New Testament

witnesses to your resurrection

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Birth, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Christ triptych, Hans Memling, 1510 via Wikimedia Commons
 
Lord Jesus Christ, by your glorious resurrection,
    in which you appeared alive and immortal
    to your disciples and faithful followers,
    by your forty days abiding and sweet converse,
    in which by many infallible proofs,
    speaking of things pertaining to the Kingdom of God,
    you comforted them and assured them of your actual resurrection,
    removing all doubt from their hearts;
grant that we may be numbered
    among those appointed to be witnesses to your resurrection,
    not only by the words of our mouths,
    but by the evidence of our good works;
to your honor and glory,
  for you are alive and reign,
    with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
      one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Ludolph of Saxony, c.1295 – 1378, German Carthusian & Catholic theologian
2000 Years of Prayer
 
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During the forty days after he suffered and died, 
    he appeared to the apostles from time to time, 
     and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. 
And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.

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Question

In what way can you be a witness to Jesus’ resurrection before people who do not believe?

growing into your likeness

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​CompositeJesus via Wikimedia Commons
 
Spirit of Truth, direct our attention to the life of Jesus
    so that we might see what you would have us be.
Make us, like him, teachers of your good law.
Make us, like him, performers of miraculous cures.
Make us, like him, proclaimers of your kingdom.
Make us, like him, loving the poor, the outcast, the children.
Make us, like him, silent when the world tempts us
    to respond in the world’s terms.
Make us, like him, ready to suffer.
 
We know we cannot be like Jesus
    except as Jesus was unlike us, being your Son.
Make us cherish that unlikeness,
    that we may grow into the likeness
    made possible by Jesus’ resurrection.
Amen
 
Stanley Hauerwas, 1940- , American ethicist and theologian
 
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Romans 8:29-30
 
For God knew his people in advance, 
    and he chose them to become like his Son, 
    so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 
And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. 
And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. 
And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.

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Questions

In which of the ways mentioned have you become more like Jesus?
Which of the ways presents the biggest challenge in becoming more like Jesus?

Stay with us Lord

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The Pilgrims of Emmaus on the Road, James Tissot, via Wikimedia Commons
 
 
Stay with us, Lord
for the day is far spent
and we have not yet recognized your face
in each of our brothers and sisters.

Stay with us, Lord
for the day is far spent
and we have not yet shared your bread
in grace with our brothers and sisters.

Stay with us, Lord
for the day is far spent
and we have not yet listened to your Word
on the lips of our brothers and sisters.

Stay with us, Lord
because our very night becomes day
when you are there.

prayer from Korea
 
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Luke 24:28-29

So they drew near to the village to which they were going.
He acted as if he were going farther,
but they urged him strongly, saying,
“Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.”
So he went in to stay with them.

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Question

Have you ever felt the presence of God intimately 
    and echoed the request of the Emmaus disciples, 
    asking Jesus to stay with you for a while longer?

Resurrect us with resurrection power

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Icon of the Resurrection, Bulgarian Icon, via Flickr, CC BY-NC 2.0

 
We pray that this Easter there will be a brand new beginning for all of us.
Grant that our ugly pasts will be buried
  and that we might arise in the newness of life
  as new people who are making a fresh and a genuine new commitment
  to walk with the risen Christ.
May the risen Christ save lost souls, convert us sinners, and teach us
  that we are no longer captives to the sins which bind and blind us.
Have mercy on the sick and suffering.
Heal those who are physically, mentally, and spiritually sick.
Comfort the bereaved and grief-stricken.
Empty out tombs of despair, discouragement, and defeat.
Resurrect us with resurrection power.
Raise us to new levels of powerful and victorious living.
Bless the preaching of your Holy Word.
Burn our altars of prayer with the fire of the Holy Ghost.
Give us the boldness to tell the world that Jesus, our savior, is not dead
  but the living Lord of history.
In Jesus’ name, we pray.
Amen.

J. Alfred Smith, Sr, 1931-2025, African American Pastor in California

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Romans 6:8-11

And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 
We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, 
    and he will never die again. 
Death no longer has any power over him.  
When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. 
But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 
So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin 
    and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
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Question

How can the resurrection of Jesus give you power to face your everyday challenges?

Easter Prayer of Gregory the Great

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Resurrection, Luca Giordano via Wikimedia Commons

 
It is only right, with all the powers of our heart and mind,
    to praise You Father and Your Only-Begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear Father, by Your wondrous condescension of Loving-Kindness
    toward us, Your servants, You gave up Your Son.
Dear Jesus You paid the debt of Adam for us to the Eternal Father
    by Your Blood poured forth in Loving-Kindness.
You cleared away the darkness of sin
    by Your magnificent and radiant Resurrection.
You broke the bonds of death and rose from the grave as a Conqueror.
You reconciled Heaven and earth.
Our life had no hope of Eternal Happiness before You redeemed us.
Your Resurrection has washed away our sins,
    restored our innocence and brought us joy.
How inestimable is the tenderness of Your Love!

We pray You, Lord, to preserve Your servants
    in the peaceful enjoyment of this Easter happiness.
We ask this through Jesus Christ Our Lord,
    Who lives and reigns with God The Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
    forever and ever.

Pope Gregory the Great (c. 540 – 604) of Rome, Patron Saint of Teachers
source
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1 Peter 1:3-4
 
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again
    to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 
    to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, 
    kept in heaven for you.
 
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Questions

What significance does the resurrection of Jesus make in your life?
What difference does Jesus’ resurrection make in your relationships?

blessings of a home

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Motif from a small northern French town, Jules Achille Noël via wikimedia commons
 
O God, bless those who have no homes.
Bless those who have to live away from home
  in lodgings and boarding-houses and hotels.
Bless those who have been left alone,
  and who are solitary now.
Bless those who are searching or waiting for a house.
Specially bless young couples who have to live in furnished rooms,
  or with relatives, and who have never had the chance
  to be alone together and to have a home of their own.
Bless those who keep house for other people,
  and who have no house of their own.
Bless old people who are coming to the end in some institution
  which is very comfortable but which is still not home.
Help us who have the blessing of a good home
  to keep an open heart and an open door
  to those less fortunate than ourselves.
This we ask for your love’s sake. Amen.

from the Audenshaw prayers, UK
A Procession of Prayers

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1 Peter 4:8-10
 
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.  
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others,
as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

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Question

What are some ways you can show hospitality 
    to someone less fortunate than you are?

Disturb us, O Lord

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image via Pinterest​
 
Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

The Minister’s Manual, Vol. 37, compiled by M.K.W. Heicher

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Ephesians 3:20-21

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
    according to his power that is at work within us, 
    to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus 
    throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

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Question

When have you felt moved or disturbed to undertake a challenge 
   so big that only God could accomplish it?

As we learn repentance

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image via Pickpic
 
​Lord Christ, grant to us your servants

    the blessing of learning the discipline of repentance.
And as we learn repentance,
    it is also good for us to learn to avoid sin –
    so we will have no need to repent.
 
Those who have escaped a shipwreck
    generally tend to avoid ships and the sea in the future.
By keeping fresh the memory of disaster,
    they honor the second chance you gave them.
They honor their deliverance,
    and are not willing to tempt your mercy all over again.
 
We have escaped once.
Now let us allow ourselves to experience sin’s danger that far only –
    and no farther!
Even if it seems that chances are good for us to escape a second time.
 
Tertullian, c. 155 AD – c. 220, Theologian from Carthage, North Africa
Fount of Heaven: Prayers of the Early Church

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2 Corinthians 7:8-10 
 
I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first,
    for I know it was painful to you for a little while.
Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you,
    but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways.
It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have,
    so you were not harmed by us in any way.
For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin
    and results in salvation.
There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow.
But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

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Questions

When has God given you 2nd, 3rd, and 4th chances?  

What have you learned about the process of repentance?

remembering the poor

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Feeding the poor, Rudolf Hirth du Frênes via Wikimedia Commons
 
 
​O God, when I have food,

   help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work,
   help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a home,
   help me to remember those who have no home at all;
When I am without pain,
   help me to remember those who suffer,
And remembering,
   help me to destroy my complacency;
   bestir my compassion,
   and be concerned enough to help;
By word and deed,
   those who cry out for what we take for granted.
Amen.

Samuel F. Pugh, 1904 – 2007, Disciples of Christ minister, United States

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2 Corinthians 9:8

And God is able to make all grace abound to you,
   so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times,
   you may abound in every good work.

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Questions


What organization can you support that will allow you 
    to remember the needs of others in a tangible way?
How and when can you offer your support?
 

Give them today their daily bread

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Miracle of the Bread and Fish, Giovanni Lanfranco via Wikimedia Commons
 
Lord, when we say ‘Give us today our daily bread,’
  may we remember our brothers and sisters
  who live below the poverty line
  and pray, ‘Give them today their daily bread.’
Give us the wisdom and courage to challenge the policies and structures
  which make the poor even poorer,
  while we have more than enough.
Grant us such deep compassion that we will not rest
  while surplus food rots in one part of the world,
  and families starve in another;
for your love’s sake.

Sister Margaret Magdalen CSMV,  Anglican nun in England and southern Africa
The Book of a Thousand Prayers

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James 2:15-17  

If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,
and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,”
without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
 
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Question

How can you remember to pray more regularly for the poor 
    in your town, your region and the world?