We Are Easter People- April 20, 2025

Good morning. Happy Easter. Happy Easter. I have news. Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Let's stand and sing. [Music] Christlue. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelu praise single unto Christ. Hallelujah. and the heural our Salon is single where the angels single. [Music] Hallelu. Praise be [Applause] to God. Heat. Heat. [Music] Please be seated. I would like to welcome you all to the First Presbyterian Church of

Mount Dora. I look out here and I see so many familiar faces but also a few new faces and I can only assume that we have some family and friends worshiping with us today. So I wish to greet you all and welcome you to the church. I hope that you find this to be a a most pleasant and friendly. They say we are the friendliest church in Mount Dora. I hope we prove that to be true. This is the church where lives are changed and we're so thankful to have you all worshiping with us today. I hope that you have had

a chance to take a look at the back of your bulletin to see the many activities that are taking place in the church. I would like to point out just a couple of them. One is that next Sunday we be begin a new Sunday school series. The former pastor Tom Barry uh is going to be leading that. Tom's actually with us today and uh he would love to have you join him. He said this is going to be a very enriching. It will be fun. Yes. And I think you all will enjoy it. So I hope that you will plan to join uh them for

Sunday school between the two services at 9:50 in the morning. So it will be down in the multi-purpose room. I also would like to mention something I was asked to point out. Uh many of you uh went online, ordered your flowers. We're this first time we've done that. You did really great. You check that QR code and placed your order. However, our liies have not cooperated and unfortunately they have wilted ahead of time. So those who ordered liies, we have some hydrangeas for you. So please do uh get

your flowers before you leave today. And then I also one more thing I wanted to point out our Shiitakqua uh lunchon and learn series that is going to be happening starting the end of this month, the last Wednesday of every month. We have so much talent in this church. so many people who have done amazing things in their career and in their life and they are going to be sharing their experience and skills with us at our Shiitaka Chapel lunch and learn. Uh the first one is going to be the end of this month on the 30th of

April. Um Alberto Montes is going to be sharing with us how to take the perfect picture. So his skills in photography, it will be so much fun. followed by uh our awardwinning uh pie chef Emily Lewis. Many of you do not know she is a nationally renowned pie baker. So, not only will we learn how to bake an award-winning pie, but you get to sample some, too. So, that will be happening the last Wednesday of May, and then you can see the many other talents that will be shared uh as we go throughout the year. So, I hope that you

will plan to join us. And I certainly want everyone here to feel welcome to participate in the life of this church. Um, if you have not already done so, you will find little red pads on the inside of all of the pews. Sometimes they make their way to the center of the aisle, but if you will please uh sign that and pass it down the row so that everyone gets a chance to greet you by name uh at the end of this service. And one two more things. One is that we have a fellowship time after this service in

Barry Hall down at the end of the hallway. And one of the things we're going to be celebrating is it's Ry's birthday. our music and and worship arts director's [Applause] birthday. I love doing that because it makes him blush every time. So, Randy, we're so excited to share in the joy of this day with you. So, we are certainly a blessed people and uh we are so glad that you have come so that we might glorify God with our worship this day. So, if you will, we will continue with our worship. I would like to thank Mike

Canantrell, who is serving as our liturgist this day. Mike, I'm going to turn it over to you. Thank you, pastor. I'd like to welcome you on this wonderful Easter morning. Isn't it wonderful to be here together for those of you here in the sanctuary? And I also want to welcome our friends who are listening on Facebook, YouTube, and the other channels that we have available. We have some special guests who are listening in from Canada. Alan Christiey's parents and family are uh listening in. There'll

be a test later. So, I want everybody to be listening really hard out there. And there also some other Canadians and people from around the country are listening on our channel. So, we are we're glad that we're all here together. Let's begin by reading our Old Testament reading uh together which is Psalms 100 fitting for this morning which you can find uh in your Pew Bible. It's page 858 and this is the NIV version. This is a psalm for giving grateful praise. Shout for joy to the Lord all the earth. Worship the Lord with

gladness. Come before him with joyous songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations. Amen. Now, let us say responsibly our prayer of confession which is found in your uh bulletin this morning. We come this morning into God's presence to worship our creator. Let us

confess our sins before Almighty God. Gracious God, you have walked patiently with us throughout our Lenton journey. You have celebrated our successes and our growing understanding of your love. And you have mourned our failures and rejections of your healing mercies. This day as we have gathered to celebrate the joy of Easter, let us remember that we are to become Easter people. People of the resurrection, people who know that what was thought to be impossible has been conquered. Forgive our stubbornness and fears. Fill

us with your healing love and help us to become the you need to serve in this world. My friends, darkness is gone. Light floods into our souls. Christ is risen. His love and mercy are poured out for you. Rejoice. You were made and have been saved through the gift of Jesus Christ. Let us praise him in thanksgiving. And all God's people say, "Amen. [Music] To the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost as it is now Amen. Amen. The greatest joy that we have is that when we gather to worship together is

that we are able to join our hearts in prayer together. It is certainly a truth and and something that we all hold dear that we know that the Holy Spirit of Almighty God is already searching our hearts and our minds praying for us. Praying for us because sometimes we don't know what to pray for. Sometimes we don't even know how to form the words to offer a prayer. So what a reassurance it is that when we gather together to worship that God is praying for us while we pray together. Certainly we want to begin with prayers

of thanksgiving as we always should as the apostle Paul instructed us to do. And then we also want to pray for one another, for our family, for our neighbors, our friends, and even for people that we really don't know. So this is a holy time. Holy meaning it is not like any other time. A holy time when we come together to approach the throne of our creator. I invite you now to please join me in the prayers of the people of God. Let us pray. Oh holy God, we do thank you for this opportunity as you have asked us to come

to you and pray not only for ourselves but also for others. Lord, we lift up to you this day the deepest prayers of our hearts that every single one of us brought with us to worship this day. Search our hearts, Lord. Hear our prayers that we offer to you in silence. Lord, we do pray for your people that you love all over this world. As we celebrate the resurrection of your only son, our Lord Jesus, this Easter morning, remind us that you so loved this world that you gave your only son for all of us that we might know your

love that we might be adopted as your children. Lord, be with those in this world who do not yet know of your love, who do not know that they have a purpose in this life. We pray that you will bring your saints to them to share this great news, to share your love, and to care for one another. We pray for those who are in places where there is violence and war. Be with them, Lord. comfort those who are losing or have lost a loved one. We pray Lord for people who are in places of power that they might listen

to your Holy Spirit speaking to them, guiding them as to how they may care for your people. Lord, we do pray that every one of us will be faithful in our life, caring for the least of these because we are also caring as we would unto you. Lord, help us to be different than this world. You have called us all to be holy. Help us to reach out to those that we do not necessarily know or consider our friends, but you have asked us to love them, to care for them. Use us all, Lord, in this world that we might be your church, that we

might be your salt and light to the world. Help us to be bold. Help us to speak with integrity and love that others might come to you through our voice, through our actions. We thank you for all of this, dear God. And we pray all of this in the name of our holy our holy God, our Lord and Savior, who asked us all to pray by saying, "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. [Music] Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. He will deliver me. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. [Music] God of his gloral. [Music] Hallelujah. Sing to the Lord for me. Hallelujah. [Music] Hallelujah. Mighty God of his glory I will sing. Test in the Lord, oh my soul. Trust in God's near. Stand on the word of the father. Pray in the spirit. [Music] Rejoice. his glory I will

[Music] singjlor I will sing is my refuge mighty tower He is my deliverer. Hallelujah. God is my [Music] refuge. He is my deliverer. Hallelujah. God is my refuge. He is my hallelujah. [Music] Rejoice, rejoice. [Music] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God is [Music] my hallelujah. God is [Music] my He is hallelujah. God is sojallelujah. God is sojallelujah.j [Music] [Music] Hallelujah. [Music] Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Halleluah. Halleluah. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. [Music] [Applause] If you will refer to your

bulletins, I invite you now to join me in our litany for Easter. Oh Christ, after your resurrection, you appeared to your disciples. You breathed on them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. You gave joy and exaltation to the whole creation through your victory. We pray to you. Hear us, Lord of glory. O Christ, after your resurrection, you sent out your disciples to teach all nations and to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. You promised to be with them and us

until the end of the world. Through your victory, we pray to you. Hear us, Lord of glory. Christ, through your resurrection, you lifted us up and filled us with rejoicing. Through your salvation, you enriched us with your gifts. Renew our lives and fill our hearts with joy. through your victory we pray to you. Hear us, Lord of glory. O Christ, you are glorified by angels in heaven and worshiped on earth. On the glorious feast of your resurrection, we pray to you. Hear us, Lord of glory. Save us, O Christ, our Lord. In

your goodness, extend your mercy to your people who await the resurrection and have mercy on us. Hear us, Lord of glory. Oh merciful God, you raised your beloved son and in your love you established him as the head of your church and ruler of the universe. by your goodness we pray. Hear us, Lord of glory. May we all take a moment for silent prayer. Oh holy God, you gave your only son to suffer death on the cross for our redemption. And by his glorious resurrection, you delivered us from the power of death.

Grant us so to die daily to sin that we may ever more live with him in the glory of his resurrection through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit one God now and forever. And all God's people said amen. My friends, we know that the earth and all it contains belongs to the Lord. It is yet our privilege to be able to share a little of what God has given to each of us through our time, our talents, and our treasures to the purposes of establishing God's kingdom here on

earth. At this time, we invite the ushers to please come forward. Glory hallelujah. Glory hallelu. Glory hallelujah. Halleluah. Glory hallelujah. Glory hallelu. Glory hallelujah. Halleluah. Glory hallelujah. Hallelujah. I know that my redeemer glory. Glory hallelujah. Glory resurrection. Hallelu. Shout on praise. Glory. Glory. Hallelu. Glory. Glory hallelujah. Glory hallelu. Glory hallelujah. Halleluah. Glory hallelujah. Glory hallelu. Glory hallelujah. Halleluah. Glory hallelujah. Halleluah. He lives. Oh, glory to his name. Glory.

Hallelujah. He lives. Myior still. What joy is glory. Glory. Hallelu. I know the redeemer. Glory. Hallelujah. Glory hallelu. Glory hallelujah. Halleluah. Glory hallelujah. Glory hallelu. Glory hallelujah. Halleluah. I know that my redeemer lives. I know. Glory, glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, hallelujah. Halleluah. Praise him all to praise him. Praise father and holy host. Will you please join me in a prayer of dedication? Oh, holy God, we do thank you for the ability to be able to return to your service a portion of the

financial blessings that you have enabled each of us to have. And we do pray Lord that these these gifts might be multiplied that they might be used to serve you through this church through our denomination in caring for your people around the world. For this is our prayer on this glorious day in Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. Throughout this spring, the uh allergies have been attacking me and I'm unfortunately experiencing a greater uh attack today. So, please forgive my voice. Our scripture reading

today is taken from the Gospel according to John. It is John chapter 20 verses 1-18. And you will see that the page numbers for following along in the Bible if you would like to do so are listed in the bulletin. I ask that you hear now the word of the Lord. Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said, "They have

taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him." So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there, but did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, excuse me, came came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there as well as the cloth that had been wrapped

around Jesus's head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. Finally, the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went inside. He saw and believed. They still did not understand from scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white seated where Jesus body had been, one at the head, one at the foot. They

asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my Lord away," she said. and I don't know where they have put him." At this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, "Woman, why are you crying? Who is it that you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go get him." Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic,

"Raboni," which means teacher. Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news, "I have seen the Lord." and she told them that he had said these things to her. This ends our reading of God's holy word. May God add to our understanding and application of its truth in each of our lives. Will you join me in a prayer of preparation,

please? Lord, we do thank you for these words for our hearing today. And we do pray that the words of my mouth and that the meditations, the thoughts of all of our hearts and our minds that they will be acceptable in your sight. For you are our Lord, you are our strength, you are our redeemer, and it is in Jesus Christ we pray all these things. Amen. Well, I have become accustomed to listening to books on Audible. Some of you may do that as well. And uh so as I'm driving to and from work, I tune in

to a new book. And the one that I've been listening to recently is by the uh comedian, actor, writer, producer, director Billy Crystal. It's called Still Fooling Them. And where the heck did I put my keys? in just the style that only Billy Crystal seems to be able to bring to us. The um beginning of it says that Billy Crystal turned 65 and he's not happy about it. The book actually takes his life and goes by decades as he recalls what happened in his life. I found it to be certainly humorous and

and fun to listen to. I learned several things I did not know about Billy Crystal's early life, his family. For instance, I did not know that he lost his father who passed away early in his life when he was just 13. And he went on to talk about how his aunts and uncles basically filled in that void, but oh, how he wished he would have been able to share so many of his successes with his dad. He thought about and shared with us how things came about when Harry met Sally. You may have seen that film. Of

course, many of us saw City Slickers, which it turns out he wrote and and helped to direct and produce that particular successful film. And anybody who has grandchildren has probably seen Monsters, Inc., certainly a favorite for many of us. Billy Crystal, who was a huge baseball fan, especially for the New York Yankees. Uh we found out the many ways that that played in his life. But I think what really struck me because first of all, he was talking to those of us who consider ourselves to be baby

boomers, which I think we have a few here in this congregation. He was letting us know about how life has its ups and its downs. It has its successes and it has its disappointments, but how we should be thankful for everything that life brings to us. Now, Billy Crystal is a Jewish man and he's very upfront and talks about that, how that played out in his life as far as his not being able to play golf at certain country clubs because Jews were not allowed. But it also he talks about how his Jewishness

affected the way he thought about life and experienced life. I was most taken with some of the explanation in his early life about the losses that he and his family experienced with the death of his father and also some of his father's brothers and sisters. And he said that they oftenimes would talk about death as well. You know, you live your life, you know, you die, you stop breathing, they put you in a box, put you in the ground, and that's it, boy. and he thought that's cannot be it. As it became even clearer to him

throughout life, the the beautiful wonderful things that would happen, his marriage, his the birth of his daughters, the birth of his four grandchildren, these miracles that would happen in his life, the successes of many of his movies and television programs, how he would talk to God even though he would say, "I'm not really a religious man. But as the decades went on, you started to hear how God was working in his life and how he started to acknowledge that God had been behind the scenes throughout his

life. I thought about us. I thought about the fact that we all of the certain age that we are. Most of us have had successes in our life have had some disappointments and even some tragedies and I feel quite certain that just about every single person in this room has lost someone to death. That is one of the guarantees about life. Life is a gift, but it comes with a guarantee that this life will end in death. Which brings us to the celebration that we are having today. This is a day of Easter. It is

celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is celebrating that there is life beyond this life. that God has a purpose for every one of us. Not just in this life, but even beyond this life. As Billy Crystal came to one of the later chapters in this book, he shared that he was faced with the loss of his mother who was the anchor for his life and the life of his his brother and sisters. He shared how difficult it was to now realize his dad was gone. His uncle who had played such a role in his life was

gone. And now he was losing his mother and at the same time lost two of his very best friends to death. He said he cried out to God and said, "God, why are you doing this to me? How am I supposed to continue on in life without these people who supported me? He told a story told a story about how he and his brother who didn't like to golf but went golfing with him were out on the golf course. It was a beautiful sunny day, he said, when all of a sudden they saw in the distance a rainbow. He turned to his brother and said, "Do

you see that?" His brother said, "Yeah." He said, "They both stood there and looked at this rainbow and then it disappeared." And he said that he believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that that was a message from God telling him that his mother was fine and that there is something after this life that there is joy. There will be a time when we will all be together to see and hear his life coming full circle in his understanding of God's purpose, God's activity in his life made me think about our life as

well with all of its ups and downs, the losses that we all will have as well. Mary Magdalene went out when it was still dark because she wanted to go see and and and worship her Lord. But she found that the stone that covered the entrance to the tomb had been moved. This was just exactly what the Romans wanted. They had been spreading rumors that, you know, Jesus was saying that in three days he would rise from the dead. And they were saying they knew that Jesus disciples were going to go and steal the body to make it look like

he was no longer there. When Mary came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed, she was shocked and horrified. What had the Romans done? She ran back to tell her colleagues. And certainly Peter and John, the disciple that Jesus loved, started running to see what was going on here. Now, we know that the Romans had stationed soldiers outside of the tomb in fear that the disciples might show up and try to steal the body. So, you can only imagine what the Roman soldiers felt like when the stone

was rolled away. So we find out that John got there first, bent down, looked in, saw the linen, but good old Peter, you know Peter, he was the one that when he was in the boat and saw Jesus walking on the water and Jesus said, "Come." And Peter didn't think anything of it. He hiked up his skirt and started out on the water until he realized what he was doing. Good old impetuous Peter in this instance ran for the tomb. Didn't stop at the door. Ran on in and looked around to see where Jesus could be and saw the

linens lying there and the folded cloth that had been around Jesus' head lying in its place. They both decide, let's go back. Let's tell the others. But Mary was outside the door crying. The crying really doesn't describe what the actual the words in scripture say. She was weeping terribly because someone had stolen their Lord. So she looked in again and the saw the angels sitting there and they said, "Mary, why do you weep?" And she turned around and there was Jesus. But she didn't know it was Jesus.

She thought it was the gardener. And she said, "Sir, if you have taken my Lord, just tell me where you put him. I will go and get him." And Jesus looked at her and said, "Mary." Then her eyes were open and she recognized him. I thought of scripture that talks about the good shepherd. We are told that the shepherd knows every one of his sheep and calls them by name. The sheep know his voice and they respond to being called by name and will follow him. We, my brothers and sisters, are the sheep of the of our shepherd, our

Lord Jesus. He knows us all. Every one of us and calls us by name. When Mary heard her name, she was thrilled and she threw herself at Jesus. But Jesus blocked her and said, "No, the time is not right. I have not yet ascended to my father and your father, my God, and your God." What Jesus was saying, there's more to come. the Holy Spirit is going to come to you and to your brothers and sisters in the faith. Now, here's where we are in really a good position, my friends, because we are many years past that. The Holy

Spirit has already come to us and has established the church through us and works within each of our lives. When you turned your life over to Jesus and said, "I cannot live this life alone. I need you in my life. Take me. Show me. That's when the Holy Spirit of Almighty God came to live within you and you were adopted as a child of God. This is a scripture about listening to God's voice for each of us. Do you listen to God's voice in your prayer life? When you're going about that during your day or even at night,

whenever you say your prayers, God is saying your name. The Lord has a purpose for your life. And you are here at this time in history, actually at this church right now, so that you might hear this message and know that the Lord is speaking your name. Will you respond as well? Jesus told Mary after she calmed down and heard his words. He said, "Now go and tell the others everything that I have just told you." We too, my friends, when we leave this place on this Easter Sunday morning, you may have plans, as many of us do, to go

out with family, to go have brunch or lunch together. But remember, we also have a mandate from our Lord and Savior that we are to go and tell others everything that our Lord has told us as well. This day, Jesus is in your name and my name. Jesus has a purpose for us. So let us go and celebrate and share with this hungry word world that Jesus loves them and Jesus has a purpose for their life. My friends, may it be so in your life. May it be so in our life together. Will you join me in a prayer? Lord God, we do thank you for

this gorgeous Easter morning and we do pray that we will listen to your voice speaking our name and calling us to serve you as the church in this world. So may we all go faithfully from this place proclaiming that you have risen, that you have risen indeed and there is hope and joy and love for all the earth. We thank you for this and we pray all of this in your holy name. Amen. Amen. The day of resolution. Christ In his eternal resistance to his praise, oh Joy is so praise. Glorious. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Halleluah. Lord God, hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. For the Lord God of praise. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God praise. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. The gift of this world is the king of theord. And he shall reign forever and ever. And he shall forever and he shall praise and he shall praise forever. Forever forever. King of kings forever. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Lord of

glory. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. King of kings. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Forever and ever. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Forever and ever. Hallelujah. shall ever king of peace forever and ever and Lord of glory shall praise forever and King of kings and Lord of King of the Lord of heaven and Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. [Music] Hallelujah. My friends, now the work begins. This is the day that the Lord has made. May we rejoice, be glad in it, and let us listen to God's still small voice speaking to each of us every single day

when we open our eyes. We have purpose. We have a reason that God placed us here. The way is long. The way can be difficult, but the way is together. The Lord has put us in communities, families, friendships, churches that we might be able to support each other along the way. So as we go out today, let us go in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.