Eastertide

Follow the words below in audio. Join in the words in bold

Eastertide lasts until the celebration of Christ’s Ascension, ten days before Pentecost.The prayers for this time reflect Christ’s rising from death and its implications.

Alleluia, Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Our hopes are raised
Life emerges from death
Right is wrested from wrong
The uprising of Love has begun!

Draw alongside us, Lord Jesus,
Open up the scriptures to us by your Spirit,
so our hearts might be lit with fresh understanding
and fired up by your presence.
Psalm[s] and reading[s]. The reader or service leader, after the readings may say:
Here ends the reading.
Here begins its outworking.
There may be a time of quiet and/or shared reflection. A framework for reflection, using the pattern of the Lord’s prayer may be used.
Jesus said: ‘Do not doubt but trust.’ With Thomas we respond,
‘My Lord and my God!’
Let us hear for ourselves what Jesus replied,
‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to trust.’

We have these words so that we may come to believe and trust:
Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,
we have life in his name.
[ based on John 20:19ff ]

We set God always before us:
who is at our right hand; we shall not fall.
Our hearts are glad
and our spirits rejoice;
Our flesh shall also rest secure.
For you will not abandon our souls to Death,
nor let your faithful know the Pit.
You will show us the path of life;
in your presence is the fullness of joy
and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore
[ From Psalm 16 ]
Further appreciation of God may be voiced
O God, roll away the stone from our hearts, and brighten our imaginations with the dayspring of new life. In Christ you spoke into the unmaking void of death,raising your Life from death and enfolding us in that victory.
God of new creation:
Hallowed be your name

We ask for God’s eternal-life-giving to be known in our world, saying:
Living God:
glorify your name
Concerns for the world and its people are brought before God, either at this point closing with the series of one-line responses below,or after that series or using each one-liner to prompt further prayers.
In our world’s global community, in our world’s living systems;
Living God:
glorify your name.
In your church as we proclaim your new life in thought and word and deed;
Living God:
glorify your name.
Among all whose lives our lives touch, friends, colleagues and families;
Living God:
glorify your name.
In this world of sin and death, and yet of blessings and common grace;
Living God:
glorify your name.
[rewritten from a prayer in Patterns of Worship, 1995]

In our needs and weakness in our provision and supply;
Living God:
glorify your name.
We consider what we need to continue living in Christ
The risen Jesus makes common table with us.
As we make common cause with Christ:
Give us each day our daily bread.

Full-lively God, we come to you in sorrow for our sins, and confess to you our weaknesses and unbelief.
Recollection of what we need to confess.
We have fallen back into the law of sin and death, and failed to live the new life of the risen Christ.
Merciful God, forgive us.
And restore us to life.
We have laid others in the tomb of our unforgiveness,
enshrouding them in our contempt and withholding the word of life.
Forgive us, Merciful God
And restore us to life-giving.
Let us attend; Christ breathes upon us the peace and forgiveness of God.
A moment for quiet reflection on our forgiveness.
Who will rescue us from this body of death?
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
As we seek to forge a new future living the life of Christ let us pause before the likely events and involvements and the unpredictable happenings that face us.

A collect prayer may be said.
In our laughter, and tears, in our fear and our hope;
Living God:
Glorify your name.

Jesus comes to us and says,
‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’
He breathes on us and says; ‘Receive the Holy Spirit….
Pause to reflect on Christ’s risen presence and call before we return to the rest of our lives.
Let us bless the Lord:
Thanks be to God
Who gives us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ.

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A commentary on this order of prayer can be found here.


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