GREETING (adapted from Psalm 118:24)
This is the day that you have made, O God.
We rejoice and are glad in it.
HYMN 308 “Thine Be the Glory”
PSALM 107
PRAYER
(Think back to the beginning of this day. Start there, and mentally walk through the day again, while you thank God for the day's blessings and God's continuous work of love. Confess and repent of those times when you forgot, ignored or rebelled against God. Continue to pray with your personal prayer list.)
SCRIPTURE LESSON
(Choose a passage of scripture to read. It can be a chapter, a paragraph, or a particular story. Daily lectionaries are available online or in print that assign a lesson each day from the gospels, epistles, Old Testament and psalms on a three-year cycle. Or you can create a plan to read a book of the Bible, or the whole Bible. Then follow the steps below.)
Read a passage of scripture. Read it out loud, very slowly and carefully as if for the first time. Continue reading until a word, phrase or sentence captures your attention. Stop there to repeat the word, phrase or sentence over and over, listening to it deeply in your heart.
Reflect on why the passage got your attention. Consider the area of your life to which this may apply. Is God saying something to you in this passage? Take time to listen carefully to whatever God may be saying to you.
Respond to God in prayer (or with journaling, music, art or whatever you choose) about what you have heard. Ask questions. Open yourself to God’s will for you.
Rest in God’s company. Be still and quiet. Move beyond thinking, practicing interior silence. Let yourself be open to God’s presence. Savor this moment with God.
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
(Declare your faith by repeating “The Apostles’ Creed” (882) or “The Nicene Creed,” (880) or use the following affirmation.)
(Matthew 28:1-10, 16-20; Mark 16:9-14; Luke 24:13-52; John 20:11-29, 21:1-23; Acts 1:3-9; and I Corinthians 15:5-8)
We believe in the beginning that God our Father created the world.
With Abraham, Isaac and Jacob God provided us a covenant.
With Moses, God gave us commandments to guide our lives.
With David, God promised us a royal dynasty lasting forever.
With the prophets, God warned us away from sin and death.
But despite all God gave, we rebelled and broke from God.
Separation from God included separation from eternal life.
We believe God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to resurrect our lives.
For our sin Jesus gave up his life to be crucified on a cross.
Jesus’ lifeless body was buried in a tomb that was not his.
On the third day, Jesus Christ was resurrected from death.
At the empty tomb he appeared to Mary and the women.
He appeared to Peter; then to two disciples on the road.
That evening he appeared again to disciples in Jerusalem.
He showed them the wounds in his hands and side.
He spoke with them and ate the fish they gave him.
A week later Jesus again appeared to the same disciples,
but the doubting Thomas was with them this time.
Thomas believed when told to touch Jesus’ wounds.
Jesus appeared to a crowd of over five hundred people.
He appeared to James; then disciples at the Galilean Sea.
Jesus provided them with a miraculous catch of fish,
and served a breakfast communion of fish and bread.
On a mountain in Galilee, Jesus appeared to the eleven,
and gave them the great commission for the church.
And on the road to Damascus, he appeared also to Paul.
But Jesus said those who have not yet seen him resurrected
are blessed, because our belief rests entirely on our faith.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus and sent by God.
The Spirit of the resurrected Christ is among and within us.
The Spirit guides and reminds us daily of Jesus’ teachings.
The Spirit gives us strength and comforts us when needed.
The Spirit unites the church into one, living and holy body.
We know the Spirit, and testify to the truth of a living Savior. Amen.
GLORY BE TO THE FATHER 70 or 71
Creator and Lord of Life, source of every good blessing,
you create life and hate everything that would end it.
Death is our greatest enemy and the nemesis of creation.
You are our greatest friend, trustworthy and loving.
Death sends to us disease and violence, murder and war.
You send Jesus with forgiveness, grace and salvation.
Death would lock us in its cold, stone-hard vault forever.
You unlock that petrified tomb and resurrect our lives.
Death would profanely desecrate and obliterate our bodies.
You resurrect our bodies and shape them for eternity.
Death would bring mourning to our families and friends.
You fill our families and friends with comforting joy.
Death would halt new experiences and all new memories.
You free us to live ever fresh and new in eternal life.
Death would erase the memory of us everywhere on earth.
You remember us always, even in our mothers’ wombs.
Death would eternally separate us from you and the saints.
You restore us to your company and to your church.
Death and fear are used by our enemies to manipulate us.
Your love cancels the fear and turns enemies to friends.
Death, our last enemy, always seems impossible to defeat;
but Jesus leads the way for us to receive total victory.
Savior and Eternal of Eternity, Vanquisher of Every Evil,
we will never cease giving you our thanks and praise. Amen.
SILENCE AND COMMITMENT
(Pause to reflect and listen. Work to push out of your mind any distracting or irrelevant thoughts. Concentrate your thoughts on the words of the hymns and choruses you have sung, the prayers you have spoken and the scriptures you have read. Be aware of what you are feeling. Listen for anything that God might be saying to you in this time you have spent together. As God responds to your prayer-time, seek guidance for how you can best respond to God’s will. Then commit to serving God’s will for you.)
HYMN 702 “Sing with All the Saints in Glory”
Everything in this world you have created is so temporary, Father.
It is like flowers that grow, and bloom, and fall back into dust.
Things we own, the work we do, the people we love, all temporary,
like sand they slip through our fingers, even our own lives.
We would cry out, except that you planned this to be a school.
This world is our preparation for the life that is yet to come.
In faith, we close our eyes, trusting in the morning you promise.
In school we have learned of your power, love and permanence.
As the flowers fade and the sand slips away, you remain constant.
Our faith, our hope, our love, all these remain in your embrace.
You are the Alpha and Omega who resurrects all the lost goodness.
Nothing you treasure is ever lost, and amazingly you treasure us.
And so we rest peacefully, trusting in your everlasting care and
knowing there is always morning, always your love, always you. Amen.
Copyright 2020. Robert D. Ingram, 32746 Jourden Rd., Albany, Ohio 45710 (dr.bobingram@gmail.com). Used by permission.
