Printable services for those unable to attend St C

MC900155368[1]

St Clement Church Community Easter Season Service

Good morning to you all. As we commemorate the 4^th Sunday of Easter, I pray that in these uncertain times we can continue to find hope in the Easter message, hope that is so needed for our world.

Much love and may Christ’s love sustain you always.

Rev Di and family xx

Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Let us pray: Merciful Father, you gave your Son Jesus Christ to be the good shepherd, and in his love for us to lay down his life and rise again: keep us always under his protection, and give us grace to follow in his footsteps; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hymn; ‘I will sing the Wondrous Story’

Our prayers of Penitence

On this 4^th Sunday of Easter, in a moment of quiet reflection let us honestly examine our lives, remembering where our attitudes have been wrong, where love has grown cold, where hurts have not been forgiven, or where cries for help have not been answered…

When we are faced with something that challenges us, but fail to step out in faith and instead regress into old attitudes;

Lord, have mercy.

When we face these difficult times, but fail to recognise that through it all you are holding us in your loving arms;

Christ, have mercy.

When we fail to forgive past hurts to the detriment of restoring relationships;

Lord, have mercy.

When we look inwards to our own concerns rather than seeking to help those in need;

Christ, have mercy.

When we are agents of gloom rather than messengers of hope;

Lord, have mercy.

May Almighty God have mercy upon us, forgive our mistakes and failings, and bring us to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us pray our Collect for the fourth Sunday of Easter

Risen Christ, faithful shepherd of your Father’s sheep: teach us to hear your voice and to follow your command, that all your people may be gathered into one flock, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Readings:

Acts 2.42 - end

1 Peter 2.19-end

Hymn; ‘All people that on Earth dwell’

The Gospel Reading

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.

(John 10.1-10)

Glory to you, O Lord.

‘Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.’ Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.

Reflection

Basically, in John 10, Jesus uses the image of the shepherd to describe the contrast between his leadership and that of the Pharisees, but sorry, that short sentence is not the end of the sermon!

Because the ancient Near East was mainly a rural, agricultural society, shepherds were common figures seen in whole region, and the writers of the Old Testament often used the image of the shepherd to indicate God’s care for Israel.

Psalm 23 is a prime example; ‘The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want....’ and in addition to God, the Kings and other leaders of Israel were also pictured as shepherds in their role of protecting, defending, and guiding the people.

However, the leadership of Israel had become corrupt, and we only have to read Ezekiel which uses Shepherd imagery to convey God’s displeasure at this.

Later in the book, God promises that both He and the son of David will be the shepherd, and in John 10, we find Jesus making the perfect fulfilment of those promises.

It’s obvious from Scripture that Jesus is our Shepherd, but the main point we struggle to remember is; we are his sheep, and this passage today gives us an insight on what it means to live life as such.

We heard that the sheep hear and recognise the shepherd’s voice. This image comes from the community sheep pens of the Middle East where a number of townspeople would club together, combine their flocks, and hire a watchman to guard the pen.

Each individual shepherd would go daily and call out the sheep that belonged to him, then the sheep, recognising their master’s voice would come out of the larger sheep pen and follow him to the feeding grounds. And that’s another interesting part of the image, shepherds in the Middle East don’t drive their animals from behind, they lead them.

Which makes me think that ‘hearing’ as part of this image, also implies ‘following’. Combining that image means hearing our Shepherd is more than just using our ears, or understanding the message with our brain.

It’s about receiving it, accepting it, making it a part of who we are, and obeying it.

Anyone though can read the Bible and comprehend the message, but only a sheep can take it to heart and follow its commands.

There’s a story about a Prince of Grenada, an heir to the Spanish crown, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Madrid, and he was given only one book to read the entire time.... the Bible. He read it hundreds of times, and when he died after 33 years in prison, the guards who cleaned out his cell found the notes he had written on the prison walls with a nail.

The notes said things like; “Psalm 118:8 is the middle verse in the Bible; Ezra 7:21 contains all the letters of the alphabet except the letter J; the ninth verse of the eighth chapter of Esther is the longest verse in the Bible.”

So, after 33 years of exposure to the Shepherd’s voice in the Scriptures, all the Prince of Grenada found was meaningless trivia. He never made a commitment to Christ, he never seized on the grace and hope that seep from the scriptures, he never, ever heard the Shepherd’s voice.

I believe we all yearn to hear the voice of the shepherd, to hear the voice of the one who cares so deeply for us.

That’s why it’s important when we come here to worship, we should to take time to forget about the burdens of the past week, to forget about what’s going to happen in our lives next week, and rest, just for a moment, so we can hear the voice of our shepherd through the words, the music and fellowship, in this beautiful hallowed space.

But we also can hear his voice in our private worship, the Shepherd’s voice is right there in the Bible, and if we want to hear it more clearly, it might be a suggestion to take just 10 minutes out of our daily routine, to read a short passage of scripture and pray.

And I’m certain by doing so, that daily Bible reading and prayer in our life will take our relationship with Jesus Christ to a new level.

When the sheep know the shepherd’s voice, they are not only protected by him, but they also live on abundant, rich land. And Jesus identifies himself with the gate, one way in and one way out, giving access to such richness, which we can identify with as living life to the full.

I love the King James wording of verse 10, which say; “I came that they might have life and have it abundantly.”

But what does it mean to have abundant life? It doesn’t necessarily mean having a long physical life span, but instead truly living, not just going from day to day without knowing the contentment of a present relationship with Jesus Christ.

Us sheep, we’re not wistfully longing for shadows from the past, or anxiously contemplating a thousand different futures. We’re not consumed with; ‘what ifs’ or; ‘I wish I hads.’ But are more preoccupied with what Christ is calling us to in this very moment, that’s abundant life.

I expect you’ve seen the film ‘Dead Poet’s Society,’ where the late Robin Williams plays an English teacher who introduces his pupils to the British Romantic poets and their mantra; ‘Carpe Diem’ — Latin for “Seize the Day” — seize the moment and live.

If we listen to the shepherd’s voice, we can perceive his calling, and protected from predators, we can do just that; ‘seize the day,’ and go after the great things to which he’s called us.

And because of our shepherd’s ultimate sacrifice and resurrection, we have eternal life and protection, which is very good news to those who rightly understand that we are living in a world of wolves. Amen.

Hymn; ‘Lead us Heavenly Father, lead us.’

Affirmation of our faith

Let us declare our faith in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; he was buried; he was raised to life on the third day and afterwards he appeared to his followers and to all the apostles: this we have received, and this we believe. This is the faith of the Church. This is our faith. We believe and trust in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our intercessions this week are written by Liz Davies

Dear Lord, we are gathered here, and in our homes, to offer our praise and thanks to you. As we quietly bow our heads and still the busyness of our hearts and minds, may we be open to listen for your ‘still, small’ voice so often overlooked in the bustle of our days.

Lord, you are our Shepherd. We pray that you will protect us from all danger by keeping watch over us. Guide us towards green pastures where we can be nourished by your Word and lead us to pure still waters where we can be refreshed by your love.