The Second Sunday of Easter
April 12, 2026
As she brought the Word for All Ages this Sunday, Katie invited the entire congregation to try out Qigong, a meditative way of moving with the breath.
In serving as liturgist, Erica adapted and simplified our regular Easter liturgy to be more inviting and understandable for young people, adding explanations about some of our practices. Here is the liturgy as it was offered this week:
SEEKERS CHURCH
A Church of the Saviour Community
Easter 2026
Beyond Suffering
REFLECTION
Our reflection is a short quote that gets us thinking about a theme or idea. Most of the time, this theme shows up in different places throughout our service. See if you can find them!
Remember, God, that we are the plants in your fields, so connected to the earth that you know what would happen if you did not rain upon us. And if your light ceased to lift us from the ground and craft our bodies; how might we draw near you like the sun? Remember, God, to love us in a way our souls can taste and rejoice in.
– St. Teresa of Avila, in Love Poems from God, by Daniel Ladinsky, p.284
CALL TO WORSHIP
The call to worship has been a part of religious gatherings for thousands of years! It helps remind us why we came to church this morning.
Leader: God sends us rain and sunshine –
even in hard times,
God gives us life.
People: God connects us to the earth,
filling us with joy.
Leader: Christ is risen!
All: Christ is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
LIGHTING THE ALTAR CANDLE
OPENING PRAYER –
God, thank you for being here with us this morning. Thank you for the sun shining, for giving us life. With all that is happening in the world, we are tempted to fear, to hide, to doubt. But you come with PEACE as your gift. Help us to experience that peace this morning. Amen.
HYMN
SILENCE
We’ll now have a moment of quiet to be alone with our thoughts and with God.
PRAYERS
Now is a time when we pray together. This is something very special to Seekers – where ALL of us, old and young, whether you’ve been coming to Seekers for 50 years or this is your very first visit – we all have the opportunity to share our prayers with each other and with God.
We start with a confession prayer all together, I think because that can make us feel braver about confessing individually.
CONFESSION
Leader: It’s hard to celebrate Easter and new life,
when we’re sad for
ourselves, our country, and our world.
People: Even when we’re not paying attention,
God sends all that we need –
the rain and the sunshine.
Leader: We don’t always notice
all that God does to take care of us.
All: Forgive us, God,
when we are stuck on our problems
and can’t see how
you bring us new life.
Now we have some time for us to share our individual confessions – mistakes we made, times that we didn’t do our best to love God and love each other.
For all of our prayers this morning, you can say them out loud or you can just think them silently – God hears you and loves you either way.
ASSURANCE
Leader: Christ is risen and here among us now,
assuring us that we are forgiven.
All: Alleluia! Christ is risen indeed!
THANKSGIVING AND PRAISE
God, we give you thanks for the sun and the rain, and all of the beautiful signs of spring they bring. We give you thanks for our friends and family, who can make even the rainiest days feel sunny. We give you thanks for food and shelter, for having a safe place to be out of the wind. And what else are we thankful for?
INTERCESSION AND PETITION
God, you say over and over again, “Peace be with you.” We pray for peace in our country and all over the world, especially in the places like Iran and Gaza and Haiti where peace feels impossible. But even when we feel doubt, nothing is impossible with you. So now we pray for our concerns, big and small, knowing that you hear ALL of our prayers.
Now we pray our prayer of commitment. This prayer helps us express how we want to respond to all of the prayers we’ve shared, together as a community.
COMMITMENT
All: O Holy One, we come today
to claim our relationship with you.
We pray for the commitment to grow together,
sharing the gifts you give us with others
here and in the wider world.
Forgive us for the hurt we have inflicted
and help us forgive those who have hurt us.
Give us strength and discipline
to nurture our relationship with you;
to care for every part of your creation;
to foster justice and be in solidarity with those in need;
to work to end all war, and violence, and discord;
and to respond joyfully when you call,
freely giving our selves as you have shown the way.
We open our hearts to you and your creation
in the name of Jesus, who is the Christ. Amen.
HYMN
THE WORD
Now is the time in our service where we really try to LISTEN for what God might be telling us. First we do this by listening to a reading from the Bible. Judy is going to read to us from John 20:19-31.
SCRIPTURE
I don’t know how much time you’ve spent at other churches, but at most of them you have to listen to the same person preach every week. At Seekers we’re lucky because we have a different preacher each week. We do this because we think God speaks to all of us and inspires all of us! Today we will hear from Katie. Katie has been coming to Seekers for about 20 years. She has done many things to help and share her gifts with our church, like helping to care for our building for many years, and sharing her gift of music, and helping us think about how we care for animals. Welcome, Katie!
SERMON
SILENT REFLECTION
OFFERING
Now is the time we collect the offering. This helps us remember that EVERYTHING we have comes from God, and God gives to us expecting that we’re going to be generous and kind with all of our gifts. Today I want to invite us to do our offering a little different. Normally, only people who have money to offer on that day take the plate to put their money in. But money is just one of the many gifts that God gives us. I’d like to invite everyone to take the plate this morning, and as you hold it for just a moment, I want you to think about a gift you can offer this week. Maybe it’s helping out someone at school at work who’s going through a hard time. Maybe it’s smiling at a stranger on the street. Maybe it’s using your athleticism to help your team win a game. Maybe it’s doing a chore around the house without someone having to ask you. Whatever gift you can give, I want you to imagine putting THAT in the offering plate to offer to God. John H will help us collect all of these wonderful gifts today.
SHARED REFLECTIONS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
HYMN
BENEDICTION
Leader: As the light of God lifts us up,
let’s go out to lift others, too.
And may we all be connected with the earth,
with the rain and sunshine,
and be filled with joy, peace, and love,
today and always.
Christ is risen!
People: Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.