The following prayer is from the CRL Rural Life Prayer Book, originally published in 1956.
TODAY, dear Lord, we celebrate Your rising from the dead. We are happy with You that You have been victor over death. We look around us at the green fields, filled with new life, and are everywhere reminded of You.
The seeds we plant seem dry and dead, but with the combined wonders of rain and sun, and the powers of the earth, they rise from their death-like sleep and grow green and beautiful in our fields. The trees, too, that stood so stark and lifeless through the winter are now bright with living green.
With these reminders of a resurrection all about us every day, help us remember that death is not the end of things for us, but the beginning. Help us keep in mind that we shall rise again on the last day, to live with You forever. Then there will be no weeping any more, nor any tears; no suffering, nor any pain, but joy and happiness and love with You forever. With You, then, will we celebrate the eternal Easter. It will be an everlasting spring for us, if we only realize now that there is no glory without suffering, no Easter without a Good Friday. Help us, by Your grace, to live the good lives that will merit this new life in heaven forever with You.
Amen.
