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 45
To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah; a love song.
[1] My heart overflows with a pleasing theme;
I address my verses to the king;
my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe.
[2] You are the most handsome of the sons of men;
grace is poured upon your lips;
therefore God has blessed you forever.
[3] Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
in your splendor and majesty!
[4] In your majesty ride out victoriously
for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness;
let your right hand teach you awesome deeds!
[5] Your arrows are sharp
in the heart of the king’s enemies;
the peoples fall under you.
[6] Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness;
[7] you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions;
[8] your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad;
[9] daughters of kings are among your ladies of honor;
at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.
[10] Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear:
forget your people and your father’s house,
[11] and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him.
[12] The people of Tyre will seek your favor with gifts,
the richest of the people.
[13] All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold.
[14] In many-colored robes she is led to the king,
with her virgin companions following behind her.
[15] With joy and gladness they are led along
as they enter the palace of the king.
[16] In place of your fathers shall be your sons;
you will make them princes in all the earth.
[17] I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations;
therefore nations will praise you forever and ever.
Old Testament Reading
Numbers 9
[1] And the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying, [2] “Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time. [3] On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; according to all its statutes and all its rules you shall keep it.” [4] So Moses told the people of Israel that they should keep the Passover. [5] And they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the people of Israel did. [6] And there were certain men who were unclean through touching a dead body, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day. [7] And those men said to him, “We are unclean through touching a dead body. Why are we kept from bringing the LORD’s offering at its appointed time among the people of Israel?” [8] And Moses said to them, “Wait, that I may hear what the LORD will command concerning you.”
[9] The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [10] “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to the LORD. [11] In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight they shall keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. [12] They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones; according to all the statute for the Passover they shall keep it. [13] But if anyone who is clean and is not on a journey fails to keep the Passover, that person shall be cut off from his people because he did not bring the LORD’s offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin. [14] And if a stranger sojourns among you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its rule, so shall he do. You shall have one statute, both for the sojourner and for the native.”
[15] On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony. And at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. [16] So it was always: the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. [17] And whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out, and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel camped. [18] At the command of the LORD the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the LORD they camped. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. [19] Even when the cloud continued over the tabernacle many days, the people of Israel kept the charge of the LORD and did not set out. [20] Sometimes the cloud was a few days over the tabernacle, and according to the command of the LORD they remained in camp; then according to the command of the LORD they set out. [21] And sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning. And when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out, or if it continued for a day and a night, when the cloud lifted they set out. [22] Whether it was two days, or a month, or a longer time, that the cloud continued over the tabernacle, abiding there, the people of Israel remained in camp and did not set out, but when it lifted they set out. [23] At the command of the LORD they camped, and at the command of the LORD they set out. They kept the charge of the LORD, at the command of the LORD by 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...
Almighty God, whom truly to know is everlasting life: Grant us so perfectly to know your Son Jesus Christ to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow his steps in the way that leads to eternal life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 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.