Family Easter Program

Because our family participates in the ward choir, one of our Easter traditions is to share our musical talents in the annual Easter Sacrament Meeting Program. That’s not going to happen this year, and as I tried to figure out how to adapt that tradition, I decided we could do something at home. This “family” program is based on one we did in our ward several years ago; I remember Michelle did a beautiful job singing a solo of “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” and the choir sang a new song, Rise Up, Ye Saints, Rejoice! I’m sure you could find plenty of other programs out there combining quotes and hymns, but hopefully this will help someone. This is meant for teenagers and adults; here’s one that might be more appropriate for younger children.

Have a beautiful Easter Sunday!

Note: For the hymns and songs, clicking on the title will take you to a video of the Tabernacle Choir singing them; clicking on the page number will take you to the actual music in case you want to sing them yourself, (or follow along with a recording).

Christ the Lord is Risen Today  (Hymn #200)

“Without Christ, there would be no Easter. Without Christ there can be no fullness of joy. In our premortal state, we shouted for joy as the plan of salvation was unfolded to our view. It was there our elder brother Jesus, the firstborn in the spirit of our Father’s children, volunteered to redeem us from our sins. He became our foreordained Savior, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world’ (Moses 7:47). Thanks be to God the Son for the offering of Himself. And thanks be to God the Father that He sent Him. ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (John 3:16). Ezra Taft Benson

He Sent His Son (Children’s Songbook, page 34)

“As a result of the many miracles in our lives, we should be more humble and more grateful, more kind and more believing. When we are personal witnesses to these wonders which God performs, it should increase our respect and love for him; it should improve the way we behave. We will live better and love more if we will remember that. We are miracles in our own right, every one of us, and the resurrected Son of God is the greatest miracle of all. He is, indeed the miracle of miracles, and every day of his life he gave evidence of it. We should try to follow after him in that example.” Howard W. Hunter

I’m Trying to be Like Jesus (Children’s Songbook, page 78)

“I believe that none of us can conceive the full import of what Christ did for us in Gethsemane, but I am grateful every day of my life for His atoning sacrifice in our behalf. At the last moment, He could have turned back. But He did not. He passed beneath all things that He might save all things. In doing so, he gave us life beyond this mortal existence. He reclaimed us from the Fall of Adam. To the depths of my very soul, I am grateful to Him. He taught us how to live. He taught us how to die. He secured our salvation.” Thomas S. Monson

I Stand All Amazed (Hymn #193)

“’Now upon the first day of the week, early in the morning, the women came unto the sepulcher. They found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass that as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold two men stood by them in shining garments! And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, the angel said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? Fear not ye, be not affrighted; for I know that ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. He is not here, for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay – where they laid him. And go quickly and tell his disciples and Peter that He is risen from the dead – that He goeth before you into Galilee; there ye shall see Him. Remember how He spoke unto you while He was yet in Galilee saying: The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day rise again. Lo, I have told you.’ [See Luke 24:1-7; Matthew 28:5-7; Mark 16:5-7]

“Thus do the writers of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, record the greatest event in the history of the world, the literal resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind. Dramatically had been demonstrated the greatest of all the divine powers of an incarnated Son of God. He had declared to the sorrowing Martha, at the time of the death of her brother Lazarus: ‘I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live’ (John 11:25).” Harold B. Lee

I Know that My Redeemer Lives (Hymn #136)

“For all of Christendom, for all of mankind, today is observed as the anniversary of the greatest miracle in human history. It is the miracle that encompasses all who have lived upon the earth, all who now live upon the earth, and all who will yet live upon the earth. Nothing done before or since has so affected mankind as the atonement wrought by Jesus of Nazareth, who died on Calvary’s cross, was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, and on the third day arose from the grave as the Living Son  of the Living God – the Savior and Redeemer of the world.” Gordon B. Hinckley

“Without our Redeemer’s infinite Atonement, not one of us would have hope of ever returning to our Heavenly Father. Without His Resurrection, death would be the end. Our Savior’s Atonement made eternal life a possibility and immortality a reality for all. I testify that He is the living Christ—our Lord and Savior, Redeemer, Exemplar, and Judge. Thanks to Him, no condition is hopeless. Brighter days are ahead, both here and hereafter.” Russell M. Nelson

He is Risen (Hymn #199)