Hope
The ground and reason for our hope is what we celebrate today – the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Hallelujah! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed! Hallelujah! Ours is a living hope, a hope which enables us to rejoice, no matter what the circumstances of our lives here and now.
How is Jesus inviting you to celebrate that he is risen and alive?
What helps you to celebrate? Make today a day of celebration of the resurrection.
Today’s Prayer
Preparation: Begin by stilling; then dedicating the time of prayer to God and asking God that all you think, feel and imagine are for the glory of God.
Gift: Ask for what you desire. Suggestion: May I be filled with the joy of the resurrection and the hope of new life.
Setting: A Scripture reading to ponder – Imaginative Contemplation
Scripture
John 20:1-9 NIV
On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture
that he had to rise from the dead.
Conversation: Talk to Jesus in your own words as a friend
Final Prayer: End with a formal prayer such as the Lord’s Prayer/Our Father.
Today’s Music
Christ the Lord is Risen Today – performed by Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, written by Charles Wesley Music by John Rutter.
Glittering Morn – John Mason Neale
Light’s glittering morn bedecks the sky;
Heaven thunders forth its victor-cry;
The glad earth shouts her triumph high,
And groaning hell makes wild reply;
While he, the King, the mighty King,
Despoiling death of all its sting,
And, trampling down the powers of night,
Brings forth his ransomed saints to light.
His tomb of late the threefold guard
Of watch and stone and seal had barred;
But now, in pomp and triumph high,
He comes from death to victory.
The pains of hell are loosed at last;
The days of mourning now are past;
An angel robed in light hath said,
‘The Lord is risen from the dead.’