Easter Liturgy: Call to Worship, Confession, Communion Prayer, and Benediction

Your Easter morning services should do two things: put on a rip-roaring celebration for the most joyful event in history and invite newcomers and Christmas-and-Easter attenders to join in, building a connection for discipleship.

Understandably, churches put a lot of effort into the music, the sermon, and decking out the space — but don't forget liturgy. Your Easter liturgy should tell the people gathered: this isn't just any Sunday, and you're not mere spectators.

This post offers four pieces of liturgy, ready for your for Easter services. The first two come from the TPW library (read about our liturgy resources here), including a contemporary call to worship from Methodist pastor Lisa Degrenia and a confession and assurance of pardon from Trinity Lutheran Church of Lisle, Illinois.

Two more are newly created by the TPW team: a special pre-communion prayer of invitation based on the Easter Sermon of John Chrysostom (sometimes called his "Paschal Homily") and an Easter benediction calling on your congregation to boldly live the resurrection.

These prayers are free for you to use in your services. Instructions for offering credit are included with the prayers.

Looking for more Easter resources? Go to our gateway to all our Easter resources, our Easter Worship Guide→

Easter Call to Worship

Lisa Degrenia is a United Methodist pastor in Melbourne, Florida. We love her contemporary voice, which brims with life! The last line is to be read by the congregation, beginning the service with the traditional Easter call and response.

Confession of Sin & Assurance of Pardon for Easter

Trinity Lutheran Church of Lisle, Illinois, created this Scripture-saturated confession and assurance of pardon. We picked this particular combination because it expresses the seriousness of sin and the victory of the resurrection so well.

Pre-Communion Prayer Adapted from the Easter Sermon of John Chrysostom

Every Easter, our Orthodox brothers and sisters read the Easter Sermon of John Chrysostom. It is an ancient declaration of the victory of Jesus on Easter.

We thought that the invitation to come to Christ's table in the first half of the Easter Sermon made this perfect as a prayer or homily to offer before communion on Easter morning. (It would also work well as a call to worship.) We love the vividness of the language of this text and we tried to make it accessible to modern audiences so that it hits as hard as it did when it was first written.

Easter Benediction

Your Easter benediction sends your congregation out into the world full of the joy of Easter. It's a last chance (in your service itself) to reach those who are in a church for the first time or who are only occasionally present. We wrote this one to emphasize the boldness that we are given through the resurrection — and not just a boldness to enjoy for ourselves — but one which gives us strength to live for God each day.

Closing Thoughts

Did you find this liturgy useful in planning your Easter services? Let us know how it went. If these prayers helped you, take a look at the TPW library. It has more than 2,600 pieces of liturgy for services through the rest of the year. We'd love to be part of your Sunday prep.