May 11, 2025

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 120

A Song of Ascents.

[1] In my distress I called to the LORD,

and he answered me.

[2] Deliver me, O LORD,

from lying lips,

from a deceitful tongue.

[3] What shall be given to you,

and what more shall be done to you,

you deceitful tongue?

[4] A warrior’s sharp arrows,

with glowing coals of the broom tree!

[5] Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech,

that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!

[6] Too long have I had my dwelling

among those who hate peace.

[7] I am for peace,

but when I speak, they are for war!

Psalm 121

A Song of Ascents.

[1] I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come?

[2] My help comes from the LORD,

who made heaven and earth.

[3] He will not let your foot be moved;

he who keeps you will not slumber.

[4] Behold, he who keeps Israel

will neither slumber nor sleep.

[5] The LORD is your keeper;

the LORD is your shade on your right hand.

[6] The sun shall not strike you by day,

nor the moon by night.

[7] The LORD will keep you from all evil;

he will keep your life.

[8] The LORD will keep

your going out and your coming in

from this time forth and forevermore. (ESV)

Psalm 122

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

[1] I was glad when they said to me,

“Let us go to the house of the LORD!”

[2] Our feet have been standing

within your gates, O Jerusalem!

[3] Jerusalem—built as a city

that is bound firmly together,

[4] to which the tribes go up,

the tribes of the LORD,

as was decreed for Israel,

to give thanks to the name of the LORD.

[5] There thrones for judgment were set,

the thrones of the house of David.

[6] Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

“May they be secure who love you!

[7] Peace be within your walls

and security within your towers!”

[8] For my brothers and companions’ sake

I will say, “Peace be within you!”

[9] For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,

I will seek your good.

Old Testament Reading

Isaiah 9:8–21

[8] The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,

and it will fall on Israel;

[9] and all the people will know,

Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,

who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:

[10] “The bricks have fallen,

but we will build with dressed stones;

the sycamores have been cut down,

but we will put cedars in their place.”

[11] But the LORD raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,

and stirs up his enemies.

[12] The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west

devour Israel with open mouth.

For all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

[13] The people did not turn to him who struck them,

nor inquire of the LORD of hosts.

[14] So the LORD cut off from Israel head and tail,

palm branch and reed in one day—

[15] the elder and honored man is the head,

and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail;

[16] for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,

and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.

[17] Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men,

and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;

for everyone is godless and an evildoer,

and every mouth speaks folly.

For all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

[18] For wickedness burns like a fire;

it consumes briers and thorns;

it kindles the thickets of the forest,

and they roll upward in a column of smoke.

[19] Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts

the land is scorched,

and the people are like fuel for the fire;

no one spares another.

[20] They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,

and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;

each devours the flesh of his own arm,

[21] Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;

together they are against Judah.

For all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

Isaiah 10:1–4

[1] Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees,

and the writers who keep writing oppression,

[2] to turn aside the needy from justice

and to rob the poor of my people of their right,

that widows may be their spoil,

and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

[3] What will you do on the day of punishment,

in the ruin that will come from afar?

To whom will you flee for help,

and where will you leave your wealth?

[4] Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners

or fall among the slain.

For all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

New Testament Reading

James 3

[1] Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. [2] For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. [3] If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. [4] Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. [5] So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! [6] And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. [7] For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, [8] but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. [9] With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. [10] From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. [11] Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? [12] Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

[13] Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. [14] But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. [15] This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. [16] For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. [17] But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. [18] And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

 

- 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 Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people; Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, 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)

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord and our neighbors.