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.
Fifth 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 love God because God first loved us
and so we praise him using words from Psalm 22.
Because of what you have done,
I will praise you in the whole community
of those who worship you.
In front of those who respect you,
I will keep my promises.
Those who are poor will eat and be satisfied.
Those who seek the Lord will praise him.
May their hearts be filled with new hope!
People from one end of the earth to the other
will remember and turn to the Lord.
The people of all the nations
will bow down in front of him.
The Lord is King.
He rules over the nations.
— Psalm 22:25-28 NIRV
Song of Praise
“Christ is Alive! Let Christians Sing” Wren
“Psalm 22: Amid the Thronging Worshipers” Psalter 1912
“I Come with Joy” Wren
“Ten Thousand Reasons/Bless the Lord, O My Soul" Myrin, Redman
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;
now remain rooted in God's love.
As John, the apostle, taught:
"This is how we know
that we live in him and he in us:
He has given us of his Spirit.
And we have seen and testify
that the Father has sent his Son
to be the Savior of the world.
If anyone acknowledges
that Jesus is the Son of God,
God lives in them and they in God.
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us."
—1 John 4:13–16 NIV
Revised Common Lectionary
Year B: Easter—Fifth Sunday of Easter
