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 20
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
[1] May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble!
May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
[2] May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Zion!
[3] May he remember all your offerings
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah
[4] May he grant you your heart’s desire
and fulfill all your plans!
[5] May we shout for joy over your salvation,
and in the name of our God set up our banners!
May the LORD fulfill all your petitions!
[6] Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the saving might of his right hand.
[7] Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
[8] They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.
[9] O LORD, save the king!
May he answer us when we call.
Psalm 21
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
[1] O LORD, in your strength the king rejoices,
and in your salvation how greatly he exults!
[2] You have given him his heart’s desire
and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
[3] For you meet him with rich blessings;
you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
[4] He asked life of you; you gave it to him,
length of days forever and ever.
[5] His glory is great through your salvation;
splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
[6] For you make him most blessed forever;
you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
[7] For the king trusts in the LORD,
and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.
[8] Your hand will find out all your enemies;
your right hand will find out those who hate you.
[9] You will make them as a blazing oven
when you appear.
The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath,
and fire will consume them.
[10] You will destroy their descendants from the earth,
and their offspring from among the children of man.
[11] Though they plan evil against you,
though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
[12] For you will put them to flight;
you will aim at their faces with your bows.
[13] Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength!
We will sing and praise your power.
Old Testament Reading
Isaiah 33
[1] Ah, you destroyer,
who yourself have not been destroyed,
you traitor,
whom none has betrayed!
When you have ceased to destroy,
you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betraying,
they will betray you.
[2] O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for you.
Be our arm every morning,
our salvation in the time of trouble.
[3] At the tumultuous noise peoples flee;
when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
[4] and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.
[5] The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;
he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
[6] and he will be the stability of your times,
abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
the fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.
[7] Behold, their heroes cry in the streets;
the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
[8] The highways lie waste;
the traveler ceases.
Covenants are broken;
cities are despised;
there is no regard for man.
[9] The land mourns and languishes;
Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert,
and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.
[10] “Now I will arise,” says the LORD,
“now I will lift myself up;
now I will be exalted.
[11] You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
your breath is a fire that will consume you.
[12] And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”
[13] Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
[14] The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling has seized the godless:
“Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?
Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
[15] He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
who despises the gain of oppressions,
who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,
who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed
and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
[16] he will dwell on the heights;
his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;
his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.
[17] Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty;
they will see a land that stretches afar.
[18] Your heart will muse on the terror:
“Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute?
Where is he who counted the towers?”
[19] You will see no more the insolent people,
the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
[20] Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent,
whose stakes will never be plucked up,
nor will any of its cords be broken.
[21] But there the LORD in majesty will be for us
a place of broad rivers and streams,
where no galley with oars can go,
nor majestic ship can pass.
[22] For the LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver;
the LORD is our king; he will save us.
[23] Your cords hang loose;
they cannot hold the mast firm in its place
or keep the sail spread out.
Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
even the lame will take the prey.
[24] And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”;
the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.
New Testament Reading
Revelation 3
[1] “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. [2] Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. [3] Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. [4] Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. [5] The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. [6] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
[7] “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
[8] “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. [9] Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. [10] Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. [11] I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. [12] The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. [13] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
[14] “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
[15] “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! [16] So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. [17] For you say, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,” not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. [18] I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. [19] Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. [20] Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. [21] The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. [22] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
- 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)
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord and our neighbors.