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.
Fourth Sunday of Easter
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*
We belong.
We belong to God, the Good Shepherd.
Psalm 23 says:
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
—Psalm 23 NIV
Song of Praise
“Now the Green Blade Rises” Crum
“The King of Love my Shepherd Is” Baker
“My Shepherd Will Supply My Need” Watts
Call to Confession
God loves us.
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.’"
God loves us.
Yet we consistently fail to love God or our neighbor.
In sorrow for our failure
but with assurance of God's loving compassion,
let us offer our prayer of confession.
Prayer of Confession
Merciful God,
you pardon all who truly repent and turn to you.
We humbly confess our sins and ask your mercy.
We have not loved you with a pure heart,
nor have we loved our neighbor as ourselves.
We have not done justice, loved kindness,
or walked humbly with you, our God.
Have mercy on us, O God,
in your loving-kindness.
In your great compassion,
cleanse us from our sin.
Create in us a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within us.
Do not cast us from your presence,
or take your Holy Spirit from us.
Restore to us the joy of your salvation
and sustain us with your bountiful Spirit
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
—based on Psalm 51:10–12 (The Book of Common Worship. © 1946, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), p. 26., alt., PD)
Assurance of Pardon
People of God,
be assured that you are forgiven
and live lives of gratitude following God's commands.
As John, the apostle, wrote:
"The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him,
and he in them.
And this is how we know that God lives in us:
We know it by the Spirit God gave us."
—1 John 3: 24 NIV
Revised Common Lectionary
Year B: Easter—Fourth Sunday of Easter
