Readings
The Creation: Genesis 1-2
The Flood: Genesis 8-9
The Sacrifice of Isaac: Genesis 22
The Exodus from Egypt: Exodus 14-15
My Word Shall Accomplish the Purpose for Which I Sent It: Isaiah 55
Create in Me a New Heart: Ezekiel 36
God’s Faithfulness in Answer to Our Sin: Deuteronomy 31
Son of Man, Can these Bones Live?: Ezekiel 37
I Know that My Redeemer Lives: Job 19
Ninevah Hears God’s Word, Repents and Lives: Jonah 3
Fear Not! The Lord Has Taken Away Your Judgment-Zepheniah 3
The Son of Man Stands with His People in the Fiery Trial-Daniel 3
Sermon (based on John Chrysostom’s Easter Homily)
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
This is the night when You brought our Fathers our of bondage in Egypt and led them through the Red Sea on dry ground.
This is the night when all who believe in Christ are delivered from bondage to sin and are restored to life and immortality.
This is the night when Christ, the Life, arose from the dead. The seal of the grave is broken and the morning of the new creation breaks forth out of night.
This is the night when all wickedness is put to flight and sin is washed away.
How holy is this night when innocence is restored to the fallen and joy is given to those downcast.
How blessed is this night when man is reconciled to God in Christ.
Did anyone deliberately seek this video out to hear the Good News of Easter? Let them enjoy the beautiful life giving Words of God.
Is anyone weary from sitting through all of the Holy Week devotions poorly livestreamed on Facebook? Receive your wages. Those who toil from the first hour their due reward, and those who come afterward, join with gratitude in the Easter celebration!
Is anyone fearful of the plague that stalks the earth? Let him take heart in Christ who has risen as the first fruits of death in the promise that we also will rise from death with Him.
Is anyone still unafraid of death? Let His confidence be in Christ, and let Him serve His neighbor with the Love of our Risen Lord and Savior.
Let no one grieve at his poverty, or the threat of loss, for the riches of the Kingdom of God are revealed to us in Christ. Let no one despair that he has fallen into sin again and again, for forgiveness itself has risen from the grave. Let no one be afraid of death, for the death of our Lord is the perfect Love that drives out fear and sets us free.
He destroyed death by dying.
He destroyed hell by descending to it in victory.
Hell is mocked, it is destroyed, its sting is gone. It took a man and discovered God. It thought it had earth and it found heaven. Satan bit off more than he knew, and was destroyed.
Christ is risen and death is defeated!
Christ is risen and the evil ones are cast down!
Christ is risen and life is freed!
Christ is risen and all tombs will be empty, for Christ having risen from the dead is the first-fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
To Him be power and glory forever and ever. Amen!
Service of Holy Baptism
On this holiest of nights, the whole Church of our Lord Jesus Christ recalls His death and burial, rejoicing with great joy in the Gospel of His glorious and mighty resurrection from the dead. The apostle Paul says:
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His. We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Let us pray.
Almighty and eternal God, according to Your strict judgment You condemned the unbelieving world through the flood, yet according to Your great mercy You preserved believing Noah and his family, eight souls in all. You drowned hard-hearted Pharaoh and all his host in the Red Sea, yet led Your people Israel through the water on dry ground, foreshadowing this washing of Your Holy Baptism. Through the Baptism in the Jordan of Your beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, You sanctified and instituted all waters to be a blessed flood and a lavish washing away of sin.
We pray that You would behold us all according to Your boundless mercy and bless us with true faith by the Holy Spirit, that through this saving flood all sin in us, which has been inherited from Adam and which we ourselves have committed since, would be drowned and die. Grant that we be kept safe and secure in the holy ark of the Christian Church, being separated from the multitude of unbelievers and serving Your name at all times with a fervent spirit and a joyful hope, so that, with all believers in Your promise, we would be declared worthy of eternal life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Do you renounce the devil? Yes, I renounce him.
Do you renounce all his works? Yes, I renounce them.
Do you renounce all his ways? Yes, I renounce them.
Do you believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth?
Yes, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
Do you believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son?
Yes, I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?
Yes, I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
The almighty God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given you the new birth of water and of the Spirit and has forgiven you all your sins, strengthen you with His grace to life + everlasting. Amen.
Litany of the Resurrection
O Lord, have mercy.
O Christ, have mercy.
O Lord, have mercy.
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, hear us.
Paschal Lamb, who was offered for us and has taken away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
Who was crucified for our transgressions and raised for our justification, have mercy on us.
Who foretold Your passion saying, “The Son of Man must be crucified and on the third day rise again,” have mercy on us.
Who destroyed death by dying, and by rising to life again brought life and immortality to light, have mercy on us.
Whose resurrection was first announced by an angel to the women, have mercy on us.
Who appeared to Mary Magdalene and was worshiped by her, have mercy on us.
Who revealed Yourself to the two disciples on the Emmaus road and made Yourself known to them in the Scriptures and in the breaking of the bread, have mercy on us.
Who appeared to the disciples, bestowing on them Your peace and Your Spirit, have mercy on us.
Who showed Your wounded hands and side to the apostle Thomas that he too might believe, have mercy on us.
Who appeared to seven disciples on the Sea of Tiberias, bringing a miraculous catch of fish, have mercy on us.
Who appeared to Peter and to the Twelve, to over 500 disciples, to James and to all the apostles, and to Paul on the Damascus road, have mercy on us.
Who commissioned Your Church to make disciples of all nations by baptizing and teaching them, have mercy on us.
By Your glorious resurrection from the dead, good Lord, deliver us.
By Your victory over sin and death, good Lord, deliver us.
By the majesty of Your risen body, good Lord, deliver us.
We poor sinners implore You to hear us, Lord Jesus.
That we may daily die and rise with You in our Baptism and walk in the freedom of Your forgiveness, grant us, good Lord.
That we may set our minds on things above and not on earthly things, serving others as we have been served by You, grant us, good Lord.
That we may dwell with You forever in the new creation as citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, together with all the saints, grant us, good Lord.
Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us.
Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us Your peace.
O Lord, have mercy.
O Christ, have mercy.
O Lord, have mercy. Amen.
Easter Acclamation
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Created with Lutheran Service Builder, Copyright 2018, Concordia Publishing House.