Worshipping at Home 17th April 2022

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Easter Sunday - 17th April 2022 

The First Hymn
Welcome!

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! Easter Day arrives and the Church shouts ‘alleluia’! Traditionally, our Services refrain from using the word ‘alleluia’ during Lent. Its use on Easter Day creates a contrast between the somber days of Lent and the joyous days of Easter. We move in the Gospel Story from conflict to victory. And all this drama invites us to experience the renewal of faith and hope!


Psalm 118: 19-24 

Open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Acclamation

Praise the God and Father 
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He has given us 
new life and hope.
He has raised 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!

The Collect Prayer

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.

Sharing the Peace

We are the Family of God;
In the one Spirit we were all baptised
into one body.

Let us then pursue all that makes for peace
and builds up our common life.

(At this point please think of others
and in your heart send them
the message: Peace be with you.)

Bible Reading

Luke 24: 1-12 (The disciples find Jesus’ tomb empty.)

 

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: “The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.”’  Then they remembered his words.


When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles. But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.

Thought for the Day

We receive some news and we exclaim, “I don’t believe it”! Sometimes we genuinely mean what we say. What we have heard just can’t be true, and we expect an explanation. But more often than not we cry out “I don’t believe it” when we know the news to be incredible but true. On that first Easter day some women went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body, but they found it gone. Angelic messengers break the news to them that Jesus is not to be found amongst the dead, because he had risen! Unbelievable! But then they remembered Jesus’ words, and they believed. For them, it was unbelievable but true. When they reported these events to the disciples, the men also found it unbelievable. For them, however, it was truly unbelievable in that they expected to find some plausible explanation for the women’s experience. 

The disciples dismissed the women’s eye-witness account as nonsense. And dear Peter, even after going to the tomb and verifying the facts, remained utterly baffled by what he had seen. (More had to happen before they believed.) And here we have Jesus’ nearest and dearest telling us about that first Easter day. From the pages of the Bible they speak to us: Unanimously they exclaim, “We didn’t believe it”! “It was unbelievable”! Some say this, knowing it was true, and some say it because they were yet to be convinced. And that is how the world reacts to the Easter story. Some are convinced enough to believe, and some still look and wonder. Both these reactions are honourable, and represented in the Gospels. What is far more difficult to comprehend is the response of those who know of the story but shrug it off as though it was not worthy of a second thought, a second look. For me, that’s unbelievable!

So, let’s welcome one and all into the extraordinary story of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Let’s allow everyone the chance to think, argue, puzzle, question and wrestle with the facts. Then, having done all of that, let us also all go, in our hearts and minds, to the garden of the empty tomb to sit quietly and to wonder because what happened was truly extraordinary - life-changing.

Let us Pray

We exult in your love, O God of the living, for you made the tomb of death the womb from which you bring forth your Son, the first-born of a new creation, and you anointed the universe with the fragrant Spirit of his resurrection. Make us joyful witnesses to this good news, that all humanity may one day gather at the feast of new life in the kingdom where you reign for ever and ever. Amen.

Lord of life, we pray for all who bring your word of life as a light to those in darkness, for those who bring your word of peace to those enslaved by fear, for those who bring your word of love to those in need of comfort. Lord of love and Lord of peace, Lord of resurrection life, be known through our lives and through your power. Christ the Lord is risen to-day, Alleluia! Amen! 

(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.)

The Blessing

God the Father, by whose glory Christ was raised from the dead, strengthen you to walk with him in his risen life; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you, and remain with you always.



Amen.

 The Second Hymn

If you have any thoughts, questions or concerns, please contact us

Henley in Arden The incumbent/priest in charge John Ganjavi
telephone 01564 792570 or email Incumbent / Priest in charge

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I believe if you keep your faith, you keep your trust, you keep the right attitude, if you're grateful, you'll see God open up new doors.
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