WELCOME/Hello and welcome to our online blog-style worship - although scattered, we are still community, and we can still find ways to worship even during the time of lockdown.
How has the week been for you?
Hope you're managing to find ways that help you through this odd time and to generally stay positive. I've kept up my Lent [and Advent] practice of stopping at the end of each day and taking time to find three people/things to be grateful for over that day. It's a wee practice that I've found really useful, and something that helps me keep some personal perspective at the moment. Let me know how you're doing - do feel free to get in touch, I'm always up for a blether or to be listening ear.
In the meantime, our worship theme continues with Easter, where we remember and reflect on the story of an upper room at night, gathered disciples, and a follower of Jesus called Thomas.
Those of you with younger folk at home will find a link to family friendly resources/ prayers/ activities for today's theme.
Wherever you are, whatever time it is:
let's worship God....
CALL TO WORSHIP/
Come to me,all you who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death!
On you has the light shone!
For Jesus Christ is the light of the world
and this is the story;
the light shines in the darkness
and the darkness could not put it out!
Jesus said,
“I am the resurrection and the life.
I am the bright and morning star.”
So let us join with the faithful
down through the ages and proclaim:
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia
Come, let us worship God.
HYMN/ Christ is alive, let Christians sing!
PRAYER/
Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. we are among the ones whom Jesus said were blessed.
We have seen no risen body,
no walking through walls,
no nail-pierced hands and side.
And we believe—in something—
even when we are not always sure what.
Blessed we may be, but like others in that dubious elite—
the poor, the hungry, the persecuted, the grieving ones—
we would really rather it were not so.
How much easier it would be if we had seen with our own eyes;
if we knew where he was, and could invite others to come and see for themselves.
But that is not how it is, nor ever was meant to be.
Resurrection is not an argument,
but an experience of a relationship that death cannot sever.
It is an act of trust, not a test of logic or a feat of willpower.
Loving God,
we give thanks for every experience of resurrection that we have known, however fleeting:
for hope returning after the darkness of despair;
for a comforting touch;
a word of peace.
We, too, have met him around a table, sharing bread and wine with friends.
Other people have been the risen Christ for us, as we, amazingly, have for them.
We ask forgiveness,
not for our doubting,
but for our failure to be honest about what we do believe,
and what we struggle to affirm.
Not for asking questions,
but for stopping short of the really hard questions
that would take us closer to the deepest truth.
We pray, as we always do, for your presence with us in our worship.
May we be surprised, astonished, delighted, when our prayers are answered,
and move from this time knowing that we have been with
the One who lived and died and is alive for evermore,
Jesus Christ, our companion and friend...
the One who taught us to pray by saying:
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 debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever.
Amen
REFLECTION/ Every day is EasterWhen Thomas touched the wounds
and set himself free
it was Easter day
When Peter’s three “yes’s” to Jesus
finished his three denials
it was Easter day
When Mary ready to embalm the dead
ran in fear from the empty tomb
it was Easter day
When the disciples looked from afar
at a breakfast of fish on the beach
it was Easter day
When Emmaus became synonymous
with welcome, and the breaking of bread
with strangers
it was Easter day
When Paul was blinded by the light
and recognised the voice niggling in his head
it was Easter day
When the hungry are fed at the table
the same table as the rich
it is Easter day
When weapons are beaten to ploughshares
and peace is a word to be shouted
it is Easter day
When the stranger is welcomed in community
and the lonely are restored to relationship
it is Easter day
by Roddy Hamilton
Let's turn our minds to scripture and continue on from our reading last week...
READING/ John 20:19-3119 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and 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.’
20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
21Jesus said to them again,
‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’
22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,
‘Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them;
if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’
24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.
25So the other disciples told him,
‘We have seen the Lord.’
But he said to them,
‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and
my hand in his side, I will not believe.’
26 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them.
Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said,
‘Peace be with you.’
27Then he said to Thomas,
‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side.
Do not doubt but believe.’
28Thomas answered him,
‘My Lord and my God!’
29Jesus said to him,
‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and
yet have come to believe.’
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in
this book. 31But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah,
the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
HYMN/ In the tomb so cold - Christ is risen
SERMON/
Apologies for the quality of the sound - you may have to turn it up a wee bit!
I've put the text below if you'd prefer reading...
[scroll past if you've listened]
May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of all our hearts
be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen...
On Easter Sunday last week, in our gospel reading from John, there was a lot of running about:
at first, it begins with a walk –
we have the solitude of Mary heading to the garden tomb in the pre-dawn darkness,
to mourn her beloved Rabbi, only to find the tomb is empty and he’s not there.
She runs.
At the end of that particular run through the early morning streets of Jerusalem...
where the light is now dawning, she finds Peter and a beloved disciple.
She tells them the news that the grave is empty.
They run.
They have to see it for themselves.
Then they return back to where they’ve been staying.
Mary, meanwhile, has returned to the garden in what is now the full light of the morning.
It’s there, in that full morning light, that she meets Jesus, the One who is the Light of the world.
Throughout the Gospel of John there’s a very deliberate use of darkness and light –
and there, in the garden on that Easter morning, the light is shining.
The sun beams down upon Jesus, Son of God, revealing – showing us –
that God is with us:
just as God showed up in the incarnation –
in Bethlehem as the child of Promise,
so God shows up still, in the resurrection –
in a Garden having fulfilled the promise...
forgiveness,
death – that old enemy – defeated,
and new life - a new way of living...
a promise for now and for all of eternity.
Our reading focus from John’s gospel at this point finds us still in that first Easter –
it’s clearly been a busy and confusing day for the followers of Jesus.
And note the time that this account begins.
It is night.
Our gospel writer is pointing that out for a reason –
he likes his metaphors of darkness and light, remember.
So you have:
darkness and fear;
light and freedom to love...
darkness and death in all its finality;
light and life in all fullness...
darkness and sin;
light and purity...
darkness and lack of knowledge, lack of understanding;
light and understanding - where all is now more fully comprehended.
And as we look on at these followers of Jesus,
hemmed in by the darkness of the night,
hemmed in by the fear that moves them to lock the door of the familiar room they’ve returned to
what we see is that, although the light of revelation has opened Mary’s mind,
in contrast, as far as the disciples are concerned, they are all still very much in the dark.
After all the running around to the empty tomb in the morning,
now, in the evening, they're just running on empty.
They sit and argue among themselves and wonder what on earth is going on
until the Light of the World comes among them –
moving through that locked door,
moving through their fears,
moving into hearts and minds that are closed.
...God, in Jesus, shows up.
God, in Jesus, offers words of peace –
not once, but twice –
to ease their fears,
their troubled minds and hearts,
to move them from the darkness and chaos of confusion
into the light of understanding and comprehension
that, with God
anything is possible –
even death can’t nail him down.
They rejoice at his return.
But there’s more.
While Jesus is there among them,
there is one who is not: Thomas.
Thomas is at least open to the possibility of not allowing his fear
to keep him in a locked room.
We aren’t told where he is –
perhaps he’s an essential worker –
but he’s out in that city somewhere
even though he may be recognised
as one of the followers of the radical rabbi who has been dealt with only a few days before.
Thomas may have unfairly been left with the label ‘doubter’ for generations –
but he is perhaps more courageous than some of the other followers.
When he returns to where they’re all gathered,
and they tell him that Jesus has been among them,
he’s not asking for anything beyond what the other disciples have experienced:
a little unfair, then, to stick him with that ‘doubter’ label, really.
In fact, just as Peter and the unnamed disciple had run to the tomb
that very morning after Mary had told them of the empty grave
to see for themselves,
so, too, he has to see it for himself.
He even sets up his conditions:
unless I see the nail marks...
unless I put my finger where the nail marks were...
unless I put my hand in his wounded side...
Often we use the words at communion:
‘taste and see that the Lord is good.’
In the case of Thomas, it’s a matter of
‘touch and see that the Lord is real.’
A full week passes.
Even after Jesus has shown up among them,
shared his words of peace with them,
breathed his Spirit upon them,
still they sit in that locked room, somehow unable to move on and out.
And as they sit there, this time with Thomas,
God, in Jesus, shows up yet again.
Jesus doesn’t dismiss or diminish Thomas for his words,
for the conditions he’s set out as a requirement to believe.
He moves among them again,
speaking peace into their hearts and troubled minds... again.
He approaches Thomas and meets him where he is –
invites him to touch and see and believe
that resurrection is real...
that belief is possible.
And where the disciples, having seen Jesus the week before, rejoice,
Thomas does something different;
he cranks things up a notch.
The disciples, upon seeing Jesus were basically saying
‘Wow, this is awesome.’
Thomas, instead, says the equivalent of
‘Wow, you are awesome.’
Where the disciples rejoice, Thomas praises.
With the light of realisation, Thomas not only sees the resurrected Jesus,
he makes the deeper connection:
Jesus truly is the Messiah,
Son of God,
human
and
divine...
and so he worships the risen Lord.
And the response of Jesus to Thomas, isn’t a rebuke –
it’s more a case of a word for those who follow after the time of the disciples:
while the disciples can go and check out an empty tomb,
while they can touch and see that the Lord is real,
the generations of followers to come,
which includes us, can’t.
So the words of Jesus are an affirmation,
a blessing upon us who can only hear the stories that have been passed down.
A reassurance to us that even in our locked rooms
hemmed in by the Government’s requirement to ‘stay home and stay safe’,
hemmed in by the fear of COVID19 – both of catching it, and of passing it on to others, -
that God, in Jesus, shows up still...
moving through our locked doors,
moving through our particular fears,
even now, still able to move into our hearts and minds and inspire us,
as we hear again the stories passed down through generations of the faithful....
Writer and preacher Barbara Brown Taylor says, of the power of the Gospel story:
So, the brave, fragile, testimony continues to be heard down the ages and indeed to change lives.
‘We have seen the Lord!’
In the flesh? No
In the story? Possibly.
In our life together? Absolutely.'
[reference: Believing in the Word, Barbara Brown Taylor, Home by Another Way ©SPCK 2011]
...our life together, whether it's scattered or gathered because we are, still, community.
God, in Jesus, shows up.
God, in Jesus, offers us words of peace to ease our fears
to ease our troubled minds and hearts
to move us from this present darkness
into the light of his peace,
into the light that reveals again and again and again and forever
that, with God,
anything – indeed, everything – is possible.
And while we can rejoice with the disciples and go ‘wow that’s amazing’
we can also praise and worship with Thomas and say of Jesus ‘wow, you’re amazing’
Friends, whether you’re out and about doing essential work, or whether you’re doing your bit by staying home and keeping yourselves and your neighbours safe...
may you know the light and love of Jesus, and remain in his peace.
Amen.
An Easter AffirmationWe believe in a bright and amazing God
who has been to the depths of despair on our behalf;
who has risen in splendour and majesty;
who decorates the universe with sparkling water, clear white light,
twinkling stars and sharp colours,
over and over and over again.
We believe that Jesus is the light of the world;
that God believes in us and trusts us,
even though we make the same mistakes over and over again.
We commit ourselves to Jesus,
to one another as brothers and sisters,
and to the Maker’s business in the world.
God said: let here be light,
Amen.
by Helen Lambie.
From Lent and Easter readings from Iona. Wild Goose Publications 2001
PRAYER/
Lord of all, we come to you, Lord of all, our saviour be,
come to bless and to heal
with the light of your love.
Lord, there are so many people and situations
that need the light of your love today,
that need the peace you offer.
We pray that the light of your love would shine
into the darkest places where violence, hate and abuse
have free reign over people,
Lord may your peace be upon them.
We pray that the light of your love would shine
into the hearts of all
who are lonely, bereaved or ill,
who are suffering and afraid,
Lord may your peace be upon them.
We pray that the light of your love would shine
into the minds of all
who have power and authority
all who lead in government or other institutions,
Lord may your peace be upon them.
We pray that the light of your love would shine
into the souls of all
who have yet to discover the risen Christ,
of all who are seeking a higher power,
Lord may your peace be upon them.
We pray that the light of your love would shine
into the lives of all people in the world:
the young and the old,
the able and the less able,
the believer and the doubter,
the seen and the unseen,
Lord may your peace be upon them.
So be it. Amen.
REFLECTION/
I’ve had people promise me things;promises that were never fulfilled!
The empty words of others:
well-meaning, perhaps, but hardly worth the uttering!
Others have had me promise them things;
promises that were never fulfilled!
The empty words of mine:
well-meaning, perhaps, but hardly worth the uttering.
Good intentions:
so much easier than words;
Words:
so much easier than actions;
Actions:
so often difficult to carry out.
God’s promises?
The promise of love,
the promise of mercy,
the promise of peace.
the promise of the Holy Spirit
to come down,
come in
and come amongst us?
Promises, promises, promises;
uttered and fulfilled!
Promises, promises, promises;
intentions and words and actions!
Promises, promises, promises.
Our God is a faithful God,
who has come down,
come in
and come amongst us!
Hallelujah!
HYMN/ Lord of the dance
FINAL PRAYER AND BLESSING/
Holy God, Lover of your children:the tomb has been opened,
and we dance into your future.
Your life has dawned on us,
and we surround you with our praise.
You reach out your hand,
and lead us into joy.
Jesus Christ, Faithful Witness:
you pick open the locked doors
of our hearts
and come in to be with us forever.
You breathe peace into our souls,
so we may bring healing
to a troubled world.
Holy Spirit, Breath of Peace:
you show us our hearts,
so we may give love to others.
You show us our hands,
sending us to serve the needy.
You show us your hope,
so we may live in your joy.
As we end this time of worship...
And the blessing of God:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
be with you
- and those you love and who love you...
Amen.
A WEE BIT OF FUN/
A cartoon for our times in these days of online meetings:
ALL-AGE RESOURCES/
Click on the link HERE for downloadable/ printable resources to help younger people access worship
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