Second Sunday of Easter

On Sundays during these Eastertide Song Reflections, we will be doing something a little different. It’s rooted in the truth that the season of Easter is one of celebration. As we considered at the beginning of our journey, Easter is more than a day. It is a 50-day season of jubilation and worship.

It has been a difficult year, to put it mildly. Even though some churches are beginning to meet again in person, many are not, and many who would love to be with God’s people for worship are still waiting until they feel safer and more comfortable with public gatherings. Not being able to join our voices with our church family, to be alongside our sisters and brothers as we enter into the joy of this season is heartbreaking.

But even still…there is reason to celebrate and be joyful. We serve a God who is not limited by group restrictions or Zoom difficulties. We serve a God who is still active, still moving, and still present. He is still the God who heals, saves, and makes a way. He still rolls stones away, and we are invited to celebrate as we worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23).

So on Sundays for our Eastertide Song Reflection, we are simply going to worship and celebrate. We are going to feature songs that call us to lift our hands, hearts, and voices in joyful praise. After the song, we will feature a passage of Scripture that focuses on praise and worship. There won’t be questions for reflection, just an invitation to read the text prayerfully and pay attention to the movement of our souls as we ask ourselves, “How does this text stir me to worship God?”

We start this Sunday with a song that was only released a week ago. It is an energetic declaration of the fact that “there’s joy in the house of the Lord.” As we wait for the time when all the houses of praise are able to throw their doors wide open and gather in worship, we still declare that God’s joy is present and real. Christ has taken up residence in our hearts through faith, and as temples of the Holy Spirit we can still declare with confidence: there is joy in the house of the Lord!

We were the beggars
Now we're royalty
We were the prisoners
Now we're running free
We are forgiven, accepted
Redeemed by His grace
Let the house of the Lord sing praise

Read the rest of the lyrics here.

Psalm 118 NIV14 The Lord is my strength and my defense[a]; he has become my salvation.15 Shouts of joy and victory resound in the tents of the righteou...

Scripture for Reflection and Worship

“One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
For in the day of trouble
he will keep me safe in his dwelling;
he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent
and set me high upon a rock.

Then my head will be exalted
above the enemies who surround me;
at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make music to the Lord.

Hear my voice when I call, Lord;
be merciful to me and answer me.
My heart says of you, “Seek his face!”
Your face, Lord, I will seek.”—Psalm 27:4-8 (NIV)