Sunday, April 12, 2009
Offered by Calum I. MacLeod, Executive Associate Pastor

The Lord is risen;
     the Lord is risen indeed!
The stone is rolled away!
Mary discovered it; Peter and John saw it;
the disciples heard and rejoiced.
     Some were scared and doubted
     and then saw Jesus and believed.
The Lord is risen!
God’s people have proclaimed it;
     alleluias rise from the voice of the church:
          “Where, O Death, is your victory?”
We are an Easter people! Thanks be to God!
The darkness of Friday has passed now .
     The silence of Saturday is over now, O God,
     and it is Sunday—the day of resurrection.
Christ is risen,
     the first fruit of your new creation.

So let us hear the mystery of this day and believe, O God;
inspire us to live into the reality of Easter;
strengthen us to hold fast
     to the promise of life in the midst of death,
     of love overcoming fear, hope defeating misery,
     peace gaining over war;
for too much of our world knows war and misery,
     fear and death.
It is too easy for us to revert to the perishable
when we should focus on that that which is imperishable:
     the love of you, our God, in Jesus Christ our risen Savior.

And so we pray as your Easter people,
standing steadfast and immovable in your grace,
through our fledgling faith.
We pray for wholeness in the hurting places,
     for hopefulness in the desolate places,
     for peace in the war-filled places.
We pray for the people of Italy,
          mourning death as a result of natural disaster;
     for the people of Sudan and Congo and Zimbabwe,
          crying out for justice and peace in the face of human violence;
     for the ordinary life-toiling folks of Iraq and Afghanistan,
          who shout for ordinary living;
     and the servicemen and women from this nation and others
          who seek to do just that—serve them.
Bless, O God of compassion, the president and leaders of this country.
May the road to common recovery they seek to charter
     strengthen the wise, empower the empathetic,
     and transform the skeptic.
May the Easter rising of the beloved Christ,
          and the  Easter song of the church universal
     support the sick,
     surround the lonely,
     enfold those who feel lost,
     dwell with the dying,
     and unite us with those we have loved,
          who are gone from our sight, which is dim,
          but who now see fully in the light of your grace,
               your compassion and love.
Bring us with them at the last to the fullness of your glory,
     an Easter people, by grace,
     servants of the reign of you,
          our God, creator, lover, sustainer,
Three in One. Risen Savior, in whom in life, in death,
     in life beyond death we are not alone.
Thanks be to you, our God. Amen.

Prayer © Fourth Presbyterian Church