Today’s the day - everything is changed. Death’s cave is empty, save linen cloth as calling card for Love. That life has won, and hope’s made whole, thank God!
Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
Holy and risen Lord, we come to worship you on this special Easter Day. We thank you for all you have done for us. We lift our eyes to honour you, living Lord Jesus. You have overcome death; fill us with your joy and new life. Amen
You might like to read, sing or listen to an Easter hymn. Perhaps Christ the Lord is risen today, or Low in the grave he lay (H&P 193/202, StF 298/305).
This is perhaps the strangest Easter Sunday we have experienced in most of our lifetimes. Not able to gather as God’s people on this holiest of days. Not able to spend time with family and friends. Not able to visit dale or coast. Yet even as restrictions bite, we affirm God’s love in Christ Jesus, and seek to help each other hear the Easter message. We gather in spirit; we give thanks for families, friends and technology that links us; and we release our memories and imaginations to visit special places in God’s wonderful world. Perhaps the most special today is a garden....
Reading – John 20:1-18 which begins: “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
It is challenging to realise that the first thought of the disciples on finding the empty tomb was that the precious body of their Lord had been taken away – removed to a place they did not know. The reaction was one of loss upon loss, not the expectation or realisation of something wonderful.
As we reflect on this strange Easter Day, let’s spend some moments lamenting those precious things that have been taken away by coronavirus and the responses to it. There is good biblical precedent for lament – God invites us to be honest about our griefs, losses, anxieties, frustrations. As we name them before God, with Mary we weep beside the tomb, and wait for God......
Holy God, you receive our tears and our torment, our cries and our questions. Help us to name them, to own them, to acknowledge them, and to give them to you. And even as we name these things, draw close to us and speak our name with love, as Jesus spoke Mary’s name, and give us hope. Amen.
Reading – Acts 10:34-43 Peter’s testimony, which includes: “They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen – by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.”
“He was not seen by all...” For as long as I remember I have been fascinated by questions of perception. Why some people are able to see things that others cannot. Why, when faced with this particular image one person sees an old woman and the other a young lady. We perceive the same image differently – eyes, brain, memory, experience, imagination –
some combination of these things lets us ‘see’ a certain thing.
Now in Peter’s testimony there are some who see – the witnesses – and, by implication, some who don’t. And those who see, as witnesses, bear testimony to those who don’t. And of those who don’t see, some believe. As Jesus says to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29).
It strikes me that we, so many years after Jesus spoke to Thomas, and Peter bore testimony in Caesarea, are amongst those blessed not in seeing but in believing, and that in that blessing we receive God’s grace. But it also strikes me that once we believe, we can start to see things differently, that one of the consequences of grace is changed perception. Because of Easter, cross and resurrection, because of Jesus, dying and rising, we can look hopefully on situations that seem hopeless. We may be in a dark place now, isolated, anxious, afraid; but faith lets us see that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it. Ever.
You might like to read, sing or listen to the hymn After darkness, light (H&P 186/StF 292) which includes: “Come whatever may, God will have his way; welcome, Easter Day: Alleluia.”
Let us pray.
God who said, ‘Let there be light’, illuminate our way through days of darkness;
Jesus who said, ‘I am the light of the world’, give us grace to see and courage to follow;
Holy Spirit, who enabled Peter to bear witness, help us live in hope and serve with love.
Amen.
God of grace, we bring before you those who have no joy and no hope, those who see no future, no light at the end of the tunnel, those scarred by pain and sadness, those who grieve.
God of grace and resurrection power,
bring your joy and healing today.
We pray for those yet to hear your good news, whether that is because they have never heard, or because they are closed to the message and the possibility of ‘What if?’
May we be Easter people, willing always to share the good news of hope, peace and freedom with all those we meet – neighbours, friends and strangers, in person, on line, by letter or phone.
God of grace...
We pray for those recovering from disasters - earthquakes and hurricanes, famine, fire and flood – and those living with human conflict and poverty, for all whose darkness is very real.
God of grace...
We pray for those facing illness, isolation, insecurity, separation, bereavement, unemployment, because of the virus and the measures to contain it; and all those working so hard to help.
God of grace...
May all share in the joy and hope of your resurrection.
Amen.
We pray, with all God’s people, the Lord’s Prayer.
You might like to read, sing or listen to the hymn Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son (H&P 212/StF 313)
We bless one another, those in our household and family, those with whom we might ordinarily be sharing a coffee after church, those we would normally be spending time with this weekend, those for whom we care and those who care for us, as we share this ancient blessing:
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look on you with kindness and give you peace. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
Holy and risen Lord, we come to worship you on this special Easter Day. We thank you for all you have done for us. We lift our eyes to honour you, living Lord Jesus. You have overcome death; fill us with your joy and new life. Amen
You might like to read, sing or listen to an Easter hymn. Perhaps Christ the Lord is risen today, or Low in the grave he lay (H&P 193/202, StF 298/305).
Reading – John 20:1-18 which begins: “Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
It is challenging to realise that the first thought of the disciples on finding the empty tomb was that the precious body of their Lord had been taken away – removed to a place they did not know. The reaction was one of loss upon loss, not the expectation or realisation of something wonderful.
As we reflect on this strange Easter Day, let’s spend some moments lamenting those precious things that have been taken away by coronavirus and the responses to it. There is good biblical precedent for lament – God invites us to be honest about our griefs, losses, anxieties, frustrations. As we name them before God, with Mary we weep beside the tomb, and wait for God......
Holy God, you receive our tears and our torment, our cries and our questions. Help us to name them, to own them, to acknowledge them, and to give them to you. And even as we name these things, draw close to us and speak our name with love, as Jesus spoke Mary’s name, and give us hope. Amen.
Reading – Acts 10:34-43 Peter’s testimony, which includes: “They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen – by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.”
Reflection
some combination of these things lets us ‘see’ a certain thing.
Now in Peter’s testimony there are some who see – the witnesses – and, by implication, some who don’t. And those who see, as witnesses, bear testimony to those who don’t. And of those who don’t see, some believe. As Jesus says to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29).
It strikes me that we, so many years after Jesus spoke to Thomas, and Peter bore testimony in Caesarea, are amongst those blessed not in seeing but in believing, and that in that blessing we receive God’s grace. But it also strikes me that once we believe, we can start to see things differently, that one of the consequences of grace is changed perception. Because of Easter, cross and resurrection, because of Jesus, dying and rising, we can look hopefully on situations that seem hopeless. We may be in a dark place now, isolated, anxious, afraid; but faith lets us see that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will not overcome it. Ever.
You might like to read, sing or listen to the hymn After darkness, light (H&P 186/StF 292) which includes: “Come whatever may, God will have his way; welcome, Easter Day: Alleluia.”
Let us pray.
God who said, ‘Let there be light’, illuminate our way through days of darkness;
Jesus who said, ‘I am the light of the world’, give us grace to see and courage to follow;
Holy Spirit, who enabled Peter to bear witness, help us live in hope and serve with love.
Amen.
God of grace, we bring before you those who have no joy and no hope, those who see no future, no light at the end of the tunnel, those scarred by pain and sadness, those who grieve.
God of grace and resurrection power,
bring your joy and healing today.
We pray for those yet to hear your good news, whether that is because they have never heard, or because they are closed to the message and the possibility of ‘What if?’
May we be Easter people, willing always to share the good news of hope, peace and freedom with all those we meet – neighbours, friends and strangers, in person, on line, by letter or phone.
God of grace...
We pray for those recovering from disasters - earthquakes and hurricanes, famine, fire and flood – and those living with human conflict and poverty, for all whose darkness is very real.
God of grace...
We pray for those facing illness, isolation, insecurity, separation, bereavement, unemployment, because of the virus and the measures to contain it; and all those working so hard to help.
God of grace...
May all share in the joy and hope of your resurrection.
Amen.
We pray, with all God’s people, the Lord’s Prayer.
You might like to read, sing or listen to the hymn Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son (H&P 212/StF 313)
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord look on you with kindness and give you peace. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
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