Welcome to our service - 17 April - Easter Sunday
This service sheet can be used individually or with households.
We would encourage you to say (or even sing) hymns and songs out loud.
Prayers, other liturgy or readings can be said out loud or silently, corporately or individually.
If you are able, we would also like invite you to join us for our main Sunday service, 10am, live on Zoom. Even if you have never been to St Gabriel’s before we would love you to join you. Please get in touch with the vicar Alistair (vicar@saintgs.co.uk) and he will send you the Zoom details.
Please join us for public worship in the church building this Sunday, 11:30am, for a service of Holy Communion.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
He has given us new life and hope by raising Jesus from the dead
SONG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSs4_vc0pq0
Christ the Lord is risen today; hallelujah!
Sons of men and angels say: hallelujah!
Raise your joys and triumphs high; hallelujah!
Sing, ye heavens; thou earth, reply: hallelujah!
2. Love’s redeeming work is done, hallelujah!
Fought the fight, the battle won; hallelujah!
Lo! our sun’s eclipse is o’er, hallelujah!
Lo! He sets in blood no more hallelujah!
3. Lives again our glorious King; hallelujah!
Where O death, is now thy sting? hallelujah!
Once He died our souls to save;
hallelujah!
Where thy victory, O grave?
hallelujah!
4. Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, hallelujah!
Praise to Thee by both be given:
hallelujah!
Thee we greet, in triumph sing
hallelujah!
Hail, our resurrected King: hallelujah!
EASTER CONFESSION
Jesus Christ, risen Master and triumphant Lord,
we come to you in sorrow for our sins,
and confess to you our weakness and unbelief.
We have lived by our own strength,
and not by the power of your resurrection.
In your mercy, forgive us
Lord, hear us and help us.
We have lived by the light of our own eyes,
as faithless and not believing.
In your mercy, forgive us
Lord, hear us and help us.
We have lived for this world alone,
and doubted our home in heaven.
In your mercy, forgive us
Lord, hear us and help us.
ABSOLUTION
May the God of love and power
forgive us and free us from our sins,
heal and strengthen us by his Spirit,
and raise us to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.
COLLECT
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.
SONG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COQ6cni_TG8
Lord I lift Your name on high,
Lord I love to sing Your praises,
I 'm so glad You’re in my life,
I 'm so glad You came to save us.
You came from heaven to earth
to show the way,
From the earth to the cross
my debt to pay,
From the cross to the grave,
From the grave to the sky,
Lord I lift Your name on high!
Words and Music: Rick Founds
(Copyright © 1989 Maranatha!Music)
READINGS
Acts 10:34-43 New International Version - UK
Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached – how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.
‘We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, 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 commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’
Luke 24:36-49 New International Version - UK
Jesus appears to the disciples
While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’
They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.’
When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, ‘Do you have anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence.
He said to them, ‘This is what I told you while I was still with you: everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.’
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: the Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’
This is the word of the Lord
Thanks be to God.
TALK written by Alistair Stevenson
How do we know that something is real?
Imagine with me that I had an Easter egg, all wrapped up and in its box. From the outside it looks like an Easter egg, the same as any chocolate egg you would find in a supermarket. But how do you find out it is actually a real chocolate Easter egg? Well, the only way to do that would be to open up the packaging, pull out the egg inside and take off the wrapping. Even then, it might look like a chocolate egg, it might even smell like a chocolate egg – but the only way you’re really going to know is it a real chocolate easter egg would be to taste it.
Some things might look real from the outside, but sometimes we need to use all our senses to figure out if it is the real thing.
In our passage this morning we read from Luke’s gospel, Jesus appears to the disciples on that first Easter. Earlier the women had found the empty tomb and returned to the disciples telling them that Jesus’ body had gone. Peter himself had run to the tomb to see for himself. Later that day two of Jesus’ followers had taken the road to Emmaus and had met a fellow traveller. The traveller journeyed with them to Emmaus, where they ate together. But it was only in the breaking of the bread that they suddenly realised it was Jesus who had been travelling with them all along. They immediately ran back to Jerusalem, found the disciples and announced that Jesus had risen.
As they are speaking, Jesus appears amongst them all and says ‘Peace be with you’. They were startled and frightened thinking they were seeing a ghost.
Only three days ago they had watched as their friend, their Messiah, the one who had fulfilled all their hopes and dreams, arrested, falsely accused, mocked, beaten, tortured and ultimately lifted on a cross to die like a common criminal. They had seen it all. They had seen Jesus die.
And now this same Jesus was here in their midst. It couldn’t be him, could it? That’s impossible. Jesus is dead. Surely this is a ghost.
Jesus then does three things to help the disciples see that he was real. To help them know that he was the Jesus who had defeated death and rose again.
First, Jesus says:
“Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
The resurrected Jesus wasn’t just a part of the disciple’s imagination. He was there – in flesh and blood – standing with the disciples. You can imagine the disciples hesitantly approaching Jesus. Slowly reaching out to touch his robe, to take hold of his hand, maybe even to hug him. Jesus was there, he was real.
The disciples, however, despite being able to see and touch Jesus, still don’t believe that he is real and so secondly, Jesus askes them for something to eat, and is given some fish and eats it in their presence. You can’t quite believe that he would do something so normal, or part of watch it means to be alive.
Thirdly, Jesus opens up the scriptures and shows them that his death and resurrected are real because they fulfilled all that was promised in scripture.
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”
Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures.
Now they got it. How it was all planned. How it had all been explained for thousands of years. Now they knew he was God. As a man. Raised to rule. They had to keep reading their Bibles to understand the impossible.
The writer Tom Wright puts it like this: “A new power is let loose in the world, the power to remake what was broken, to heal what was diseased, to restore what was lost. Jesus’ risen person – body, mind, heart and soul – is the prototype of the new creation.”
In these three ways Jesus proves that he is the resurrected Jesus and the disciples, Jesus declares, are to be witnesses to these things. In Acts chapter 1, Jesus tells the disciples that they will receive the Holy Spirit and they will be his witnesses – in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
This is the call that Jesus gives to all those who are his disciples. We are called to be witnesses to the resurrected Jesus in our lives.
In the same way that Jesus proves himself as the resurrected Jesus to the disciples he can do the same for us today.
Firstly, we can know Jesus through his presence with us. Through his Holy Spirit we can experience and sense Jesus in our lives. While the disciples were able to actually see Jesus and to touch him with their physical senses – we can feel his presence with our spiritual senses.
Many people describe the spirit of Jesus like the wind. We can’t actually see the wind, but we see the effects of the wind blowing and impacting everything it touches. In the same way we may not be able to see the Spirit of Jesus but we can see his effect everywhere.
Today – do you sense the resurrected Jesus in the midst of your life?
We can know that the resurrected Jesus is real because we can know and sense his presence.
Secondly, Jesus eats with his disciples. Eating is one of the most normal, everyday things of life. We need food to survive. Jesus proves that he is real by eating with his disciples.
We can know that the resurrected Jesus is real because when we invite him into our lives, he becomes part of our everyday. We don’t have to go to some special building, or to say special words. We don’t have to carry out certain special rituals. Jesus can be known and found in the everyday things of life.
Our faith is not grounded on words written on a page – it is not founded on smart teachings, on religious settings, on images or idols. Our faith is founded on a real, personal relationship with the living Jesus who comes to transform every part – every nook and cranny – of our lives.
I love Eugene Peterson’s Message translate of Romans 12 v 1. He says this:
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.”
As Jesus proved that he was real to those disciples by eating with them, so Jesus wants us to invite him into the everyday aspects of our lives so he can prove that he is real and at work. It has definitely been the case in my life that the more I invite Jesus in my life – into my everyday – the more I know his presence.
Today – will you invite the resurrected Jesus in the everyday of your life? Will you take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering?
Thirdly, Jesus makes himself know to the disciples by opening up scripture and showing how every page speaks of him.
How can we know that resurrected Jesus is real? We can look to the Bible; we can study the scripture. We’re fortunate to have both the Old and New testaments. The more we delve into the word, the more we realise that it all points to Jesus.
Jesus is Risen! His resurrection changes everything and can transform the life of every person who invites him in.
Like an Easter Egg, ready to be opened, to be tasted, to be experienced, will you open up the life of Jesus and invite him to take control of your life. Jesus’ resurrection changes everything. Without it our faith is meaningless. We do not believe in a dead God - we believe in a God who has defeated death and who makes it possible to have a living relationship with Him.
Jesus is not dead he is alive! Today we celebrate, we rejoice because of that amazing truth! Will you allow God to cause a resurrection in your own life and then be ready for all that his is going to do in you and through you? Amen
SONG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f2FXxDVO6w
How great the chasm that lay between us
How high the mountain I could not climb,
In desperation I turned to heaven
And spoke Your name into the night.
Then through the darkness,
Your loving kindness
Tore through the shadows of my soul.
The work is finished the end is written
Jesus Christ my living hope.
2. Who could imagine so great a mercy, What heart could fathom
such boundless grace?
The God of ages stepped down from glory
To wear my sin and bear my shame.
The cross has spoken, I am forgiven
The King of kings calls me His own!
Beautiful Saviour I’m Yours forever,
Jesus Christ my living hope.
Hallelujah praise the One who set me free
Hallelujah death has lost its grip on me,
You have broken every chain,
There’s salvation in Your name,
Jesus Christ my living hope!
3. Then came the morning
that sealed the promise,
Your buried body began to breathe.
Out of the silence the Roaring Lion,
Declared the grave has no claim on me.
[repeat verse]
Jesus Yours is the victory!
Hallelujah praise the One…
Jesus Christ my living hope!
Words & Music: Phil Wickham & Brian Johnson
Copyright © Phil Wickham Music (2017)
Let us affirm our faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God:
Though he was divine,
he did not cling to equality with God,
but made himself nothing.
Taking the form of a slave,
he was born in human likeness.
He humbled himself
and was obedient to death,
even the death of the cross.
Therefore God has raised him on high,
and given him the name above every name:
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow,
and every voice proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father Amen.
PRAYERS - written by John Gough
Heavenly Father, you love this world and its people so much that you gave you son Jesus Christ to die for us.
Lord let us live every day with gladness in our hearts, along with our sisters and brothers in christ around the world as we celebrate your glorious resurrection this Easter Day.
As we sit here in prayer picture in your mind the Lord walking away from the tomb and silently in you hearts bring before him the people of the Ukraine and Russia and ask for his healing power to pour out upon them, to bring to an end this senseless war and for peace and healing taking place in their hearts and minds.
May the bereaved and injured be comforted in their pain and mourning.
We pray for our Queen and her government on this Easter day,
May her Jubilee be a joyful celebration of her 70 years of service that she has dedicated to this nation.
May her government and its ministers be granted wisdom in all of their deliberations and be guided by your spirit.
Lord we pray for our church and parish here in Greystones, bless Catherine and Alistair as they lead us in our worship.
Picture in your mind a full church of varying ages and silenty pray for the success of the Bless Greystones project, that will bring growth, Healing and Blessing to this parish.
Finally Lord we pray for the sick and housebound of our church family, and for all others that are on our minds at this time, lift them silently in you hearts to the Lord.
Amen
LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those
who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen
SONG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LgE_E7yaz4
See, what a morning,
gloriously bright,
with the dawning of hope in Jerusalem;
folded the grave-clothes,
tomb filled with light,
as the angels announce ‘Christ is risen!’
See God's salvation plan,
wrought in love,
borne in pain, paid in sacrifice,
fulfilled in Christ, the Man,
for He lives:
Christ is risen from the dead!
2. See Mary weeping,
'Where is He laid?'
as in sorrow she turns
from the empty tomb;
Hears a voice speaking, calling her name;
it's the Master, the Lord,
raised to life again!
The voice that spans the years,
speaking life, stirring hope,
bringing peace to us,
will sound ‘til He appears,
for He lives, Christ is risen from the dead!
3. One with the Father,
Ancient of Days,
through the Spirit
who clothes faith with certainty,
honour and blessing, glory and praise,
to the King crowned with power
and authority!
And we are raised with Him,
death is dead, love has won,
Christ has conquered;
and we shall reign with Him,
for He lives, Christ is risen from the dead!
Stuart Townend & Keith Getty
(Copyright © 2003 Thankyou Music)
OFFERTORY - Take a moment to consider how you are going to continue to give to the life of the church and support other aid agencies and mission organisations.
SAY:
Yours, Lord, is the greatness, the power,
the glory, the splendour, and the majesty;
for everything in heaven and on earth is yours.
All things come from you,
and of your own do we give you.
HYMN : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjz4yXUJrgU
Thine be the glory,
risen, conquering Son,
Endless is the vict’ry
Thou o'er death hast won;
angels in bright raiment
rolled the stone away,
kept the folded grave-clothes,
where Thy body lay.
Thine be the glory,
risen, conquering Son,
Endless is the vict’ry
Thou o'er death hast won.
2. Lo! Jesus meets us,
risen from the tomb;
lovingly He greets us,
scatters fear and gloom;
let the Church with gladness
hymns of triumph sing,
for her Lord now liveth;
death hath lost its sting.
Thine be the glory...
3. No more we doubt Thee,
glorious Prince of life;
life is nought without Thee:
aid us in our strife;
make us more than conquerors,
through Thy deathless love:
bring us safe through Jordan
to Thy home above.
Thine be the glory...
Words: Edmond Louis Budry (1854-1932)
Tr. Richard Birch Hoyle (1875-1939)
Music: G F Handel (1685-1759)
FINAL ACCLAMATION
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He has given us new life and hope
by raising Jesus from the dead.
God has claimed us as his own.
He has brought us out of darkness.
He has made us light to the world.
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
Go in the peace of Christ. Alleluia!
Thanks be to God. Alleluia!
We wish you a very happy & blessed Easter!