THE FIRST LESSON Acts 9:1-20
THE SECOND LESSON John 21:1-19
SERMON "Resurrection Life: Eating with Strangers"
Worship Notes
Welcome to worship at Westminster on this Third Sunday of Easter in which we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The liturgical season of Eastertide continues for seven Sundays and concludes with our observance of Ascension Sunday (May 16) before the season of Pentecost begins on May 23. The liturgical color for Eastertide is white.
In worship today, we continue to explore the ways in which we recognize and experience the risen Christ. Today's scripture from the Book of Acts, which tells of Saul's experience with the risen Christ, is dramatized through a setting by Norwegian composer, Egil Hovland (b. 1924). Knighted in 1983 for his contributions to field of music, Hovland is a composer of world renown who has also been an organist and choir director at the same church in Fredrikstad for the past 61 years. In this setting, Hovland dramatizes Saul's encounter through the use of "choral speech," dissonance, and whisper-like dynamics. Other hymns and service music used throughout the worship service are selected to illustrate the call of the risen Christ and our response to it.
The paraments on the lectern and pulpit are by Canadian liturgical artist, Karen Brodie and represent the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet: the alpha and the omega. The interior of the omega, along with the curved lines of the light, remind us of the open tomb and our risen Christ. The cross and the star are combined to become a symbol of Christ's birth and death. The bottom of the cross becomes one with the cup, the cup of salvation, and the wheat, the symbol of the body of Christ broken for us. These paraments also incorporate the sun rising as a symbol of the new life we celebrate through the resurrection of Christ.
