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 35
Of David.
[1] Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me!
[2] Take hold of shield and buckler
and rise for my help!
[3] Draw the spear and javelin
against my pursuers!
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation!”
[4] Let them be put to shame and dishonor
who seek after my life!
Let them be turned back and disappointed
who devise evil against me!
[5] Let them be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the LORD driving them away!
[6] Let their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the LORD pursuing them!
[7] For without cause they hid their net for me;
without cause they dug a pit for my life.
[8] Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it!
And let the net that he hid ensnare him;
let him fall into it—to his destruction!
[9] Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD,
exulting in his salvation.
[10] All my bones shall say,
“O LORD, who is like you,
delivering the poor
from him who is too strong for him,
the poor and needy from him who robs him?”
[11] Malicious witnesses rise up;
they ask me of things that I do not know.
[12] They repay me evil for good;
my soul is bereft.
[13] But I, when they were sick—
I wore sackcloth;
I afflicted myself with fasting;
I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
[14] I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
as one who laments his mother,
I bowed down in mourning.
[15] But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;
they gathered together against me;
wretches whom I did not know
tore at me without ceasing;
[16] like profane mockers at a feast,
they gnash at me with their teeth.
[17] How long, O Lord, will you look on?
Rescue me from their destruction,
my precious life from the lions!
[18] I will thank you in the great congregation;
in the mighty throng I will praise you.
[19] Let not those rejoice over me
who are wrongfully my foes,
and let not those wink the eye
who hate me without cause.
[20] For they do not speak peace,
but against those who are quiet in the land
they devise words of deceit.
[21] They open wide their mouths against me;
they say, “Aha, Aha!
Our eyes have seen it!”
[22] You have seen, O LORD; be not silent!
O Lord, be not far from me!
[23] Awake and rouse yourself for my vindication,
for my cause, my God and my Lord!
[24] Vindicate me, O LORD, my God,
according to your righteousness,
and let them not rejoice over me!
[25] Let them not say in their hearts,
“Aha, our heart’s desire!”
Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”
[26] Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether
who rejoice at my calamity!
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
who magnify themselves against me!
[27] Let those who delight in my righteousness
shout for joy and be glad
and say evermore,
“Great is the LORD,
who delights in the welfare of his servant!”
[28] Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
and of your praise all the day long.
Old Testament Reading
Numbers 1
[1] The LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, [2] “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head. [3] From twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who are able to go to war, you and Aaron shall list them, company by company. [4] And there shall be with you a man from each tribe, each man being the head of the house of his fathers. [5] And these are the names of the men who shall assist you. From Reuben, Elizur the son of Shedeur; [6] from Simeon, Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai; [7] from Judah, Nahshon the son of Amminadab; [8] from Issachar, Nethanel the son of Zuar; [9] from Zebulun, Eliab the son of Helon; [10] from the sons of Joseph, from Ephraim, Elishama the son of Ammihud, and from Manasseh, Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur; [11] from Benjamin, Abidan the son of Gideoni; [12] from Dan, Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai; [13] from Asher, Pagiel the son of Ochran; [14] from Gad, Eliasaph the son of Deuel; [15] from Naphtali, Ahira the son of Enan.” [16] These were the ones chosen from the congregation, the chiefs of their ancestral tribes, the heads of the clans of Israel.
[17] Moses and Aaron took these men who had been named, [18] and on the first day of the second month, they assembled the whole congregation together, who registered themselves by clans, by fathers’ houses, according to the number of names from twenty years old and upward, head by head, [19] as the LORD commanded Moses. So he listed them in the wilderness of Sinai.
[20] The people of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go to war: [21] those listed of the tribe of Reuben were 46,500.
[22] Of the people of Simeon, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, those of them who were listed, according to the number of names, head by head, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go to war: [23] those listed of the tribe of Simeon were 59,300.
[24] Of the people of Gad, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go to war: [25] those listed of the tribe of Gad were 45,650.
[26] Of the people of Judah, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war: [27] those listed of the tribe of Judah were 74,600.
[28] Of the people of Issachar, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war: [29] those listed of the tribe of Issachar were 54,400.
[30] Of the people of Zebulun, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war: [31] those listed of the tribe of Zebulun were 57,400.
[32] Of the people of Joseph, namely, of the people of Ephraim, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war: [33] those listed of the tribe of Ephraim were 40,500.
[34] Of the people of Manasseh, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war: [35] those listed of the tribe of Manasseh were 32,200.
[36] Of the people of Benjamin, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war: [37] those listed of the tribe of Benjamin were 35,400.
[38] Of the people of Dan, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war: [39] those listed of the tribe of Dan were 62,700.
[40] Of the people of Asher, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war: [41] those listed of the tribe of Asher were 41,500.
[42] Of the people of Naphtali, their generations, by their clans, by their fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war: [43] those listed of the tribe of Naphtali were 53,400.
[44] These are those who were listed, whom Moses and Aaron listed with the help of the chiefs of Israel, twelve men, each representing his fathers’ house. [45] So all those listed of the people of Israel, by their fathers’ houses, from twenty years old and upward, every man able to go to war in Israel—[46] all those listed were 603,550.
[47] But the Levites were not listed along with them by their ancestral tribe. [48] For the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [49] “Only the tribe of Levi you shall not list, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel. [50] But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall take care of it and shall camp around the tabernacle. [51] When the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down, and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up. And if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death. [52] The people of Israel shall pitch their tents by their companies, each man in his own camp and each man by his own standard. [53] But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the testimony, so that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the people of Israel. And the Levites shall keep guard over the tabernacle of the testimony.” [54] Thus did the people of Israel; they did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses.
- 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 Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people; Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and 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.