Dear Members and Friends of First Presbyterian Church Lincolnton,
For some of us, this will be the first Easter we have missed in our sanctuary on Main Street; for others, this is the first Easter at home. One of the hardest parts of this Easter for me is the absence of lilies and the people they honor. The trumpet blossom of white and their faint scent proclaim our hope in resurrection, loud and brassy sometimes, barely perceptible often.
In some ways we know this year the sense of loss and loneliness the first disciples and followers of Jesus experienced, even as some of them began to see and truly believe in our Risen Lord.
We miss seeing each other and our gathering together for worship, though we know we are called to practice distance, even isolation at this time. In the months to come, we shall gather again to worship and pray together. For now, physical distance need not mean spiritual distance. We are praying for each other, for our church, for the church catholic and for the whole world God holds near to God's own heart. In the service link below, you will be taken to our sanctuary and invited to join in prayers.
In the moments of silence given for our prayers, please add your own to these:
Let our prayers rise before you as the scent of resurrection lilies for:
Those who have gone before us and all the good in their lives that passed to us
All health care workers: custodial workers, volunteers, physicians, nurses, and staff
Populations who suffer a disproportionate rate of infection and death
All essential workers and their safety
Parents caring for children and youth at home
People who inflict harm because they look for someone else to take responsibility
All those facing job losses and business closures
Homeless people without a place to "stay safe, stay home"
People and organizations serving those who are homeless and hungry
People in prisons and detention centers where crowding breeds virus
Children and others held on the border in inadequate shelter
Local, state, and national leaders, to lead with wisdom for all creation.
May we be witnesses to and interpreters of resurrection!
For those who are missing the sunrise service at Machpelah Presbyterian Church, I invite you to have your own Easter sunrise service at home.
Click here
for an at-home liturgy locally produced by
A Sanctified Art. A Sanctified Art
is created by several Pastor/Artists including our own WNC Presbytery Rev. Lilse Gwynn Garrity.
For a brief service prerecorded from our sanctuary click on the link below
. Thanks to Joe Morgan, Sandy Eldridge, liturgists and Becky Beatty, Organist and Choir Director. Jan Duncan recorded the service.
From Pastor Kathryn's sermon:
In years past, when we hear Mary Magdalene repeat her sense of loss three times, we may have grown impatient with her. We want to hurry past grief to resurrection, to look insistently "on the sunny side of life" even at our greatest moment of loss, Jesus' death.
Not this year.
This year, when Mary runs breathlessly to tell the other followers of Jesus, "They have taken our Lord, and we don't know where they have taken him," we are with her. When she says, "they have taken
my
Lord," we take it personally too. And we are as beside ourselves as Mary when she says to Jesus, mistaking him for the gardener at the cemetery, when she says to Jesus, "if you have taken him tell me where and I will r
each for and hold on
to him" (my translation of 'take').
And that's when Jesus calls her by name. That's when she reaches for him to hold on and he says "don't".
Don't hold on, let go. Let go to let God. *
During the service, we sing the hymn, Jesus Christ is Risen Today from our PCUSA Glory to God hymnal:
1 Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia!
our triumphant holy day, Alleluia!
who did once upon the cross, Alleluia!
suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia!
2 Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia!
unto Christ, our heavenly King, Alleluia!
who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia!
sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia!
3 But the pains which he endured, Alleluia!
our salvation have procured. Alleluia!
Now above the sky he's King, Alleluia!
where the angels ever sing. Alleluia!
4 Sing we to our God above, Alleluia!
praise eternal as God's love. Alleluia!
Praise our God, ye heavenly host, Alleluia!
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Alleluia!
There is also a link to hear a world-wide virtual choir sing the hymn if you scroll down the page to the second link.
For a children's bulletin from Illustrated Ministries use this link:
In the deep and abiding love of Christ,
Kathryn
Rev. Dr. Kathryn Johnson Cameron
Bridge Supply Pastor
First Presbyterian Church, Lincolnton, NC
