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HE IS RISEN!!!!
SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER
April 24, 2022
Hearing Is Believing
Thomas had missed out. He wasn’t there with the other disciples when the risen Jesus appeared that first Easter night to show them His hands and side. Thomas was absent when Jesus breathed on them with His Spirit and sent them out to proclaim His forgiveness. It’s no wonder then that when Thomas heard about this encounter, he wanted to see Jesus for himself. “Unless I see, . . . I will never believe,” he said (John 20:25). One week after Christ’s resurrection, Thomas had his opportunity. He saw. He touched. He believed. He confessed: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). Today is your opportunity—don’t miss out! Our risen Jesus is here with His Spirit and in His body and blood. We see. We touch. We believe. We confess. As we gather in His presence for worship today, may He fill us with great joy as we continue to celebrate His resurrection victory and confess Him as our Lord and God!
+ Preparation +
OPENING HYMN: #480 – He’s Risen, He’s Risen
INVOCATION
Pastor: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen.
EASTER ACCLAMATION
Pastor: Alleluia! Christ is risen!
People: He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION Psalm 91:1–2
Pastor: He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
People: I will say to the lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Pastor: Taking refuge in the mercy of the Lord, let us come before Him in prayer.
A moment of silence to reflect on God’s Word and to examine our hearts before Him.
Pastor: Almighty God, our heavenly Father,
People: We confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed. By the things we have done and by what we have failed to do, we have not honored You as we ought, nor have we served others in love. We deserve to be cast from Your presence forever. Yet in Your great mercy, You sent Your Son to die and rise again for us. Help us to know the power of His resurrection and to share in the joy that His forgiveness brings. Enable us to receive Your mercy and be renewed by Your Spirit that we may honor You as the Lord and God in whom we place our trust. Amen.
Pastor: Almighty God, our heavenly Father, hears our prayers and answers them for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ. By faith, we stand at His cross and empty tomb. We find our refuge and sing for joy in the shadow of His wings. As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
People: Amen.
Pastor: Alleluia! Christ is risen!
People: He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
+ WORD +
PSALM Psalm 148; antiphon: v. 13 (All things join in praising the Lord.)
Pastor: Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heights!
People: Praise Him, all His angels; praise Him, all His hosts!
Pastor: Praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him, all you shining stars!
People: Praise Him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His majesty is above earth and heaven.
Pastor: Let them praise the name of the Lord! For He commanded and they were created.
People: And He established them forever and ever; He gave a decree, and it shall not pass away.
Pastor: Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps,
People: fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling His word!
Pastor: Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars!
People: Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds!
Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His majesty is above earth and heaven.
Pastor: Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth!
People: Young men and maidens together, old men and children!
Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is exalted; His majesty is above earth and heaven.
Pastor: He has raised up a horn for His people, praise for all His saints,
People: for the people of Israel who are near to Him. Praise the Lord!
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
KYRIE
Pastor: We echo the countless hosts of heaven in their ceaseless praise of our Lord, the Lamb, for whose sake God shows us mercy.
People: Lord, have mercy on us.
Pastor: Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
People: Christ, have mercy on us.
Pastor: And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
“To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
People: Lord, have mercy on us and grant us Your peace.
Pastor: And the four living creatures said,
People: “Amen!”
Pastor: and the elders fell down and worshiped.
SALUTATION and PRAYER OF THE DAY
Pastor: The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you.
Pastor: Let us pray.
Almighty God, grant that we who stand in the shadow of the cross and empty tomb may join with all other witnesses of the resurrection in boldly sharing with the world that Jesus is Lord and God; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
People: Amen.
FIRST READING Acts 5:12–20 (21–32)
(The apostles testify publicly as witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection.)
12Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. 13None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, 15so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. 16The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
17But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy 18they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. 19But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20“Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” 21And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.
Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council and all the senate of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. 22But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, 23“We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” 24Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. 25And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” 26Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.
27And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” 29But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.
GRADUAL adapt. from Matthew 28:7; Hebrews 2:7; Psalm 8:6
Christ has risen from the dead.
God the Father has crowned Him with glory and honor,
He has given Him dominion over the works of His hands;
He has put all things under His feet.
EPISTLE Revelation 1:4–18
(Jesus is alive forevermore.)
4John to the seven churches that are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood 6and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
9I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
12Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14The hairs of his head were white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.
People: Thanks be to God.
VERSE Romans 6:9; John 20:29b
Alleluia. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. Alleluia. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Alleluia.
HOLY GOSPEL John 20:19–31
(Thomas sees, touches, believes, and confesses the risen Jesus.)
Pastor: The Holy Gospel according to St. John, the twentieth chapter.
People: Glory to You, O Lord.
19On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of anyone, they are forgiven; if you withhold forgiveness from anyone, it is withheld.”
24Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
26Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Pastor: This is the Gospel of the Lord.
People: Praise to You, O Christ.
HYMN OF THE DAY: #470 – O Sons and Daughters of the King
SERMON: Hearing Is Believing
NICENE CREED
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth
and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God,
begotten of His Father before all worlds,
God of God, Light of Light,
very God of very God,
begotten, not made,
being of one substance with the Father,
by whom all things were made;
who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary
and was made man;
and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.
He suffered and was buried.
And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures
and ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of the Father.
And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord and giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified,
who spoke by the prophets.
And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church,
I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins,
and I look for the resurrection of the dead
and the life + of the world to come. Amen.
PRAYER OF THE CHURCH
After each petition:
Pastor: … Lord, in Your mercy:
People: hear our prayer.
At conclusion:
Pastor: … one God, now and forever.
People: Amen.
LORD’S PRAYER Matthew 6:9–13
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name,
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven;
give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory
forever and ever. Amen.
CLOSING PRAYER
Pastor: Let us pray.
Almighty God, grant that we who celebrate the triumph of our risen Savior may join with all other witnesses of the resurrection in boldly sharing with the world that Jesus is Lord and God; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
People: Amen.
BENEDICTION Numbers 6:24–26
Pastor: The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you with favor and + give you peace.
People: Amen.
EASTER ACCLAMATION
Pastor: Alleluia! Christ is risen!People: He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
HYMN: #549 – All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name
Creative Worship for the Lutheran Parish, Series C, Quarter 2. Copyright © 2021 Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
