Worship for April 5, 2026: Easter Sunday

Thank you for joining us for this live stream (or recording, as the case may be) of Sunday worship. May it bless you! You may need to click “Play” to launch the stream, which will be live around 9:50 AM.

This service includes the celebration of Holy Communion. If you will be worshiping from home, please prepare and have ready some bread or other staple food and grape juice or another beverage for that portion of the service.

Welcome to the live stream of worship from Church of the Holy Cross for Sunday, April 5, 2025. You will find the service outline below, and you may download and print the PDF to follow more easily. 

WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD

Lighting of the Candles

Ringing of the Bell

Welcome                                                                                Rev. Eric S. Anderson

* Call to Worship (based on Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24)                                                                                                      Peter Braun

Leader:         Give thanks to the LORD, for God is good, whose steadfast love endures forever!
People:        God’s steadfast love endures forever!

Leader:         The LORD is my strength and my might; God has become my salvation.
People:        I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD.

Leader:         Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD.
People:        This is the gate of the LORD, and we rejoice to enter through it.

All:     Let us worship God!

* Hymn #233: Christ the Lord is Risen Today (v. 1-4)

* Invocation (based on Jeremiah 31:1-6)                                            Peter Braun

You have loved us with an everlasting love, O God. You have been faithful to us when we in ignorance or willfulness turned away. In the resurrection of Jesus we take up our tambourines; we go forth in the dance of the merrymakers. You gave us grace in the wilderness of our spirits; you gave us renewal in the shadows of our fears. Let your love blossom and bear fruit in us, O God, as we celebrate the life of Christ that takes away the power of death. Christ is risen! Alleluia! Amen

Please be seated

WE SHARE THE WORD OF GOD

Anthem: Maing Sises (Lord Jesus)                                                              IYAA

Time with the Children                                                             Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Scripture                                                                                                      Peter Braun

Acts 10:34-43

Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every people anyone who fears him and practices righteousness^[a] is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

John 20:1-18

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’s head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed, for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to lookinto the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not touch me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Sermon: Assumptions                                                                      Rev. Eric S. Anderson

WE RESPOND IN WORD AND DEED

Pastoral Prayer                                                                                 Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Please join me in the 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. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen

Call to Offering                                                                                             Peter Braun

On this day we pause with Mary Magdalene in wonder and delight at the resurrection of Christ, a life which promises new life for us all. Tomorrow, through these gifts, we set ourselves once more on the road of discipleship, bearing the love of God in word and deed. Whether you share your gift here in the church today, through a gift online, or via an envelope in the mail, let the offering now be received.

* Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost – Amen

Set our minds on Christ, O God. Set our hearts on you. Set our souls securely in the Holy Spirit. With mind and heart and soul we offer these gifts to you, celebrating the life of Jesus, and sharing your love with all the world. Amen.

* Hymn #245: The Day of Resurrection (v. 1-3)

Please be seated

Sacrament of Holy Communion

Invitation

Consecrating the Bread and Cup    

Prayer of Thanksgiving

* Hymn #230: Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain (v. 1 – 4)

Benediction                                                                          Rev. Eric S. Anderson

Postlude: Risen to Victory                                                                  Kayleen Yuda

Permissions

Christ the Lord is Risen Today
Arr. By Jason D. Payne
© 2018 Lorenz Corporation (Admin. by Music Services)
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

Christ the Lord is Risen Today
Text by Charles Wesley, 1739
Tune EASTER HYMN first published 1708
Public Domain

Maing Sises
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

Fanfare on Easter Hymn
Arr. By Thomas Chesterton
© 1989 Lorenz Corporation (Admin. by Music Services)

The Day of Resurrection
Text by John of Damascus, 8^th cent.
Trans. by John Mason Neale, 1862
Tune LANCASHIRE by Henry T. Smart, 1836
Public Domain

Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain
Text by John of Damascus, 8^th cent.
Trans. John Mason Neale, 1872
Tune ST. KEVIN by Arthur S. Sullivan, 1872
Public Domain

Risen to Victory
By Tom Birchwood
© 1989 Lorenz Publishing Co. (Admin. by Music Services)
Streamed by permission ONELICENSE A-735890

Important Dates

Other Faith Groups that meet at Church of the Holy Cross
The United Church of Christ, Pohnpei – Sanctuary, 12 noon
            Rev. Bensis Henry
Congregational Christian Church of American Samoa – Sanctuary, 2:00 p.m.
            Rev. Sitau Ofoia, Jr.
The Bedesta Church – Sanctuary, 4 p.m.   
Rev.  Edmes Edwin

Pastor          Rev. Eric S. Anderson
Moderator             Lorraine Davis
Vice Moderator Elwood Kita
Lay Reader            Peter Braun
Chapel Decorations     Lilies* coordinated by Cynthia Debus
Organist / Pianist     Kayleen Yuda
Music Director-Accompanist Bob Grove
Guest Organist Michael Springer   
Hand Bell Director        Anna Kennedy   
Hymn Leader   Chandra Oshima
Projected Imagery        Sue Smith
Web Master          Ruth Niino-DuPonte  
Videographers    Eric Tanouye, Bob Smith, Woody Kita,
            Mace Peng, Cindy Debus
Sunday School Teacher          Gloria Kobayashi
Sunday School Aide      Johanna Narruhn

*Thank you to everyone who donated the lovely Easter Lilies

Lillies– Beverly Dodo, Nalyn Ang, Ming and Mace Peng, Moira Tanaka. Sandra Todd, Karen Shigeoka, Gloria Kobayashi, Lois Jean Tanouye, Joyce Nakamoto, Jane Kawazoe, Tim Hanson, Kevin Reardon
Altar arrangement-Laura Ota