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 28
Of David.
[1] To you, O LORD, I call;
my rock, be not deaf to me,
lest, if you be silent to me,
I become like those who go down to the pit.
[2] Hear the voice of my pleas for mercy,
when I cry to you for help,
when I lift up my hands
toward your most holy sanctuary.
[3] Do not drag me off with the wicked,
with the workers of evil,
who speak peace with their neighbors
while evil is in their hearts.
[4] Give to them according to their work
and according to the evil of their deeds;
give to them according to the work of their hands;
render them their due reward.
[5] Because they do not regard the works of the LORD
or the work of his hands,
he will tear them down and build them up no more.
[6] Blessed be the LORD!
For he has heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.
[7] The LORD is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.
[8] The LORD is the strength of his people;
he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
[9] Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!
Be their shepherd and carry them forever.
Psalm 29
A Psalm of David.
[1] Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
[2] Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.
[3] The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD, over many waters.
[4] The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
[5] The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
[6] He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
[7] The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.
[8] The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;
the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
[9] The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth
and strips the forests bare,
and in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
[10] The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
[11] May the LORD give strength to his people!
May the LORD bless his people with peace!
Old Testament Reading
Leviticus 22
[1] And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [2] “Speak to Aaron and his sons so that they abstain from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they dedicate to me, so that they do not profane my holy name: I am the LORD. [3] Say to them, ‘If any one of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel dedicate to the LORD, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the LORD. [4] None of the offspring of Aaron who has a leprous disease or a discharge may eat of the holy things until he is clean. Whoever touches anything that is unclean through contact with the dead or a man who has had an emission of semen, [5] and whoever touches a swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or a person from whom he may take uncleanness, whatever his uncleanness may be—[6] the person who touches such a thing shall be unclean until the evening and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has bathed his body in water. [7] When the sun goes down he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy things, because they are his food. [8] He shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the LORD.’ [9] They shall therefore keep my charge, lest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
[10] “A lay person shall not eat of a holy thing; no foreign guest of the priest or hired worker shall eat of a holy thing, [11] but if a priest buys a slave as his property for money, the slave may eat of it, and anyone born in his house may eat of his food. [12] If a priest’s daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things. [13] But if a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced and has no child and returns to her father’s house, as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food; yet no lay person shall eat of it. [14] And if anyone eats of a holy thing unintentionally, he shall add the fifth of its value to it and give the holy thing to the priest. [15] They shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they contribute to the LORD, [16] and so cause them to bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy things: for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.”
[17] And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [18] “Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the LORD, [19] if it is to be accepted for you it shall be a male without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. [20] You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. [21] And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. [22] Animals blind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or an itch or scabs you shall not offer to the LORD or give them to the LORD as a food offering on the altar. [23] You may present a bull or a lamb that has a part too long or too short for a freewill offering, but for a vow offering it cannot be accepted. [24] Any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut you shall not offer to the LORD; you shall not do it within your land, [25] neither shall you offer as the bread of your God any such animals gotten from a foreigner. Since there is a blemish in them, because of their mutilation, they will not be accepted for you.”
[26] And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [27] “When an ox or sheep or goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on it shall be acceptable as a food offering to the LORD. [28] But you shall not kill an ox or a sheep and her young in one day. [29] And when you sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. [30] It shall be eaten on the same day; you shall leave none of it until morning: I am the LORD.
[31] “So you shall keep my commandments and do them: I am the LORD. [32] And you shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the LORD who sanctifies you, [33] who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the LORD.”
- 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.