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SERVICE OF LIGHT
Greeting/Invocation
We light the EASTER CANDLE and say or sing:
Christ our Light!
~Thanks be to God!
Christ is risen, alleluia!
~He is risen indeed, alleluia!
HYMN FOR AN EASTER EVENING
Rejoice, angelic choirs, rejoice! Rejoice now, all creation!
Let trumpets loudly raise their voice To hail the Lord’s salvation;
Let all Christ’s holy people sing triumphal shouts of vict’ry bring
In festal celebration.
O earth, exult in radiance bright, Illumined by Christ’s splendor!
Your darkness now is put to flight; To him due praises render!
Be glad, O Church! sing out your songs! Your temples fill with shouting throngs
To hail the glorious victor!
Let all who gather round this flame, The sign of Christ’s arising,
The deathless light of Christ acclaim, His saving mercy prizing;
That all may live by faith in him Who conquered death, despair and sin
To make us free forever.
Text: Exsultet Iam Angelica, tr. Joel Lundeen (c) LBW 1978, alt. ; Tune: WÄCHETERLIED, 87.87.887.
SERVICE OF THE WORD
Evening Psalmody
Antiphon
O Adonai, you have broken my bonds,
and now I offer you a sacrifice of praise. Alleluia, Alleluia!
Psalm 115/116
I trust in God, even when I say,
“I am sorely afflicted,”
I believe, even when I cry out,
“Everyone is lying!”
What gift can repay Adonai
for such goodness to me?
I will raise the cup of freedom
as I call on the Holy Name!
And I will fulfill all my vows
in the presence of the people.
Adonai you hate to see
your faithful ones perish and die.
It is I, the servant you love
the one you have freed from bondage,
who calls to you now for help.
I bring an offering of thanks
as I call on your Name.
I fulfill my vows to you, Adonai
standing before your assembly,
in the courts of your house, my God,
in the very heart of Jerusalem.
Glory to the ONE and to the WORD
And to the BREATH of Love!
As always before,
so now and evermore. Amen
O Adonai, you have broken my bonds,
and now I offer you a sacrifice of praise. Alleluia, Alleluia!
READING I john 4:11-16
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and this love is brought to perfection in us. This is how we know that we remain in God and God in us: that we have been given the Holy Spirit. Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Abba sent the Word as savior of the world. Whoever acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in them and they in God. We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remain in love remain in God and God in them.
Responsory
R. God is Love and those who remain in love, remain in God, and God in them V. The Love of Christ has gathered us together, let us rejoice in him and sing praise.
Gospel Canticle
Antiphon
God loved the world so much that God gave us the only-begotten Son.
Whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have everlasting life, alleluia!
!
Canticle of Mary
My heart + is radiant with the Lord,
My whole being delights in God my Savior.
All people now will call me blessed
For God has loved this humble handmaid.
The Almighty has shown me great favor
Holy is the NAME,
Whose mercy embraces the faithful,
From one generation to the next.
The mighty arm of God,
Scatters the proud in their own conceit,
Pulls tyrants from their thrones
While lifting up the lowly:
Fills the famished with bounty,
And reveals the emptiness of riches.
Rescues lowly Israel,
Sharing such loving kindness,
As promised to our ancestors
To Abraham and Sarah, and their descendants forever.
Glory to the One and to the Word
And to the Breath of Love
As always before
So now and evermore. Amen
God loved the world so much that God gave us the only-begotten Son.
Whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have everlasting life, alleluia!
!
SERVICE OF PRAYER
Litany of Intercession
O Risen Love, you are the Firstborn of the dead; ~may your resurrection destroy the power of death and change tears of agony into cries of joy.
O Risen Love, you are the new Springtime in our life; ~ may your resurrection cover the fields with flowers and bring the new creation into our hearts.
O Risen Love, you are the new Exodus from the land of slavery to selfishness and sin;
~ may your resurrection give us the signal for a new departure into a life of grace.
O Risen Love, you are the new Moses on the mountain;
~ may your resurrection write the new law of love on our hearts.
O Risen Love, you are the Prophet of the messianic age;
~ may your resurrection usher in the new heavens and the new Earth.
O Risen Love, you are the New Covenant sealed by your sacrifice and shared in the Paschal feast; ~ may your resurrection set our tables to share the bread of heaven and the cup of salvation.
Prayer of Jesus
Our Father…
Closing Prayer
We bless and thank you, O Gracious God, for all that you have done in raising Jesus from the dead. You have conquered the power of death and opened to us the way to the freedom, flourishing and fullness of life which your love offers to us and all of your creation. May the Risen Christ open our eyes and breathe into our hearts that we may recognize him in the wounds of the world, know him in the breaking and sharing of bread, and follow him in his risen life now and forever. Amen
Blessing
May the God of Life who brought Jesus through death to resurrection+ bless us with Peace and Joy, Alleluia! ~Amen, Alleluia!
Let us bless Adonai, Alleluia, Alleluia! ~Thanks be to God, Alleluia, Alleluia!
Those who wish may end evening prayer with the Marian Antiphon for the Easter Season.
Rejoice, O Heaven’s Queen, Rejoice, alleluia!
The Son you carried hidden before birth, alleluia!
Reborn, has risen from the Earth, alleluia!
Once more fulfilling promise, alleluia!
Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, Alleluia!
For our Love is truly risen, Alleluia!
Let us pray.
Holy, Immortal and Mighty God, you have brought joy to the world by raising Jesus from the dead. By the prayers of Mary his Mother, and of all the myrrh-bearing women,
raise us up with Jesus and bring us to the fullness of life. We ask this through the same Jesus Christ, our Risen Love. Amen.