The Fast Is Over! Let Us Feast! - Part 3

What a beautiful Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord this morning!  Sarah and our wonderful choir kicked things off with the Call to Worship:  "Christians to the Paschal Victim" (LSB 460).  Then the Easter Proclamation, shouted with great joy, followed by the Processional Hymn "Jesus Christ Is Risen Today" (LSB 457).  To hear a packed house belting out the liturgy and hymnody is always such a treat.  After the Confession and Absolution, Kyrie, This Is the Feast, and Collect of the Day, we heard the faithful confession of Job:  "I know my Redeemer lives . . . in my flesh I shall see God!"  Then, the Anthem, "He's Risen, He's Risen" (LSB 480), with our children singing stanzas 2 and 4.  Then, St. Paul told us about the mystery, when we shall all be changed in the twinkling of an eye and our perishable and mortal bodies will put on the imperishable and immortal (1 Cor. 15:51-57).  Then, the Gospel Procession during the Alleluia and Verse and St. John's account of Mary Magdalene's encounter with our Risen Lord, and her Easter Proclamation to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord" (John 20:1-18).  Then, we confessed our faith in the words of the Nicene Creed (nice to have that back after confessing the Apostles' Creed throughout Lent).  Then, the Hymn of the Day - "Christ Jesus Lay in Death's Strong Bands" (LSB 458) - beautiful!  Then, the sermon (listen below), and after the sermon, the Choral Response - "Alleluia, Christ Is Risen."  Then, the Prayers and Offering, during which Roger treated us to "The Angel Cried."  Then came the Lamb's High Feast, as we partook of His very Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist (Distribution Hymns:  "At the Lamb's High Feast We Sing" (LSB 633); "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" (LSB 460); "Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain" (LSB 487); "Make Songs of Joy" (LSB 484).  And, finally, the Recessional Hymn, "Now All the Vault of Heaven Resounds" (LSB 465).

Great Divine Service.  The Lord is GOOD!  And . . . He IS RISEN!  He IS RISEN INDEED!

The Sermon: