The Sunday of The Resurrection

EASTER DAY YEAR B


The following readings and psalms are provided for use at the principal Easter Day Service.
Acts 10.34-43 should be read as either the First or Second Reading.

FIRST READING (Alternative readings)
Either Acts 10.34-43

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
34 Peter began to speak to those assembled in the house of Cornelius: 'I truly understand that God shows no partiality,
35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
36 You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ - he is Lord of all.
37 That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced:
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
39 We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree;
40 but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear,
41 not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.
43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.'

Or Isaiah 25.6-9

A reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah.
6 On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear.
7 And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death for ever.
8 Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.
9 It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.


PSALM Psalm 118.1-2, 14-24

R This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his mercy endures for ever.
2 Let Israel now proclaim, 'His mercy endures for ever.' R
14 The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.
15 There is a sound of exultation and victory in the tents of the righteous:
16 'The right hand of the Lord has triumphed! the right hand of the Lord is exalted! the right hand of the Lord has triumphed!' R
17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.
18 The Lord has punished me sorely, but he did not hand me over to death.
19 Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter them; I will offer thanks to the Lord. R
20 'This is the gate of the Lord; whoever is righteous may enter.'
21 I will give thanks to you, for you answered me and have become my salvation.
22 The same stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner-stone. R
23 This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.
24 On this day the Lord has acted; we will rejoice and be glad in it. R


SECOND READING (Alternative readings)

Either 1 Corinthians 15.1-11

A reading from the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians.
1 I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand,
2 through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you - unless you have come to believe in vain.
3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,
4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,
5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died.
7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them - though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
11 Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

Or Acts 10.34-43

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
34 Peter began to speak to those assembled in the house of Cornelius: 'I truly understand that God shows no partiality,
35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
36 You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ - he is Lord of all.
37 That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced:
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.
39 We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree;
40 but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear,
41 not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead.
43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.'


GOSPEL (Alternative readings)

Either John 20.1-18

Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.
2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, 'They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.'
3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb.
4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.
6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there,
7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself.
8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;
9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
10 Then the disciples returned to their homes.
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb;
12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.
13 They said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping?' She said to them, 'They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.'
14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
15 Jesus said to her, 'Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?' Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, 'Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.'
16 Jesus said to her, 'Mary!' She turned and said to him in Hebrew, 'Rabbouni!' (which means Teacher).
17 Jesus said to her, 'Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."'
18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, 'I have seen the Lord'; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Or Mark 16.1-8

Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark.
1 When the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
2 And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
3 They had been saying to one another, 'Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?'
4 When they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back.
5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.
6 But he said to them, 'Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.
7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.'
8 So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.