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. Christ the Lord has ascended into heaven:
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 68
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.
[1] God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;
and those who hate him shall flee before him!
[2] As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
as wax melts before fire,
so the wicked shall perish before God!
[3] But the righteous shall be glad;
they shall exult before God;
they shall be jubilant with joy!
[4] Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;
his name is the LORD;
exult before him!
[5] Father of the fatherless and protector of widows
is God in his holy habitation.
[6] God settles the solitary in a home;
he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
[7] O God, when you went out before your people,
when you marched through the wilderness, Selah
[8] the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,
before God, the One of Sinai,
before God, the God of Israel.
[9] Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;
you restored your inheritance as it languished;
[10] your flock found a dwelling in it;
in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.
[11] The Lord gives the word;
the women who announce the news are a great host:
[12] “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!”
The women at home divide the spoil—
[13] though you men lie among the sheepfolds—
the wings of a dove covered with silver,
its pinions with shimmering gold.
[14] When the Almighty scatters kings there,
let snow fall on Zalmon.
[15] O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;
O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!
[16] Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,
at the mount that God desired for his abode,
yes, where the LORD will dwell forever?
[17] The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,
thousands upon thousands;
the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.
[18] You ascended on high,
leading a host of captives in your train
and receiving gifts among men,
even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.
[19] Blessed be the Lord,
who daily bears us up;
God is our salvation. Selah
[20] Our God is a God of salvation,
and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.
[21] But God will strike the heads of his enemies,
the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.
[22] The Lord said,
“I will bring them back from Bashan,
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
[23] that you may strike your feet in their blood,
that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.”
[24] Your procession is seen, O God,
the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—
[25] the singers in front, the musicians last,
between them virgins playing tambourines:
[26] “Bless God in the great congregation,
the LORD, O you who are of Israel’s fountain!”
[27] There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead,
the princes of Judah in their throng,
the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.
[28] Summon your power, O God,
the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.
[29] Because of your temple at Jerusalem
kings shall bear gifts to you.
[30] Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds,
the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.
Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute;
scatter the peoples who delight in war.
[31] Nobles shall come from Egypt;
Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.
[32] O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;
sing praises to the Lord, Selah
[33] to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens;
behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.
[34] Ascribe power to God,
whose majesty is over Israel,
and whose power is in the skies.
[35] Awesome is God from his sanctuary;
the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.
Blessed be God!
Old Testament Reading
Numbers 25
[1] While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. [2] These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. [3] So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. [4] And the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the LORD, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.” [5] And Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.”
[6] And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. [7] When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand [8] and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. [9] Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.
[10] And the LORD said to Moses, [11] “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy. [12] Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, [13] and it shall be to him and to his descendants after him the covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’”
[14] The name of the slain man of Israel, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, chief of a father’s house belonging to the Simeonites. [15] And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was the tribal head of a father’s house in Midian.
[16] And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [17] “Harass the Midianites and strike them down, [18] for they have harassed you with their wiles, with which they beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the chief of Midian, their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague on account of Peor.”
- 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, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven: Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. 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.