The day of Jesus’s resurrection, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, whose appearance was like lightning and whose clothing was white as snow, descended from heaven and came and rolled back the great stone  sealed at the entrance to Jesus’s tomb (Matthew 28:1-10; confer Matthew 27:57-61, 62-66). For fear of the angel, the guards trembled and became like dead men–an ironic opposite of Jesus, Who literally had been dead but by then was resurrected and had miraculously left the tomb. The angel told a group of women who arrived with burial spices seeking Jesus to stop being afraid because Jesus was risen! Nevertheless, they departed from the empty tomb with fear and great joy. Jesus met them, and they worshiped Him, and then Jesus also told them to stop being afraid. There are four mentions of fear in ten verses! And, while we are not told whether or not the women in fact stopped being afraid after seeing Jesus, we might reasonably assume that they did not. Fear in some sense comes from things that we cannot understand, but fear in some sense also accompanies faith that leads to worship, especially our seeking and receiving the forgiveness of our sins for the sake of Jesus crucified and resurrected, forgiveness that is given through His Word, especially in its forms of Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and the Holy Supper, as in the Divine Service on Easter Day at Pilgrim. Believers in Christ are terrified of nothing, not even death, but they revere their Lord and thank and praise Him for their salvation!

You are invited to Pilgrim Lutheran Church on-site and on-line for the Easter Day Divine Service and for the Divine Services the rest of the Easter Season. On Easter Day, April 05, 2026, we will have an Easter Breakfast at 8:00 a.m., Egg Hunt at 9:00 a.m., Easter-focused Sunday School and Adult Bible Class at 9:30 a.m., and Divine Service at 10:45 a.m. (its appointed Gospel Reading is Matthew 28:1-10). For the rest of the Easter season and every other Sunday the rest of the Church Year, our regular schedule is at the right.

The events of the Resurrection of Our Lord are more obviously the focus of the Gospel Readings on Easter Day and less-obviously so as the Easter Season goes on. The following are the Sundays of Easter in 2026 and their Gospel Readings (appointed by Lutheran Service Book’s Three-Year Lectionary Series A).

  • Second Sunday (04/12): Jesus appears to Thomas (John 20:19-31)
  • Third Sunday (04/19): Jesus appears to Emmaus disciples (Luke 24:13-35)
  • Fourth Sunday (04/26): Jesus the Good Shepherd gives abundant life (John 10:1-10)
  • Fifth Sunday (05/03): Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:1-14)
  • Sixth Sunday (05/10): Jesus asks the Father to send the Spirit (John 14:15-21)
  • Seventh Sunday (05/17): Jesus prays for His disciples to be one (John 17:1-11)

The Day of Pentecost, the 50th day of the Easter Season, is May 24th (its appointed Gospel Reading is John 7:37-39). Pilgrim will also offer a midweek Divine Service on Thursday, May 14th, at 7:00 p.m., marking the Ascension of Our Lord (its appointed Gospel Reading is Luke 24:44-53).

All are invited and welcome to attend services in person or to use the posted PDF of the service and follow-along either live via YouTube or with the recorded video/audio later on-line (all the relevant links are in the upper right corner of this page.) You may read and hear the sermons at Pilgrim not only from the Easter Season but also from every other season of the Church Year here.

The banner graphic at the top of this page and the corresponding slider image on the front page were composed by Katy Myers, whom we hereby thank, using the Brooklyn Museum’s 2008 photograph of  French painter James Tissot’s 1850 watercolor “Jesus appears to the Holy Women”, from Wikimedia, which indicates that the watercolor and photograph of it are in the public domain.