Bread and More Soup Kitchen continues to serve a free to-go meal every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 5:30-6:15.
April 2026
Reminder: Lenten Banks will be collected on Sunday, April 12 during church services.
Sunday School: Please call our church office at 631-727-2621 if you would like your child to join. Sunday School is held during church services at 10:00.
Bible Study: Bible Study has begun. Call the church office for the information. 631-727-2621 Please join us from 10:00-11:00 am in the Fellowship Hall. We welcome you to zoom and join us. All are welcome.
Thrift Shop: The thrift shop hours are Tuesday and Thursday 10-2 and Saturday 9-1. Clothing, knickknacks, and other small household items are accepted. No furniture or children's clothing. Please bring your donations only when we are open. Thank you for your support.
If you would like to join us on Zoom, please follow the link
Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86897065711?
pwd=a0FZcDg5MnRqKz-JMQXRLVzIBTGZFQT09 to start or join a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Meeting ID: 850 1493 9172
Passcode: 727262
Easter Sunday
A Service of the Word
April 5, 2026
OPENING WORDS: We open our hearts to the presence of God and worship together.
PRELUDE: Jesus Christ Has Risen Today Lyra Davidica
(Once the music begins we ask that you would please maintain respectful silence.)
*CHORAL INTROIT:
We are here this day to share God's love;
We have come with burdens and cares,
For within this place, we are bound as one
In this fellowship we share.
*CALL TO WORSHIP:
One: Day has dawned and shadows are left behind.
The stone is rolled away and hope is reborn.
Many: This is the day that our God has made.
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
One: God opens to us the gates of righteousness.
We enter to give thanks to our God.
Many: We give thanks, for our God is good.
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
One: Set your mind on things that are above.
Look up and welcome Christ’s appearing.
Many: We have been raised with Christ.
Glory is being revealed to us on this holy day.
*HYMN: Christ the Lord Is Risen Today No. 233
WELCOME
PRAYER OF INVOCATION:
God of amazing surprises, the story of Easter is ever new. Suddenly we are aware of your presence with us. We had lost touch with you. Our minds were full of worries and distractions, set on things of this earth. Our spirits felt the grip of death. Jesus seemed a legend from the past, not a real person who shared our common lot. But today, you awaken something new within us. We hear the cry, Christ is risen, and we want to respond. Dry our tears and call our name. We need the good news of Easter. Amen.
CHILDREN’S TIME
PASSING OF THE PEACE
ANNOUNCEMENTS, CELEBRATIONS AND CONCERNS:
Lenten Banks:
The Lenten Banks will be collected during our worship service next Sunday, April 12.
A TIME OF PRAYER:
❖ Pastoral Prayer
…God of empty tombs and empty hearts, fill us today with the joy of trusting and believing, that we might rise from the graves of our misplaced loyalties to live with Christ and serve wherever good news is needed. May gladness flow through us to bring inspiration and hope to sisters and brothers locked in prisons of despair, that all of us might have the courage to love as you have loved us in Jesus Christ….
❖ Silent Prayer
❖ 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.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, now and forever. Amen.
OFFERING & OFFERTORY: Christ is Risen! Alleluia! Lloyd Larson
*DOXOLOGY AND BLESSING OF GIFTS:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God, all creatures here below;
Praise God above you heavenly host:
Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost.
SCRIPTURE LESSONS:
❖ Acts 10:34-43 NT Page 113
❖ Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 Hymnal Page 700
❖ 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 NT Page 155
❖ John 20:1-18 NT Page 100
SERMON: “Wow. Can You Believe That?”
With this title, my thought was, I really need a good actor for this. But, as the saying goes, I’ll give it the good ol’ college try. The title is one of those phrase that, depending on how one says it, can mean several things. Someone cuts you off on the highway and it’s, “Wow. Can you believe that? The chutzpah!” (or something along those lines). Your team makes the comeback win with a grand slam in the ninth: “Wow. Can you believe that?! Yippee.” One of the worse students you’ve known ends up doing remarkably well in life despite not going to college: “Wow. Can you believe that?” <How surprising> Or the preacher stands up to give a sermon on Easter and all she says, is “Halleluia. He is risen,” and sits down. “Wow, can you believe that? <The shock.> (Gotta’ say that’s pretty gutsy. And I’m thinking she had a roast in the oven while company was already on their way.)
Yet, bringing the title home to the Easter Gospel you just heard, we get the account of a woman, Mary Magdelene specifically, who says she just saw the crucified Jesus up, walking and talking in the garden. That after Peter and John had already seen the empty tomb and no sign of Jesus other than the linen wrappings and head cloth. They were already convinced that someone had indeed stolen the body and so returned home. Consequently upon Mary’s report, and once she’s out of earshot, I hear the apostles offering the incredulous: “Wow. Can you believe that?” while shaking their heads. As if to say, “how crazy is that,” or “wow, how crazy is she?!”
Easter faith. For some, I know my faith is a matter of “how crazy are you?” Or, “Can you really believe that?” Mind you, I’ve likely been in more discussions about this resurrection faith of ours than most. Many an anthropologist will dismiss our faith as one of many based on little evidence, or on evidence of tenuous credibility, and largely just the product of wishful and imaginative thinking. The pessimists and cynics will point to the evil that is and argue that no good or loving God would possibly allow it.
Yet any argument against the existence of God or against the Jesus faith, is based solely on human understanding, based on the understanding of what the nonbeliever thinks should be and how they think creation should be handled, and it’s often compounded by their read on humanity’s ease and propensity to make things up and create fantastical stories. They label our story, Jesus’ story, as fake news.
The informed argumentative ones will also add that it doesn’t help our case that the resurrection stories in Matthew, Luke and John are all quite different from each other. Yet, the differences primarily concern the number of people involved, the nature of the divine messengers, and the locations of Jesus' appearances. That the empty tomb was discovered early on the first day of the week (that first Easter morning), that the stone is found rolled away, and the body of Jesus is missing, that there were witnesses and that at least one angelic or divine figure informs the visitors that Jesus has risen are all the commonalities. Plus, as we’ve all played that game of telephone, we know how oral tradition, the fabric of the New Testament, can create tangents that grow out of the core story. It would be more suspicious if all the accounts matched up. Then there would really be room to make a case for redaction and careful editing.
Yet the strongest arguments for me are not the particularly philosophical ones. Neither are they the textual arguments made from scripture itself, including the fulfillment of prophesies. And they are not even the reports of miracles so often offered in Biblical times and beyond, but me the most compelling argument is the historical and personal impact that Jesus has wrought.
Whether or not you have had a personal conversation experience, that I don’t know, but I’m sure you’ve known those who have had one. Perhaps not surprising news to you, but I’ll assure you my conversation and decision to follow Jesus radically changed and shaped my life. And I’ve met many whose lives were seriously changed around for the better because of having taken Jesus to heart. Yet maybe such stories are too pedestrian or prosaic for some.
However, our world and faith tradition were dramatically changed by two big conversations. The first was that of Saul of Tarsus. Born some 5 years after Jesus, Saul, although Jewish, was a Roman citizen by birth, a rare and valuable status for a Jew at the time, which later granted him legal protections. He was educated in Jerusalem under the renowned rabbi Gamaliel and went on to become a highly educated Pharisee. By his late 20s, early 30s, he pretty much had it made, and even become renown as a defender of Judaism and persecutor of the Christians. You’d think such a one wouldn’t be looking for a change, and he likely wasn’t at all.
But, as some of you know, while he was traveling to Damascus to arrest Christians, God had other plans. A blinding light struck him down, and he heard a voice say, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" He was blinded for three days until a disciple named Ananias visited him, restored his sight, and baptized him.
The result was his becoming the apostle to the Gentiles, conducting major missionary journeys and founding numerous churches. He is also credited with writing 13 or 14 books of the New Testament (the Pauline Epistles), including Romans and 1 Corinthians. Paul is the reason many of us, through our ancestry, are Christian this day. Wow, I know, can you believe that!
The other I’ll mention is another unlikely hero of our faith: Constantine the Great. He as you may recall was the one who turned Christianity into the favored religion of the Roman Empire.
He was a very well to do, powerful and influential man of 40 before his life-changing vision preceding the battle of Milvian Bridge. For the six years leading up to the Milvian Bridge, he governed Britain, Gaul, and Spain. He focused on securing the Rhine frontier, defeating Germanic tribes like the Franks and Alamanni, and undertaking major building projects in his capital at Trier. And Rome, was still, very anti-Christian, the place of many martyrdoms, including that of Paul. Rome had other gods, other traditions.
Constantine’s story is another odd one. According to his biographer Eusebius, Constantine saw a cross of light in the sky above the sun with the inscription "In Hoc Signo Vinces" ("In this sign, conquer"). That night, he reportedly had a dream in which Christ instructed him to use the Christian symbol as a safeguard. Constantine ordered his soldiers to paint the Chi-Rho, the first two letters of "Christ" in Greek, on their shields.
Following his decisive win at the Milvian Bridge, Constantine credited the Christian God for his success. Following his victory, Constantine implemented several policies that fundamentally altered the status of Christianity, including the edict of Milan, and Council of Nicaea which resulted in the Nicene Creed. And Christianity became the favored religion of the Empire. He also became a massive patron of the Church, funding the construction of major basilicas like St. Peter’s in Rome and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
Easter faith. It stretches even beyond the readily imaginable. It takes hold of the resurrection with a loud Alleluia. It rejoices in the victory of our God. It moves us from the incredulous, “Wow. Can you believe that?” to the deeply reverent amen and amen of the “Wow! Can you believe that?” YEAY GOD. And God is sure to continue to surprise and delight. Amen and amen.
*HYMN: I Come to the Garden Alone No. 237
https://youtu.be/tc2zASAu6uo
*PASTORAL BENEDICTION
CHORAL BENEDICTION:
May the light of God shine on us today.
May the light of God shine on us today.
May it show us where to travel,
Lead us back if we should stray.
May the light of God shine on us today.
POSTLUDE: Sinfonia from BWV 29 J.S. Bach
Fifth Sunday in Lent
A Service of the Word
March 22, 2026 ✦ 10am
OPENING WORDS:
We open our hearts to the presence of God and worship together.
PRELUDE: Begin the Beguine Cole Porter
(Once the music begins we ask that you would please maintain respectful silence)
*CHORAL INTROIT:
We are here this day to share God's love;
We have come with burdens and cares,
For within this place, we are bound as one
In this fellowship, we share.
*CALL TO WORSHIP:
One: God calls us from the valley of dry bones.
Come, listen for a word from our God.
Many: We hear God calling us in a far distant voice.
We had nearly forgotten God’s care for us.
One: The Spirit breathes life into our dry bones.
God offers hope when we have lost our way.
Many: Our souls wait for the refreshment God offers.
Our spirits are filled with great expectation.
One: Christ came as a light to all the world.
Christ comes among us today to light our way.
ALL: We hear the teacher calling for us.
Christ unbinds us that we may see and believe.
*HYMN: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling No. 43
WELCOME
PRAYER OF INVOCATION
God of steadfast love, bring new life to this community of your people. We are eager to hear your voice and be filled with your Spirit. Come from the four winds, O Breath, and bring vitality and purpose to our gathering, that we might be energized and encouraged. Hear our voices, lifted in praise and crying out from our need. Be attentive to our supplications, lest we die apart from you. Only you can unbind us and set us free. Amen.
PASSING OF THE PEACE
ANNOUNCEMENTS, CELEBRATIONS & CONCERNS
Holy Week: We begin Holy Week Sunday March 29 with Psalm Sunday. We’ll begin out front with fronds and donkeys. We will also be treated to a special guest: the Rev. Barbara VanOlpen, Assoc. Conference Minister. Our Maundy Thursday service is at 11:00am at Old Steeple, and our Good Friday service at 11:00 at Baiting Hollow
CHILDREN’S TIME
A TIME OF PRAYER:
❖ Pastoral Prayer
Father of all worlds, Mother to all of earth’s children, we cannot live apart from you. Send Christ to live among us and within us so we may be righteous in all our dealings and responsive to you wherever we go, that we may know the life abundant which you offer and be empowered to share it, with compassion and courage, with all whom we meet and with all whom you have called us to love….
❖ Silent Prayer
❖ 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. Lead us not
into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is
the kingdom, the power, the glory, now and forever.
Amen.
OFFERING: Moonglow Will Hudson
* DOXOLOGY AND BLESSING OF GIFTS:
Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God, all creatures here below;
Praise God above, you heavenly host:
Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost.
SCRIPTURE LESSONS:
❖ Ezekiel 37:1-14 OT Page 762
❖ Psalm 130 HYMNAL Page 709
❖ Romans 8:6-11 NT Page 138
❖ John 11:1-45 NT Page 91
SERMON: “Even From Dried Bones and the Tomb”
“Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.” Well that certainly doesn’t sound like it would feel comfortable. Actually, it doesn’t sound in the least bit good.
Yet as the saying goes, “Oh, you know, it could be worse.”
And the worse we get: Not just sore and complaining but dead, buried, wrapped up, and entombed.
Perhaps the most tragic condition one can be in is when all hope is lost. The hope and the prayer is that no one would find themselves in such a spot, at least not for long. We can deal with it in the short-term. Sports competitions come to mind. We can be rooting for our favorite team, but then it gets down to the final inning or last minutes in the fourth quarter, and then it’s apparent that there’s no way a win will happen. Hope is lost, but it’s only momentary, and we can easily move on. Yet life can bring more than just a disappointing final score in a game. With the setting of the that first lesson, we think of those who have lost much more.
The loss of loved ones, a home, the neighborhood that one long held dear, those are the biggies. A glance at the newspaper or a report on the evening news speaks of such in Ukraine, Iran, Israel, and even closer to home when floods or fires sweep in. And it’s all an age-old story.
Those of ancient Israel, those who once held Jerusalem dear, were conquered and exiled in Babylon. There was colossal loss. It’s understandable that the exiles of Babylon had lost their hope in God, that they felt withered, dried up and all but dead like a many a house plant in winter.
Although first set in the original context of the time of the Exile, the lesson is one for all who find themselves living in a valley of despair. One needn’t be conquered or exiled to find oneself languishing from lost hope. The Word is to them and to us is to again take in the spirit, the breath, of God, and live. The Word is that there that it is never too dark or too dry a valley where the power of God cannot save.
For those who know the Psalms well, the dark valley of Ezekiel may well lead you to think of the line from the 23red Psalm, for there we have an echo of the lesson, of the promise: “Though I walk in the darkest valley, walk in the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” The presence of the strength of the Spirit of our God is a message for all who feel as if they were conquered, overtaken, and laid low. It is deep hope in God as fueled by the Holy Spirit that brings the power to dance with God once again.
Yet the challenge, the struggle, is one of believing such is possible. It’s the challenge of faith. The vision that God brought to Ezekiel fueled his hope and again made faith shine bright. The big task was to bring that word, that vision, to the languishing people, and get then to believe it, too.
The power of God to revive, to overcome even death, is again repeated in our Gospel account of Lazarus. Yet there, rather than a valley of dried bones, we have a dark cave of death and burial. Rather than in a vision or dream, the account is one of real life of a grieving people who thought that God had forgotten them or was, at the very least, certainly too late on the scene to be able to heal. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” For Martha, hope like her brother, had died.
Yet through the power of God at work in Jesus, the astounding happens. Lazarus, dead four days, rises and emerges out of the darkness. In the case of Lazarus, such deep darkness and death wasn’t easy to shake off. Although up and walking, Lazarus was still bound. He had indeed made it out of the darkness, but more help was needed to unbind him and set him free. God alone did not do that, but that was the work of others around Lazarus who helped to assure his recovery was complete.
Likely as you have, I’ve been in those valleys and in that darkness. For me it was my broken neck I suffered in college, and then years later, it was the death of one I had come to know as my soulmate. They were dark times of the soul. The latter was particularly devastating as prayers for healing and recovery seemingly went unanswered.
But now years later, I have at least some understanding. Although laid low, through the compassionate support of others around me, I became strong again, readied again to press on.
Today we are again reminded that no matter the valley or the darkness, the Spirit of God can still pervade and prevail. The call is to take in the Spirit of our God and live. The reminder is also that reanimation, revitalization, is likely to necessitate the help of others to undo the constraints that tie us down or hold us back. The constant is true: God’s love is always there for us, and the power of the Holy Spirit is ours to take in. Yet the challenge, as always, is faith.
God is good, all the time. God is powerful, always. God fuels the strength of the faithful. And despite the biggest losses, the deepest despair, God can bring even the seemingly dead back to life.
*HYMN: You Are the Way No. 40
https://youtu.be/O6FY9SPXJ-A
*BENEDICTION
CHORAL BENEDICTION:
May the light of God shine on us today.
May the light of God shine on us today.
May it show us where to travel.
Lead us back if we should stray.
May the light of God shine on us today.
POSTLUDE: Autumn Leaves Joseph Kiana
We're biblical, traditional, yet progressive.
We honor and take pride in our
Congregational roots.
We covenant with one another and with God,
as revealed
in Jesus Christ through the illumination of
the Holy Spirit.
We endeavor to walk humbly with God and
strive for justice and peace.
My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.
Isaiah 56.7
We are an open and affirming congregation in which all persons regardless of race, ethnic background, economic status, gender, age, or personal ability, are equally affirmed into membership, leadership and employment
and joyfully welcomed.
Our church office is open for phone calls at 631-727-2621. Pastor Sean will return your calls. Our secretary is in the office Wednesday and Thursday mornings.
Our church office is open for phone calls at 631-727-2621. Pastor Sean will return your calls. Our secretary is in the office Wednesday and Thursday mornings.
Worship on Sundays at 10:00am.
No matter who you are or where you are in life's journey, you are welcome here.
103 1st Street, Riverhead, New York 11901, United States
Open today | 09:00 am – 12:00 pm |
Our church office is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9:00am-12:00. Church services are held on Sunday at 10:00am, and coffee hour in the fellowship hall following the worship service. Sunday School will be held at 10:00 am. (To run concurrent with our worship service)
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