along with a written order of service) and the family worship service. A button with a link to our Common Life is also below.

A one-session adult faith formation class gathers tomorrow morning to discuss the topic, “The Easter Laugh, Christ in Limbo and the Harrowing of Hell.” We’ll gather from 8:30 - 9:30am over Zoom (Zoom Link; Meeting ID: 832 3379 4440; Passcode: 389051; Call-In: 312-626-6799). Please join us if you can! Next week, we’ll begin a six-week study of the Lord’s Prayer, using a book by Justo Gonzalez.

I'm grateful to be on the journey with you, friends. May you experience deep and abiding joy this day. You are loved and never alone!

With gratitude and holy humor in Christ,

Pastor Jeff

Common Life

Main Worship Service -April 11th, 2021

Family Worship Service - April 11th,, 2021

Prelude

Joy - Solo Piano, George Winston

Welcome

Call to Worship

For those times when we move in the shadow, unaware or unwilling to be aware of how our actions affect others,

we come together, in the light,

to find our joy in God.

For those times when we deceive ourselves – not revealing to ourselves or others the true nature of our vulnerabilities and fears,

we come together in the truth,

to find forgiveness in fellowship.

For those times when life has been revealed, and we have ignored or denied it,

we come together to touch grace

in the presence of the Spirit of Christ.

Opening Hymn

Jesus Gave Me Water - Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers

Call to Confession

None of us likes to look foolish, but which is sillier? Chasing after the world and all its gaudy trinkets which flatter our souls, or being a 'fool for Christ', imitating him in service to others, offering ourselves in love and joy to the world? Let us admit to God the foolish choices we often make as we confess together, first in silent prayer.

Please join me in the prayer of Confession.

Prayer of Confession

Redeeming God, with you there is always more life, more hope, more joy. Forgive us for doubting to see your work in the still things, the busy things, the darkest moment and the everyday, under-noticed plod of life. Forgive us when we balk at action, and refuse to turn on fully the tap of compassion, settling for a mere trickle. Open us now to your love that lets us relax into life, and fill us with trust, hope and justice. Amen.

Assurance of Forgiveness

The Gospels tell us over and over again of the joy which comes to us through Christ. When Jesus was around, lives were changed, the sick were healed, the sorrowful began to laugh with joy. The good news is that this joy is now given to us.

Through the Holy Spirit, we are gifted with joy. We are sent forth to bring good news to the oppressed, to bring healing to the broken, to anoint everyone with the oil of gladness.

Thanks be to God, we are forgiven. Amen.

Response to Confession

Christ is risen! Earth and heaven nevermore shall be the same.

Break the bread of new creation where the world is still in pain.

Drink the wine of resurrection, not a servant, but a friend.

Jesus is our strong companion. Joy and peace shall never end.

Peace of Christ and Our Common Life

Zoom Church Bloopers Video - Central Christian Church (Lexington, KY)

Psalter Reading - Psalm 81:1-4

Sing Joyfully by William Byrd, sung by VOCES8

Scripture Reading

John 16:16-24

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God!

Sermon - Rev. Jeff Lehn and Rev. Laura Sherwood

Hymn of Response

Here Comes the Sun - James Taylor and Yo-Yo Ma

Prayers of the People and 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.

Call to Offering

In this season of Easter, we are invited to participate in the kingdom emerging all around us. May we offer ourselves to God with glad and generous hearts, freely giving our tithes and offerings to the ministry of this congregation. In lieu of passing the plate, we invite you to give through our church website, our smartphone app, by texting the word “Wilmette” to the number 77977, or by sending a check to the church office. As we gather our gifts together and offer them to God, may we do so in gratitude and praise.

Congregational Response - Minnesota Doxology

written and sung by Josh Svendsen

Prayer of Dedication

God of resurrecting hope, we thank you with grateful hearts, recognizing how much you have given us in Christ, and what his gift has cost. Bless the gifts we bring so they may help spread the hope and joy we feel today in the world you love so dearly. In the name of your greatest gift, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Sending Hymn

Let Our Gladness Have No End - written and sung by Sara Groves

Charge and Benediction

Postlude

The Joy of Life - The Corrs

Worship Leaders:

Rev. Jeff Lehn, pastoral liturgist

Rev. Laura Sherwood, pastoral liturgist

Carol Moss, liturgist

Sources

Zoom Outtakes from Central Christian Church in Lexington, KY -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjWHff10Up4