HOME 
EASTERTIDE
Easter Sunday is the day of the year when the Christian Church celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Easter lies at the heart of our faith as the central moment of the liturgical year. The early church saw Christ's resurrection as the central witness to a new act of God in history proclaiming victory over the Cross--love as stronger than death.
The season of Easter, like Christmas, is more than just a single day. It is actually a seven-week season of the church year called Eastertide, the Great Fifty Days that begins at sundown the evening before Easter Sunday when we celebrate the Easter Vigil and lasts for six more Sundays until Pentecost Sunday. Even in churches that traditionally do not observe the other historic season of the church year, Easter has occupied a central place as the high point of Christian worship.
The sanctuary colors for Easter Sunday and the Sundays of Easter, including Ascension Day, are white and gold, the colors of sacred days throughout the church year. For the Easter season, white symbolizes the hope of the resurrection as well as the purity and newness that comes from victory over the Cross. Gold symbolizes Christ's kingship.
Color used in worship is especially important during the Easter season. The changing colors of the sanctuary from the purple of Lent to the black of Good Friday provide graphic visual symbols for the Lenten journey--helping to communicate the movement of sacred time as well as personal faith journeys from penitence and reflection to celebration and joy.
Prior to the fourth century, Christians observed Pascha, Christian Passover. Pascha was a festival of redemption, adapted from the Jewish Passover, and commemorated both the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus as the vehicle of God's grace. By the fourth century, with an increasing emphasis on Holy Week and Good Friday commemorating Jesus' passion, crucifixion, and death, Easter moved into a distinctively Christian celebration of the Resurrection.
Easter, like Passover, is a movable feast. The date of Easter, is not fixed but is determined by a system based on a lunar calendar adapted from a formula decided by the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox. This usually occurs on March 21, which means the date of Easter can range between March 22 and April 25, depending on the lunar cycle.
ROB ULMER GRADUATES!
Rob Ulmer, our former youth director and pastoral intern, received his Master of Divinity degree from Wesley Theological Seminary on Monday, May 7 at a ceremony held at 2:00 p.m. in the Washington National Cathedral. Rob graduated with honors and received an award for competence and interest in Methodist history.
During the ceremony, Church of the Good Shepherd was itself recognized and thanked for its participation in Rob's ministerial leadership development.
VBS VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL 2012: This year’s theme is “SKY: Everything is Possible with God!” July 23-27; 9 a.m. -12:00 p.m. Please let Penny Rasnake know by Thursday afternoon, May 24, via email or call 703-281-3987 x13, if you are able to help in any way. Please pray and be willing to be a part of making this program possible. We need approximately 22 volunteers (minimum). We need crew leaders who shepherd small groups of children through the Vacation Bible school activities each day. A crew will not have more than 10 children, mixed ages kindgarten through fifth grade, and will have two crew leaders. Station leaders also needed. Please call for more information.
LECTIONARY READINGS, MAY 17 & 20
A Lectionary is a table of readings from Scripture appointed to be read at public worship. The association of particular texts with specific days began in the 4th century. The Common Lectionary , published in 1983, was an ecumenical project of several American and Canadian denominations, developed out of a concern for the unity of the Church and a desire for a common experience of Scripture. It was intended as a harmonization of the many different denominational approaches to the three-year lectionary.
(Excerpted from http://www.ecusa.anglican.org)
The readings from May 17, Ascension Day, will be used for this final Sunday in Eastertide.
1:16 "Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus --
1:17 for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry."
1:21 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
1:22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us--one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection."
1:23 So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias.
1:24 Then they prayed and said, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen
1:25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place."
1:26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
Psalm 47
47:2 For the LORD, the Most High, is awesome, a great king over all the earth.
47:3 He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet.
47:4 He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves. Selah
47:5 God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.
47:6 Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.
47:7 For God is the king of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm.
47:8 God is king over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.
47:9 The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted.
1:15 I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason
1:16 I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers.
1:17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him,
1:18 so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints,
1:19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.
1:20 God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
1:21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.
1:22 And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church,
1:23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Luke 24:44-53
24:44 Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you--that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled."
24:45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,
24:46 and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day,
24:47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
24:48 You are witnesses of these things.
24:49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."
24:50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them.
24:51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.
24:52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy;
24:53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.
