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RESURRECTION SUNDAYMarch 31, 2024Pastor Tom SteersChrist the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto OPENING HYMNN: 457 “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today”Lutheran Service Bookhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9a41CvVEHwPastor: Halleluiah, Christ is risen!Congregation: He is risen indeed. Halleluiah! Confession and Absolution Page 184-185 of our HymnalIntroit (read by the Pastor) Exodus 15: 2a, 6, 13, 17-18 2“The LORD is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. 6 Your right hand, LORD, was majestic in power.Your right hand, LORD, shattered the enemy.13 In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed.In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.17 You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance—the place, LORD, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, Lord, your hands established. 18 “The LORD reigns for ever and ever.” Pastor: Halleluiah, Christ is risen!Congregation: He is risen indeed. Halleluiah! The Salutation – Pastor: The Lord be with you. Congregation: And also with you. Collect Prayer: Almighty God the Father, through Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, You have overcome death and opened the gate of everlasting life to us. Grant that we, who celebrate with joy the day of our Lord’s resurrection, may be raised from the death of sin by Your life-giving Spirit; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.Our Bible Readings:First Reading – Isaiah 25: 6-9 Psalm 16 Epistle Reading – 1st Corinthians 15: 1-11 Gospel Reading – Mark 16: 1-8 THE APOSTLES’ CREED Page 192HYMN OF THE DAY: 464 “The Strife is O’er, the Battle Done”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu5Ctty9kiAPastor: Halleluiah, Christ is risen!Congregation: He is risen indeed. Halleluiah! THE SERMON –Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah! Today we celebrate nothing less than God’s victory over sin, death, and the devil.And through our Saviour Jesus Christ, it is your victory as well.It’s that personal, that real.The Apostle John wrote:“For this is how God loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)You can place your name in that verse.For God so loved you, that he gave His only Son to die on the cross, so that you would live.But the cross was not the final word, nor was the tomb, but the resurrection!The resurrection is the center, the core of the Christian faith. The Apostle Paul said it clearly in 1st Corinthians:“If Christ has not been raised from the dead, then our preaching and faith is in vain . . . .” “But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead,” Paul wrote, “the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” There were many witnesses to the truth of the resurrection: the disciples, the women at the tomb, and hundreds of people who the Bible tells us saw the resurrected Jesus. That truth today has become the world’s largest religion.But this is much more than about numbers.It’s about victory over the one thing we cannot escape from on our own -- death.The prophet Isaiah wrote of Jesus 700 years before the birth of Christ, saying,“He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces.”Today we say and sing Hallelujah in our Easter Service, again and again. The word comes from the Hebrew, it means: Praise God!Praise Him for the greatest rescue mission that has ever taken place. The rescue of God’s most prized possession in all the universe, His children -- us.That victory through Christ is what the joy of Easter is all about.Of course, 2,000 years ago on the first Easter morning the mood was not festive for those who followed Christ, for the women who were going to His tomb.Jesus had risen, but no one knew it yet. The first Easter began in grief. Christ’s followers hadn’t even been able to give Him a proper burial; He had died too close to the Sabbath. By the time Joseph of Arimathea could get permission to remove the body from the cross, they didn't have the opportunity to prepare it according to custom. So, as soon as the sun went down on the Sabbath, they bought spices and supplies to complete the burial. Everything was arranged to get an early start the next morning. During their walk to the sepulcher though, the women realized they’d forgotten something, ‘Who would roll the stone away.’But as they approach the tomb, the stone was the first thing they noticed. It looked as if an angel from Heaven had tossed it aside. And in fact, that’s exactly what happened. The Apostle Matthew wrote, "An angel of the Lord descended from Heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it." [Matthew 28:2]And it was an angel of God that tells the women, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen . . . .”The first part of the angel’s message tells the women they won’t find Jesus where they expect Him to be. Then the angel says: "Go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you to Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you." The angel was instructing the women to share the good news of Christ’s resurrection. I love that the angel says, ‘tell his disciples and Peter.’ Peter, who had denied our Lord three times. Peter, who was ashamed and mourning. But also, Peter, who was forgiven, and who would receive the role of apostle.Jesus wasn’t where the women expected Him to be. Jesus is never where people with minds focusing on this world expect Him to be. We come into this life with a ‘God-shaped’ space inside of us. We all have questions:-- Why are we here? -- What’s the meaning of life? -- Does anything happen after death-- Is there hope for an after-life? These questions reveal our desire for something, or someone, who is bigger than us -- someone who’s in control – who has all the answers. Or in other words – God. Down through the centuries different people have developed their own expectations of God. They’ve tried various ways to fill that empty space in us where God belongs.These man-made religions teach that somehow, through some worthy action on our part we can discover God by ourselves, and earn His favour, earn forgiveness. But honest people quickly find they can’t save themselves. Because as human beings we’re imperfect, we fail. We find ‘self-salvation’ doesn’t work. Or as the Apostle Paul explained in Romans 3:23: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God . . . .”That’s why our salvation must come from outside us. We realize the true plan of redemption is one that only God accomplishes. It was a plan announced to Adam and Eve right after the fall in the Garden of Eden.In Genesis 3:16 God said that from the offspring of the woman would come One who would crush Satan’s head, but that He would strike this Saviour’s heal.It is a reference to the crucifixion, and to Christ who would save the world from its fallen state by making of Himself the one perfect sacrifice to end all sacrifices.The one true faith, Christianity, is an ‘unexpected’ one. Instead of making us fix our own brokenness, God does it for us through the cross of Christ.Again, the Apostle Paul explained we: “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith. (Romans 3:24-25)By faith, not by our own efforts.The resurrection proves that Christ’s sacrifice was acceptable to God the Father as the complete payment for sin.A death and resurrection we are united to in our Baptism.Yet, some may ask, if God is so unexpected, how can we know Him so He can fill our emptiness with His salvation? Here the Third Commandment guides us – Honor the Sabbath Day.We find God in His true Church where the Word of God is preached and taught correctly, and the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are administered properly.Faith is worked within us by the Holy Spirit using God’s means of grace: Word and Sacrament.Christ has ascended to Heaven, but He’s remained with you -- in the water of Baptism-- in the bread and wine of communion which are His true body and blood. -- and in His life-giving Word.Christ has kept His promise to rise from the tomb.And as believing Christians He will keep His promise to You when He said: "I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am you may be also." Christ has risen! He has risen indeed. Alleluia! Amen.PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH THE SERVICE OF THE SACRAMENT P: Blessed are You O Lord, our God, king of the universe, for you have had mercy on us and given Your only-begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. C: We give You thanks Father for the redemption You have prepared for us through Jesus Christ. Grant us Your Holy Spirit that we may faithfully take communion and receive the blessings of forgiveness, life, and salvation that come from the body and blood of Christ. P: Father, hear us as we pray as Jesus taught us. THE LORD’S PRAYERC: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.Preface P: The Lord be with you.C: And also with you.P: Lift up your hearts.C: We lift them to the Lord.P: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.C: It is right to give Him thanks and praise.P: It is truly meet, right, and salutary, that we should at all times, and in all places, give thanks to you, O Lord, Holy Father, Almighty and Everlasting God.For in the mystery of the Word made flesh, You have given us a new revelation of Your glory; that seeing You in the Person of Your Son, we may be drawn to the love of those things which are not seen.THE WORDS OF OUR SAVIOUR INSTITUTING THE LORD’S SUPPERPage 197 P: The peace of the Lord be with you always.C: Amen.Lamb of God (Agnus Dei)P: Lamb of God You take away the sin of the world,C: Have mercy on us.P: Lamb of God You take away the sin of the world,C: Have mercy on us.P: Lamb of God You take away the sin of the world,C: Grant us peace. The Distribution(Our hymn during distribution is 636 “Soul, Adorn Yourself with Gladness”)Post Communion Collect (Left-hand column) Page 218 of our Hymnal Benedicamus and Benediction Page 218OUR CLOSING HYMN: 488 “He Is Risen! Glorious Word”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMgyfG0BbHE