Bulletin: April 20, 2025 Easter Sunday

First Lutheran Church                                                                Easter Sunday
PO Box 153 - 240 Elm Street West                                             April 20, 2025          
Amery, WI   715-268-7135                                                            www.flcamery.org
Our mission is to know Jesus and to make Jesus known. Jn. 17    

Luke 23 (It was Friday) about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon,  while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last. When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.” And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts.  But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things. Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God.  This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.  Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid.  It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid.  Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments. On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.
 
It Was a Friday, but Sunday was Coming  
(A Reading based on Tony Campolo’s Sermon)     Jon Buss
 
Quartet: Up From the Grave He Arose                                                Julia, Kathy, Lou and Tim
 
Luke 24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared.  They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”  Then they remembered his words,  and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest.  Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

Christ is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!
 
EASTER RESPONSE (Based on Psalm 118) 
The Lord is risen! Come & see the place where he lay.
This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Go and tell quickly the news of his triumph.
The Lord’s mighty power has done it!  His power has brought us victory!
Come and see the place where he lay.
I will not die but live, and proclaim what the Lord has done
Go and tell quickly the news of triumph. The stone which the builders rejected has turned out to be the most important of all.      
Come and see the place where he lay.
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.  His steadfast love endures forever.
Go and tell quickly the news of his victory.        
Blessed be God, who chose us in Christ. Let us come to the fountain of mercy.
Almighty God, in raising Jesus from the tomb, you destroyed the power of sin and death. Hear us as we confess our failure to live the good news of the resurrection.   Grant us the radiant power of your grace. Forgive us, heal us, and renew us, so that we may know the joy of life abundant given in Jesus Christ, the risen Lord.
In great mercy God has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In obedience to our Lord's command, hear & believe that all of your sins are forgiven. In the name of the Father & of the Son & of the Holy Spirit.

The grace of our risen Savior, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.       
And also with you.
  
PRAYER: O God, you gave your only Son to suffer death on the cross for our redemption, and by his glorious resurrection you delivered us from the power of death. Make us die every day to sin, so that we may live with him forever in the joy of the resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord.  He was conceived by the power
of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.  He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried.  He descended into hell.

I believe in the resurrection. On the third day he rose again.  He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.  He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.  Amen.
 
1 Corinthians 15:19-26 Paul describes the consequences of the resurrection, including the promise of new life in Christ to a world that has been in bondage to death. He celebrates the establishment of God's victorious rule over all. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
 
SERMON                                                                                                          Pastor Tim Bjorge

OFFERING  We thank God for our Choir! This Joyful Eastertide
 
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING: On this day we overflow with thanks and praise, O God, for this is the day you have made, the day that fills us with both fear and great joy. On this day you sent your angels to roll back the stone and you raised Jesus, who had been crucified, from the dead. Never again need we search for Jesus in the places of dead memories and buried dreams, for now he has been raised and goes forever ahead of us to open the gates of life, preaching peace and the forgiveness of sins. Indeed though he was the stone rejected by the builders, you have made him the cornerstone, the rock on which is founded the life everlasting. We thank you and we praise you O God, both now, and through your living word, eternally. Amen

CELEBRATION OF OUR LORD’S SUPPER, LORD’S PRAYER
 
MUSIC
 
Matthew 28:16 Jesus' eleven disciples went to a mountain in Galilee, where Jesus had told them to meet him. They saw him and worshiped him, but some of them doubted. Jesus came to them and said: I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth! Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.

EASTER BLESSING:  Go out now as God's chosen witnesses to testify that Christ has been raised and that we are raised with him. Set your minds on the things of God and do not be afraid for your life is safe with Christ in God. And may God raise you from all that would entomb you. May Christ Jesus be your life.  And may the Holy Spirit empower you for all that is good. Amen.
 
Go in peace. Serve and tell others about the Risen Lord!   Thanks be to God!