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
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
Second Sunday of Easter
Service of Word and Sacrament
April 12, 2026✦ 10am
We open our hearts to the presence of God and worship together.
PRELUDE: Allemande BWV 815 J.S. Bach
*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: We come again to celebrate resurrection.
God gives us a new birth into a living hope.
Many: Death has no power over us.
Christ goes before us in the new life God offers.
One: Blessed be the God of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Our faith, tested by fire, is renewed.
Many: Our hearts are glad, our souls rejoice.
God shows us the path of life.
One: Again, Jesus says to us: Peace be with you.
Come to receive life in Christ’s name.
ALL: We rejoice in God’s amazing good news.
In God’s presence, we find fullness of joy.
*HYMN: Yours Is the Glory, Resurrected One! No. 253
https://youtu.be/y1pQvwPPwUU
WELCOME
PRAYER OF INVOCATION
Your Easter people gather to praise you, amazing God. Continue to make your ways known to us. Fill us with your presence. We cannot live apart from you. Your counsel and instruction are with us day and night. We have only to open ourselves to your direction. Inspire in us fullness of joy, we pray, as we respond in faith to the risen Christ and embrace the tasks you set before us. Build up our sense of community that we may truly care for one another through all life’s trials. Amen.
PASSING OF THE PEACE
ANNOUNCEMENTS, CELEBRATIONS & CONCERNS
A TIME OF PRAYER:
❖ Pastoral Prayer
God of peace, by whose breath the Holy Spirit enters our lives and transforms our community of faith, come to us now, whether we have opened or locked our doors. Lead us to faith beyond doubt, deeds beyond words, that we may live as your forgiven and forgiving children, leading the way for realization of your peace among us and in all the world….
❖ 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.
CHILDREN’S TIME
OFFERING & OFFERTORY ANTHEM: Softly and Tenderly
Raymond Brown
(arr. Fettke)
*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 2:14a, 22-32 NT Page 102
❖ Psalm 16 Hymnal Page 628
❖ 1 Peter 1:3-9 NT Page 205
❖ John 20:19-31 NT Page 101
*GLORIA:
Glory to the Creator, the Christ, the Holy Spirit,
Three -in-one; as it was in the beginning
Is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen. Amen.
SERMON: “Look to the Joy Beyond the Doubt”
This is one of those sermons that’s basically a big pep talk to me. As many of you know, I’ve been house hunting. It’s been slim pickings and high prices. Great for the sellers; not so much for anyone looking to buy a home. So far, we’ve lost three bids. The last two were particularly nice homes. Now as we’re poised to put in another bid on a nice house, I’m wondering if we’ll actually manage to get it. The doubt. And yet, I am kinda’ pretty certain that eventually we’ll be able to find a decent place to call home.
Eventual joy is the vision, but doubt is tough company to shake. Joy and doubt. They walk into our lives like an old married couple—one smiling, one grumbling, both insisting they belong. Such is faith. Scripture never pretends that faith is a straight line. It’s more like a winding path with potholes, scenic overlooks, and the occasional “Are we there yet?” from the back seat.
Today’s readings dive into the doubt but call us to move on past it. They call us to look through doubt, beyond doubt, and ultimately past doubt, toward a joy that is deeper, sturdier, and more surprising than anything we could manufacture on our own.
We get a look at Peter in our reading from Acts. This is the same Peter who, not long before, denied Jesus three times. The same Peter who sank in the water. The same Peter who often spoke first and thought later. And yet here he is, standing in front of a crowd, preaching with boldness, clarity, and conviction. If you ever feel like God can’t use you because you’ve messed up, just remember: Peter is basically the patron saint of “I didn’t think this through.”
Peter proclaims that Jesus—crucified and risen—is the One whom God has made both Lord and Messiah. And Peter points to joy—not a shallow happiness, not a “things are going great” kind of joy, but a joy rooted in the resurrection. A joy that says: even when life looks like Good Friday, God is already working on Easter.
Then we turn to 1 Peter, where the apostle writes to believers who are suffering, confused, and unsure of what comes next. He tells them that through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, they have been given a “living hope.” Not a dusty hope. Not a “hope stored in the cellar next to the Christmas decorations.” A living hope—something breathing, active, and stubbornly persistent.
And then Peter says something that feels almost intangible: “Although you have not seen him, you love him… and you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy.” Indescribable joy. Joy that doesn’t always make sense. Joy that shows up even when circumstances don’t justify it. Joy that sneaks in the back door of your heart when doubt is busy arguing at the front.
Which brings us to Thomas. Ah, Thomas. The disciple who has been branded for 2,000 years as “Doubting Thomas.” If Thomas had a PR team, they would have rebranded him by now. “Thomas the Thorough.” “Thomas the Honest.” “Thomas the Patron Saint of People Who Want Just a Little More Information Before Making a Major Life Decision.”
Thomas gets a bad reputation, but let’s be fair: all he asked for was the same thing the other disciples got. They saw Jesus. They touched him. They heard his voice. Thomas simply wanted the same experience. And honestly, who among us hasn’t prayed, “Lord, I believe—sort of—could you help me out a little here?”
When Jesus appears again, he doesn’t scold Thomas. He doesn’t shame him. He doesn’t say, “Really? After all we’ve been through?” Instead, Jesus invites Thomas closer. “Put your finger here. See my hands.” Jesus meets Thomas right in the middle of his doubt.
And Thomas responds with the most profound confession in the entire Gospel of John: “My Lord and my God.”
Doubt didn’t disqualify him. Doubt led him to deeper faith.
And that’s the heart of today’s message: Look to the joy beyond the doubt. Not instead of doubt. Not pretending doubt doesn’t exist. But beyond it. Because doubt is not the opposite of faith. Fear is the opposite of faith. Apathy is the opposite of faith. Doubt is simply the doorway we walk through on the way to deeper trust.
If faith were a rehab facility, doubt would be the treadmill. Nobody loves the treadmill. But it strengthens you. It builds endurance. It prepares you for better journeying. And joy—real joy—is the fruit that grows when faith has been strengthened by wrestling honestly with doubt.
Think about the disciples in that locked room. They were terrified. Confused. Hiding. But Jesus brings peace (although it’ll likely take a minute for them to get it). He breathes the Holy Spirit on them. He gives them purpose. He gives them joy. And he does all of this before they fully understand what’s happening.
Joy doesn’t wait for us to have everything figured out. Joy doesn’t require perfect faith. Joy is a gift of the risen Christ, given freely, generously, and often unexpectedly.
So what does it mean for us to look to the joy beyond the doubt?
It means being honest with God. God is not threatened by your questions. God is not offended by your uncertainty. If Jesus can handle Thomas, he can handle you. Bring your doubts to God. Bring your fears. Bring your “I’m not sure about this.” God meets us where we are, not where we pretend to be.
It means remembering that resurrection joy is stronger than present fear. Peter preached boldly because he knew the tomb was empty. The worst thing that could happen had already happened—and God had overcome it. That same resurrection power is at work in your life. Joy is not the denial of suffering; it is the declaration that suffering does not get the last word.
It means trusting that joy grows slowly but surely. Peter says our faith is being refined like gold. Refining is not a quick process. It takes heat. It takes time. But the result is something precious. Joy grows in the soil of perseverance, honesty, and hope.
It means recognizing Jesus in the middle of locked-room moments. We all have locked rooms – places in our hearts where fear keeps the door shut. But Jesus walks right in. He brings peace. He brings presence. He brings joy. Even when we’re not expecting him.
It means celebrating the joy that comes from relationship, not certainty. Thomas didn’t need perfect theology. He needed Jesus. And when he saw Jesus, joy followed. Our faith is not built on having all the answers. It’s built on the One who is the answer.
So today, if you find yourself wrestling with doubt, take heart. You are in good company. Peter doubted. Thomas doubted. The disciples doubted. And yet God used them to change the world.
Your doubt is not a dead end. It is a doorway.
Look through it. Look beyond it. Look past it.
Because on the other side of doubt is a Savior who still says, “Peace be with you.”
On the other side of doubt is a hope that is living and active.
On the other side of doubt is a joy that is indescribable. A joy that can be ours—not because we have perfect faith, but because Christ is perfectly faithful.
So look to the joy beyond the doubt.
It’s already reaching out to you.
OUR ORDER OF COMMUNION
The Invitation and Time of Confession:
❖ Call to Confession
❖ Silent Confession
❖ Unison Prayer of Confession:
Forgive us, God, for seeking to limit your truth to what
we can understand. Forgive us for chasing after gods of
our own making. We are so busy with them that we
forget to open ourselves to your larger reality. We reduce
the circles of connection and caring that Jesus demonstrated.
Goodness is crucified by our narrow prejudices, and our
doubts plunge us into despair. Be to us a refuge, granting
us courage to face the questions that haunt us until they
lead to deeper understanding. Amen.
❖ Words of Assurance
Thanksgiving:
Pastor: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Pastor: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift them up to the Lord.
Pastor: Let us give thanks to God Most High.
People: It is right to give God thanks and praise.
Pastor: We give you thanks, God of majesty and mercy,
for calling forth the creation and raising us from dust
by the breath of your being.
We bless you for the beauty and bounty of the earth and for the vision of the day when sharing by all will mean scarcity for none.
We remember the covenant you made with your people Israel, and we give you thanks for all our ancestors in faith.
We rejoice that you call us to reconciliation with you and all people everywhere and that you remain faithful to your covenant even when we are faithless.
We rejoice that you call the entire human family to this table of sacrifice and victory.
We come in remembrance and celebration of the gift of Jesus Christ, whom you sent, in the fullness of time, to be the good news.
Born of Mary, our sister in faith, Christ lived among us to reveal the mystery of your Word, to suffer and die on the cross for us, to be raised from death on the third day, and then to live in glory.
We bless you, gracious God, for the presence of your Holy Spirit in the church you have gathered. With your sons and daughters of faith in all places and times, we praise you with joy as we say together:
All: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts,
Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory,
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
Words of Institution and Communal Proclamation:
Pastor: We remember that on the night of betrayal and desertion,
and on the eve of death, Jesus gathered the disciples for a shared meal of preparation.
Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks to God, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying: “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way, he took the cup after supper.
Again he gave God thanks and praise and said:
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as
often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Therefore, we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
All: Christ’s death, O God we proclaim.
Christ’s resurrection we declare.
Christ’s coming, we await.
Glory be to you, O God.
Prayers of Consecration:
Pastor: Eternal God, we unite in this covenant of faith, recalling Christ’s suffering and death, rejoicing in Christ’s resurrection, and awaiting Christ’s return in victory. We spread your table with these gifts of the earth and of our labor. We present to you our very lives, committed to your service on behalf of all people. We ask you to send your Holy Spirit upon this bread and wine, upon our gifts, and upon us. Strengthen your universal church that it may be the champion of peace and justice in all the world. Restore the earth with your grace that is able to make all things new.
All: Be present with us as we share this meal,
and throughout all our lives, that we may know you as
the Holy One, who with Christ and the Holy Spirit,
lives forever. Amen.
Sharing the Bread and Cup:
Pastor: Alleluia! Christ our Passover is offered for us.
People: Therefore, let us keep the feast.
Pastor: The gifts of God for the people of God.
We celebrate the grace of God in our midst.
Unison Prayer of Thanksgiving:
We give you thanks, Almighty God, that you have refreshed us at your table through the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Continue to heal us, we pray, and strengthen our faith. Increase our love for one another, and send us forth into the world in courage and peace, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit; we ask these things in the Name of Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
*HYMN: Not with Naked Eye, Not with Human Sense
*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: This Little Light of Mine (arr. Rick Modlin)
(please remain seated for the postlude)
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
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.
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