PRAYER OF CONFESSION O God, we cannot reconcile the joy, the gladness, the wonder, the light, the hope and the peace of Easter, with our own sin and failure. But in the death and resurrection of Jesus you show you are the reconciling God. We want to know deep within us the forgiveness and the new life you give in the Risen Christ. So we come confessing our sin. With sorrow for our failure, With shame for our weakness, With tears for our insensitivity, And pleading for your love and forgiveness. Restore us to true fellowship with you and to life in the Holy Spirit, For the sake of Jesus, Your Son. AMEN COLLECT Lord of life and power, through the mighty resurrection of your Son you have overcome the old order of sin and death and have made all things new in him. May we, being dead to sin and alive to you in Jesus Christ, reign with him in glory, who, with you and the Holy Spirit ever lives, one God, from all eternity. AMEN ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS Christ died for our sins that we might live as forgiving and forgiven people. Christ has died, Christ is risen. You are forgiven! Thanks Be To God. PASSING OF THE PEACE On Easter Day members may greet each other with the words: “Peace be with you. The Lord is Risen!” and the response “He is risen” The Service of the Word GOSPEL READING John 20: 1 – 18 Early on the Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance, and ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. 'They have taken the Lord out of his tomb,' she cried, 'and we do not know where they have laid him.' So Peter and the other set out and made their way to the tomb. They were running side by side, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He peered in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but did not enter. Then Simon Peter came up, following him, and he went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying, and the napkin which had been over his head, not lying with the wrappings but rolled together in a place by itself. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first went in too, and he saw and believed; until then they had not understood the scriptures, which showed that he must rise from the dead. So the disciples went home again.