This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 103; Exodus 12:28-39; 1 Corinthians 15:12-28; Mark 16:9-20

This morning’s Canticles are: “Christ Our Passover” (BCP, p. 83); following the OT reading, Canticle 13 (“A Song of Praise,” BCP, p. 90); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 18 (Revelation 4:11; 5:9-10, 13, BCP, p. 93)

Collect for Tuesday in Easter Week. O God, who by the glorious resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ destroyed death and brought life and immortality to light: Grant that we, who have been raised with him, may abide in his presence and rejoice in the hope of eternal glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be dominion and praise for ever and ever. Amen.

Our bodies sustain life by a rhythm of breathing in and breathing out. The Daily Office provides a parallel rhythm by which our inner being may sustain life as well. Reading Scripture is the way we breathe in. The combination of worshiping and praying is the way we breathe out. For many years my own morning devotions consisted mostly of reading Scripture to see what I could learn. A lot of breathing in. Discovering the Anglican tradition changed a lot of things for me. One of those was the way I approach morning devotions. I now see the importance of breathing out: of making worship and prayer a part of morning devotions.

Breathing back praise is as important as breathing in knowledge. During the season of Easter, the Daily Office commends the song Pascha Nostrum (“Christ our Passover”) a collection of verses from Paul’s letters that Thomas Cranmer pieced together in the 1540s. During these seven weeks of Easter (or at least for much of it), we plan to include this song in our Sunday worship in the portion where the Gloria normally appears. And throughout the Easter season, the Daily Office commends reading or singing it at the beginning of morning devotions.

The Pascha Nostrum is three stanzas long, each stanza focusing on a different aspect of our Easter hope.

The first stanza consists of 2 Corinthians 5:7-8, bracketed by “Alleluias”:

Alleluia.
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed for us; *
therefore let us keep the feast,
Not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, *
but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. Alleluia.

As blood from the slain Passover lambs led the angel of death to pass over the houses of the Israelites, so Christ’s shed blood rescues his people from sin and death. For Paul, the unleavened bread of the Jewish Passover comes into sharp focus for those experiencing Christ as their Passover. They start a new life characterized by sincerity and truth, leaving behind an old life marked by slavery to malice and evil. That’s worth at least a couple of “Alleluias.”

The second stanza consists of Romans 6:9-11, and concludes with “Alleluia”:

Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; *
death no longer has dominion over him.
The death that he died, he died to sin, once for all; *
but the life he lives, he lives to God.
So also consider yourselves dead to sin, *
and alive to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Alleluia.

There is a staggering likeness between Christ’s death and ours. Because he died once, he can never die again. Because in our baptism we too “die,” death no longer has any claim on us. That’s not just a promise that we are going to heaven. It means that in the very present, we can say to the walking death of a sinful life: “That’s not me anymore.” We can walk—we really can!—“alive to God in Jesus Christ.” And, yes, of course: “Alleluia.”

The third stanza consists of 1 Corinthians 15:20-22, and rounds out the whole song with a final “Alleluia.”

Christ has been raised from the dead, *
the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.
For since by a man came death, *
by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, *
so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Alleluia.

Christ’s followers do not share the world’s despair over there being “no justice in the world.” We believe that when all the chips are called in, the whole problem of human suffering—death, disease, decay, destruction, depression—all of it will have found its resolution in the suffering unto death and victory over death of One Man, Jesus Christ. The one necessary thing, in the end, is to be found to be in him. “Alleluia.”

“Alleluia.”

Enjoy this version by the King’s College Chapel Choir

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlOIQ-TWToE

And join us Sunday as Melissa Ramb and Brian Bruder chant the beautiful “Oxford Chant” version in the Hymnal at S-48.

Be blessed this day,

Reggie Kidd+