Litany for Easter Morning
All: It is now.
In many ways Easter seems so long ago.
But there is something here today;
if we are quiet we can hear it.
Child: I woke this morning while it was still dark and,
in that time when I could not see,
I heard my mother preparing to visit
the tomb where Jesus lay.
Woman: I tried to be quiet, I did not want to wake the children,
but I was sad, and weary,
and my heart was calling me from my home.
Child: I heard another woman at the door.
She took my mother’s hand and they went out into the night.
I lay awake, afraid,
but she was my mother and I knew she had to go.
Love, she told us once, is not to be taken lightly.
All: In the night, in our sorrow or despair,
when all we love seems impossible to reach—
sometimes, God,
you shake the whole earth to help us see.
Child: From the sky God sent an angel. And it told my mother—
Angel: “Do not be afraid.”
Woman: And he sent us to find the other disciples,
to tell them Jesus is alive again.
Child: My mother said the angel was beautiful, and frightening.
Man: Like truth.
Child: And so they went, like the angel told them to.
And on their way to tell everyone
that Jesus will always be with us,
she met him.
Jesus.
It was true!
Woman: The day took on a whole new light.
Color and scent.
Music and joy.
All: It is now.
In many ways Easter seems so long ago.
But even today we can still rise in the darkness
to feel the earth move, the dawn break, and, if we listen,
the promise of God’s love.
Whether on the lips of angels,
or in the everyday journey of our humanity,
God’s word will always be with us.
Jesus is alive.
Jesus is with us.
— Amy Payne, March 2 008, Ladera Community Church
