Worship Notes for Easter 3 - 2014

Thursday after Easter 2

May 1, 2014

He is Risen. He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

This coming Sunday is the Third Sunday of Easter. It is also the Commemoration of Friedrich Wyneken, Pastor and Missionary. As far as I know, the LC-MS is the only denomination that has this commemoration. Wyneken was sent from Germany to America and was a tireless worker in bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those areas of our country that were largely without it. He can be considered one of the founding fathers of the Missouri Synod, along with CFW Walther and Wilhelm Sihler. We will thank God for his witness in our prayers.

In our tradition, principle feasts and festivals have their own specific propers (mainly scripture lessons and prayers), but commemorations do not. When feasts fall on a Sunday it is normal for all our churches to replace the assigned lessons (lessons for Easter 3, for example) with the propers for the feast. In reference to festivals, each church typically follows local custom. So, for example, some of our churches may use the readings for Holy Cross Day (September 14) a festival, but almost all of our churches will use the readings assigned for St. Michael and All Angels (September 29), a feast, if those dates fall on a Sunday. If those dates do not fall on a Sunday, many of our churches will actually transfer the celebration of a feast to the nearest Sunday. A few probably do so for a favorite festival. We also have propers for “occasions.” Things like the anniversary of a congregation, a day of thanksgiving, harvest observances, and the like. These are not assigned to a specific date, but used at the local congregation’s discretion. What does this mean for this coming Sunday? The Commemoration of Friedrich Wyneken, Pastor and Missionary, is a commemoration. Therefore we will use the readings assigned for Easter 3. (There are no “official” or traditional propers for this commemoration.) We will remember his work and witness in our prayers with a short collect that I have composed. When we consider that the work of Wyneken was to point people to the crucified and resurrected Christ, and not to himself, continuing our Easter focus seems to be an excellent way to honor his memory.

For our liturgy Sunday we will use the service of Matins (page 219). This is a non-communion service. We will use the Easter Responsory (222) because we are in the Easter Season. We will use the Benedictus (226) for our canticle. Our opening hymn will be “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” (LSB 461). The sermon hymn will be “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today; Alleluia” (LSB 463). Our closing hymn will be “Christ the Lord Is Risen Today” (LSB 469).

The assigned lections for Sunday are Acts 2:14a, 36–41; 1 Peter 1:17–25; Luke 24:13–35. The Psalm will be Psalm 116:1-14. The antiphon will be verse 13. The sermon is titled “An Easter Faith.”  The text is Acts 2:36.

Below is a video of the “Lutheran Warbler” singing our opening hymn, “I Know That My Redeemer Lives.”

Our Sunday morning Bible hour begins at 9:00 am. We continue with Colossians.

Below is the summary of the lessons provided by the LCMS.

The Risen Lord Jesus Is with Us in Holy Baptism

and in “the Breaking of the Bread”

From “before the foundation of the world” until heaven and earth pass away, “the word of the Lord remains forever” (1 Peter 1:20, 25). This “living and abiding word of God” is the preaching of Christ Jesus, namely that God “raised him from the dead and gave him glory” (1 Peter 1:21, 23). By this living word, we “have been born again” to eternal life (1 Peter 1:23) and ransomed from our sinful and mortal life “with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18–19). This living word also calls us to repentance, to dying and rising in Holy Baptism “in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38). In this, we receive the Holy Spirit “for you and for your children and for all who are far off” (Acts 2:39). Through the preaching of His cross and resurrection, Jesus draws near to bring us “into his glory” (Luke 24:26). As He opens the Scriptures, He opens our minds to comprehend “the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27), and He brings us to know Him “in the breaking of the bread” (Luke 24:35).

Sunday’s Lessons

Acts 2:14a, 36–41

^14a       But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: …

³⁶        “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

³⁷        Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” ³⁸And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” ⁴⁰And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” ⁴¹So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

1 Peter 1:17–25

¹⁷        And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, ¹⁸knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you ²¹who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

²²        Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, ²³since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; ²⁴for

          “All flesh is like grass

                   and all its glory like the flower of grass.

          The grass withers,

                   and the flower falls,

²⁵        but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

          And this word is the good news that was preached to you.

Luke 24:13–35

¹³        That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴and they were talking with each other about all these things that

This is a rather standard depiction of Jesus

with the Emmaus Road Disciples. Those

who heard my Easter message know I feel

one of these individuals should be depicted

as a female. A detail I didn't mention is that

I think other people should be on the road.

There were more than two people returning

from the Passover Festival in Jerusalem.

Also, it makes more sense to me that a

"stranger" joining the two travelers would be

"normal" if multiple people were on the road.

had happened. ¹⁵While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. ¹⁶But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” ¹⁹And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. ²¹But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. ²²Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, ²³and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. ²⁴Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” ²⁵And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” ²⁷And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

²⁸        So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, ²⁹but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. ³¹And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. ³²They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” ³³And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, ³⁴saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” ³⁵Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Well, I pray we will see you Sunday morning.

Easter Blessings in Christ,

Pastor John Rickert