Does anyone really understand the formula for determining when Easter falls on the calendar? I read somewhere recently that Easter will not fall as early as it will this year for another 220 years. Now I am a planner and always trying to look ahead, however for that Easter, someone else can plan the service.
For this year the services are planned...
I have been serving as a minister of music/worship pastor for 26 years. There are some Easter services I remember but for the most part I don’t have a clue. Usually I have to go back into my files just to remember what we used in worship last year. Each year it is not about coming up with something new, but about trying to find elements that can be used in worship to engage the faithful and peak the interest of the ‘once a year’ crowd.
Easter is the day set aside to remember the great triumph over death and the grave, but for me that is what every corporate worship service should be about. I want to remember and celebrate the events of Christ’s life, because without those gifts of love there would be no reason for worship.
How do we as individuals prepare for Easter? This week I have spent some time in Genesis reading the story of Abraham and Isaac. Do you remember as they prepared an altar for worship (Genesis 22: 1-14), Isaac asked his father, Abraham, ‘where is the lamb for the sacrifice?’ Abraham responded: “God will provide a lamb…"What a great picture and set-up to the last sacrifice, of the Son, the spotless Lamb of God.
Also in preparation for this week’s services I have been reading Colossians 1:13-22
Take a moment to read this passage…here are a couple of highlights:
(vs 13, 14) He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
(vs 22) But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him.
Let's remember and celebrate, Jesus Christ lived, was crucified, buried, raised from the dead on the third day, appeared to his disciples, ascended to heaven and now sits beside the Father waiting for the day when the Father says: "go get my children, bring them home."