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Easter Day

Worship
Lectionary Worship Workbook
Series III, Cycle A
Greeting
(each set is increasingly louder)
P: He is risen.
C: He is risen, indeed.
P: He is risen.
C: He is risen, indeed.
P: He is risen!
C: He is risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Prayer Of The Day
P: Gracious Father, on this day of all days, when your love has conquered all, we lift our hearts to you in hope that such joy might know no end, through Jesus Christ, our risen Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.

Post-Communion Prayer
A: Almighty God, all thanks and praise to you, the author and giver of all life. As you have fed us with your love, so now send us out as vessels of your mercy, that your church would bear witness to your eternal goodness until that great day comes when your glory is revealed for all the world to see. We pray in the name of Christ our Lord.
C: Amen.

Benediction
A: Risen, risen, risen from the dead,
C: risen, risen, risen to new life,
P: may Jesus, the Christ, call you to worlds yet unimagined --
where with the saints who have gone before you
and with those yet to come,
you may know only his joy.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.

Hymns And Songs
Christ Is Risen! Alleluia! -- LBW 131
The Strife Is O'er, The Battle Done -- LBW 135; UMH 306; MBW 361; G&P 384
Christ Is Arisen -- LBW 136
Hail Thee, Festival Day! -- LBW 142; UMH 324; PH 120
Jesus Christ Is Risen Today -- LBW 151; MBW 358; G&P 378
Christ Has Arisen, Alleluia -- WOV 678
Low In The Grave He Lay -- TFF 94; UMH 322
Cristo Vive -- UMH 313; PH 109
Christ the Lord Is Risen -- GATHER 315

Psalm Settings
The Lord Is My Strength -- TFF 15
Psalm 118: Alleluia, Alleluia -- GATHER 101
Sing To The Mountains -- GATHER 313
Psalm 118: This Is The Day -- G&P 261

Choral Music
"Alleluia" -- Randall Thompson
"An Easter Introit" -- Melchoir Vulpuis, C. A. Alington, arr. Hal Hopson (H. W. Gray Publishers)
"Christ Is Risen! Let All the Earth Adore Him" -- Lloyd Larson, Mary Kay Beall (Providence Press)
"Christ The Lord Is Ris'n Again" -- Michael Burghardt (Morning Star Music)
"Gospel Fanfare For Easter Morning" -- James Biery (GIA)
"In The Fair Morning" -- mark Sedio (Art Masters Studio)
"This Very Morning" -- Rory Cooney (GIA)

Liturgical Dance
Dancers, dressed in white, can flow around the processional cross. Holding rolled white ribbons trimmed in gold, when they reach the chancel they can move out from the cross in all directions, unleashing their ribbons: The risen Christ is filling the church as the linens are being unwrapped.

Children can follow the dancers in the procession, waving small white "Alleluia" banners. White with gold trim, they can wave them whenever an "Alleluia" is sung.

Service Notes
This is the day for brass and timpani (if your budget allows!). It is the day for singing as rich as the colors of the spectrum. It is a day of juxtapositions, for death and life have been reversed. Use a modern liturgy with ancient hymns or vice versa. Let some particular sound and some particular sight stand out from the rest. It is not that you have to do something new, but it is a day to do whatever you do well and with great attention to detail.

Liturgical Art And Community Activities For The Easter Season And The Day of Pentecost
As the season progresses, have your arts committee sponsor a few Sunday school sessions where the scripture lessons (Thomas, Emmaus, and the Ascension) are read slowly twice in lectio divina style, followed each time by members stating words or phrases, repeating part of the reading or giving new interpretations. Then, with art materials provided (paints, paper, pastes, tissue paper, collage, and natural materials), participants create their visual responses to the scripture with abstract or realistic colors and shapes.

(illustrations in book)

On Good Shepherd Sunday (Easter 4), or the Sunday nearest Earth Day, the teenagers and older children might create masks to represent different animals, plants, and elements to focus on our care of the earth. As Christ takes care of us as the good shepherd, we have been given dominion to care for the creation around us. A small rock, seashell, or piece of wood may be circulated through the pews as a reminder.

In early May, the Rogation Days can be celebrated by the blessing of seedtime and planting. On a clean, clear surface in the narthex different kinds of seed may be scattered. Members can be invited to move their fingers in them and consider the life that is in them, although they appear to be dead. The Sunday school children can later plant these seeds. Members may also be invited to bring seeds from their own gardens for such a blessing.

(illustrations in book)

With Pentecost's flame, the compassion of Christ, through the Holy Spirit, begins its spread to the four corners of the earth. A Pentecost banner can be created by tracing members' hands (fingers together) on red felt. These cut-out "tongues of fire" can be finished off with an inner flame of bright African cloth, then sewn to a length of white gauze. Members will be surprised, happy, and filled with expectation as you trace their hand on the red felt during coffee hour, several weeks before the banner is to be hung. Then your banner makers can create the head and arms of Christ with gathered cloth.
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Proper 16 | OT 21 | Pentecost 11
30 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
30 – Children's Sermons / Resources
29 – Worship Resources
34 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 17 | OT 22 | Pentecost 12
29 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
27 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20 – Worship Resources
29 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 18 | OT 23 | Pentecost 13
34 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
32 – Children's Sermons / Resources
26 – Worship Resources
31 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Plus thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...

New & Featured This Week

The Immediate Word

Thomas Willadsen
Nazish Naseem
Christopher Keating
Dean Feldmeyer
Mary Austin
Katy Stenta
George Reed
For August 31, 2025:

Emphasis Preaching Journal

David Kalas
When one of our children was young, she pretended to throw something at me from close range, and then she cheerfully declared, “Ha! Made you flinch!” I remember from my own elementary years that that was always regarded as something of an achievement — to make someone blink or to make someone flinch. In reality, of course, it is little more than a test of one’s reflexes. It’s my reflex to blink or to brace when I think something is coming at me, and the reflex is a good one.
Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Jeremiah 2:4-13
Regarding verses 6-7 of the lesson John Calvin observes:

… there is nothing more common than for the ungodly when they are proved guilty, to have recourse to this subterfuge, that they acted with good intention, when they gave themselves up to their own superstitions. (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol.IX/1, p.78)

StoryShare

John E. Sumwalt
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. (v. 2)

CSSPlus

John Jamison
Object: This is a role play activity for the children. You will want a container of some kind of treat to give to all of the children.

Note: This is a fairly brief message as presented, but that may help keep an emphasis on the simplicity of the message if you stress it.

* * *

Hello, everyone! (Let them respond.) Are you ready for our story today? (Let them respond.) Great! Let’s get started.

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Call to Worship:
Jesus knew the importance of humility and used a banquet to teach people about it. As we feast on him today, let us make sure we come to him with unassuming spirits.

Invitation to Confession:
Jesus, sometimes we are unaware of our own arrogance.
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus, sometimes we spot other people's haughtiness but fail to recognise it in ourselves.
Christ, have mercy.
Jesus, sometimes we are so humble that we become victims of inverted pride.
Lord, have mercy.

SermonStudio

Stephen P. McCutchan
Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.
-- Hebrews 13:1-2

James Evans
The writer of Psalm 81 employs a most interesting mixed metaphor. It is not mixed, however, because the psalmist was careless and neglected his subject matter. On the contrary, it is because of an important insight into human nature that the psalmist has us "eating with our ears."

Verse 10 rehearses what was, and is, the most basic confession of faith for followers of the Lord. God speaks and says, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth and I will fill it."

Ron Lavin
There are three words I hope you will take home from church today. The words are "Only The Lonely." As you think about these words, the assurances of God's Word will comfort and strengthen you. But I'm getting ahead of my story. Before we get to these three words, we need to look at the full text of Luke 14:1, 7-14. That involves looking at three other words: humility, hospitality, and hope.

Humility
Chrysanne Timm
It is never a pleasant prospect to deal with someone who has a complaint with you. As a new pastor, and a very young one at that, one of the things I struggled with most was the experience of conflict with members. I remember as if it were yesterday a significant misunderstanding that developed between the congregation's "matriarch" and me very early in my time there. I prayed about the difficulty we were having, and I knew that I needed to go to her home and ask for the opportunity to talk things out.
H. Burnham Kirkland
Words Of Assurance
In this be confident: that the grace of God is active enough to forgive, and the love of God is powerful enough to transform.

Pastoral Prayer

Special Occasion

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