T’was Easter Sunday, the full-blossomed trees filled all the air with fragrance and with joy.
Henry Wadsworth
This Sunday is Easter…the day designated to celebrate the greatest news in the world…” He is not here; he has risen, just as he said.”
On Easter Sunday morning, I typically arise early to begin my prayer and devotional time. In addition to wording my own prayers, I often find that prayers written by others deepen my conversation with God. One of my favorite Easter prayers is “A Pastoral Prayer for Easter” penned by Dr. John Killinger who was a guest with us here at FBC Pensacola just a few months ago:
O God, whose love was revealed at a cross and whose power was shown at an empty tomb, our hearts swell within us at the thought of your presence. We know that we live too often on the wrong side of Easter, worrying about things that are trivial in the light of the Resurrection of Christ. Forgive us for our lack of faith, and teach us to live more daringly, more expectantly, more joyfully. Let the discovery of the first Christians, that evil is doomed in the world, take hold of our minds and transform them into vessels of hope and excitement. Show us how to submerge our self-interests, which are small and unworthy, into confidence in your eternal kingdom, which will come despite wars and injustice, ignorance and prejudice, illness and death. Grant that we may become your agents of conversion and commitment in the world, feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, caring for the sick, and teaching the illiterate. Make the spirit of resurrection contagious among us, that we may honor our Lord in active discipleship. And grant that his name may ring out in every nation, like the gladness of bells, calling men and women everywhere to the mystery of redemption in the community of faith. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Dr. Pleitz said it very well: “Easter is a blessed reminder that ALL is well…we are victorious even in death.”
