God of life,

we praise you for the miracle of Easter.

We pray for great joy for ourselves and for all who come

to worship today to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection.

We pray especially for those who will join us for worship

and whose lives are filled with pain, loss, or deep sadness.

May they sense how the resurrection is a source of great hope. Amen.

Christ is risen from the dead. Alleluia!

We know that since Christ was raised from the dead,

he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.

The death he died, he died to sin once for all;

but the life he lives, he lives to God.

—based on Romans 6:9-10, NIV

In life and in death we belong to God.

Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

the love of God,

and the communion of the Holy Spirit,

we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel,

whom alone we worship and serve.

We trust in Jesus Christ,

fully human, fully God.

Jesus proclaimed the reign of God:

preaching good news to the poor

and release to the captives,

forgiving sinners,

and calling all to repent and believe the gospel.

Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition,

Jesus was crucified,

suffering the depths of human pain

and giving his life for the sins of the world.

God raised Jesus from the dead,

vindicating his sinless life,

breaking the power of sin and evil,

delivering us from death to life eternal.

With believers in every time and place,

we rejoice that nothing in life or in death

can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

—from A Brief Statement of Faith

You know that you were ransomed

from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors,

not with perishable things like silver or gold,

but with the precious blood of Christ,

like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.

He was destined before the foundation of the world,

but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake.

Through him you have come to trust in God,

who raised him from the dead and gave him glory,

so that your faith and hope are set on God.

—1 Peter 1:18-21, NRSV

—based on Romans 10:9, NRSV

Jesus Christ is the hope of God’s world.

In his death,

the justice of God is established;

forgiveness of sin is proclaimed.

On the day of his resurrection,

the tomb was empty; his disciples saw him;

death was defeated; new life had come.

God’s purpose for the world was sealed.

—from Our Song of Hope, st. 4

This office the Lord Jesus most willingly undertook,

and in order to discharge its obligations

he was born under the law and perfectly fulfilled it.

He endured most grievous torments in his soul

and most painful sufferings in his body;

he was crucified, died, and was buried;

he remained under the power of death,

yet his body did not undergo decay;

and he arose from the dead on the third day

with the same body in which he had suffered.

In this body he ascended into heaven,

where he sits at the right hand of his Father, making intercession,

and he shall return to judge men and angels at the end of the age.

The Lord Jesus, by his perfect obedience and sacrifice of himself—

which he through the eternal Spirit once offered up to God—

has fully satisfied the justice of his Father.

He purchased not only reconciliation

but also an everlasting inheritance in the kingdom of heaven

for all whom the Father has given to him.

—from Westminster Confession (MESV), Chap. VIII, Sec. 4-5

If Christ is not risen, nothing matters.

Our preaching is then useless

and our faith too.

We are false witnesses about God,

for we have testified that God raised Christ from the dead.

We are still in our sins.

Those who have died are as dead as ever.

We who have pinned our hopes on Jesus

are then the most pitiable of all human beings.

But if Christ is risen, nothing else matters.

Though in Adam all may have died,

in Christ all will then be made alive.

He will destroy every dominion, power, and authority

and put every enemy under his feet.

Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of Christ—

trouble, hardship, persecution, famine,

nakedness, peril, sword,

angels, demons,

the present, the future, nor any powers.

Nothing whatsoever, in fact,

nothing in all creation,

neither height nor depth,

nothing either in life

or in death.

Christ, our Lord, is risen indeed!

Therefore, sisters and brothers, stand firm, let nothing move you.

Always give yourselves wholly to the Lord’s work. Amen!

—based on 1 Corinthians 15; Romans 8

Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.

From everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Speak to us now as you have spoken to us throughout the ages.

On this glorious Easter, reveal yourself and your will for our lives,

that we might live as your Easter people.

We seek your face, O Lord; hear our prayer through Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

—based on Psalm 90

Baptized in the historic St. Bavo Church in Haarlem, Fred Kaan (b. Haarlem, Netherlands, July 27, 1929; d. Penrith, Cumbria, England, October 4, 2009) began his theological education at the University of Utrecht but moved to England in 1952 and completed his studies at Bristol University. Ordained by the United Reformed Church in 1955, he served the Windsor Road Congregational Church in Barry, Wales (1955-­1963), and the Pilgrim Church, Plymouth, England (1963-1968). From 1968 to 1978 he was initially minister-secretary of the International Congregational Council in Geneva, Switzerland, and then executive secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches. He returned to England in 1978 to become the moderator of the Western Midlands Province of the United Reformed Church, after which he served the Central Church in Swindon and the Penhill United Reformed Church (1985-1989). As an ecumenist Kaan had associations with Christian communities and social action groups throughout the world. He began to write hymns because he wanted to "fill the gaps" not covered by traditional hymnals, especially in the area of the social responsibility demanded by the gospel. Considered one of the important contributors to the recent "explosion" in English hymn writing, Kaan wrote some two hundred hymns and translations. His hymns were collected in Pilgrim Praise (1968, 1972), Break Not the Circle (1975), The Hymn Texts of Fred Kaan (1985), and Planting Trees and Sowing Seeds (1989). Kaan's 1984 doctoral dissertation (Geneva Theological College) is entitled "Emerging Language in Hymnody."

 

The author of the Spanish text was Nicolás Martínez (b. Buenos Aires, 1917; d. 1972), a native of Buenos Aires who experienced his conversion to Christianity at the age of 18, and some years later began his theological training at the ecumenical seminary presently called Instituto Universitario ISEDET, in Buenos Aires. Following additional postgraduate work in Puerto Rico and his ordination (1948), Martínez served as a Disciples of Christ pastor in Argentina and Paraguay. In addition to his participation in ecumenical activities, he served on the hymnal committee for the hymnal Cántico Nuevo (1960).