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 33
[1] Shout for joy in the LORD, O you righteous!
Praise befits the upright.
[2] Give thanks to the LORD with the lyre;
make melody to him with the harp of ten strings!
[3] Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
[4] For the word of the LORD is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
[5] He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.
[6] By the word of the LORD the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
[7] He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap;
he puts the deeps in storehouses.
[8] Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
[9] For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
[10] The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
[11] The counsel of the LORD stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
[12] Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
[13] The LORD looks down from heaven;
he sees all the children of man;
[14] from where he sits enthroned he looks out
on all the inhabitants of the earth,
[15] he who fashions the hearts of them all
and observes all their deeds.
[16] The king is not saved by his great army;
a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
[17] The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
and by its great might it cannot rescue.
[18] Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him,
on those who hope in his steadfast love,
[19] that he may deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in famine.
[20] Our soul waits for the LORD;
he is our help and our shield.
[21] For our heart is glad in him,
because we trust in his holy name.
[22] Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
Psalm 34
Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.
[1] I will bless the LORD at all times;
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
[2] My soul makes its boast in the LORD;
let the humble hear and be glad.
[3] Oh, magnify the LORD with me,
and let us exalt his name together!
[4] I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
[5] Those who look to him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
[6] This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.
[7] The angel of the LORD encamps
around those who fear him, and delivers them.
[8] Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
[9] Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack!
[10] The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
[11] Come, O children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
[12] What man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may see good?
[13] Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
[14] Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
[15] The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous
and his ears toward their cry.
[16] The face of the LORD is against those who do evil,
to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
[17] When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears
and delivers them out of all their troubles.
[18] The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
and saves the crushed in spirit.
[19] Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
[20] He keeps all his bones;
not one of them is broken.
[21] Affliction will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
[22] The LORD redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.
Old Testament Reading
Isaiah 38
[1] In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.” [2] Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, [3] and said, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
[4] Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: [5] “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. [6] I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.
[7] “This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he has promised: [8] Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.
[9] A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:
[10] I said, In the middle of my days
I must depart;
I am consigned to the gates of Sheol
for the rest of my years.
[11] I said, I shall not see the LORD,
the LORD in the land of the living;
I shall look on man no more
among the inhabitants of the world.
[12] My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me
like a shepherd’s tent;
like a weaver I have rolled up my life;
he cuts me off from the loom;
from day to night you bring me to an end;
[13] I calmed myself until morning;
like a lion he breaks all my bones;
from day to night you bring me to an end.
[14] Like a swallow or a crane I chirp;
I moan like a dove.
My eyes are weary with looking upward.
O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety!
[15] What shall I say? For he has spoken to me,
and he himself has done it.
I walk slowly all my years
because of the bitterness of my soul.
[16] O Lord, by these things men live,
and in all these is the life of my spirit.
Oh restore me to health and make me live!
[17] Behold, it was for my welfare
that I had great bitterness;
but in love you have delivered my life
from the pit of destruction,
for you have cast all my sins
behind your back.
[18] For Sheol does not thank you;
death does not praise you;
those who go down to the pit do not hope
for your faithfulness.
[19] The living, the living, he thanks you,
as I do this day;
the father makes known to the children
your faithfulness.
[20] The LORD will save me,
and we will play my music on stringed instruments
all the days of our lives,
at the house of the LORD.
[21] Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.” [22] Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?”
New Testament Reading
Revelation 8
[1] When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. [2] Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. [3] And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, [4] and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. [5] Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
[6] Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
[7] The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
[8] The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. [9] A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
[10] The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. [11] The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.
[12] The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.
[13] Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”
- 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.