Good morning! This page is intended to both serve as a continuing worship option for those participating in our worship service from home, and to serve in place of print resources during our in-person worship. Following the worship service on Sunday, one or more video recordings from the service will be placed on this page, including the sermon. This may take several hours, due to the time needed to process the videos. We will email the congregation when the recordings have been posted. If you would like to be added to our congregational email list, please contact pvcob.alive@gmail.com.
- SNL – April 24 – 6-12 Grade youth are invited to join with other area Church of the Brethren youth from 4-6 pm at Sangerville Church of the Brethren. The Inter-district Youth Cabinet (the same folks who plan Roundtable!) is planning a fun evening that will include cooperative games, food, and devotion.
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Brethren Woods is looking for donations for their Spring Festival on Saturday, April 30th. Donations are needed for the yard sale and auction. Item suggestions are: comforter’s/quilts, crafts, theme baskets, collectibles, artwork, wooden items, antiques and baked goods. I will be glad to take small items (that will fit in my car) to Brethren Woods. These donations need to be dropped off in the Church Library by Sunday,April 24th. Plan to come out to bid, buy and take home a treasure. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Emily Ashby at 540-480-1313
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Is there a special place in the Valley that brings you peace and clarity? As part of our mission of refugee resettlement, Isabelle Garber has started a new project, Places of Peace. She’s asking for submissions from the PVCoB community members that she will then compile into a bound book to give to the refugee family. This mission intends to serve their mental health, help them feel adjusted to the area, and help them get to know us better! If you’re interested, please write a short paragraph describing your place of peace and why it’s important to you (photos are also optional but encouraged!) Please email Isabelle Garber garberisabelle@gmail.comwith submissions by April 15th (late submissions accepted)!
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Backpack Pals are accepting donations of Pudding Cups and Ramen Noodles! Pudding cups are especially needed. Please leave any donations in the blue bin located in the Narthex. Thank you!
- The 22nd Annual SDDA Golf Tournament is Friday, May 20th at Heritage Oaks Golf Course! You can pick up more information in the Narthex found at the trifold display. If you have any questions, please contact Don Landes.
Gathering at the Tomb
We come to Easter morning through the darkness. Easter is not simply a day of celebration. It is not just a festival of joy. Easter is a restoration of hope from despair. It is a sudden unveiling of glory that had been concealed by the most hideous ugliness. Because on Easter morning the women closest to Jesus came to his tomb to complete the burial rites that were still unfinished. Their grief was boundless. They had lost a beloved friend, a son, their savior, to the most cruel and painful death.
Jesus’ death was not the type of blameless thing that we often experience. Instead it was an intentional betrayal by their own people. “Crucify him!” they had cried. And now they came back to the tomb, to finish the ritual cleansing and anointing of his body. Such a pitiful thing compared to what had been done to him. What are ointments and herbs compared to the lashes of whips, spikes driven through hands and feet, and a spear thrust in the side?
Remembering Good Friday
John 19:16-18 NRSV
So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’
John 19:25-30 NRSV
Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfil the scripture), ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Celebrating the Resurrection
Luke 24:1-12 NRSV
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
In Prayer
Spirit of God
As we gather this Easter morning
You have shown us the power of your love
and the strength of your grace.
You roll back the night like a stone from the tomb
And shake the grave with your resurrection.
Fill us with your presence this morning.
Wash us clean and make us new;
ready to share the good news,
that in you life has the victory
and death has lost its sting.
Born in you, we rise to life:
To celebrate and sing,
to serve and pray,
to share your grace,
to know your love.
Rise among us this morning, Amen!
Confession
One:While it was still dark,
Mary Magdalene ran to the tomb
and saw that the stone had been rolled away.
All:We come to worship,
not knowing what we will find.
One:While it was still dark,
other disciples ran as well
in search of their beloved Jesus.
All:We come together,
needing each other’s eyes and ears.
One:While it was still dark,
they could see the linen wrappings
and the emptiness of the tomb.
All:We come to find a mystery,
not yet knowing what God is doing.
One:While it was still dark,
one stood weeping,
afraid of what was lost.
All:We come to hear the Lord,
who speaks to us anew.
One:While it is still dark,
the light shines in the darkness
and the darkness does not overcome it.
All:We come to see the Lord,
alive and moving among us.
-Dawn Oftoni-Wilhelm Richmond, Indiana
In Prayer Together
Holy, Blessed, and Amazing God,
You are the author of every new morning.
As light dawns, as the sun rises, as joy fills the earth,
We hear the songs of celebration
and join in to share the good news:
You are still bringing life into the world today!
So we celebrate you with songs and flowers and eggs.
We give sweets to children
and are reminded of the sweetness of your love as well.
We sing, and laugh, and share together.
And we know that all is not perfect.
We know that there are many places, many things
in which brokeness still reigns in the world.
We know that there are people still suffering from other’s greed,
people still being wounded by others hard-heartedness,
people driven from their homes and morning senseless death,
people hungering and thirsting,
both for food and for justice and righteousness.
But we believe that you are coming
and that you will set a feast
just like you did with simple fish and bread for your disciples.
Prepare us to sit at that table.
Wash us of every sin, and give us a new Sunday best.
Clothe us with compassion and mercy and grace.
Lead us to a new wholeness with our brothers and sisters,
a peace that expresses your love for friend and stranger.
Then, may we all know what it is to leave the tomb empty together.
By your power and your grace we pray, Amen.
As light rises, darkness fades away.
As God speaks, the sun is given new life.
As we listen, it enters us too.
Go and know the fullness of God’s blessing
on this most glorious day.
Christ is Risen! Amen!