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The Day of Resurrection
Adapted from the First Ode of the Canon of Pascha (Eastern Church)
Today is the day of Resurrection; let us be radiant! Today is Pascha, the Lord’s Pascha, for Christ our God has brought us from death to life, and from earth to Heaven.
Let Us Forgive All Things
Adapted from the Doxastikon of the Praises (Eastern Church)
It is the day of Resurrection; let us be radiant for the festival, and let us embrace one another. Let us say, “O brothers,” even to those that hate us: Let us forgive all things on the Resurrection; and thus let us cry: Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and upon those in the tombs bestowing life.
The Chosen and Holy Day
Irmos 8, Paschal Canon
This is the chosen and holy day, first of sabbaths, king and lord of days, the feast of feasts, holy day of holy days. On this day we bless Christ forevermore!
Today, We Arise
Adapted from Ode 3, Paschal Canon
Yesterday we were buried with Christ. Today we arise with him in resurrection. Yesterday we were crucified with him. Today, we ask the Savior to glorify us with him in his Kingdom.
Today, We Arise
Come, let us worship God our King. Come, let us worship and fall down before Christ, our King and our God. Come, let us worship and fall down before the very Christ, our King and our God!
Worship the Risen Lord
Brothers and sisters, we have gathered on the Lord’s Day, the first day of the week, because that is when Christ rose from the dead.
This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair. Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!
We are persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!
If Christ is risen, then we will rise with him.
If we will rise, then all things will be made new.
Worship the risen Lord; sing praises to his name; publish the glad tidings of salvation!
We will worship him!
Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Pentecost
Honor the Day of the Spirit
Happy Lord’s Day, and happy Pentecost! Today, on this fiftieth and final day of the Easter season, we celebrate that Jesus Christ, having ascended to the right hand of God, received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, and poured out the Spirit upon the Church to guide us into all truth and empower us for mission.
In the fourth century, Gregory of Nazianzus said, “We celebrate Pentecost and the dwelling with us of the Spirit and the appointed time of promise and the fulfillment of hope. The mystery is as great as it is venerable. … Honor the day of the Spirit. … Today let us keep feast.” “The Holy Spirit always was and is and will be, without beginning, without end, … invisible, eternal, uncontainable, unchanging, … all-powerful. … He is life and creates life, he is light and distributes light, he is the goodness itself and source of goodness. He is the upright Spirit, sovereign, Lord; he sends, sets apart, builds a temple for himself, guides, acts as he wills, distributes gifts. He is the Spirit of adoption, of truth, of wisdom, of understanding, of knowledge, of piety, of counsel, of strength, of fear, …. through whom the Father is known and the Son is glorified.”
This morning, we call upon this same Spirit to come now, afresh and anew, in our lives and in our church:
Come, Holy Spirit, Creator blest,
and in our souls take up your rest;
come with your grace and heavenly aid
to fill the hearts which you have made.
O comforter, to you we cry,
O heavenly gift of God Most High,
O fount of life and fire of love,
and sweet anointing from above.
You in your sevenfold gifts are known;
you, finger of God’s hand we own;
You, promise of the Father, you
who does the tongue with power imbue.
Kindle our sense from above, and
make our hearts overflow with love;
with patience firm and virtue high
the weakness of our flesh supply.
Far from us drive the foe we dread,
and grant to us your peace instead;
so shall we not, with you for guide,
turn from the path of life aside.
Oh, may your grace on us bestow
the Father and the Son to know;
and you, through endless times confessed,
of both the eternal Spirit blessed.
Now to the Father and the Son,
who rose from death, be glory given,
with you, O Holy Comforter,
henceforth by all in earth and heaven.
All: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Hail the Pentecostal Morn
In his great hymn for Pentecost, Hilary of Poitiers wrote,
Hail this joyful day’s return,
Hail the Pentecostal morn,
Morn when our ascended Head
On his Church his Spirit shed!
Like to cloven tongues of flame
On the twelve the Spirit came;
Tongues, that earth may hear the call;
Fire, that love may burn in all.
Lord, to thee thy people bend,
Unto us thy Spirit send;
Blessings of this sacred day
Grant us, dearest Lord, we pray.
Thou who didst our forebears guide,
With their children still abide;
Grant us pardon, grant us peace,
Till our earthly wanderings cease.
