Saturday in Easter — Open Word

FIRST READING

Genesis 8:13-19

Verse 13. In Noah’s six hundred and first year, on the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth. So Noah removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry. Verse 14. By the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was fully dry. Verse 15. Then God said to Noah, Verse 16. “Come out of the ark, you and your wife, along with your sons and their wives. Verse 17. Bring out all the living creatures that are with you— birds, livestock, and everything that crawls upon the ground— so that they can spread out over the earth and be fruitful and multiply upon it.” Verse 18. So Noah came out, along with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives. Verse 19. Every living creature, every creeping thing, and every bird — everything that moves upon the earth — came out of the ark, kind by kind.

PSALM

Psalm 66:8-20

Bless our God, O peoples; let the sound of His praise be heard.

He preserves our lives and keeps our feet from slipping.

For You , O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver.

You led us into the net; You laid burdens on our backs.

You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but You brought us into abundance.

I will enter Your house with burnt offerings; I will fulfill my vows to You —

the vows that my lips promised and my mouth spoke in my distress.

I will offer You fatlings as burnt offerings, with the fragrant smoke of rams; I will offer bulls and goats.

Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for me.

I cried out to Him with my mouth and praised Him with my tongue.

If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

But God has surely heard; He has attended to the sound of my prayer.

Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld from me His loving devotion!

SECOND READING

John 14:27-29

Verse 27. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid. Verse 28. You heard Me say, ‘I am going away, and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. Verse 29. And now I have told you before it happens, so that when it does happen, you will believe.