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title: Easter sunrise 2020

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# Easter sunrise 2020
Easter Sunrise service 4/12/2020
* https://tiny.cc/eastersunrise or https://tiny.cc/EasterSunrise

**Pre-service music**
Christ lag in Toden Banden
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI815mcAq-Q

**THE COMMON SERVICE**
Good morning and Happy Easter.

He is risen. He is risen, indeed.

Hello. I'm not a pastor. I'm just a lowly layman. My family has hosted an Easter sunrise service, back on the family farm, for 30+ years, since some time in the late 1980s. With COVID-19, we weren't able to do so today. Also, my local church wasn't able to host a sunrise service. It seemed like we'd be without one this year.

But God, in his wisdom, established the husband and wife help meet system. And I love that phrase--help meet--it says, "Meet me half way, and let's help each other." I was very blessed as a stupid young man to have stumbled and fumbled into marrying my God-fearing, help meet wife, and two weeks ago she suggested that maybe this year we should just have our own Easter sunrise service. That thought would never have occured to me. So, even though I'm not a pastor, but as a member of the priesthood of believers, I figured I'd just do it myself right here in my backyard. We'll have an Easter sunrise service this morning. Let's begin.

*sung:* All we like sheep have gone astray; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. By his wounds, we are healed.

*STAND, as directed*

**OPENING HYMN**
*Chief of Sinners Though I Be*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnFBFTK920k
[In the opening line, this hymn captures the unbending, damning law and the sweet, forgiving gospel of scripture, when it says, "Chief of sinners though I be, Jesus shed his blood for me."]

M: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen

**CONFESSION OF SINS**
M: Beloved in the Lord: let us draw near with a true heart and confess our sins to God our Father, asking him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to grant us forgiveness.

C: Holy and merciful Father, I confess that I am by nature sinful and that I have disobeyed you in my thoughts, words, and actions. I have done what is evil and failed to do what is good. For this I deserve your punishment both now and in eternity. But I am truly sorry for my sins, and trusting in my Savior Jesus Christ, I pray: Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.

**LORD, HAVE MERCY (*Kyrie*)**
C: Lord have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us.

M: God, our heavenly Father, has been merciful to us and has given his only Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Therefore, through Christ, our sins are forgiven, in the name of the Father and of the Son † and of the Holy Spirit.

C: Amen

**PRAYER AND PRAISE**
M: In the peace of forgiveness, let us praise the Lord.

*GLORY BE TO GOD (Gloria in Excelsis) - sung*
Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, good will toward men. We praise you, we bless you, we worship you, we glorify you, we give thanks to you, for your great glory, O Lord God, heav'nly King, God the Father almighty. O Lord, the only begotten Son, Jesus Christ; O Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, you take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us. You take away the sin of the world; receive our prayer. You sit at the right hand of God the Father; have mercy on us. For you only are holy; you only are the Lord. You only, O Christ, with the Holy Spirit, are most high in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

**PRAYER OF THE DAY**
M: The Lord be with you.

C: And also with you.

M: Let us pray.

M: Heavenly, Father, we thank you this Easter morning for loving us. For you so loved us, that you gave your son to die on the cross for us to pay for our sins. Jesus' sinless life, his death, and his resurrection cancelled the written code that separated us from you. Though we were wrong, through Christ, we are forgiven. Though we have strayed, through Christ, we are reconciled back with you. Help us to daily show our thanks to you.

C: Amen

*BE SEATED*

**THE WORD**

**FIRST LESSON**
M: Genesis 3:1-6

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

M: This is the Word of the Lord.

C: Thanks be to God.

**PSALM OF THE DAY**
M: Psalm 32:1

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

**SECOND LESSON**
M: Romans 5:8-10

8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

M: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.

*STAND*

**VERSE OF THE DAY**
Isaiah 53:6
M: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

**GOSPEL**
M: The New Testament lesson is from Colossians 2:13-15

C: Glory be to you, O Lord!

M: 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

M: This is the Gospel!

C: Praise be to you, O Christ!

**APOSTLES' CREED**
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Christian Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

*BE SEATED*

**HYMN OF THE DAY**
*The Strife is O'er, the Battle Done*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFy_MUyL6dU

**SERMON** - "Two halves, one message.""

The message that God gives us in the Bible can be sliced into two halves--Law and Gospel. The two are separate, but the two are also *not* separate. The law establishes God's criteria. The Gospel announces that the criteria has been met. Without the law, there is no gospel. So, the so-called "Easter story" has a part 1 and it has a part 2.

**Part 1 - The Law**

The text this Easter morning is from Isaiah 53:6..."We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." (ESV)

That may not sound like the typical Easter passage. It's one that's usually referred to during Lent, or on Maundy Thursday, or on Good Friday. But, it *is* also an Easter passage. At least, it's part 1 of the whole Easter story. So, let's take a look at that passage, and let's be thankful that God also gave us a part 2.

**"All we like sheep..."**
We are like sheep. Sheep are known to be mild, easily frightened animals. And they're largely defenseless. Pretty much their only natural defense to predators is herding together in numbers. But, maybe the most distinct characteristic of sheep is that they easily get lost; they are easily led astray. Due to their instinctive nature to herd, if one sheep begins to wander in the wrong direction, others often simply follow along. For us, since we're all like sheep, this is a problem. 

Satan understands this herding instinct of ours very well. He's very eager to lead that first sheep or person down a wrong path. And he is very clever to lure we sheep in a variety of ways. Sometimes the bait is obvious and we recognize it, but it's still tempting. There's a reason some things on the internet are called "clickbait"--the reason is that they appeal to our most basic, sinful nature. Sometimes the bait comes in Satan's old trick--as as a half-truth or twisted truth. He tells us things like, "Society no longer believes those old ideas and this is the way we do things today, so, it's okay." And we follow along.

**"Have gone astray..."**
This world we live in was not the way God planned it. God's plan did not have sin it. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were with God, and there was no sin. Scripture tells us that after Creation, "it was good"--that means, there was no sin. Adam and Eve lived in a world without pain, suffering, death, or sin. There was still law though...they were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Satan pulled out his oldest trick...the half truth/half lie. He asked Eve if God had really forbidden the eating of fruit from any tree in Eden. Then Satan employed his other main trick...the outright, bold-faced lie, saying, "You will not surely die." And to make this outright lie more appealing, he threw out the clickbait of pride...he knew it would be enticing to Adam and Eve to try and be like God. They ate. They sinned.

After the fall into sin, humanity was separated from God. We sheep strayed.

And the sad, sobering fact of the matter is, Scripture teaches us in Romans 6:23 that "the wages of sin is death."

But wait, there's more!

**Part 2 - The Gospel**

**But the Lord has laid on him, the iniquity of us all.**
 
It's a bit embarassing, but I'll confess that I'm kind of a fan of the 3am infomercial. I don't know why, but on nights, early mornings, when I can't sleep, I often turn on the TV. Not sure if you've noticed, but there are lots of infomercials on then. To a large degree, they're entirely terrible. They entice people to spend their hard-earned money on whatever cure-all, snake-oil, amazing product that they're selling. If it's "as seen on TV", it's awesome, right? In a worldly sense, the infomericals are brilliant. They know every little trick that Satan knows. The clickbait, half-truth, or the outright lie...whatever it takes to get the sale done and close the deal. Call now!

Yet, there's one line, that I love, it's this..."But wait, there's more!"

Even though the law teaches us that we're miserable sinners who deserve death and hell, "Wait, there's more!" 

The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. All of our sins and transgressions were placed on Christ. And they were paid for by Christ. This is the "there's more!" This is the part 2 of the Easter message. God loved us so much that he rescued us from our separation from him. That's the Easter message. We fell off the ship into a stormy sea, but God threw out the livesaver in the form of Jesus, and pulled us back onto the safety of the ship.

It might seem a little backwards that part 2 of the Easter message is actually in the verse just before what I called part 1. Part 1, the law, was Isaiah 53:6, but Isaiah 53:5 reads, "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed." (ESV)

**By his wounds we are healed**
That's the Easter message. We're healed. We're clean again, just like Adam and Eve were before the fall. And even though we'll one day have an earthly death, we will still live eternally.

I've personally heard people ask a question similar to this, "I know so-and-so is going to heaven, but I'm not sure about me." Sadly, this way of thinking creates doubt in people's minds about salvation. But, that line of thinking is misguided--it's just not in accordance with what scripture teaches. Jesus said, "It is finished." That meant it's entirely completed, 100%. And, salvation is not about what you or I do.

Isaiah didn't say...
"By doing the right things, we are healed."
Isaiah didn't say...
"By doing good things for others, we are healed."
Isaiah didn't say...
"By thinking the way society suggests, we are healed."
Isaiah didn't say...
"By doing something, anything, we are healed."

Isaiah said,
"By his wounds, we are healed."

Salvation does not come by what we do. Salvation comes by what Christ did on the cross. What he did was defeat death for us.

Christ died. Christ rose. Christ will come again.

Amen.

**OFFERING**
At this time in the service the offering would normally be made. I'd offer an encouragment to reflect on the blessings that God has given you. And please remember that all good things come from God. They are his, not ours. We come into this world with nothing; we will leave this world with nothing. Giving to God is simply returning to him what he's temporarily entrusted us to hold onto for a short while.

*STAND*

**PRAYER OF THE CHURCH**
M: Dear God, thank you for your love. You love us so much that, although we rebelled against you, you sent Jesus into our world. He lived a sinless life. He died on the cross. He rose victoriously from the grave. He reconciled us back with you.

C: Amen.

**LORD'S PRAYER**
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and forever. Amen.

M: The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
The Lord look on you with favor and † give you peace.

C: Amen. Amen. Amen.

**SILENT PRAYER**

**CLOSING Song**
*Chief of Sinners Though I Be* by Koine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzbTc8A7sRI