Good Evening Beloved Ones!
It is time for our annual Easter Vigil when we light our candles and turn on our porch lights. Tonight we hold sacred space for all the world and an end to this pandemic. So let us begin!
Come let us worship!
Joseph Barth: A Grace
We give thanks for Being;
We give thanks for being here;
We give thanks for being here together.
Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Come and eat’; and he took bread, and gave it to them. Alleluia. John 21:12, 13
The disciples knew the Lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread. Alleluia. Luke 24:35 (adapted)
Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57
All you who have been baptised have been clothed with Christ. Alleluia. Galatians 3:27
Set your minds on things that are above, and not on things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Alleluia. Colossians 3:2, 3
The Lord is risen from the tomb, * alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord is risen from the tomb, alleluia, alleluia.
Who for our sake hung upon the Tree:
Alleluia, alleluia.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
The Lord is risen from the tomb, alleluia, alleluia.
V. The disciples were glad, alleluia:
R. When they saw the risen Lord, alleluia.
Lancelot Andrewes: Be All To All
We bring before You, O God:
the cries of the weary,
the pains of the distressed,
the tears of the tragedies of life,
the anxious hours of the insecure,
the restlessness of the refugees,
the hunger of the oppressed.
Dear God, be near to each.
Helper of the helpless,
Hope of the homeless,
The Strength of those tossed with tempests,
The Haven of those who sail:
Be all to all.
Be within us, to strengthen us;
without us, to keep us;
above us, to inspire us;
beneath us, to uphold us;
before us, to direct us;
behind us , to propel us;
around us, to sustain us.
Be all to all in present need.
THE LIGHTING OF THE CANDLES -Anonymous
Lest we forget the great traditions of freedom and faith which are the heritage of humanity; lest we forget the pioneers, the statesmen, the bridge builders, the artists; and lest we forget You, the God of our fore bears who is our God also:
We light this candle of remembrance.
For the hope of a better world, in which righteousness and peace shall prevail among the people of the earth, and to create which is the task of the generations in which we stand, as well as for the courage and faith we shall need if we are to carry on this unfinished work:
We light this candle of consecration.
May the flame upon the altar of free faith shine in our hearts al ways, reminding us of the dark places to which we may carry light and strengthening us in every moment of doubt and discouragement with unwavering faith in You whom we serve and whose we are.
Let us light our candles and be at prayer. God we come to you feeling empty after yet another Good Friday and Holy Saturday. We pray that we may accept this emptiness as a means to reconnect with you and our family members. We pray and give thanks for these times where our heart homes need to lay fallow and rest so that we may welcome the renewal of our spirits that only can come from you.
We pray for peace in this world and that we may be ambassadors of CALM (Compassion, Acceptance, Love, and Mercy) We pray that we may have love energy in our hearts to love all of our family members throughout the world and even if they just might be the ones who seek to do us harm. Let us spend time tonight praying in the garden and outside the tomb once again and when it is time to rest we may awaken renewed to Love God, Our Family Members, Ourselves, and that we may rise to love and serve the least of these. Risen Lord may we feel your presence in the breaking of the bread and in our prayers.
SLOW US DOWN…YET ALSO -Anonymous
Slow us down, O God. Ease the pounding of our hearts by the quieting of our minds;
Yet also, wake us up. Shake the complacency out of our souls by opening our minds to the cry of the wounded, the refugees wandering without homes, the homeless at home, and the children who starve.
Steady our hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time;
Yet also, quicken our steps with a vision of the urgent action now required to cure the causes of stunted growth, premature death, battered women, and abused children.
Give us, amid the confusion of the day, the calmness of the everlast ing hills;
Yet also, alert our eyes not to the comforting illusion of constancy divorced from change, but rather to such sharp reality as deep poverty surrounding us at home and abroad.
Break the tensions of our nerves and muscles with the soothing mu sic of the singing streams;
Yet also, give us, amid the calm days of our years, souls which are prepared to cope with the confusion necessarily occurring amidst new creation in the cities, towns, and the countries of the earth.
Help us to know the magical, restoring power of sleep;
Yet also, break the chains of euphoria deluding us to think that we are acting responsibly when we do no more than listen to music which protects our feet from marching.
Remind us of the fable of the hare and the tortoise, that we may know that there is more to life than increasing its speed;
Yet also, remind us of the fable of the astrologer who fell plumb to the bottom of a well, not seeing his feet while reading the sky.
Slow us down, O God, and inspire us to send our roots deep into the soil of life’s enduring values, that we may grow more surely toward the stars;
Yet also, wake us up, so our eyes may see the people around us and our arms may be open to embrace the suffering who cry.
O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on this holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
From The Resistance Prays
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but find no rest.
-Psalm 22:1-2
How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God?
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death.
-Psalm 13:1-3
God, our God, we have lost so much. This world you gave us, it is so broken. We are so broken. We are sick and we are ailing and we are on the verge of death. God, we are being told to treat people as acceptable loses. Your people! Your beloved children! God, they’re being thrown into the ground all together because we can’t handle all this death. God, your people are imprisoned, they’re sick, they’re dying, they’re not being cared for. How long? How long, O God, until you save us, all of us? How long will we fight against injustice without seeing any change? Don’t you care, God? Don’t you care? O God, rise up and rescue us! Rise up and strengthen us! God, our God, don’t abandon us!
++
A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
-John 19:29-30
I’ve got some work to do.
May my old ways of living and existing be finished.
May my living into what it means to be a child of God just be beginning.
Amen.
++
Then Jesus took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood." - Luke 22:19-20
In union, dear Lord, with the faithful at every altar of your Church, where your blessed Body and Blood are being offered to the Father, I desire to offer you praise and thanksgiving. I present to you my soul and body, with the earnest wish that I may ever
be united to you. And since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, I pray you to come spiritually into my heart. I unite myself to you, and embrace you with all the affections of my soul. O let nothing ever separate me from you. Let me live and die in your love. Amen.
- A Prayer for the Spiritual Reception of Communion, The Book of Common Prayer (Episcopal)
++
Job 14:1-14
14‘A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
2 comes up like a flower and withers,
flees like a shadow and does not last.
3 Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
Do you bring me into judgement with you?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
No one can.
5 Since their days are determined,
and the number of their months is known to you,
and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,
6 look away from them, and desist,*
that they may enjoy, like labourers, their days.
7 ‘For there is hope for a tree,
if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root grows old in the earth,
and its stump dies in the ground,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth branches like a young plant.
10 But mortals die, and are laid low;
humans expire, and where are they?
11 As waters fail from a lake,
and a river wastes away and dries up,
12 so mortals lie down and do not rise again;
until the heavens are no more, they will not awake
or be roused out of their sleep.
13 O that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If mortals die, will they live again?
All the days of my service I would wait
until my release should come.
Christ, you are risen from the dead.
We are risen with you.
May our life never deny
this eternal life,
this peace and hope and joy.
Praise and glory to the God of life
who is stronger than all kinds of death. Alleluia.
1 Peter 4:1-8
4Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh,* arm yourselves also with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin), 2so as to live for the rest of your earthly life* no longer by human desires but by the will of God. 3You have already spent enough time in doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry. 4They are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of dissipation, and so they blaspheme.* 5But they will have to give an account to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. 6For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does.
7 The end of all things is near;* therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. 8Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.
Christ, you are risen with the sun;
you are light in our darkness,
warmth in our cold.
You are peace and hope and joy,
for you went willingly to death.
You turned defeat and failure to victory for all.
You live eternally, and with you live the millions,
living and dead, who trust in you.
Matthew 27:57-66
57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. 58He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth 60and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. 61Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63and said, ‘Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, “After three days I will rise again.” 64Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, “He has been raised from the dead”, and the last deception would be worse than the first.’ 65Pilate said to them, ‘You have a guard* of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.’* 66So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.
May we who in baptism die to sin,
rise again to new life
and find our true place in your living body.
May the new covenant sealed in your blood
through us bring healing and reconciliation
to this wounded world.
Alleluia. You are risen. We are risen with you.
Praise and glory to the living God.
Romans 6:3-11
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Father,
we have seen with our eyes
and touched with our hands
the bread of life.
Strengthen our faith
that we may grow in love for you and for each other;
through Jesus Christ the risen Lord.
Luke 24:1-12
On the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
14‘A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
2 comes up like a flower and withers,
flees like a shadow and does not last.
3 Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
Do you bring me into judgement with you?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
No one can.
5 Since their days are determined,
and the number of their months is known to you,
and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,
6 look away from them, and desist,*
that they may enjoy, like labourers, their days.
7 ‘For there is hope for a tree,
if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root grows old in the earth,
and its stump dies in the ground,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth branches like a young plant.
10 But mortals die, and are laid low;
humans expire, and where are they?
11 As waters fail from a lake,
and a river wastes away and dries up,
12 so mortals lie down and do not rise again;
until the heavens are no more, they will not awake
or be roused out of their sleep.
13 O that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If mortals die, will they live again?
All the days of my service I would wait
until my release should come.
Christ, you are risen from the dead.
We are risen with you.
May our life never deny
this eternal life,
this peace and hope and joy.
Praise and glory to the God of life
who is stronger than all kinds of death. Alleluia.
1 Peter 4:1-8
4Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh,* arm yourselves also with the same intention (for whoever has suffered in the flesh has finished with sin), 2so as to live for the rest of your earthly life* no longer by human desires but by the will of God. 3You have already spent enough time in doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry. 4They are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of dissipation, and so they blaspheme.* 5But they will have to give an account to him who stands ready to judge the living and the dead. 6For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does.
7 The end of all things is near;* therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. 8Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.
Christ, you are risen with the sun;
you are light in our darkness,
warmth in our cold.
You are peace and hope and joy,
for you went willingly to death.
You turned defeat and failure to victory for all.
You live eternally, and with you live the millions,
living and dead, who trust in you.
Matthew 27:57-66
57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. 58He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 59So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth 60and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. 61Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate 63and said, ‘Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, “After three days I will rise again.” 64Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, “He has been raised from the dead”, and the last deception would be worse than the first.’ 65Pilate said to them, ‘You have a guard* of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can.’* 66So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.
May we who in baptism die to sin,
rise again to new life
and find our true place in your living body.
May the new covenant sealed in your blood
through us bring healing and reconciliation
to this wounded world.
Alleluia. You are risen. We are risen with you.
Praise and glory to the living God.
Romans 6:3-11
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Father,
we have seen with our eyes
and touched with our hands
the bread of life.
Strengthen our faith
that we may grow in love for you and for each other;
through Jesus Christ the risen Lord.
Luke 24:1-12
On the first day of the week, at early dawn, the women who had come with Jesus from Galilee came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.
Eternal giver of life and light,
this holy night shines with the radiance of the risen Christ;
renew your Church with the Spirit given to us in baptism,
that we may worship you in sincerity and truth,
and shine as a light in the world;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
or
Lord of the passover,
you have lit this night with the radiance of Christ;
renew in us our baptism,
and bring us through the Red Sea waters
to the promised land.
Through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Amen.
Collect for The Great Vigil of Easter.
Almighty God, who for our redemption gave your only- begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. or this O God, who made this most holy night to shine with the glory of the Lord's resurrection: Stir up in your Church that Spirit of adoption which is given to us in Baptism, that we, being renewed both in body and mind, may worship you in sincerity and truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
OUR LITTLE LIVES - Howard Thurman
Our little lives, our big problems—these we place upon Your altar!
The quietness in Your temple of silence again and again rebuffs us:
For some there is no discipline to hold them steady in the waiting,
And the minds reject the noiseless invasion of Your spirit.
For some there is no will to offer what is central in the thoughts—
The confusion is so manifest, there is no starting place to take hold.
For some the evils of the world tear down all concentrations
And scatter the focus of the high resolves.
We do not know how to do what we know to do.
We do not know how to be what we know to be.
Our little lives, our big problems—these we place upon Your altar!
Pour out upon us whatever our spirits need of shock, of life, of release
That we may find strength for these days—
Courage and hope for tomorrow.
In confidence we rest in Your sustaining grace
Which makes possible triumph in defeat, gain in loss, and love in hate.
We rejoice this day to say:
Our little lives, our big problems—these we place upon Your altar!
W.E.B. Du Bois: Prayer
In these first beginnings of the new life of the world, renew in us the resolution to persist in the good work we have begun. Give us strength of body and strength of mind and the unfaltering determination to carry out that which we know to be good and right. Forgive all wavering in the past service of Thy cause and make us strong to go for ward in spite of the doubts of our friends and our enemies and in spite of our own distrust in ourselves. Out of the death of winter comes ever and again the resurrection of spring: so out of evil bring good, O God, and out of doubt determination. Amen.
George MacRae: The Hope of Tomorrow
O God, the alpha and the omega,
the first and the last,
the beginning and the end,
grace with Your presence
all our endings and our beginnings.
Give us joy in the newness of life,
humility in the moment of our accomplishment,
gratitude for all that we have been given.
You who now are,
and who was
and who is to come,
be ever present in our transitions.
Lift our hearts beyond the satisfactions of the moment
to the needs of the times,
and sanctify our now
with the memory of our then
and the promise and hope of Your tomorrow.
Diann Neu: Blessed Be Our Hands
Blessed be the work of our hands.
Blessed be these hands that touch life.
Blessed be these hands that nurture creativity.
Blessed be these hands that hold pain.
Blessed be these hands that embrace with passion.
Blessed be these hands that tend gardens.
Blessed bed these hands that close in anger.
Blessed be these hands that plant new seeds.
Blessed be these hands that harvest ripe fields.
Blessed be these hands that clean, wash, mop, scrub.
Blessed be these hands that become knotty with age.
Blessed be these hands that wrinkle and scar from doing justice.
Blessed are these hands that reach out and are received.
Blessed are these hands that hold the promise of the future.
Blessed be the works of our hands and hearts.
FOR WORLD NEIGHBORLINESS - Peter Marshall
O God, we pray for a broader vision of the needs of humanity, and a deeper compassion to fill those needs; for a planting of the seeds of concern for all humanity in our hearts; for a tapping of the wells of generosity.
May we live together as people who have been forgiven a great debt.
May we be gentle, walking softly with one another.
May we be understanding, lest we shall add to the world’s sorrow or cause to flow needless tears.
May we be as anxious for the rights of others as we are for our own.
May we be as eager to forgive as we are to seek forgiveness.
May we know no barriers of creed or race or sex, that our love may be like Yours—a love that sees all people as Your children and our kin.
May we be ministers of humanity.
The Song of Mary Magnificat
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in you, O God my Savior, *
for you have looked with favor on your lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: *
you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,
and holy is your name.
You have mercy on those who fear you *
from generation to generation.
You have shown strength with your arm * and scattered the proud in their conceit,
Casting down the mighty from their thrones * and lifting up the lowly.
You have filled the hungry with good things * and sent the rich away empty.
You have come to the help of your servant Israel, * for you have remembered your promise of mercy,
The promise made to our forebears, * to Abraham and his children for ever.
“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
― Teresa of Ávila
The Beatitudes - Matthew
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven. (5:3)
Blessed are those who mourn: for they will be comforted. (5:4)
Blessed are the meek: for they will inherit the earth. (5:5)
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness: for they will be filled. (5:6)
Blessed are the merciful: for they will be shown mercy. (5:7)
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they will see God. (5:8)
Blessed are the peacemakers: for they will be called children of God. (5:9)
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (5:10
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen.
or the alternative form from A New Zealand Prayer Book
Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples
of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and for ever. Amen.
Lord Jesus, as we approach the celebration of Jesus' resurrection may we pray for peace in the world and the renewal of our spirits.
Jesus, give us the courage to become instruments of your peace and be "Lights of the World" and "The Salt of the Earth"
Jesus, grant us the wisdom to find out for ourselves the truth behind all the stories we read and see in social media and in the newscasts and not be afraid to go to the tomb as Mary Magdalene did.
Jesus, we pray for the forgotten people in all the war torn areas of the world that our eyes may be opened and that we may have loving hearts to welcome them.
Jesus, give us we pray the energy to do the tasks no matter how large or how small you give us in service to you and in your Kingdom.
Jesus, we remember those who are on our hearts this night especially______________________
Jesus, protect all our family members around the world this night and 'Hide them under the shadow of your wings"
Jesus, keep reminding us that we are to be your hands, your feet, your voice, in the world. Give us by your example to never treat anyone as invisible.
Jesus, help us to be living and breathing Bibles by our love, compassion, mercy, words, deeds and remember the words of St. Francis of Assisi "Preach the Gospel always, if necessary use words!"
Jesus, we remember all of our vulnerable family members who are lonely, lost, refugees, homeless, hungry, and all the least of these. Help us to remember that by caring and serving them we are serving you.
Jesus, heal all those who are mentally ill, PTSD, Memory problems, and all those who struggle with daily living. We remember all of our family members who are disabled.
Jesus, help us to know that we are one with you and God and that we may never be afraid to come to you and knock at the door. Help us always to be listening and seeking you in those moments of stillness and calm.
Jesus we pray our gratitude list and offer our thanks to you!
Come Lord Jesus and be among us this night and always. Amen.
A Prayer attributed to St. Francis
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen.
The Song of Simeon Nunc dimittis
Luke 2:29-32
Lord, you now have set your servant free *
to go in peace as you have promised;
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *
whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
A Light to enlighten the nations, *
and the glory of your people Israel.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.
Live without fear: your Creator has made you holy, has always protected you, and loves you as a mother. Go in peace to follow the good road and may God’s blessing be with you always.
Amen.
(source: from Saint Clare)
Good night dear ones! I love you and my God Bless you this night and always. Remember tomorrow is the Celebration of Jesus' resurrection. Let us have courage to say He is Risen!
the Lord is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
Here is a special take on the Be Stills for you tomorrow!
Risen Lord be known to us in the breaking of the bread.
Risen Lord be known to us in the breaking.
Risen Lord be known to us.
Risen Lord be known.
Risen Lord be.
Risen Lord.
Risen.
The light of Christ in me ! Recognizes the Light of Christ in You.
Love, joy, blessings,prayers, with thanksgiving to God for you!
Sara
Resources
Enriching our Worship 1 1997
Online Book of Common Prayer
Oremus Bible Browser
Walk With Me On Our Journey
A New Zealand Prayer Book
Lectionary Page
Prayers of Power
If you wish to read through the entire Great Vigil of Easter is the link to the readings: Great Vigil of Easter Readings Year A
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