Brothers and sisters in Christ we did not have the Easter Sunday we are used to. We also have not had the season of worship we are accustomed to. The Easter season is a time of joy, yet this year we are challenged to find joy in the midst of hardship.
Although this Easter was bittersweet, we know with certainty that a far greater Easter and day of celebrating Christ’s resurrection awaits us. We know Jesus has promised to return and raise the bodies of all believers to join him in the New Heaven and Earth. On this glorious day our resurrections will be the exclamation point on Christ’s resurrection on the first Easter morning. 1Corinthians 15:20 “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.”
In other words whether we were able to gather or not on Easter morning this celebration all the same pales in comparison to the joy of great day of the Lord. All of our time of worship looks forward to this day, and our worship is not needed to bring this day to completion, Christ will do it all. As we as a church wait through this painfully so process of shelter in place, know that Jesus will bring to us the final victory, he will come for you and come for me. This message of hope transcends any season or period of trial in our lives. His Word endures forever, and may it enrich us this morning.
Let’s take time this morning to pray the collect prayer for the second Sunday of Easter, which reminds us of the joy that Jesus’ resurrection can bring to our lives.
Almighty God, grant that we who have celebrated the Lord’s resurrection may by Your grace confess in our life and our conversation that Jesus is Lord and God; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Lord may we indeed confess in our life and our conversation that You reign over all, resurrected, glorified. May we confess in our lives that your kingdom is more beautiful and precious than anything we are missing on account of our current virus pandemic. May we confess that nothing can separate us from your love, no man and no virus! Lord I believe, help my unbelief! Help me to believe in your purposes for me to love others and look to the good of my neighbor through a time that feels so often frustrating, sad, and bleak.
Also Lord help me to confess in my conversation with others that You are my Lord. Help me to speak in love about how to care for the needs and safety of my neighbor through my decisions and actions, that I may care for my neighbor through practicing the social distancing measured recommended by disease control experts- limiting the risk of my neighbor through patiently waiting in the store to not come in too close of contact, by wearing a mask in public for the protection of others.
Help me in my conversations with others to share my hope that You are in control of this situation. Help me to share how important gathering in worship is to me and how I look forward to resuming this. Help me to not foster a spirit of complaining or fear, but one of gratefulness toward the daily bread that You provide to me each day.
Lord teach me to hear your Word with faith and hope at all times. On this morning especially the appointed Epistle for the second Sunday of Easter:
1Peter 1: 3-9
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Heavenly Father this time of the year, even when we abide mourning as exiles from Your sanctuary we celebrate that You have caused us to be born again to a living hope through Your Son’s glorious resurrection. Help me to rejoice in the imperishable inheritance You have prepared for me that is secured by Your resurrection. I rejoice that through Your Son “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” I rejoice to know Your love for me that is immovable, love that ‘neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation , will be able to separate us from.’
Lord help me to rejoice even as I have been grieved by numerous trials in this last month. Your living Word instructs me to count it all joy when I meet trials of various kinds, as I know the testing of my faith produces steadfastness. I have had much to grieve, even if I have been kept safe from illness, it is a great sorrow to see so many of your children plagued by the curse of the fall through the virus. I grieve as I learn how the poor and needy are more vulnerable than I am. I feel distress knowing those on the front lines of work in factories and grocery stores and health care facilities are in more danger than I am. I grieve as a dear brother in Christ is now called to eternal rest in you on account of the same virus that has frustrated so much of daily life.
Yet in all of the grief and trials in this time I am comforted by Your promise to never leave or forsake me. I am reminded of how You told Your disciples about the upcoming trial off your betrayal and crucifixion. You told the disciples “Behold the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone.”
Lord You see how we have been scattered to our own homes, not account of persecution, but on account of the fallen creation- where viruses designed to aid in digestion now serve to destroy the body. Lord you see how we are isolated and feel alone in a unfamiliar way. You told the disciples: “Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me . I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
Lord provide us this peace this morning as we long to receive Your body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, as we long to gather to celebrate the victory over death that your resurrection won for us. Provide us Your peace as we mourn the losses of loved ones and fear for the well being of those close to us.
Lord at this hour I am much like the disciples gathered in the upper room, gathered and sequestered from the world in fear. Just as Thomas missed seeing You appear in the glory of Your resurrection, I have been missing the sight of Your presence in worship. I long for when my faith will once again be sight. Remind me of Your promise that ‘blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’ Lord help me to echo the confession of faith of Peter: ‘Though I have not seen him, I love him. Though I do not now see him, I believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of my faith, the salvation of my soul.’
Lord in closing put on my heart praise for the salvation You have won for me through your cross and resurrection and joined me to through the water and the Word in Holy Baptism. Help me to pray the words of this psalm, joining in praise with all creation and as one of Your children who is near to you.
Psalm 148
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights!
2 Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts!
3 Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you
shining stars!
4 Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above
the heavens!
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and
they were created.
6 And he established them forever and ever; he gave a
decree, and it shall not pass away.
7 Praise the Lord
from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps,
8 fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his
word!
9 Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all
cedars!
10 Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying
birds!
11 Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and
all rulers of the earth!
12 Young men and maidens together, old men and children!
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted;
his majesty is above earth and heaven.
14 He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints,
for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the Lord!
