Apr 8, 2007 - Easter Reading
Easter Reading 4-8-07
Leader: All Lenten symbols—the reminders of death and sadness
—have been removed from the cross today.
In their place are signs of life and light.
The stone has been rolled aside; the tomb is empty.
Death is swallowed up in victory!
What we intended for evil, God in mercy has redeemed for good.
Congregation: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, we thank You for Your mercy!
Like the women, we come to the tomb in our darkness.
Perplexed and terrified, we fail to remember.
Through Your resurrection You re-create us
and call us to rejoice forever!
In the shadow of Your transformed cross
we rejoice in Your mercy.
Leader: The cross embodies both our sin and our hopelessness without God’s grace.
But Christ has made the cross an eternal revelation of God’s love,
a borrowed tomb the symbol of everlasting hope.
Being raised from the dead, He will never die again.
Death and sin have lost their dominion;
the wolf and the lamb lie down together!
Congregation: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, we thank You for Your mercy!
Like the apostles, we disregard Good News.
We dismiss resurrection power, and do not believe.
Through Your resurrection You re-create us
and call us to rejoice forever!
In the shadow of Your transformed cross
we rejoice in Your mercy.
Leader: Let us pray together...
Congregation: Almighty God, whose glory it is always to have mercy:
We confess that the cross and its dark symbols come from our hands.
We fail to remember, and fail to believe.
We look at Jesus, and we look at ourselves,
and we confess the great difference.
But by the power of His resurrection
You are re-creating us as Your people in His image!
Leader: Therefore, with angels and archangels, and all the company of heaven,
We praise and magnify Your glorious name, evermore praising You and saying:
Congregation: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts!
Heaven and earth are full of Your glory.
Glory be to You, O Lord Most High! Amen.
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