Sunday Bulletin
Celebration Service
Third Sunday of Easter
April 19, 2026 9:30 am
Prelude “Easter Chant” Young
Introit “He Is Lord”
Welcome & Announcements
Call to Worship Lay Leader: Oliver Giuliani
God of life and love
We rejoice in your abundant gifts
God of all peoples and all places
We celebrate your generosity and grace
God of the earth and the heavens
We praise you for your provision
You visit the earth and water it
Softening it with showers and blessing its growth
You make springs gush forth in the valleys
From your lofty abode, you water the mountains
God of life and love
We bless your holy name!
Hymn “Morning Has Broken” #53
Unison Prayer
Our God, we come together to praise you, and to renew our
promises to you; for you have overcome our failings, you have
answered our prayers: thank you for sending the rain to make
the land rich and fertile, thank you for filling the streams with
water, thank you for providing the earth with crops, for making
the young plants grow, thank you for the cattle in the pastures
and the sheep upon the hillside. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
Children’s Message
Reading Psalm 65:5-13
By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance. O God of our
salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the
farthest seas.
By your strength you established the mountains; you are girded with
might.
You silence the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the
tumult of the peoples.
Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy.
You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God
is full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have
prepared it.
You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with
showers, and blessing its growth.
You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow
with richness.
The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves
with joy,
The meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck
themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.
The Gloria Patri #35
Anthem “I Believe This is Jesus” Arr. Loonis McGlohon
from Songs of the Soul
Green Team Moment Lauren Drenen
PPLC Denise Greene and Melissa Jordan
Prayers of the People
Hymn “For the Beauty of the Earth” #56
Reading Luke 24:13-35
Message “On The Path” Rev. Dan Haugh
Offering
Offertory “Christ Is Risen Again” Fischer
Doxology* #46
Offertory Prayer*
Hymn “He Lives!” #226
Benediction
Closing “O Christ, the Way, the Truth, the Life”
Postlude “O for A Thousand Tongues to Sing” Jordan
Calendar of Events
Monday, 4/13 Noon AA meeting in Fellowship Hall
Tuesday, 4/14 7:30 AA meeting in Fellowship Hall
Wednesday, 4/15 Noon AA meeting in Fellowship Hall
5:30 Choir Rehearsal in Organ Loft
Thursday, 4/16 3:15 Cherub Choir
4:00 Youth Choir
Happy Birthday this week to:
Oscar Nutt today, 4/19
Lauren Stagnitti on 4/20
Dorrit Edwards and Lily Thompson on 4/22
Ryan Krukar on 4/23
Announcements
The ushers today are Rodrigo Pilla and Jena Anthony. Thank you for helping today.
Our deepest sympathies to Pauline Lloyd and family for the loss of Arthur Lloyd who was born to eternal life on April 13th.
New Member Orientation today, April 19, 2026 following the morning worship service in Fellowship Hall in person or Zoom meeting on Monday April 20, 2026 at 6pm. These are for anyone interested in learning more about our church or signing up to become members. We will welcome new members on Sunday, May 10, 2026 at our 9:30 worship service.
Embracing “Earth Day 2026”
Founded in 1970, Earth Day is an annual celebration of all that sustains life on Earth. As a “call to action,” Earth Day seeks to inspire and energize people around the world to celebrate, nurture, and protect the planet.
Stowe Community Church embraces Earth Day and its call to action:
The Church and Parsonage now feature modern, efficient, fossil-free heat pumps for cooling and heating, as well as energy-efficient, fossil-free induction stove tops.
Energy-efficient LED lighting is now standard practice.
Additional insulation has been installed in the Parsonage, an energy-efficient “on demand” water heater is now in use, and the stone basement has been sealed to prevent air and water leakage.
The Church’s volunteer Green Team has been instrumental in instituting recycling and composting, collecting used eyeglasses and printer ink cartridges, publishing monthly “Green Tips” in the Quest and Church Bulletin, and hosting a “Book Club” Zoom featuring The Service Berry by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Biodegradable cups will soon replace plastic cups for Communion. “Green Up Day” is coming soon – the church community will participate for the fifth year.
What other ideas do you have? How about a pollinator garden? What about promoting “Mow Free May”? Interested in a regular, monthly “Green Book Club”?
We’d love to hear from you! To share your ideas or to join the Green Team, contact Laura.Drenen@gmail.com.
By Chris Donovan, SCC Green Team
Pledging 2026
We are very close to our goal of $325,000. It is not an unreasonable goal. If we succeed in reaching it, we can fulfill our plans to continue supporting Christian Education for our youth and maintaining our beautiful church and offering a fair workplace environment for our staff.
The amount you pledge is less important than the fact that you pledge! It is a way of showing your appreciation and support for the gift of this church, our pastor and the opportunity to pray and find peace with our church neighbors. Without hesitation we pay a toll to drive on a highway or to cross a bridge. We buy a mocha latte without batting an eye. Showing our support and appreciation for Stowe Community Church is a gift we give and a gift we receive. Nancy Money, Stewardship Chair.
Movie Screening at Stowe Cinema- Just Mercy
Join our interfaith partners and us on April 30th at 7:00 PM at Stowe Cinema for a special screening of Just Mercy, based on the powerful book by Bryan Stevenson. This inspiring film explores themes of justice, mercy, and the dignity of every human life, inviting thoughtful reflection and conversation. Admission is free, but registration is required on our website.
Denise Greene of Hyde Park and Melissa Jordan of Morristown join us today to discuss Pollinator Pathway of Lamoille County (PPLC). As co-chairs, they share a passion for our native plants and insects and other invertebrates who pollinate them, as well as a mission to preserve their shrinking numbers. The good news is that we can all help! In addition to co-chairing PPLC, Denise is a UVM master gardener and co-chair of the Hyde Park Energy & Conservation Committee. Melissa is a former worm farmer and composting educator who founded PPLC during the winter of 2022. They will share what motivated the formation of PPLC and how to join the county-wide effort.
Save the Dates:
Vermont Green Up Day – May 2
Men’s Group Outdoor Adventure May 14, 9:00 am
Youth Outing – Biking & Pizza – May 30th 11-1
Bible Camp – August 17-21, 2026 9am to noon “Rainforest Falls – exploring the nature of God”
If you, or someone you know, would like prayers for comfort or healing, the members of the Prayer Team are ready to support you. Please fill out the prayer request form in the pew and put it in the offering plate or hand it to an usher to deliver to the office.
Please do not forget our neighbors in need by donating food for the Lamoille Community Food Share. Non-perishable items can be put in our two bins, one in the Narthex and one in the hall downstairs. Thank you.
Musical Notes by Karen Miller
Prelude: Twentieth century American composer Gordon Young (1919-1998) wrote a short organ piece based on the Easter hymn "O Filii et Filiae", Hymn No. 220 in the Chalice Hymnal. A bold piece, it states the melody three times and includes a running eighth note interlude before the final section. Young was a prolific writer of organ music and concentrated most of his efforts on accessible service music for the church. His published pieces number over 500.
Anthem: Loonis McGlohon was working on a television documentary on spirituals for WBTV, a Charlotte, North Carolina station, when he discovered some little-known spirituals on the sea islands of South Carolina and Georgia in 1978. He later arranged and adapted three as choral anthems. "I Believe This is Jesus" comes from Edisto Island, near Charleston, South Carolina. The text reads:
I believe this is Jesus. Come and see, come and see.
The light of God shines in His face.
He offers all His pardoning grace.
The love of God shines in His eyes.
He tells of mansions in the skies.
I believe this is Jesus. Come and see, come and see.
Offertory: Johann Kaspar Ferdinand Fischer (1665-1746) was probably a Bohemian. His first appointments were as Kapellmeister in Schlackenwerth and then as organist to the Margrave in Baden in Bohemia. In 1705 the court moved to Rastatt and Fischer remained there until his death. He wrote harpsichord pieces and two sets of organ pieces. These are all considered pairs of preludes and fugues. His "Christ ist erstanden" is based on the Easter chorale "Christ is risen again". The opening phrase is used in a fugal style moving amongst the four voices.
Postlude: The first appearance of the tune titled "Azmon" was in Lowell Mason's The Modern Psalmist of 1839. No composer was indicated. Mason had collected it with many other tunes as he toured Europe in hopes of obtaining materials for future publications. One composer he visited was Carl G. Glaser. In Mason's 1859 publication of The Sabbath Hymn and Tune Book Mason named the tune "Denfield" and credited it to "C. G." Later Mason changed its name to "Azmon", a name mentioned in Numbers, chapter 24. "Azmon" is the melody used in the Chalice Hymnal for Hymn Nos. 5 and 683. Alice Yost Jordan (1916-2012) created a "Canticle of Praise on 'Azmon'" and included it in her collection Worship Service Music for the Organist. The piece starts in C Major, moves to G Major, then to A Major, before returning to C Major at the end of the work.