Communications. Creative. Sample. LEADER S GUIDE For Easter Sunday Service RX6

Transcription

1 LEADER S GUIDE For Easter Sunday Service

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3 Restored In Christ BROKEN SEAL A Service For Easter Sunday Table Of Contents About Restored In Christ Order of Service Complete Script For Worship Leaders Scripture Readings Children s Sermon Sermon Prayers Music Guide By Joel Biermann. Art and design by Lindsay Galvin by for the Parish, 1564 Fencorp Dr., Fenton, MO creativecommunications.com. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. 3

4 Restored In Christ BROKEN SEAL A Service For Easter Sunday About Restored In Christ The season of Lent is a time for us to face together the brokenness of our lives and our orld, and then turn that brokenness over to Christ so that e can be restored by him through the cross. Written by seminary professor Joel Biermann, each service in this stirring series focuses on a certain event in the Lenten story and takes a good, hard look at a broken element from that particular story. Coming to an understanding of ho each of these broken elements leads to restoration in Christ is key to understanding hat it ultimately means to live today as ne creations in Christ. For each service in the kit contains: sample bulletins ith complete orders of service sermons prayers music for the accompanist. Ordering Information Additional resources are available from for the Parish. Contact us for current pricing and availability. Call us at Or visit our ebsite:.creativecommunications.com. 4

5 Bulletins For This Easter Sunday Kit: Code RXE (printed) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code RXJ (blank) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code RXO (blank) 8.5 x 14 bulletins A Complete Series For The Weeks Of Lent Is Available: Those ho desire may supplement this service ith other services for all of Lent. They are available as a kit and includes all the Leader s Guide features described above. The kit includes a CD-ROM (Mac/PC) in RTF format ith text of services and of bulletins, plus PDF files of the kit, and PoerPoint documents for use on screens. Kit Code RXU Ash Wednesday Broken Hearts Restored Joel 2:12-14 Our hearts are broken in sorro over sin; Christ restores our hearts through his forgiveness. Week 1 Broken Vessel Restored Mark 14:1-9 A broken vessel holds costly perfume; e are broken vessels restored hen Christ pays the price for us on the cross. Week 2 Broken Trust Restored Matthe 26:14-25 Judas breaks his trust ith Jesus by betraying him; our broken trust is restored through the sacrifice of Christ. Week 3 Broken Bread Restored John 6:48-58 Bread is broken at the Last Supper; e are restored through the Bread of Life, Jesus. Week 4 Broken Promises Restored Matthe 26:69-75 Peter s broken promises to never deny Jesus are restored by the surpassing love of Christ. 5

6 Week 5 Broken Justice Restored 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 A broken justice system put Jesus on the cross; e are restored hen by his death e are declared not guilty. Bulletins For The Six-Week Kit: Code RXP Pre-printed bulletins 8.5 x 11 Code RX2 Blank bulletins 8.5 x 11 Code RXR Blank bulletins 8.5 x 14 Holy Week Services To Complete The Series: Those ho desire may supplement this series ith other services that continue the series format and theme. Each is ordered separately and includes all the Leader s Guide features described above, except the CD-ROM. Palm Sunday. Broken Majesty Restored Zechariah 9:9-10 Code RXZ Kit Code RXT (printed) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code RXW (blank) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code RXX (blank) 8.5 x 14 bulletins Maundy Thursday. Broken Sanctuary Restored Luke 22:39-48 Code RX4 Kit Code RXC (printed) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code RXG (blank) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code RXM (blank) 8.5 x 14 bulletins Good Friday. Broken Curtain Salvation Restored Matthe 27:51 Code RX5 Kit Code RXD (printed) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code RXH (blank) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code RXN (blank) 8.5 x 14 bulletins 6

7 Ash Wednesday alone. Broken Hearts Restored Joel 2:12-14 Code RX3 Kit Code RXB (printed) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code RXF (blank) 8.5 x 11 bulletins Code RXK (blank) 8.5 x 14 bulletins Other Resources: Code RX1 Bookmark 7 x 2 1/2 Code RX7 Promotional Bulletin Insert Code RX8 Display Posters 11 x 17 Code PHRX Cloth Banner Suitable For Worship Bible Study Resources: Code RXS Restored In Christ Student Guide Code RXL Restored In Christ Leader Guide 7

8 Restored In Christ BROKEN SEAL A Service For Easter Sunday Complete Script For Worship Leaders The Opening Hymn is sung by the congregation to the tune Victory 888 and alleluias: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! The strife is o er, the battle done; No is the victor s triumph on; No be the song of praise begun. Alleluia! The po rs of death have done their orst, But Christ their legions hath dispersed. Let shouts of holy joy outburst. Alleluia! The three sad days have quickly sped, He rises glorious from the dead. All glory to our risen Head! Alleluia! He broke the age-bound chains of hell; The bars from heav n s high portals fell. Let hymns of praise his triumph tell. Alleluia! 12

9 Lord, by the stripes hich ounded thee, From death s dread sting thy servants free That e may live and sing to thee. Alleluia! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! The Opening Litany is read responsively by the pastor and the congregation: L Christ is risen! Alleluia! C He is risen, indeed! Alleluia! L Death could not hold him. C Death could not in. L What as shattered C God has made hole again. L What as broken C has been restored. L Our Savior Jesus is victorious! C God has vindicated him. Jesus is Lord! L Easter proves it: his every ord, his every deed is absolute truth. C Every promise he has made he ill fulfill. L He ill restore his broken people. C He ill raise us and make us hole again. Alleluia! Amen. The Hymn is sung by the congregation to the tune Easter Hymn and alleluias: Jesus Christ is ris n today, Alleluia! Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia! Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia! Suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia! Hymns of praise then let us sing, Alleluia! Unto Christ, our heav nly king, Alleluia! Who endured the cross and grave, Alleluia! Sinners to redeem and save. Alleluia! But the pains hich he endured, Alleluia! Our salvation have procured; Alleluia! No above the sky he s king, Alleluia! Where the angels ever sing. Alleluia! 13

10 Sing e to our God above, Alleluia! Praise eternal as his love; Alleluia! Praise him, all ye heav nly host, Alleluia! Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Alleluia! The Confession and Absolution is read responsively by the pastor and the congregation: L Easter changes everything. It is the orld s ne reality. Still, there are times hen e live as if Easter as only a ish. We live too often as if brokenness as the only reality. We live as if the stone had not been rolled aay. Even this happy morning, then, e pause to confess our failure to follo God s ay. We confess our sin. C Lord God, the Easter reality is all around us. We see it; e hear it; e even smell it. And yet, in spite of the truth of the resurrection, e so often live trapped in brokenness and death. We are defeated by Satan s temptations, deceived by the orld s false hopes and lies, and orn don by the battle against our on sinful flesh. We need you to forgive us. We need you to restore us. L Easter declares the great truth: the victory over Satan, the orld and our on flesh has been on. Because of Jesus death and resurrection, you are forgiven from every failure and every sin. Because brokenness and death could not hold Jesus, you are made hole. You are restored. Alleluia! Amen. The First Reading, Jeremiah 31:1-6, is read by the pastor: L At that time, declares the Lord, I ill be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people. Thus says the Lord: The people ho survived the sord found grace in the ilderness; hen Israel sought for rest, the Lord appeared to him from far aay. I have loved you ith an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I ill build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel! Again you shall adorn yourself ith tambourines and shall go forth in the dance of the merrymakers. Again you shall plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria; the planters shall plant and shall enjoy the fruit. For there shall be a day hen atchmen ill call in the hill country of Ephraim: Arise, and let us go up to Zion, to the Lord our God. 14

11 The Second Reading, Colossians 3:1-4, is read by the pastor: L If then you have been raised ith Christ, seek the things that are above, here Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden ith Christ in God. When Christ ho is your life appears, then you also ill appear ith him in glory. The Gospel Reading, Matthe 28:1-10, is read by the pastor: L No after the Sabbath, toard the dan of the first day of the eek, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary ent to see the tomb. And behold, there as a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance as like lightning, and his clothing hite as sno. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the omen, Do not be afraid, for I kno that you seek Jesus ho as crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place here he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you ill see him. See, I have told you. So they departed quickly from the tomb ith fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, Greetings! And they came up and took hold of his feet and orshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they ill see me. The Children s Sermon is delivered by the pastor or other orship leader: (Needed: A chocolate Easter bunny.) L Everybody likes Easter candy, don t they? I love it. I especially love chocolate bunnies like this one! Mmm doesn t it look good? So, if you ere going to eat this chocolate bunny, here ould you start? Yeah, me too: the ears. Off they d go. [Eat or break off the ears.] Oh-oh, no the bunny doesn t look much like a bunny, does it? Can e put the ears back on? Maybe e could use some tape, or some glue hat do you think? No, I don t think that ould ork either. Once the bunny is broken, there s no ay to fix it. That s hat the people ho did not like Jesus thought on Friday. They had 15

12 put Jesus up on the cross and killed him. They had broken Jesus. They ere sure that nothing could be done to help him. He as dead. He as gone broken for good. But he asn t broken for good. Three days later, God made him alive again. That s hat e celebrate today, on Easter. They could not break Jesus. That s great nes. Jesus is alive forever. Easter proves that Jesus is really God, and can do everything he promises. That means that he can make you his very on child. And it means that just like Jesus did not stay dead, those ho trust in Jesus on t stay dead either. He ill make them alive again. Easter means that none of us ho trust Jesus ill stay broken like this bunny. Like Jesus, e ill be made hole and alive and perfect. Jesus is going to do that for those you love and for you. So hen you celebrate Easter ith some great candy (and hy not there is a lot to celebrate!) remember that Jesus did not stay broken, and that Jesus ill not let us stay broken either. Thank you for coming up here, boys and girls. You can return to your seats no. The Sermon Hymn is sung by the congregation to the tune Christ Lag In Todesbanden : Christ Jesus lay in death s strong bands For our offenses given; But no at God s right hand he stands And brings us life from heaven. Therefore let us joyful be And sing to God right thankfully Loud songs of alleluia! Alleluia! Christ Jesus, God s on Son, came don, His people to deliver; Destroying sin, he took the cron From death s pale bro forever: Stripped of po r, no more it reigns; An empty form alone remains; Its sting is lost forever. Alleluia! 16

13 The Sermon is delivered by the pastor: L Tamper-evident seals on food and medicine packages are a standard part of life. Purchase a bottle of pain reliever and you are forced to run the gauntlet of security measures before you can actually get to the relief. First the flaps must be torn off the box the glue is designed not to pry apart neatly. The only ay in is by tearing the cardboard. Then there s likely printed shrink-rap holding the cap in place. Once it s torn off, it can t be put back again. Then, you ve got to solve the child-resistant cap hich technically isn t a security measure, but one for safety though it s hard to tell the difference. Once the lid is off, there s only one more seal to go the orst of them all. There s a multi-layered seal that must be punctured or torn or otherise demolished. It can t be peeled off cleanly the glue is meant to prevent that. For those of us ho like to keep things neat, that frayed, sloppy edge is the source of endless aggravation. But, again, it s quite intentional. The seals serve a purpose: it s meant to give the consumer confidence that the product he holds is safe and untouched by criminal hands though sometimes the seal orks so ell that the product is untouched by consumer hands. The idea of a seal is not to prevent something from being opened. The idea is to make sure that anyone ho is interested can tell that it s been opened. Seals meant to guarantee the integrity of hat s inside are not a ne idea. They ve been around for thousands of years. And just like our tamperevident seals, the purpose of ancient seals as not to impede access, that s hat locks, iron doors, moats, and chain-link are for. The goal of seals has alays been to prove the authenticity of things. Some of the oldest seals ere small cylinders made out of fired clay or metal that ere inscribed ith a unique design or declaration. The seal ould be rolled in et clay, perhaps to validate the orders or claims ritten ith a stylus on a clay tablet. The seal served as an identifying signature. It asn t long before signet rings, or seal rings, became popular. Clay or ax seals on envelopes or packages ould be stamped ith the ring verifying both the sender and the contents. Every leader and every person ith clout or responsibility had his on unique seal. The seal carried the poer and authority of the one ho oned and used it. So, on the morning after Jesus had been killed and buried, the leaders of the Sanhedrin kne that hat they needed as a seal. They needed 17

14 a seal on Joseph s ne tomb that had become the hasty grave of Jesus. It seems that these leaders had a better memory of Jesus ords and promises than his on disciples did. The leaders remembered Jesus declaration that after three days he ould rise again. Schemers that they ere, it occurred to them that some of Jesus folloers might try to steal the corpse and then declare a resurrection. They decided they needed to preclude any chance of this. Of course, their concerns ere ill founded. They ere grossly over-estimating the capabilities of the disciples. Plotting a hoax as the last thing on the mind of the eleven. They ere orried about more pressing issues like staying alive. Any thought they had of Jesus as only to lament the failure of every dream and plan. Thoughts of resurrection did not even occur to them. The proof is their determined refusal to believe the nes hen the omen announced the resurrection to them. Any idea of a resurrection as the last thing on their minds; but it as foremost in the thoughts of the Jeish leadership. They got Pilate to give the green light, added the insurance of a contingent of soldiers, and sealed the tomb of Joseph. No one could move the stone ithout their knoledge. The idea of the seal, of course, as not to make the tomb impossible to open. They didn t cement it shut or anchor iron straps across the stone closure. It as just a simple seal probably a length of string stretched across the opening and fixed on each end, and perhaps the middle, ith a lump of clay. Then the all-important part: the seal. Each lump of et clay ould have been imprinted ith someone s official seal. Whether it as the seal of Caiaphas or Pilate or even the officer in charge mattered little. The point as that ith the seal in place no one could tamper ith the stone. The body of Jesus could not be touched. Ho ironic that their effort to secure the tomb ould in fact help to secure the truth of the resurrection. With the seal in place and the guards on duty, Jesus rose. Long before the omen arrived at the spot, very early on Sunday morning, Jesus returned to life in all of his holy, divine glory. With the seal still on the stone, the tomb as already empty. There as no one there to atch hen Jesus triumphed over death. And no one needed to roll back the stone to let the living body of Jesus out. Fully God, and yet fully human, Jesus simply passed through the stone alls of the tomb. Nothing in creation could thart the resurrected Lord. Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to 18

15 Mary Magdalene, the other omen and the disciples in the upper room ithout ever disturbing the stone or the seal. He didn t need to open the tomb. He simply left. But the seal as certainly broken, of course, and the stone as rolled back to open the grave ide. It as not opened to let Jesus out but to let the itnesses in. Human eyes needed to see the evidence. A half dozen needed to see the empty tomb. A detachment of petrified soldiers needed to itness the stone being rolled back from the vacant tomb. Peter and John needed to see the grave clothes lying in the shape of a corpse but no empty and flat. They had to see the head linen folded up neatly by itself. The seal most certainly as broken. God sent an angel to break it. And the proof as apparent for all to see: there as no body. It as gone before the seal as gone. When the seal as destroyed and the guards driven aay, the miracle of Easter had already taken place. The tomb of Joseph of Arimathea as empty again. It ould one day be available for its oner after all. God broke the seal to make the nes knon: Jesus as alive, and no stone tomb could hold him. God as breaking many seals that Easter morning. The seal on the tomb as only the beginning. There ere also all those seals on the hearts and minds of Jesus disciples. Both the men and the omen ho had been folloing Jesus kne hat they thought. They kne hat they felt. The heartache as seared into them. The knoledge of hat had happened as inescapable. Their conviction of sorro and hopelessness as sealed. Jesus as dead. The thrill of folloing him as over. The dreams had all evaporated so suddenly and so horribly. Their joy as gone. Their hope had died ith Jesus. The omen, remember, ere on their ay to care for a corpse. Their only concern as the stone that ould keep them from their purpose. They ere not thinking resurrection thoughts or even harboring secret hopes. They only anted to give Jesus a decent burial. So, they spent a pile of money on expensive spices and ointments for the beaten, broken body and set off to do their duty. Their minds ere set and sealed: Jesus as dead. It as over. The men ere orse off. Their despair and fear had crippled them. Like scared rabbits they coered out of sight and grieved all that as lost. The sudden tragedy of Friday had knocked them senseless. Their minds ere sealed ith certainty: Jesus as gone. It as all over. Firmly sealed in their unbelief, they stubbornly refused to 19

16 Tune...Duke Street LM 1 & # # c 1? 6 & 6? 11 & 11? # # # # # # # # # # c.... # J J Π44

17 The Closing Hymn is sung by the congregation to the tune Duke Street LM: I kno that my Redeemer lives; hat comfort this seet sentence gives! He lives, he lives, ho once as dead; he lives my ever-living head. He lives triumphant from the grave; he lives eternally to save; He lives all-glorious in the sky; he lives exalted there on high. He lives to silence all my fears; he lives to ipe aay my tears; He lives to calm my troubled heart; he lives all blessings to impart. He lives, my kind, ise, heav nly friend; he lives and loves me to the end. He lives and hile he lives, I ll sing; he lives, my Prophet, Priest and King. He lives, all glory to his name! He lives, my Jesus, still the same; Oh, the seet joy this sentence gives: I kno that my Redeemer lives! 45