Sunday Service from Hillside Circuit for April 19th 2026:
Lectionary Theme: Christ redeems us from darkness to light
Occasion: 3rd Sunday of Easter
Lectionary readings:
Psalm 116: 1-4, 12-19
Acts 2: 14a, 36-41
1 Peter 1: 17-23
Luke 24: 13-35
[Click or tap on a Bible reference above to jump down the page to the Bible reading to read it for yourself (and/or to listen to it) and then click or tap on Back to top to come back here.]
Songs:
Here are the songs for Sunday morning service. Click or tap on a song to open it in YouTube.
Christ is alive.
Here is love vast as the ocean.
Shine, Jesus, Shine.
Light of the world.
For the beauty of the earth.
I need thee every hour.
The church’s one foundation.
To God be the Glory.
Prayers:
You can listen and join in with prayers from the English Methodist Service Book. They can be found at the Prayers for worship webpage.
Children’s Address:
[No Children’s Address was received today.]
Sermon:
Bible readings:
Psalm 116
1 I love you, LORD! You answered my prayers.
2 You paid attention to me,
and so I will pray to you as long as I live.
3 Death attacked from all sides,
and I was captured by its painful chains.
But when I was really hurting, 4 I prayed and said,
“LORD, please don’t let me die!”
12 What must I give you, LORD, for being so good to me?
13 I will pour out an offering of wine to you,
and I will pray in your name because you have saved me.
14 I will keep my promise to you when your people meet.
15 You are deeply concerned
when one of your loyal people faces death.
16 I worship you, LORD, just as my mother did,
and you have rescued me from the chains of death.
17 I will offer you a sacrifice to show how grateful I am,
and I will pray.
18 I will keep my promise to you when your people 19 gather
at your temple in Jerusalem.
Shout praises to the LORD!
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Acts 2
14a Peter stood with the eleven apostles and spoke in a loud and clear voice to the crowd:
36 Everyone in Israel should then know for certain that God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ, even though you put him to death on a cross.
37 When the people heard this, they were very upset. They asked Peter and the other apostles, “Friends, what shall we do?”
38 Peter said, “Turn back to God! Be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins will be forgiven. Then you will be given the Holy Spirit. 39 This promise is for you and your children. It is for everyone our Lord God will choose, no matter where they live.”
40 Peter told them many other things as well. Then he said, “I beg you to save yourselves from what will happen to all these evil people.” 41 On that day about three thousand believed his message and were baptised.
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1 Peter 1
17 You say that God is your Father, but God doesn’t have favourites! He judges all people by what they do. So you must honour God while you live as strangers here on earth. 18 You were rescued from the useless way of life that you learned from your ancestors. But you know that you were not rescued by such things as silver or gold that don’t last forever. 19 You were rescued by the precious blood of Christ, that spotless and innocent lamb. 20 Christ was chosen even before the world was created, but because of you, he did not come until these last days. 21 And when he did come, it was to lead you to have faith in God, who raised him from death and honoured him in a glorious way. That’s why you have put your faith and hope in God.
22 You obeyed the truth and your souls were made pure. Now you sincerely love each other. But you must keep on loving with all your heart. 23 Do this because God has given you new birth by his message that lives on forever.
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Luke 24
13 That same day two of Jesus’ disciples were going to the village of Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 As they were talking and thinking about what had happened, 15 Jesus came near and started walking along beside them. 16 But they did not know who he was.
17 Jesus asked them, “What were you talking about as you walked along?”
The two of them stood there looking sad and gloomy. 18 Then the one named Cleopas asked Jesus, “Are you the only person from Jerusalem who didn’t know what was happening there these last few days?”
19 “What do you mean?” Jesus asked.
They answered:
Those things that happened to Jesus from Nazareth. By what he did and said he showed that he was a powerful prophet, who pleased God and all the people. 20 Then the chief priests and our leaders had him arrested and sentenced to die on a cross. 21 We had hoped that he would be the one to set Israel free! But it has already been three days since all this happened.
22 Some women in our group surprised us. They had gone to the tomb early in the morning, 23 but did not find the body of Jesus. They came back, saying that they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he is alive. 24 Some men from our group went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said. But they didn’t see Jesus either.
25 Then Jesus asked the two disciples, “Why can’t you understand? How can you be so slow to believe all that the prophets said? 26 Didn’t you know that the Messiah would have to suffer before he was given his glory?” 27 Jesus then explained everything written about himself in the Scriptures, beginning with the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets.
28 When the two of them came near the village where they were going, Jesus seemed to be going farther. 29 They begged him, “Stay with us! It’s already late, and the sun is going down.” So Jesus went into the house to stay with them.
30 After Jesus sat down to eat, he took some bread. He blessed it and broke it. Then he gave it to them. 31 At once they knew who he was, but he disappeared. 32 They said to each other, “When he talked with us along the road and explained the Scriptures to us, didn’t it warm our hearts?” 33 So they got right up and returned to Jerusalem.
The two disciples found the eleven apostles and the others gathered together. 34 And they learned from the group that the Lord was really alive and had appeared to Peter. 35 Then the disciples from Emmaus told what happened on the road and how they knew he was the Lord when he broke the bread.
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[Did you miss last week’s Sunday Services? They can now be found at Worship Archive – April 12th 2026.]
Methodist Church: Hillside Circuit 
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