WorshipWell Easter 2022
The Terms of Resurrection: an 8-week series for Easter
Easter is when everything changed. Like the events we use to map out the stories of our lives–births, deaths, joinings, partings–Easter is an event in the life of God and the world after which nothing was the same again. Nothing could be. In Jesus’ rising, death was unseated as the end of existence, the owner of the last word, and the hardest wall of absolute certainty.
The empty tomb bears witness to a new truth. Now we live in a different world with different rules. Now we stand up. No longer bound by the limited laws dictated by death, we can live according to the terms of resurrection. We speak and sing and see the world with the language and lenses of this deep and destabilizing power that God has revealed In the risen Jesus. This takes some practice. It’s why we celebrate Easter every year, and why we take fifty days to do it. It’s why we gather Sunday after Sunday to share the news and tell the stories of the ordinary people and extraordinary power that continue to flow from the dark morning of Jesus’ rising.
The timing and trappings of Easter, at least in the Northern hemisphere, come from rites and rituals of springtime, when things like eggs and bunnies and bright green grass announce the blessed return of earth’s vitality. These gifts are worth celebrating, of course, but the Christian observance of Easter isn’t in praise of the cyclical return of the seasons. When we say “Christ is risen!” we don’t mean again. We mean still.
And this is a claim and a cry we offer a hurting and exhausted world. Christ is risen still.
Easter dawns in 2022 shrouded in the smoke of war and in the wake of COVID. It dawns on lives beset and broken in ways both public and personal, large and small. Our theme for this season calls us to embrace and revel in the reality of resurrection–even as we deal daily with the real and ongoing forces of death at work in our world and in our lives.
And so we offer you The Terms of Resurrection - Resources for Worship and Preaching Easter 2022
We’ve mostly stuck with the texts appointed by the narrative lectionary for the Easter season. Sundays marked with an * include a few tweaks and substitutions.
Easter (April 17) – John 20:1-8
Easter 2 (April 24) – John 20:19-31
Easter 3 (May 1) – Acts 1:6-14* (added)
Easter 4 (May 8) – Acts 9:1-19a* (moved from Easter 3)
Easter 5 (May 16) – Acts 9:36-43* (added)
Easter 6 (May 22) – Acts 16:16-34* (moved from Easter 4)
Easter 7 (May 29) – Acts 17:16-31* (moved from Easter 5)
Pentecost (June 5) – Acts 2:1-21
What’s Included in The Terms of Resurrection Easter Series
Original Art, Including a full-color image for the season and black and white bulletin cover images for each Sunday, created by Holly Welch
Daily Devotions for each of Easter’s fifty days, written by Marc Olson and delivered to your email every morning. Each day’s devotion will include a brief reflection on a single term selected from or inspired by the texts that week, and you are welcome to share this devotion with your community
Full Liturgies, including words for worship and prayers as well as song and hymn suggestions for each Sunday, written or curated by the Worship Well team and our partners
Thoughts for Preachers, including commentary, sermon suggestions, reflection and stories on the week’s text, written by Kristen Capel, Louise Johnson, Holly Welch, and Marc Olson
Children’s Messages as well as educational and Sunday School tie-ins for each week’s text, written by Sara Birkeland
Cost
We continue to experiment with our pricing, and want to ensure these resources are available to all! If payment is difficult for you or your worshiping community, please contact us directly to strategize other options.
Through these resources, we look forward to collaborating with you so that your community continues to Worship Well!