Printable services for those unable to attend St C

MC900155368[1]

St Clement Church Community Easter Day Service

Good morning to you all.

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

We will be celebrating Easter in our church building on Sunday, this service of the Word is for you to read at home if you are unable to be with us. Together, whether in person or not, today we worship our risen Lord and reflect on the wonder of the Easter message.

Much love and God Bless.

Rev Di and family xx

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

Through him we have come to trust in God who raised Jesus from the dead and gave him glory, so that our faith and hope are set on God.

Let us pray:

Lord Jesus Christ, risen from death to life in the father’s love,

raise us to share in new life, that we may know your presence among us now, and serve you in the power of the Spirit. Amen.

Hymn: ‘ I Danced in the Morning’

Our prayers of Penitence

The doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews; Jesus came and stood among them and said;

“Peace be with you.”

This Easter Day we bring our fears and failings to the risen Christ;

When we are faced with a challenge, but regress into old attitudes,

Lord, have mercy.

When we face these difficult times, but fail to trust in your loving purposes,

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 us our sins and failings, and bring us to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us pray our Collect for Easter Day

God of glory, by the raising of your Son you have broken the chains of death and hell: fill your Church with faith and hope; for a new day has dawned and the way to life stands open in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Old Testament Reading: Acts 10. 34-43

New Testament Reading: Colossians 3.1-4

Hymn: ‘The Strife is o’er’

Gospel: John 20. 1-18

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

Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’)

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.

So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.’

Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went towards the tomb.

The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb.

He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.

But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’

When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’

Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.“’ Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

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

Reflection

Easter always comes on the first Sunday after the first full moon on, or after, the spring equinox. Did you know that? If not, remember you heard it here first! That’s why the date for Easter always varies. But early or late, with the benefit of hindsight, we can expect Easter will happen sometime.

But that wasn’t so true for Mary, the Mary from Magdala, was it?

Without the benefit of hindsight, Mary Magdalene wasn’t expecting Easter at all, and her immediate reaction was the logical one, the same one you and I no doubt would have had. She thinks Jesus’ body has been moved by someone. After all, this isn’t a grave dug out of the ground; it’s a tomb carved out of a rocky hillside, and grave robbing was a common activity in those days.

It’s the logical thing to think, after something unexpected happens, we find ourselves looking for any explanation, and that’s as good as any other. That’s it. Someone has come and taken his body away.

So when the risen Christ first appears to her, Mary doesn’t recognise him. She thinks he’s the gardener. Her lack of recognition could have been her grief, because grief can do that to us all, we can’t think clearly, our minds are numbed to the fog of all that’s going on around us.

Then again, Mary’s lack of recognition could also have been the shock seeing the angels, and Jesus’ body not being in the tomb where it was supposed to be. She had watched Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, hastily prepare the body for burial. They had to get it done before sundown, as the Sabbath was about to commence and Jewish law required the dead to be in their graves before then.

So Mary decided she would come back the morning after the Sabbath and prepare his body properly. But it wasn’t there.

Mary wasn’t ready for resurrection, and truth be told, neither are we.

When we hold a funeral and a friend or loved one is buried or cremated, ‘that’s that’ we think. We don’t wait around for the person to reappear so we can pick up where we left off – not this side of the grave anyway. We say good-bye, we pay our respects, and go on with our lives as best we can.

But because Mary of Magdala stumbled across a resurrection, on that Sunday after the first full moon, you and I anticipate that we will find resurrection too. My guess – my hope – is that’s is why we’re here this morning. We’re looking for a resurrection, and to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus is to anticipate the same for our loved ones and for ourselves.

Once a month, in a former parish, I used to take communion to a nursing home. Most of the time, as I prepared the table, the residents complained to their carers, and wanted to go back to their rooms, while others just dozed or stared. More often than not, they’d drop off to sleep during the very short service. That says a lot for me doesn’t it!

So when it was time for them to take communion I’d go from chair to chair, patting them awake and asking them if they wanted the bread and wine. About half would let me press the elements to their lips; the rest refused to be roused, or else they’d look at me as though I was the devil incarnate.

It was probably one of the hardest things I had to do, because I sometimes doubted the power of the sacrament to break through their fog. I’d say all the comfortable words and wonder if anyone heard them. I’d stand there with my arms raised over the bread and wine and suspect that I might as well have been flying a kite.

One day, I went on a late Monday afternoon and a carer warned me that everyone’s medication was wearing off. In some ways it was a mixed blessing, they were more awake than usual, but also more vocal. One woman was singing, “Row, row, row your boat,” and I found it a job not to join in.

“What shall I read from the Bible this afternoon?” I asked them. “What part would you like to hear?” The commotion lessened enough for one woman’s broken voice to be heard above everything else.

“Tell us a resurrection story,” she said.

Her words settled over the room and the sleepers opened their eyes. “Yes,” someone else said, “tell us a resurrection story.”

And so I did.

Because it doesn’t really matter when Easter comes... early in March or late in April. We’re all ready to hear again that resurrection story.

And when we hear this story of Jesus, we can’t help but believe that because he was brought out of his tomb, in some way that is known only God, the same will happen to us as well.

That message comes to us this first Sunday after the first full moon, on or after the equinox. But most importantly, it comes into our hearts. May we hear it gladly, believe it boldly, then go out into our world and live it.

Let us pray;

Father, may the promise of resurrection dwell deeply in our hearts. Give us the grace to share such a wonderful thing with others. Find us faithful to you, and live enabled by the knowledge that we too, will one day share in your glorious kingdom. Amen.

Hymn: ‘Alleluia Sing to Jesus’

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 are written by Liz Davies

The Lord calls us to examine the wounds of the Risen One and to see there the depth of His love for us. Let us therefore approach the throne of God in confidence as we pray for the people of God in Christ Jesus, and for all people according to their needs.

We are often not the Easter People that we should be, living in the certain knowledge of your great mercy and love. Distracted by the world around us we fail to hear your voice, or hide when faith is challenged as we wander off the path. Forgive us, we pray; restore the love that we first had, a faith that can endure. We will keep our eyes fixed on You, Lord, and with You at our right hand we shall not be shaken.