The Lord promised to “create new heavens and a new earth” in which His people shall abide in peace and joy. That new creation began in the bodily resurrection of Christ Jesus. All the baptized belong to the new creation. Reborn of water and the Holy Spirit, we are “the blessed of the Lord.” The Lord rejoices and is glad in us; He hears and answers our prayers. For “if in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.” But “He has risen!” He is risen, “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

We may be silent in wonder, like those first witnesses upon finding strips of linen in place of a wrapped body; we may be frightened and brought to our knees, as the women who first arrived at the tomb were in the presence of the gleaming men who told them that Christ was arisen; we may disbelieve, like the disciples, because the words seem like “an idle tale.” But faith clings to the Word of Christ and finds His resurrected body—not in the tomb, but here, today, among us, in Word and Sacrament.

Pastor Nettleton’s message (mp3)

Download the bulletin (Festival) (pdf)

Download the bulletin (Sunrise) (pdf)