Welcome to our service - 23 April
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.
OPENING
SAY:
Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.
Alleluia.
He has defeated the powers of death.
Alleluia.
Jesus turns our sorrow into dancing.
Alleluia.
He has the words of eternal life.
Alleluia.
SONG: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJRqM45Y8Gk
All creatures of our God and King
lift up your voice and with us sing:
hallelujah, hallelujah!
Thou burning sun with golden beam,
thou silver moon with softer gleam:
O praise Him, O praise Him,
hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah!
2. Thou rushing wind that art so strong,
ye clouds that sail in heav’n along,
O praise Him, hallelujah!
Thou rising morn, in praise rejoice,
ye lights of evening, find a voice:
O praise Him…
3. And all ye men of tender heart,
forgiving others, take your part,
O sing ye, hallelujah!
Ye who long pain and sorrow bear
praise God and on Him cast your care:
O praise Him…
4. Let all things their Creator bless
and worship Him in humbleness
O praise Him, hallelujah!
Praise, praise the Father,
praise the son,
and praise the Spirit, Three-in-One:
O praise Him…
Words: St Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
tr W H Draper (1855-1933)
Music: from Geistliche Kirchengesang c.1623
arr R Vaugn Williams
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 you 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
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
SING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhvXOIVsRv4
When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.
2. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast
Save in the death of Christ my God;
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.
3. See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down;
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
4. Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
Words: Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Music: trad. arr. Bainbridge, Hogg & Bryant
READINGS
Acts 2.14a, 36 - 41
“So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”
Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God.” Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”
Those who believed what Peter said were baptised and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.
Luke 24. 13 - 35
That same day two of Jesus’ followers were walking to the village of Emmaus, eleven kilometres from Jerusalem. As they walked along they were talking about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things, Jesus himself suddenly came and began walking with them. But God kept them from recognising him.
He asked them, “What are you discussing so intently as you walk along?”
They stopped short, sadness written across their faces. Then one of them, Cleopas, replied, “You must be the only person in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard about all the things that have happened there the last few days.”
“What things?” Jesus asked.
“The things that happened to Jesus, the man from Nazareth,” they said. “He was a prophet who did powerful miracles, and he was a mighty teacher in the eyes of God and all the people. But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him. We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel. This all happened three days ago.
“Then some women from our group of his followers were at his tomb early this morning, and they came back with an amazing report. They said his body was missing, and they had seen angels who told them Jesus is alive! Some of our men ran out to see, and sure enough, his body was gone, just as the women had said.”
Then Jesus said to them, “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures. Wasn’t it clearly predicted that the Messiah would have to suffer all these things before entering his glory?” Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
By this time they were nearing Emmaus and the end of their journey. Jesus acted as if he were going on, but they begged him, “Stay the night with us, since it is getting late.” So he went home with them. As they sat down to eat, he took the bread and blessed it. Then he broke it and gave it to them. Suddenly, their eyes were opened, and they recognised him. And at that moment he disappeared!
They said to each other, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” And within the hour they were on their way back to Jerusalem. There they found the eleven disciples and the others who had gathered with them, who said, “The Lord has really risen! He appeared to Peter.”
Then the two from Emmaus told their story of how Jesus had appeared to them as they were walking along the road, and how they had recognised him as he was breaking the bread.
This is the word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
TALK written by Alistair Stevenson
This morning we are continuing to explore the extraordinary accounts of those who encounter the risen Jesus. And today we are exploring this extraordinary encounter of the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Tom Wright describes this passage wonderfully:
“It is both a wonderful, unique, spellbinding, tale and also a model... for a great deal of what being a Christian, from that day to this, is all about.’
We discover two of Jesus’ followers who had seemingly given up - they were going away from Jerusalem. In Luke’s gospel the journey towards Jerusalem before Jesus is crucified is really important. It builds towards and draws us to Jesus’ death and resurrection. These disciples had no doubt walked with Jesus on this journey to Jerusalem. And so, it is significant that they are now walking away from Jerusalem and Jesus is not with them.
They are walking away from the pain and hurt that they had experienced, away from hopes shattered, carrying the complete sense of disappointment and let down. The question that hangs in the balance is whether Jesus will now join them as they journey away.
It’s a narrative reflected by many who have struggled with church: ‘I’ve had enough - I just can’t believe anymore - I feel like God has let me down.’ So many hopes, expectations that seem to have come to nothing.
We probably all know someone who is in this place – maybe it is us. Many of my own friends and family are in a similar place. Some feel just disappointed by church. They feel disconnected. They feel that the church is no longer relevant. Maybe a part of you feels this way.
But, for these two disciples, in that place of walking away - Jesus appears in their midst. However, initially at least, they don’t recognise him. Why not?
Maybe they had zero expectation of seeing Jesus.
How often are we like those followers? How often do we ‘miss’ Jesus - miss Jesus moving, miss him speaking, miss his desire to transform situations because we have little or no expectation that he is present or at work?
But also, there may be something about the importance of the journey.
I must admit I am not a great person to travel with. For Catherine and I, the majority of our arguments take place in the car and that is usually because we are delayed by something or have taken a wrong turn.
The week after Catherine and I got married and half way through our honeymoon, we went to the wedding of one of Catherine’s best friends. We forgot the invitation and so the night before had to text Catherine’s friend and ask her for the postcode of the church.
The next day we put the postcode, now acquired, in the Satnav and set off in good time. We stopped for lunch about 5 minutes from the destination and with about 20 minutes to go, finished the journey. As we arrived it became very clear that the postcode we had was not the church but the home of the parents of Catherine’s friend. By then everyone had left and when we tried to ring our friends to find out where the church was, we got no response. Everyone had either switched off their phones or were not answering. By now the service was due to start – so that made sense.
What then proceeded was, to this day, the worst journey we have ever had together. We basically drove around the countryside, looking for churches and running in to see if there was a wedding taking place.
We must have tried about 4 or 5 churches before we decided to just drive in the general direction of the nearest large town in the hope that the wedding might be there. On the way, driving now at some speed, we go past, what we thought was a fairly random church. But we caught a glimpse of a women in a nice dress (not the bride) walking into the church. We stopped quickly, asked said women what weddings this was. And with the good news ringing in our ears ran into the church – about 40 minutes late. Catherine burst into tears.
Sometimes the journey is just as important as the destination. I’m not quite sure if it was in this situation but a week into our marriage, we definitely learnt a lot about each other.
On journeys I more often than not get impatient and want to get to the destination as soon as possible. It takes a lot of effort to take things slowly and enjoy the journey.
The passage tells us that the eyes of the disciples were kept from recognising Him. That is significant - it reveals that there must be a reason why they weren’t able to recognise him yet. It shows us that the process or journey of understanding and revelation but have been important.
Jesus then has this wonderful exchange with them as they talked about all that had happened over the last three days. Notice how the bulk of the dialogue is from the disciples. Jesus is the one asking the questions and then listening carefully.
‘What things’ he says at one point - as if he didn’t know. He of course knows, but he wants to hear the response of these two followers - he wants them to speak their disappointment and so express their crushed hopes. They say, verse 21:
“We had hoped he was the Messiah who had come to rescue Israel.”
‘We had hoped…’
That phrase summarises the depth of their disappointment. How do these words speak to you this morning? Do you feel like your life has been full of crushed hopes? Hopes coming to nothing?
So many of us struggle to hope for things – or at least have stopped hoping that God will act because we are afraid of being disappointed again.
You can understand why Jesus’ rebuke seems so harsh: “You foolish people! You find it so hard to believe all that the prophets wrote in the Scriptures.”
Last week we heard of Jesus’ rebuke to Thomas about his lack of faith and unbelief. It is the same here.
I often feel I need that rebuke from Jesus. ‘How foolish you are’ he says to me. ‘How slow to believe! Can’t you see - can’t you perceive? Don’t you know your scripture? Can you not remember the words I have spoken for you and over you? The sacrifice that I made for you.’
It’s a rebuke - although gentle - that I often need to hear and maybe you may need to hear today.
And Jesus - in probably one of the best Bible studies of all time - just lays it out for them, step by step. It’s a shame we don’t have a record this.
Their lack of recognition of Jesus was to exemplify their lack of understanding of the events that had just taken place and of the Scriptures. It was important that they see - through the Jesus Bible study - how these events were part of and in fact central to God’s story redemption.
There is an important point here about scripture and particularly when we struggle with its interpretation. Jesus makes it clear that not only is the ultimate purpose of the Old Testament to point to Jesus and help us understand his life. But also, to interpret the Old Testament properly you can only do it with a Jesus lens – as in, interpretation in light of and wholly influenced by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The scriptures make sense of Jesus—but Jesus is also the only way to make sense of the scriptures.
In the second half of the story, they now come to the village and they invite Jesus to stay with them. The Bible says - urged him strongly - it’s probably an understatement. They were desperate. They see something in this traveller that they long for and want to spend more time with - they had experienced a glimmer of hope in the midst of their pain and they wanted more. So much so that their hearts were burning within them.
And so, they come to the meal - and it’s at the meal that they fully recognise Jesus. Meals have been critical for Luke throughout his gospel. Jesus is always eating with people and Luke uses meals as a means for a deeper revelation of Jesus’ identity. Through meals people are included and welcomed. And so those first listeners of Luke’s Gospel must have been so excited to hear how this final meal in his gospel would conclude. Here Jesus is both the one invited and then becomes the host who invites as he breaks the bread.
As with these followers so too with us. Jesus is made known - he is present, real, in our midst - in the everyday. When we sit for a meal. We can invite Jesus into the midst of our everyday. We can take those moments to remember when Jesus sat with his friends the night before he died and shared bread and wine with them as a symbol of all that was to happen. Jesus asks us to invite him into those moments - and then turns to become the host. To serve us. To nourish us. To feed us with his Spirit.
This story is about journey - sometimes the journey is as important as the destination. In the journey we are shaped and molded. The journey was important for these followers. And the wonder of the journey in this story is that we are invited to live in it ourselves. To allow it to speak to the journey of our own faith. To be ready to acknowledge our sadness - our lack of hope - our despair - when we feel let-down. To come to Jesus with those feelings.
To be open to the voice of Jesus. Yes - speaking words of hope, and peace and love. But sometimes a soft rebuke if we are sometimes slow at heart to believe or maybe are ‘missing’ Jesus at work because our spiritual eyes are not open. To be ready to go back to the scriptures in the midst of our lack of understanding. To see the big picture of God at work. To trust that He is sovereign - that He is at work in extraordinary ways.
And then to invite him in. To follow that compelling spirit and then allow Him to be in our midst. The one who is invited, invites us to be transformed by him and his ultimate sacrifice for us.
The passage ends with these two followers rushing back to Jerusalem with joy and excitement - desperate to tell the disciples that they had met the risen Jesus. I love how they did it ‘at once’. There is no hesitation. The desire to share the good news needs no specific instruction or special training but simply flows from the excited and enthusiasm for this new discovery.
The original destination of their journey - if there was one - no longer matters. And the place that they had been going away from - away from hurt, pain and lack of hope - they now return to at once. But now everything is different. It is, in so many ways, a turning moment for them having met the risen Jesus.
And it’s a turning moment that represents the experience of all those who meet and encounter the Risen Jesus and a turning moment that causes us to be desperate to tell others.
I pray that today - wherever you are - you would invite the risen Jesus to make himself known to you. That you would experience - maybe for the first time, or maybe for the thousandth time - that joyful, whole-life, turning moment. A moment that you can’t help but tell others about. Amen.
THE APOSTLES’ CREED
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth
I believe in Jesus Christ,
his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand
of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen
O LORD, HEAR MY PRAYER,
O Lord, hear my prayer:
When I call answer me.
O Lord, hear my prayer,
O Lord, hear my prayer:
Come and listen to me.
Jacques Berthier/Taizé.
Copyright © 1982 Ateliers et Presses de Taize (France).
PRAYERS - written by John Gough
Lord, we praise and thank you that as we meet together in worship, you are here with us. Hear our prayers for our World and church.
Lord, we pray for the challenges of making changes in how we live that impact on global warming. We pray that governments across the world will follow up on promises made at the cop conferences. Sadly, scientists are now confirming that the accelerating melt of ice sheets is now unmistakable. With seven of the worst melting years occurring in the last 10 years.
Lord, we continue to pray for all areas where there are ongoing conflicts. We pray that cease fires can be brokered to allow for talks to take place to bring fighting to an end. Hearts and minds need to be changed to bring a lasting peace.
Lord, we pray for our Country, and the struggles that so many people are facing because of the cost-of-living crisis. We pray that you grant wisdom to all in authority who have the difficult task in bringing inflation under control.
Lord, we pray for all areas where there is strike action. We hope for positive negotiations to take place to allow agreements to be made to bring the strikes to an end.
Today is safeguarding Sunday, this prayer is for all involved in this work and is by Yvonne Campbell, General Secretary of the Congregational Federation.
Dear Lord, we praise you because you are all knowing yet still all loving. We thank you for creating this beautiful world that sustains us in perfect harmony. We thank you that you know us better than we know ourselves. We pray today for all those involved in Safeguarding policy writing, give them wisdom in their words and the understanding to ensure policies are easy to follow and well formulated. We pray for all those who have to implement them and make difficult decisions. We pray wisdom and clarity to them, we pray you guard their hearts and protect them, especially those hearing difficult and sad situations. We pray especially for those working in the Home Office and on other high-profile cases, may they be guided by you and do their job with a sincere heart. Amen.
Merciful Father, accept these prayers
for the sake of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ.
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=ACHPwx7EGQA
Behold the Lamb who bears our sins away,
slain for us, and we remember
the promise made that all who come in faith
find forgiveness at the cross.
So we share in this Bread of Life
and we drink of His sacrifice
as a sign of our bonds of peace
around the table of the King.
The body of our Saviour Jesus Christ,
torn for you; eat and remember
the wounds that heal,
the death that brings us life
paid the price to make us one.
So we share in this Bread of Life
and we drink of His sacrifice
as a sign of our bonds of love
around the table of the King.
The blood that cleanses every stain of sin,
shed for you; drink and remember
He drained death's cup
that all may enter in
to receive the life of God.
So we share in this Bread of Life
and we drink of His sacrifice
as a sign of our bonds of grace
around the table of the King.
And so with thankfulness and faith we rise
to respond, and to remember
our call to follow in the steps of Christ
as His body here on earth.
As we share in His suffering
we proclaim Christ will come again
and we'll join in the feast of heaven
around the table of the King.
Keith Getty, Kristyn Getty, and Stuart Townend
© 2007 Thankyou Music
CCLI Song # 5003372
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.
SING: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPbD2G3i-7Y
Love divine all loves excelling
Joy of heaven to earth come down
Fix in us Thy humble dwelling
All Thy faithful mercies crown
Jesus Thou art all compassion
Pure unbounded love Thou art
Visit us with Thy salvation
Enter every trembling heart
Breathe O breathe Thy loving Spirit
Into every troubled breast
Let us all in Thee inherit
Let us find Thy promised rest
Take away the love of sinning
Alpha and Omega be
End of faith as its beginning
Set our hearts at liberty
Come Almighty to deliver
Let us all Thy grace receive
Suddenly return and never
Never more Thy temples leave
Thee we would be always blessing
Serve Thee as Thy hosts above
Pray and praise Thee without ceasing
Glory in Thy perfect love
Finish then Thy new creation
Pure and spotless let us be
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee
Changed from glory into glory
Till in heaven we take our place
Till we cast our crowns before Thee
Lost in wonder love and praise
© Public Domain
CCLI Song # 1461324
CCLI Licence No. 5119
BLESSING
God, who through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ has given us the victory, give you joy and peace in your faith; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be among you and remain with you always. Amen