Easter
The fullness of the resurrection requires more than a day to unpack. The Easter season is a fifty-day celebration that ends on Pentecost Sunday (the Greek word pentekoste means “fiftieth”). The Easter season is a time to let the implications of the resurrection sink in deeper, inviting us to realign our worldview and conform our living to the reality that we have been raised with Christ to new life. Easter is full of joy and the laughter of love—the grave is empty, love has won, Christ is risen! Give yourself over to the experience of that joy—take in the absolute wonder of God’s purposeful plan of salvation (from Seeking God’s Face by Philip Reinders).
- Calling -
O Lord, open our lips.
And our mouth shall proclaim Your praise.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen. Alleluia!
Alleluia. The Lord is risen indeed:
O come, let us adore him. Alleluia.
- Constitution -
Read/Listen, Meditate, Pray, and Contemplate on God’s Word, remembering that God is with you and ready to speak to you because he loves you.
Praying the Psalms
Psalm 5
To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.
[1] Give ear to my words, O LORD;
consider my groaning.
[2] Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray.
[3] O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.
[4] For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.
[5] The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.
[6] You destroy those who speak lies;
the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.
[7] But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in the fear of you.
[8] Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.
[9] For there is no truth in their mouth;
their inmost self is destruction;
their throat is an open grave;
they flatter with their tongue.
[10] Make them bear their guilt, O God;
let them fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.
[11] But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may exult in you.
[12] For you bless the righteous, O LORD;
you cover him with favor as with a shield.
Psalm 6
To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments; according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David.
[1] O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger,
nor discipline me in your wrath.
[2] Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing;
heal me, O LORD, for my bones are troubled.
[3] My soul also is greatly troubled.
But you, O LORD—how long?
[4] Turn, O LORD, deliver my life;
save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
[5] For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who will give you praise?
[6] I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
[7] My eye wastes away because of grief;
it grows weak because of all my foes.
[8] Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.
[9] The LORD has heard my plea;
the LORD accepts my prayer.
[10] All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.
Old Testament Reading
Leviticus 6
[1] The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [2] “If anyone sins and commits a breach of faith against the LORD by deceiving his neighbor in a matter of deposit or security, or through robbery, or if he has oppressed his neighbor [3] or has found something lost and lied about it, swearing falsely—in any of all the things that people do and sin thereby—[4] if he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that he found [5] or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt. [6] And he shall bring to the priest as his compensation to the LORD a ram without blemish out of the flock, or its equivalent, for a guilt offering. [7] And the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD, and he shall be forgiven for any of the things that one may do and thereby become guilty.”
[8] The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [9] “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering shall be on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it. [10] And the priest shall put on his linen garment and put his linen undergarment on his body, and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar and put them beside the altar. [11] Then he shall take off his garments and put on other garments and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. [12] The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. [13] Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.
[14] “And this is the law of the grain offering. The sons of Aaron shall offer it before the LORD in front of the altar. [15] And one shall take from it a handful of the fine flour of the grain offering and its oil and all the frankincense that is on the grain offering and burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. [16] And the rest of it Aaron and his sons shall eat. It shall be eaten unleavened in a holy place. In the court of the tent of meeting they shall eat it. [17] It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their portion of my food offerings. It is a thing most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering. [18] Every male among the children of Aaron may eat of it, as decreed forever throughout your generations, from the LORD’s food offerings. Whatever touches them shall become holy.”
[19] The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [20] “This is the offering that Aaron and his sons shall offer to the LORD on the day when he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening. [21] It shall be made with oil on a griddle. You shall bring it well mixed, in baked pieces like a grain offering, and offer it for a pleasing aroma to the LORD. [22] The priest from among Aaron’s sons, who is anointed to succeed him, shall offer it to the LORD as decreed forever. The whole of it shall be burned. [23] Every grain offering of a priest shall be wholly burned. It shall not be eaten.”
[24] The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [25] “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering. In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the LORD; it is most holy. [26] The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. In a holy place it shall be eaten, in the court of the tent of meeting. [27] Whatever touches its flesh shall be holy, and when any of its blood is splashed on a garment, you shall wash that on which it was splashed in a holy place. [28] And the earthenware vessel in which it is boiled shall be broken. But if it is boiled in a bronze vessel, that shall be scoured and rinsed in water. [29] Every male among the priests may eat of it; it is most holy. [30] But no sin offering shall be eaten from which any blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place; it shall be burned up with fire.
- Communion -
Pray for yourself, others, our church, our neighbors, and the world.
Pray the Lord’s Prayer & the collect of the week:
Our Father who art in heaven...
O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
- Commission -
May the God of peace, who raised to life the great shepherd of the sheep, make us ready to do his will in every good thing, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.
(Based on Hebrews 13:20-21)
Let us go forth in the name of Christ.