Gathering Our Spirit with God's Spirit

The room is set with selected items from Easter prayer vigil, including grass on the floor, a garden gate and a small waterfall fountain.

• “You Can Never Hold Back Spring” by Tom Waits plays
• A Journeyer steps up to light the lamp and another rings the bell
• Leslie makes announcements

Worshiping with Our Children

• A Journeyer leads our children in talking about how Jesus was killed but God gave him new life! And today we celebrate that God is so powerful that we will always be loved.

Welcome and Breathe

• Journeyer Darden Smith and Renee lead us in singing “Christ the Lord is Risen today”
• Rick welcomes, has us breathe

God’s Spirit and Our Spirit

• A Journeyer reads poem “Some Seeds”

“Some Seeds”
by St John of the Cross (1542-1591) Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

Some seeds beneath the earth are dormant. They fell the last time the cool air turned the leaves to gold. Those seeds have different needs than we do;
Let them go about their life completely unharmed by your views.
We have cracked open, we sensed even beneath the earth
the holy was near, and are reaching up to know and claim
Light as our self.
We have cracked open and are reaching up
We are reaching up to know and claim
Light as our self.

• Another Journeyer reads Wendell Berry poem #1

Ask the questions that have no answers. Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest. Say that the leaves are harvested when they have rotted into the mold. Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.

• Laity Lodge video by Journeyer Carl McLendon plays
• A Journeyer reads Matthew 28:1-7 (The Message)

Risen from the Dead

1-4 After the Sabbath, as the first light of the new week dawned, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to keep vigil at the tomb. Suddenly the earth reeled and rocked under their feet as God's angel came down from heaven, came right up to where they were standing. He rolled back the stone and then sat on it. Shafts of lightning blazed from him. His garments shimmered snow-white. The guards at the tomb were scared to death. They were so frightened, they couldn't move.

5-6The angel spoke to the women: "There is nothing to fear here. I know you're looking for Jesus, the One they nailed to the cross. He is not here. He was raised, just as he said. Come and look at the place where he was placed.

7"Now, get on your way quickly and tell his disciples, 'He is risen from the dead. He is going on ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there.' That's the message."

Giving -- To Help God Do God's Work in This World 

• A Journeyer reads poem “Some Seeds” again, then says offering prayer
• Darden and Renee sing “Rise” as the ushers pass the baskets and bring them forward

Telling The Story and Our Story

• A Journeyer reads Luke 4:18-19 (New Living Translation)

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.

• Rick talks

Go Out to Serve with Courage and Grace

• Darden, Renee and Maria sing “Fight for Love”
• A Journeyer reads poem “Some Seeds” for the third time
• A Journeyer dismisses with Wendell Berry poem #2

Go with your love to the fields. Lie down in the shade. Rest your head in her lap. Swear allegiance to what is nighest your thoughts. As soon as the generals and the politicos can predict the motions of your mind, lose it. Leave it as a sign to mark the false trail, the way you didn't go. Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction. Practice resurrection.

• “You Can Never Hold Back Spring" plays again as folks depart