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Eastertide

CELEBRATING THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.

All the hopes and expectations of Christians are realized in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, making Easter the most celebrative day of the church year. Even churches that do not customarily follow the church year celebrate this day as the culmination of all that the Gospel is about.

Because the good news of Easter can hardly be contained in a single day’s celebration, Easter is only the first of fifty days of Eastertide, the “Great Fifty Days” that lead up to Pentecost. This season is designed for extended celebration, for exploring the ramifications of Easter for the redemption of all creation, and for joyful Christian living.

From The Worship Sourcebook

Music

Author: Latifah Alattas, Dave Wilton; © 2014 • Download: Sheet Music, MP3

Visual Art

Easter I Banner by Jeremy Grant, Collage, Eastertide 2018 • Download: PNG

Easter II Banner by Jeremy Grant, Collage, Eastertide 2018 • Download: PNG

Liturgy & prayers

Resurrection Sunday Sonnet

from Holy Week Sonnets by Andrew Peterson, The Rabbit Room

Be praised, Lord Jesus, humble conqueror!
Thy battered body’s wounds were joyful streams,
Thy furrowed flesh the soil of the gardener,
Thy bones unbroken, strong as temple beams.
But none could know when laid they in the ground
The sin-wrecked Son of God whose heart was dead,
Whose stiffened corpse was cold and linen bound,
As day-death turned the firmament to red
And decay began its work on each cell,
As decay has done since hard fell the curse,
What glory was to gleam in that dark hell
When death’s decay at once was in reverse.
Be praised, Lord Jesus! Morning then revealed
Thy beating heart! Today, my heart is healed.

Corporate Prayers for Easter

from The Worship Sourcebook

Based on Matthew 18:30

For this day liberates us from doubt and fear.
Thankful is the song we sing!
For this day moves us past darkness and despair.
Hopeful is the prayer upon our lips!
For this day awakens in us long-awaited new life.
Jesus said, “Where two or more are gathered in my name,
I am there among them.”
Christ lives here and now.
He is among us at this and every moment!
May His peace and presence be known to you.
Let us greet one another with expressions of Christian love.

Based on Romans 6:9–10

Christ is risen from the dead. Alleluia!
We know that since Christ was raised from the dead,
he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.
The death he died, he died to sin once for all;
but the life he lives, he lives to God.