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New every morning is your love, great God of light, and all day long you are working for good in the world. Stir up in us desire to serve you, to live peacefully with our neighbors and all your creation, and to devote each day to your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

"A Liturgy for Morning Prayer," Upper Room Worshipbook

Used by permission from the Book of Common Worship, © 2018 Westminster John Knox Press. All rights reserved. This prayer appears in “A Liturgy for Morning Prayer” in Upper Room Worshipbook.

Easter Earthquake

How Resurrection Shakes Our World

James A. Harnish • October 2017

BUY Print $13.99

BUY eBook (Available in ePub or Kindle) $9.99

Have you ever been in an earthquake? Earthquakes shake our most basic assumptions: that the ground will remain steady beneath our feet, that the world's current existence is the way it will always be. But when tectonic plates shift under the earth's surface and the ground shakes beneath our feet, it rattles the bedrock assumptions on which we build our lives.

The Gospel of Matthew reports that on the first Easter morning, an earthquake rocked the earth, ripped open the tomb, and scared the Roman guards at the tomb, who "shook with fear and became like dead men" (Matthew 28:4).

This is the second earthquake reported by Matthew. The first one took place on Good Friday, when the noonday sky turned black and Jesus died.

In Easter Earthquake, James Harnish invites us to place the resurrection at the center of our Lenten journey. This 6-week study explores how Christ's resurrection shakes some of our most basic assumptions about ourselves and God.

"The earth-shaking promise of Easter is that God has not forsaken any of us," Harnish writes. "The risen Christ will meet us along the confused, chaotic, fearful paths of our lives and speak the same words the women hear at the tomb: 'Do not be afraid .'"

This book reverses the usual focus of Lenten studies by starting at the empty tomb and seeing the entire journey in light of the resurrection. Join James Harnish in this energizing exploration that will inspire you to live as a more faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.

FEATURES

  • A guide for daily mediation and prayer
  • An outline for small-group meetings
  • Begins with Ash Wednesday and continues through Easter
  • Each week contains 5 readings, a prayer focus, and suggestions for small-group interaction
  • Includes a hymn each week


Categories: Devotional, Lent
James A. Harnish is a retired United Methodist pastor, writer, and teacher. He served in pastoral ministry in Florida for 43 years, including 22 years as senior pastor of Hyde Park United Methodist Church in Tampa, Florida. He and his wife, Martha Lea, live in Longwood, Florida. They have 2 daughters and 5 grandchildren.

ISBN: 978-0-8358-1716-5

Kindle ISBN: 978-0-8358-1717-2

EPub ISBN: 978-0-8358-1718-9

Imprint: Upper Room

Pub Date: October 2017

Trim Size: 5.5 in (w) x 8.5 in (h) x 0.273 in (d)

Page Count: 128

BISAC Categories: RELIGION / Holidays / Easter & Lent

BISAC1: REL034030

BISAC2: REL055020

BISAC3: REL034010

Jim Harnish invites the devotional reader or the circle of study to share a warm and winsome conversation about the nature of the journey through Lent to Easter. Blending classical with contemporary illustrations, he weaves tradition and relevance into a single trustworthy cloth of assurance and faith. Easter Earthquake is a gift from a pastor’s heart to all who seek to explore more fully the season the ancients called the springtime of the soul.
—Rev. Paul L. Escamilla Senior Pastor, St. John’s United Methodist Church Austin, Texas Author, Longing for Enough in a Culture of Mor