SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER

Texts: Acts 4:32–35; 1 John 1:1–2:2; John 20:19–31

The Risen Christ Breathes His Peace in the Holy Absolution

The crucified and risen Lord Jesus appeared to His apostles on the first Easter Sunday. He “came and stood among them,” and with His Word and the wounds in “his hands and his side,” He granted them His peace (John 20:19–20). He sent them as ministers of the Gospel in His name to bestow the life-giving Holy Spirit for us and for His whole Church through the forgiveness of sins (John 20:21–23). Through this apostolic ministry, He calls us to believe that He “is the Christ, the Son of God,” so that by such faith we “may have life in his name” (John 20:31). The apostles “have seen and heard” this divine life manifested in the flesh of Christ, and those who succeed them in this apostolic ministry now proclaim that same Absolution to us, so that we “too may have fellowship” with the risen Christ, with the apostles and “with one another” (1 John 1:1–7). The one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church lives by “their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus,” and all who believe this Word are “of one heart and soul,” because in Him they truly have “everything in common” (Acts 4:32–33). (lcms.org)

Acknowledgments:
The Lutheran Service Book. CPH Creative Worship
Scripture quotations are from ESV Bible
All Liturgy Audio Files are from LCMS Worship Ministry - Lutheran Service Book Audio (https://lcms.app.box.com/v/lutheran-service-book) 
Please note that the Hymnals are taken from online Auto-generated by YouTube or from thehymnalproject.org, Lutheran Warbler, Koiné, Downtown Music Publishing, CPH