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 119:25–48
Daleth
[25] My soul clings to the dust;
give me life according to your word!
[26] When I told of my ways, you answered me;
teach me your statutes!
[27] Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
[28] My soul melts away for sorrow;
strengthen me according to your word!
[29] Put false ways far from me
and graciously teach me your law!
[30] I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
I set your rules before me.
[31] I cling to your testimonies, O LORD;
let me not be put to shame!
[32] I will run in the way of your commandments
when you enlarge my heart!
He
[33] Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes;
and I will keep it to the end.
[34] Give me understanding, that I may keep your law
and observe it with my whole heart.
[35] Lead me in the path of your commandments,
for I delight in it.
[36] Incline my heart to your testimonies,
and not to selfish gain!
[37] Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;
and give me life in your ways.
[38] Confirm to your servant your promise,
that you may be feared.
[39] Turn away the reproach that I dread,
for your rules are good.
[40] Behold, I long for your precepts;
in your righteousness give me life!
Waw
[41] Let your steadfast love come to me, O LORD,
your salvation according to your promise;
[42] then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me,
for I trust in your word.
[43] And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,
for my hope is in your rules.
[44] I will keep your law continually,
forever and ever,
[45] and I shall walk in a wide place,
for I have sought your precepts.
[46] I will also speak of your testimonies before kings
and shall not be put to shame,
[47] for I find my delight in your commandments,
which I love.
[48] I will lift up my hands toward your commandments, which I love,
and I will meditate on your statutes.
Old Testament Reading
Isaiah 2
[1] The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
[2] It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the LORD
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and all the nations shall flow to it,
[3] and many peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
[4] He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.
[5] O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the LORD.
[6] For you have rejected your people,
the house of Jacob,
because they are full of things from the east
and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines,
and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.
[7] Their land is filled with silver and gold,
and there is no end to their treasures;
their land is filled with horses,
and there is no end to their chariots.
[8] Their land is filled with idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their own fingers have made.
[9] So man is humbled,
and each one is brought low—
do not forgive them!
[10] Enter into the rock
and hide in the dust
from before the terror of the LORD,
and from the splendor of his majesty.
[11] The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,
and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,
and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
[12] For the LORD of hosts has a day
against all that is proud and lofty,
against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;
[13] against all the cedars of Lebanon,
lofty and lifted up;
and against all the oaks of Bashan;
[14] against all the lofty mountains,
and against all the uplifted hills;
[15] against every high tower,
and against every fortified wall;
[16] against all the ships of Tarshish,
and against all the beautiful craft.
[17] And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,
and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,
and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.
[18] And the idols shall utterly pass away.
[19] And people shall enter the caves of the rocks
and the holes of the ground,
from before the terror of the LORD,
and from the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to terrify the earth.
[20] In that day mankind will cast away
their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
which they made for themselves to worship,
to the moles and to the bats,
[21] to enter the caverns of the rocks
and the clefts of the cliffs,
from before the terror of the LORD,
and from the splendor of his majesty,
when he rises to terrify the earth.
[22] Stop regarding man
in whose nostrils is breath,
for of what account is he?
New Testament Reading
Hebrews 10
[1] For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. [2] Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? [3] But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. [4] For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
[5] Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
[6] in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
[7] Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’”
[8] When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), [9] then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. [10] And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
[11] And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. [12] But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, [13] waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. [14] For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
[15] And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
[16] “This is the covenant that I will make with them
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds,”
[17] then he adds,
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
[18] Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.
[19] Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, [20] by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, [21] and since we have a great priest over the house of God, [22] let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. [23] Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. [24] And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, [25] not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
[26] For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, [27] but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. [28] Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. [29] How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? [30] For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” [31] It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
[32] But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, [33] sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. [34] For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. [35] Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. [36] For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. [37] For,
“Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;
[38] but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”
[39] But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
- 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)
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord and our neighbors.