Resurrection of the Lord | Easter Day | First Sunday of Eastertide | Day One of the Great Fifty

Happy Easter!

Easter Day!  Easter Sunday!  Easter!  Today marks the beginning of the oldest and grandest of all Christian festivals.  The first Easter observances in the second and third centuries of the church lasted for fifty days (called “The Great Fifty Days” by some) – from Easter Day to the Day of Pentecost, which, like Easter Day, is always on a Sunday (May 15 this year).

With joy, praise, and thanksgiving, Christians remembered the resurrection and ascension of Jesus and God’s gift of the Holy Spirit, marking the birthday of the church.  Many still observe these fifty days with joyous gratitude.

Each of the four gospels declares Jesus is raised from the dead – Matthew 28:1-10; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-12; and John 20:1-18.  The oldest text on resurrection in the New Testament is 1 Corinthians 15.  Easter pronounces the very foundation of one’s personal faith and our collective faith.

Without Christ’s resurrection the Christian Faith is worthless.

Go through this day giving thanks that Christ arose.  Attend corporate worship somewhere and join your voice with other voices in declaring “Alleluias” for the reality of Christ’s resurrection.

Perhaps the greatest Easter song of the modern era is Charles Wesley’s great hymn, “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today”. Here is a really cool arrangement of those lyrics by Aaron Shust titled “Risen Today.”  It is four minutes two seconds.  May listening to and watching it cause you to burst forth into joyous song!  And as you go into this day remember:  Easter is a way of life, not just one day.  Easter is every day!

Dearest Lord!  A God-Father and a Father-God!  Savior of the Living!

On this Easter Day – Sunday, the Lord’s Day, the First Day of the Week, the Day of Christ’s Resurrection – we offer praise and extend thanksgiving to You.  You brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ on Easter.  We renew our belief in Christ as Lord and Savior.  We unite in faith to say, “Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Christ is Risen!  Yes!  He is Risen, indeed!  And alive forevermore!”

With all believers we declare our joy in knowing that we, too, will be alive forevermore with Christ.

Thanks be to Jehovah, God the Father!
Through Jesus Christ, God the Son!
In the Power of The Helper, God the Holy Spirit!

Amen and Amen!

Two Worship Gatherings on this Easter Day morning at Garden Lakes Baptist Church – 8:45 a.m. in The Chapel and 11:00 a.m. in The Sanctuary – will offer moments to praise God for the gift of eternal life as a result of the raising of Jesus from the dead.  At 11:00 a.m. the Sanctuary Choir will sing the anthem “Alleluia!  Alleluia!”  My sermon, “Believing in Easter in an Age of Unbelief,” is based on 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, 12-20 and Luke 24:1-12.  Join us this morning if you are in the Rome area and declare with us that Christ is Risen!  Yes!  He is Risen, indeed!