The Festival of the Resurrection of Our
Lord
with Blessing of the Paschal Candle
by The Rev. Thomas L. Weitzel
Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America
.
The following service is intended for use when an Easter Vigil has NOT been celebrated before the main Liturgy on Easter Sunday.
+
Welcome to worship on this special day.
Our liturgy begins with the liturgy of light and the blessing of the Paschal Candle, which symbolizes Christ’s breaking of the darkness of sin and death to bring us all the Easter victory. The Paschal Candle will shine as our symbol of the resurrection throughout the Easter season, at all baptisms and at all funerals. After the blessing, the day is proclaimed with the ancient Easter shout, joyous songs and, festive musical offerings and the word of God that proclaims the victory of Christ for us all. New members will be baptized and received into our Easter family, and then all the baptized are invited to meet the risen Lord in the bread and the wine of Holy Communion. Thank you for joining us on this special day. We hope the blessings of the Risen Lord are yours this day and always.
+
P = Presiding Minister A = Assisting Minister C = Congregation
.
Prelude
.
LITURGY OF LIGHT
All stand and face the rear of the church.
P. The Lord be with you.
C. And also with you.
P. Let us pray. O God, you are like a refiner's fire, and your Spirit kindles the hearts of your faithful people. Bless this flame and those who keep this Easter celebration so that, burning with desire for life with you, they may be found fit to take part in that festival of Light which has no ending, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
C. Amen
The inscription on the Paschal Candle is traced by the Presiding Minister, while saying:
P. Jesus Christ, yesterday and today, the beginning and the ending, Alpha and Omega; all time belongs to him, and all ages; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
C. Amen
The Presiding Minister places the five nails, representing the five wounds of Christ, into the Paschal Candle, while saying:
P. By his holy and glorious wounds, may Christ our Lord guard and keep us.
C. Amen
The Paschal Candle is lighted.
P. May the light of Christ who rises this day in glory scatter the darkness of our hearts and minds.
Let us pray. Almighty God, pour out your abundant blessing on this lighted candle, so that all who share in your holy mysteries may be filled with your grace and spiritual blessings. Once we were in darkness, but since we have become the Lord's people, we are in the light. Help us to live as people who belong to the light, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
C. Amen
As the Paschal is raised, the Presiding Minister proclaims the resurrection, shouting three times:
P. (boldly) Christ is Risen!
C. (boldly) He is risen indeed!
All stand to sing the entrance hymn.
.
LITURGY OF PRAISE
Entrance Hymn #151 "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today"
.
Easter Dialog:
A. (boldly) Alleluia! Christ is risen!
C. (boldly) He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
A. Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain! Alleluia!
C. He gives us new life and hope through his resurrection! Alleluia!
A. Rejoice then, even in your distress.
C. We shall be counted worthy when Christ appears.
A. God has claimed us as his own.
C. God has called us from our darkness into the light of his day.
A. (boldly) Alleluia! Christ is risen!
C. (boldly) He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
.
Easter Hymn of Praise: (sing)
A. This is the feast of victory for our God. Alleluia!
C. Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain, whose blood set us free to be people of God. Power and riches and wisdom and strength, and honor and blessing and glory are his. This is the feast of victory for our God. Alleluia. Sing with all the people of God and join in the hymn of all creation: Blessing and honor and glory and might be to God and the Lamb forever. Amen. This is the feast of victory for our God, for the Lamb who was slain has begun his reign. Alleluia. Alleluia.
.
Prayer of the Day: (sing)
P. The Lord be with you.
C. And also with you.
P. Let us pray. O God, you gave your only Son to suffer death on the cross for our redemption, and by his glorious resurrection you delivered us from the power of death. Make us die every day to sin, so that we may live with him forever in the joy of the resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C. Amen (The people are seated.)
.
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Greetings and Announcements
Children’s Sermon
.
First Lesson, Isaiah 65:17-25
For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the LORD -- and their descendants as well. Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent -- its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.
The word of the Lord.
C. Thanks be to God.
All stand and sing:
C. Alleluia! Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Alleluia!
.
Gospel Lesson, St. John 20:1-18
P. The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the twentieth chapter.
C. (sing) Glory to you, O Lord!
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary
Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the
tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom
Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we
do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out
and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple
outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the
linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came,
following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there,
and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings
but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the
tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not
understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples
returned to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into
the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had
been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman,
why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do
not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around
and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said
to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to
be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me
where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!"
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus
said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the
Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and
your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the
disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these
things to her.
P. The Gospel of the Lord!
C. (sing) Praise to you, O Christ!
.
Sermon
Hymn of the Day #141 (sung to 495) “The Day of Resurrection”
Nicene Creed
Prayers of the Church
.
Peace:
P. The peace of the Lord be with you always.
C. And also with you.
All greet one another in the name of the Lord, saying
Peace be with you. Afterwards, the people are seated.
.
LITURGY OF THE LORD'S SUPPER
Offering
Special Music
Offertory Hymn: "Let the Vineyards"
.
Offertory Prayer: (stand)
A. Let us pray. Merciful Father,
C. we offer with joy and thanksgiving what you have first given us -- ourselves, our time, and our possessions, signs of your gracious love. Receive them for the sake of him who offered himself for us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
.
Great Thanksgiving: (sing)
P. The Lord be with you.
C. And also with you.
P. Lift up your hearts.
C. We lift them to the Lord.
P. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
C. It is right to give him thanks and praise.
P. It is right and salutary that we should at all times and in all places offer thanks and praise to you, O Lord, holy Father, almighty and everliving God. But chiefly are we bound to praise you for the glorious resurrection of our Lord; for he is the true Passover Lamb who gave himself to take away our sin, who by his death has destroyed death, and by his rising has brought us to eternal life. And so, with Mary Magdalene and Peter and all the witnesses of the resurrection, with earth and sea and all their creatures, and with angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
C. Holy, holy, holy Lord, Lord God of pow'r and might: Heav'n and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
P. You are indeed holy, O God, the fountain of all holiness; you bring light from darkness, life from death, speech from silence. We worship you for our lives and for the world you give us. We thank you for the new world to come and for the love that will rule all in all. We praise you for the grace shown to Israel, your chosen, the people of your promise; the rescue from Egypt, the gift of the promised land, the memory of our ancestors, the homecoming from exile, and the prophets' words that will not be in vain. In all this we bless you for your only-begotten Son, who fulfilled and will fulfill all your promises.
In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.
Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.
For as often as we eat of this bread and drink from this cup, we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
C. Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ will come again!
P. Therefore, O God, with this bread and cup, we remember the incarnation of your Son; his human birth and the covenant he made with us. We remember the sacrifice of his life: his eating with outcasts and sinners, and his acceptance of death. But chiefly on this day we remember his rising from the tomb, his ascension to the seat of power, and his sending of the holy and life-giving Spirit. We cry out for the resurrection of our lives, when Christ will come again in beauty and power to share with us the great and promised feast.
C. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
P. Send now, we pray, your Holy Spirit, that we and all who share in this bread and cup may be united in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, may enter the fullness of the kingdom of heaven, and may receive our inheritance with all your saints in light.
C. Amen. Come, Holy Spirit.
P. Join our prayers with those of your servants of every time and every place, and unite them with the ceaseless petitions of our great high priest until he comes as victorious Lord of all.
C. (sing) Through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the Holy Spir-it, all hon-or and glo-ry is yours, almighty Father, now and forever. Amen
.
P. Lord, remembers us in your kingdom, and teach us to pray:
C. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen
.
At the Breaking of Bread:
P. When we eat this bread we share the body of Christ. When we drink this cup we share the blood of Christ.
C. Reveal yourself to us, O Lord, in the breaking of bread, as once you revealed yourself to your disciples.
.
Distribution
Hymn #145 "Thine Is the Glory"
Hymn #352 "I Know that My Redeemer Lives"
.
After Communion, all stand as the minister says:
P. The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen and keep you in his grace.
C. Amen
A. Let us pray. Lord God, in a wonderful Sacrament you have left us a memorial of your suffering and death. May this Sacrament of your body and blood so work in us that the way we live will proclaim the redemption you have brought; for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C. Amen
.
Solemn Blessings of Easter:
P. May almighty God bless you on this solemn feast of Easter, and may he protect you against all sin.
C. Amen
P. Through the resurrection of his Son, God granted us healing. May he fulfill his promises, and bless you with eternal life.
C. Amen
P. You have mourned for Christ's sufferings; now you celebrate the joy of his resurrection. May you come with joy to the feast which lasts forever.
C. Amen
P. (sing) May almighty God, Father, + Son, and Holy Spirit, bless you now and forever.
C. (sing on one tone) Amen
.
A. Go in peace. Serve the Risen Lord!
C. Thanks be to God!
.
Closing Hymn #131:1-2 "Christ Is Risen! Alleluia!"
Postlude
Liturgy
Original Services, Worship Ideas and Articles by TLW