After the hush of Holy Saturday that punctuates the weight of the command to love on Maundy Thursday and the suffering of that Love on Good Friday comes the eruption of Easter! The sounds, the colors, the energy – it’s a multisensory shout in the face of death: YOU ARE NOT THE END! CHRIST IS RISEN! As you plan worship, live into that joy, that liveliness, even that sense of defiance. Just don’t forget to create space for the newness. In the hoopla of the day, sometimes we forget that with Resurrection comes the call to turn away from death and toward new life. Just as with any new situation or skill, new life takes practice to get in our bones. So, in the midst of the grandeur and celebration of Easter, consider how you might make room for quiet wonder and opportunities to practice the newness of Resurrection life in Christ as a community.

Call to Worship

Ha resucitado
(He Is Risen)

La noche quedó atrás, la luz de la mañana quebró las tinieblas, las dudas y el dolor.
En la tumba vacía sólo quedan las ropas de la Muerte y la aflicción.

El Señor ha rescucitado, ya no está entre los Muertos;
El vive. ¡Ha resucitado el Señor!

¡Si, el Señor vive! La nueva mañana llena de gozo y esperanza nuestro corazón.
Entonces adoremos juntos, apaguemos toda duda y temor ocn cantos de alegría y una fe inquebrantable en nuestro Redentor.

The dark night is behind us; the morning light erased all darkness and doubt.
All that remains is the empty tomb and the wrappings of pain and death.

The Lord has risen; he’s no longer among the dead.
He lives. The Lord has risen!

Yes, the Lord lives! The new morning fills our hearts with joy and hope.
Let us then worship together, extinguishing all doubt and fear with joyful songs and an unbreakable faith in our Redeemer.

Written by Yolanda Pupo-Ortiz, translated by Raquel Mora Martinez, Fiesta Jubilosa, ed. Raquel Mora Martinez (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2022), #123.

Prayer of Thanksgiving

How awesome are your ways, O God! With thanksgiving, we offer praise for the work you brought in Christ. In gladness, we thank you for hiding us deeply into his sacred life. We bless you for raising us in and with Jesus Christ, giving us the power to proclaim with Mary Magdalene, the Risen One, not only with our voices, but with our lives. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.

Written by Valerie Bridgeman Davis, The Africana Worship Book Year A (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 2006), 233.

Prayer of Confession

Christ, we come to the empty tomb,
we meet our own death,
we meet our own tomb, we meet our own emptiness.
And we remember how we have treated other people—
members of our family, friends, and neighbors.

Lord, we come to your tomb,
we meet a hungry world before us,
the pain of starving children,
the guilt of war on our hands,
and we know that collectively, we share in those injustices.

Lord, we come to the empty tomb,
we search within ourselves, and we cannot escape what we are,
people caught up in the pain of our own wrongdoing,
for some a deep sense of loneliness
and frustration of what we would be but are not.

Lord, when we come to the empty tomb,
we lay before you our pain,
our emptiness and look to you for hope.

People of God,
why do you seek the living among the dead in an empty tomb?
Are you afraid, are you uncertain, and are you uncomfortable here?

Our wounds are deep,
we have turned away from that man,
we have broken with him
and seek his fellowship.

Do not dwell on your wounds any longer
for he has risen to heal you,
he has risen to forgive you;
he has risen to change us all and bind us together now.
Christ has risen to forgive us.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Adapted from “Easter Confession” excerpted from Service of Holy Communion 2010 found at https://loddon-malleeuca.blogspot.com/p/some-creative-prayers-and-liturgies.html.Re-posted on: https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2012/02/easter-confession.html.

Benediction

Go gladly into this world, raised with Christ, hearts lifted by his love. Live as though dead to all that keeps us from a life hidden with Christ in God. Amen.

Written by Valerie Bridgeman Davis, The Africana Worship Book Year A (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 2006), 233.