This is part of the worship series,
"Worship Resources for Eastertide”
Easter Sunday | Eastertide 2 | Eastertide 3
Eastertide 4 | Eastertide 5 | Eastertide 6
Ascension Day | Eastertide 7
For those who may be looking for resources for the beginning of worship during Eastertide—the season after Easter—consider the following resources based on the texts from the Revised Common Lectionary, year B, but adaptable to any context. As I read through the lectionary readings for this season, many of them centered around love: God’s love for us and the call of Christ’s followers to love each other. Thus, that refrain echoes throughout these resources. Another theme that began with Mark’s account of the women at the tomb is that of doubt and faith and how closely the two reside in each of us.
Title IMAGE: JESUS MAFA. Jesus appears at Emmaus from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48275 [retrieved April 2, 2024]. Original source: http://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr (contact page: https://www.librairie-emmanuel.fr/contact).
NOTES
- A downloadable copy of all of the openings of worship from Easter through Ascension can be found in the resource section below.
- All material not written by the author is indicated and can be used in worship setting without additional permission. Please do include all copyright notices when using the material and add the following when utilizing the newly written material or referencing the resource as a whole: —Joyce Borger © 2024 ReformedWorship.org, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Used by permission.
- *Congregation is invited to stand in body or spirit.
Easter Sunday
God's Greeting*
Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed!
The God who has the power
to make what was dead alive again,
and loved us so much that he sent Christ
to die for our sins so we may live---
that is the God who calls us here today,
and greets us with these words:
"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine."
—Isaiah 43:1
Opening Words: from Psalm 118*
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Let Israel say:
“His love endures forever.”
The Lord is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.
The Lord’s right hand is lifted high;
the Lord’s right hand has done mighty things!”
I will not die but live,
and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.
The Lord has done it this very day;
let us rejoice today and be glad.
—Psalm 118:1, 14, 16–17, 22–24 NIV
Song of Praise*
“Forever” Tomlin
“I Stand Amazed” Gabriel
“Alleluia! Alleluia! Hearts to Heaven” Wordsworth
“Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” Wesley
Call to Confession
Christ when asked,
what was most important for his followers to do, said:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’"
As much as we may have tried to do that this past week,
we have failed.
We have failed
because we don't quite trust God's power and ability
to work in and through us to make things new.
We remain captive to our doubt and fear
and do not love as we are called.
And so, we come to God, humbly confessing our sins,
knowing that our God is compassionate and desires to offer us forgiveness.
Let us pray together saying:
Prayer of Confession
Almighty God, in raising Jesus from the grave,
you shattered the power of sin and death.
We confess that we remain captive to doubt and fear,
bound by the ways that lead to death.
We overlook the poor and the hungry
and pass by those who mourn;
we are deaf to the cries of the oppressed
and indifferent to calls for peace;
we despise the weak and abuse the earth you made.
Forgive us, God of mercy.
Help us to trust your power
to change our lives and make us new,
that we may know the joy of life abundant
given in Jesus Christ, the risen Lord. Amen.
—Book of Common Worship (Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.). © 1993, Westminster John Knox Press., p. 317 [271], alt., PD
Assurance of Pardon
God has promised to forgive us our sins, so with the psalmist let us,
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
The Lord is your strength and your defense.
The Lord is your salvation.
We will not die but live,
and will proclaim what the Lord has done.
Revised Common Lectionary
Year B: Easter—Easter Sunday
