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St Clement Church Community Easter Season Service
Good morning to you all as we continue our Easter Season worship.
This Service of the Word is for you to read at home if you’re unable to worship with us in person at St Clement.
Much love and prayers,
Rev Di and family xx
Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Let us pray: Living God, on their Emmaus journey your Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread; give us such knowledge of his presence with us, that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life, now and for ever.
Amen.
Hymn: ‘Lord of the Dance’
Our prayers of Penitence
Jesus Christ, our triumphant risen Lord, this Easter season we come in sorrow to confess to you our weakness and unbelief.
When we have lived by our own strength, and not by the power of your resurrection. In your mercy, forgive us and help us.
When we have lived by the light of our own eyes, as faithless and not believing. In your mercy, forgive us and help us.
When we have lived for this earthly life alone, and doubted our home in heaven. In your mercy, forgive us and help us.
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 the third Sunday of Easter
Risen Christ, you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope: strengthen us to proclaim your risen life and fill us with your peace, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Old Testament Reading: Acts 3. 12-19
New Testament Reading: 1 John 3. 1-7
Hymn: ‘Be Thou my Vision’
Gospel: Luke 24. 36b-48
(Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.
Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’)
While the disciples were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself.
Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.
Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’
Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.
Reflection
Last week’s Gospel told of John how Jesus appeared to the disciples in the upper room, and this week we hear Luke’s account of what happened after Jesus appeared to two of his disciples on the road to Emmaus. He shared supper with them, and, when he broke the bread, their eyes were opened and they recognised Jesus as the risen Christ.
Once they recognised him, Jesus disappeared, and the disciples ran all the way back to Jerusalem to tell the others, which is where we pick up today.
As they were talking, Jesus appeared. How did he get in though? According to John, the door was locked, “for fear of the Jews.” So no wonder they were startled, and thought Jesus was a ghost. Then Jesus showed them his hands and feet, and asked for something to eat. I don’t think because he was hungry, but rather because he wanted them to know that he was real. So they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it – proving he was no apparition.
But there’s another often overlooked miracle tucked into this gospel that I believe deserves our attention. Luke tells us: ‘’Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.’’ In these few words, Luke describes one of the most truly transforming events in human history.
Suddenly it all made sense.
During his earthly ministry, Jesus had told them over and over again that he hadn’t come to overthrow God’s covenant but to fulfill it. He was the answer to the prophet’s prayers.
He was literally the embodiment of God’s love. How many times though had he taught this to his disciples? And how many times had they struggled to understand? But now they knew the answer, and they knew Jesus as they had never known him before. Now they had been given the wisdom, and in a few days, Jesus would send down the Holy Spirit to multiply their new found knowledge and put it to work… to send them out into the world to carry on his work of redemption… to change the world.
Suddenly they understood when Jesus said to them; ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you – that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, must be fulfilled.’ Because without fully understanding the old covenant, how could Matthew, Mark, Luke and John ever have transcribed their gospels about the new covenant? How would generations yet unborn come to know that the Word was made flesh? And yet by this often overlooked miracle, there it was.
Not as obvious as the medical miracles of cleansing lepers or curing the deaf, the blind and the lame, this intellectual and spiritual miracle resounds down the centuries to bless us today.
And the Bible that grew from this miracle isn’t a disjointed collection of legends. It’s an integrated account of God’s covenant with his creation, divided into old and new testaments maybe, but united in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
That was Christ’s parting gift to the disciples and through them to us.
It’s our link to redemption, our road map to salvation, and our promise of eternal life. Through the power of this miracle, the word of God has been translated into hundreds of languages. It’s been carried to the remotest corners of the earth. It’s been broadcast by astronauts orbiting the moon. It’s the centre piece of Christian worship across the world. It’s the essence of literally millions of social media messages every single day of the year.
So clearly, this overlooked miracle of understanding the scriptures isn’t a one-time event. It’s repeated in the lives of countless Christians who are guided by an inspired understanding of the word of God.
But Jesus didn’t give us this grace of understanding to turn us all into theologians or Bible-quoting whiz-kids. He performed this miracle to inform and to form our daily lives, to fill us with the faith from which grows our hope and our charity. And he gave us this “overlooked miracle” so we could follow him home to the Father.
A favourite story of mine to end with; John and David were packing their bags for a trip. “Well,” John said, “I’m just about packed. But I need to take a guidebook, a map, a compass, a mirror, a microscope, a telescope, a hammer, a volume of poetry, a few biographies, a songbook, a set of devotional works and the history book that I’ve been reading.”
David looked at John’s suitcase and said, “That’s impossible. You’ve only got a small space left.” Then John picked up his Bible, put it into his case and said, “The Bible contains all the things I just mentioned.”
‘Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures.’
May we never overlook such a gift.
Amen.
Hymn: ‘My Song is Love Unknown’
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 Helen Dunbar
Through the risen Jesus we have a living hope which will never spoil or fade.
When Jesus broke the bread the disciples’ eyes were opened and they recognised him. We turn to the Father and pray that our eyes, and the eyes of the world, may be opened to God’s infinite love.
We pray for all churches across the world; we ask your blessing on Archbishop Justin and Bishop Hugh, Acting Diocesan Bishop of Truro. Here at St Clement, we pray for our own dear Revd Diane, as she works to enrich the ministry in this community. We thank God we can be here at St Clement and worship with our Christian family. Let us remember the many Christians in other parts of the world, whose lives are very different to ours, living in fear and unable to openly worship and go about their daily lives. We pray for all who are persecuted for their beliefs.
Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
Dear Lord, you are our Shepherd and 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.
Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
We ask your blessing on the Royal family, especially on King Charles and the Princess of Wales, who are both dealing with treatment for cancer at this time and our thoughts and prayers are with them.
Dear Lord, we pray for the leaders of our nation, and all those who work to keep us safe and long may we have freedom of speech, the freedom to worship, the freedom to live our lives without fear and to live in safety. We pray for all who shape the minds of the young and impressionable.
We pray for teachers, lecturers and broadcasters and all those who use social media to interact with others; may they all carry out their work with a sense of responsibility.
Lord in your mercy; hear our prayer
We pray for all people living with the consequences of natural disasters; the displaced people in Malawi, whose homes and crops have been destroyed by recent floods and are being helped by aid agencies. We also remember the ongoing wars and the suffering endured by those living in Ukraine, Israel, and Palestine.
Dear Lord, we ask your help for all those who are homeless, or living in crowded conditions, for those living alone and all who feel isolated; for the hungry and malnourished. We bring before you all who are in pain or distress and all whom society prefers to ignore. May your love nourish and heal, accept and restore. We pray for all those known to us and for those who have no one to pray for them – Ken and Revd Diane, May, Susan, Lauren, Lynda, Barrie and Sandra, Pam and David, Terry and Dot, Margaret, Maureen, Alison and Rob, Jan, Anita and Stephen, Michael and Patricia, Jeremy, Stella, Alison, William, Callum and Elaine, Jay, and Andy.
We pray for those whose anniversary falls at this time and we remember Carole Morrison and Percy Trudgeon.
Rest in peace Blackie, the much loved and adored pet of Ken and Di, who will be very much missed.
Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen
Gathering our prayers and praises into one,
let us pray with confidence as our risen Lord taught us;
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.
Hymn: ‘O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing’
The Peace
The risen Christ came and stood among his disciples
and said, ‘Peace be with you.’
Then they were glad when they saw the risen Lord.
Alleluia! May the peace of the risen Lord be always with us.
Blessing
May the light of Christ surround us,
may the Love of God enfold us,
may the presence of God watch over us,
may the power of God protect us and those whom we love,
and may we never forget that wherever we are, God is also.
Amen.