This past Sunday, April 5th, Day of Resurrection/Easter Day, we heard the following scripture readings, introduction, and prayer of the day during the worship service:
Introduction
Sunday, April 5th is the day the Lord has made! Christ is risen, and through him all creation is made new! Indeed, “God shows no partiality” (Acts 10:34): Christ’s resurrection truly brings life to everyone. We sing hymns of praise, gather around sacred words, and proclaim God’s faithfulness, power, and love in the feast of holy communion. With the women at the tomb, we are astonished, elated, and grateful. We depart with joy to proclaim the good news of God’s endless love.
Prayer of the Day
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, that we may live with him forever in the joy of the resurrection, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Scripture
Acts 10:34-43
God raised Jesus on the third day
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Ps. 118:24)
Colossians 3:1-4
Raised with Christ to seek the higher things
John 20:1-18
Seeing the risen Christ
Devotion for the week
Strongly Sung Alleluia
In Matthew’s telling of the Easter story, Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” are the first to experience the resurrection of Jesus (28:1). Earthquake, descending angel, and convulsing grave-guards all attest to this miraculous feat of God’s love defeating death forever. The angelic invitation to the women to behold the bodiless resting place of Jesus is met with evangelistic fervor; the women race off full of “fear and great joy” (v. 8) to tell the others. Their run from the empty tomb, however, is interrupted by the risen Christ. A simple word of greeting from Jesus sends the women to the ground; they “took hold of his feet, and worshiped him” (v. 9).
What did this first Easter-morning worship look like? Did the women recite traditional Jewish prayers? Were they moved to sing? Might this worshipful moment be the time and place the first Easter “alleluia” was uttered? Perhaps they harkened back to Psalm 118 and sang to Jesus, “The Lord is my strength and my song, and has become my salvation” (v. 14). At the feet of Jesus, the women found strength as they bore witness to God’s liberation and the power of resurrection. This was the Jesus they would share with the other disciples and, by extension, the world. This is the Jesus they would sing out to others in Galilee and beyond. A new day had dawned; Easter had arrived. Alleluia!
The church gathers on this Easter Day to join in the proclamation of Christ crucified and risen. We gather to share in the wonder and joy of Mary and Mary, whose worshipful witness has become our own. We join in the prayers, the confession, the Easter fervor that knows the salvation of our God, our strength and our song. A new day, an Easter Day has come. “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24). Indeed, let us rejoice, worship, and sing out strong: Alleluia! Alleluia!
Devotional message based on the readings for April 5, 2026, reprinted from sundaysandseasons.com. Copyright © 2023 Augsburg Fortress.
This Week’s Featured Resource
(available to purchase from https://www.augsburgfortress.org/)
This Risen Existence: The Spirit of Easter Although Easter is the most significant event in the Christian year, we rarely take time to explore what it means in detail. So much attention is given to Lent, yet the theology of resurrection is central not only to what we believe about God and Jesus but to our understanding of ourselves. Paula Gooder leads us on a biblical exploration of the resurrection accounts in each of the Gospels and in Paul’s writings, as well as the account of the Ascension and coming of the Spirit at Pentecost in Acts. Arranged for daily reading through the seven weeks of Eastertide, This Risen Existence opens with an extended reflection on ancient and contemporary understandings of resurrection.