Christ Who Conquered Death

An Easter reading that may be read aloud, with participants alternating readings.

Hear the Word of the Lord:
For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. - Colossians 1:13-14

Christ alone is worthy of the name above all names.
Every knee will bow
and every tongue proclaim
the rightness of his coronation.

All sorrows we endure for now are but the
rattling gasp that signals death’s defeat.

Christ’s heel is planted on death’s neck.
Death cannot breathe.
And this space in which we grieve is
but the long exhale of death’s last expiring breath.
This age of passing sorrows is
but the long death rattle of death itself.
The outcome bears no hint of doubt.
The work is done
The victory is won.
So death will be undone.
All works of death will be undone.

And we, whose lives are hid with Christ,
in God, will rise to live, eternal, every one.

You have made all things well, O Christ!
You have made all things well!

You have done what you said.
You have rescued your children and your creation
from the futility, from the fear, and from the
lingering kingdom of death.

Hear the Word of the Lord:
I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. - John 11:25

Crush this age-old darkness,
O Christ, in the winepress of your everlasting light.
Trample this old darkness and
from it draw the wine of everlasting life.

Upend all works of death.
Make all things new.
Make all things right.
You have made all things well.
You have made all things well, O Christ!

Hear the Word of the Lord:
I am the Living One;
I was dead, and now look,
I am alive for ever and ever!
And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
- Revelation 1:18

Excerpts from: Every Moment Holy, Volume II - Death, Grief and Hope (Douglas Kaine McKelvey)

Dave Manske

Missions Mobilizer