Sunday 31 October 2021

 BURTON JOYCE 

COMMUNITY CHURCH

with Nottingham North East Circuit, Methodist Church

SUNDAY 31 OCTOBER 2021

Prepared by Colin Wignall, adapted by Phil Colbourn

Hymns Songs of Fellowship (SoF)

Opening words: PSALM 34:8&9

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, for those who fear him lack nothing.

1^st Hymn SoF 147: Great is Thy Faithfulness

Prayers: 

God of unimaginable love, we give you thanks and praise -

For the love that welcomes the unlovely, 

for the love that pardons the unworthy, 

for the love that knows no limit, 

we give you thanks and praise. 

In the love that inspires our worship, 

in the love of which we would learn more, 

in the love we share in our caring, 

we give you thanks and praise. 

As your love in us serves our neighbour, 

as your love tells its story through us, 

as your love calls us your people, 

we give you thanks and praise

God the rock

God our rock, hold us in this chaos.

Christ our king, calm us in this storm.

Holy Spirit, intercede for us.

Be merciful, God of Grace. 

Be our rock,

Hold us in the chaos of this hard hour.

Be our Light

Calm us in the midst of distressing storms.

Be our calm

Intervene, and intercede.

We need you now, most merciful God. Amen

2^nd Hymn: SoF 415 O God, our help in ages past

1^st Reading: Amos 5:21-24

Prayer: Where is our Faithfulness?

Father, we confess our shortcomings: thoughts, actions, deeds which have not reflected your love

All: Jesus, Lord of Love have mercy on us

Father, our lives are often too busy that we are not still: we spend so little time with others. Forgive our self-importance. 

All: Jesus, Lord of Love have mercy on us

Father, in a world that needs to know your love forgive us when impatience, tiredness, selfishness or insensitivity make it difficult for others to see your love through our lives

All: Jesus, Servant of all have mercy on us

In silence, let us consider the needs of friends and families; the tensions, the harsh words spoken in haste, the good deed not done, the love not shown.

(Silence)

Let us also think about the needs of the Church around the world.

(Silence)

Father teach us to be faithful

All: God of family, God of Love, forgive us for those times when we have forgotten how much we are loved by you, and our role in your family. Forgive us when we take family for granted Amen

2^nd Reading: Mark 10:46-52

Sermon: Compassion with Integrity

Read Mark 6:32-34 

Compassion 

Commitment

Consideration

How often do you get home at the end of a busy day and think I’d like just to sit down and have some time to myself? Maybe the day has been hectic, you’ve been wound up by things around you. There might not be the opportunity at that point but it is good to ensure that at some point we do rest. That is taking care of ourselves. 

Jesus recognised this which is why he took the disciples off to have some time out of the fast lane. He knew that they could not just keep on going, going, going. He knew they didn’t run on Duracell batteries even though they had to be ever-ready. We don’t need to beat ourselves up when we cannot take on endless responsibilities. Yes, we are called to show compassion but that needs to begin with ourselves. Self-awareness enables us to know when to stop and take a rest so that we don’t end up feeling that it’s something else that we have not managed.

Elijah had had a stressful time so angels took care of him (read about it in 1 Kings chapters 18/19) God did not demand more prayer or action but just let him ‘be’.  Let’s not pretend to be superhuman but let’s be aware of God’s love and compassion. When it says “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” (Mark 12:31) remember that if we can’t love ourselves then we’ll make a poor show of loving others. We are called to love our neighbour (hospitality or food provision) but showing ourselves love can be more difficult.

In Mark 10, we read about Bartimaeus. He knew what Jesus was capable of so he cried out despite those around him telling him to be quiet. Jesus responded with compassion as he had in Mark 6 with crowds following them when they got away for rest.

However long or brief our time apart is we can rely on God to give us the energy to respond to each challenge with compassion. That is our commitment. Let’s think about situations which show commitment. 

Often Fire Fighters are needed to respond to a series of situations during the day but they need to return to base after each time to get refreshed. Like them, we can be ready to respond to whatever happens because we are refreshed by spending time with God. A strong base of prayer, self-knowledge and compassion enables generosity of spirit. If we care for ourselves then we’ll be able to be hospitable and generous to those around us. That is our commitment because our compassion is balanced and renewed by time spent with God.

As we learn more about our faith, we are enabled by the Spirit to do greater things. Let’s be aware of the places and possibilities for practising generosity for showing hospitality.

Having learned how to care for ourselves we will be more able to take care of others then our actions will speak louder than our words.

3^rd Hymn SoF 1346 In Christ alone, my hope is found

Prayers: Compassion

Lord we know that nothing escapes your attention but sometimes we close our minds, eyes and ears

•        To mangled bodies of the victims of warfare;

•        To swollen bellies and stick like limbs of the unfed;

•        To babies whimpering at empty breasts;

•        To bereaved folk gathered around an open grave;

•        To the complicated issues of aid and intervention:

Teach us to respond with compassion. Open our minds, eyes and ears to such suffering that our response might be generous

We pray for a suffering world:

Where there is war: we pray for peace

Where there is fear: we pray for reassurance

Where there is injustice: we pray for fairness

Where there is sickness: we pray for healing

Where there is inequality: we pray for justice

We pray for people in this country, in countries far away, people we know and those known only to God.

We pray for those we know, who have lost loved ones and have not been with them at the end.

We pray for people whom we know who are suffering Amen

4^th Hymn SoF 1237 Forth in Thy Name O Lord I Go 

Blessing

Draw aside with God. Go out into the world with God. And the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit be upon you now and at all times and in all places throughout the coming days. Amen

Sunday 24 October 2021

 BURTON JOYCE 

COMMUNITY CHURCH

with Nottingham North East Methodist Circuit 

24 October 2021  

Although not in a church building, we can worship. A service from local preacher Ian Pickering, adapted for Burton Joyce Community Church by Phil Colbourn. Hymns from Songs of Fellowship (SoF)

Call to Worship 

Let us come together to be still, to be held by God our creator and to be thankful for all that God gives us; to be healed and restored, that in our worship today, joy and gladness may refresh and renew us. 

Setting the Scene 

Today we will explore our place in Jesus’ community, with a passage from Mark where 2 disciples ask for special positions and recognition. ‘Position’ is not important in God’s kingdom but serving others is. 

Our first hymn asks God to come and fill our hearts with love. 

Hymn SoF 1202 Come down, O Love divine

Prayers 

Lord of community, you reach out in love to all, without limit.

God the Father, in Creation, you share good gifts with us. 

We adore you. 

God the Son, you are always here with us and for us. 

We adore you. 

God the Spirit, we know you deep within our hearts.

We adore you. 

Lord, sometimes we have very set ideas about our communities. The ones we belong to. The ones we aspire to. The ones we stay away from. Help us, like you, to love every member of every community. 

We are all one in you. 

Forgive us when we look down on others, or consider our way alone to be the right one. Help us to work together for the good of all, with you, putting ourselves to one side and putting others first. Amen. 

Assurance of Forgiveness 

God sees our hearts as we turn to him to seek forgiveness. We come, acknowledging that we don’t always get it right but God freely and abundantly pardons us. Thank you, most gracious God. Amen. 

Reading Mark 10, 35 - 45 The request of James and John

Our next hymn reminds us that servanthood is at the heart of our faith, personified in the life and ministry of Christ. 

Hymn SoF 120 From heaven you came 

Reflection All in this together

In our passage today, not for the first time, the disciples get the wrong end of the stick about what Jesus has come to do. On this occasion, James and John ask for leadership and status in God’s kingdom. They ask a question almost as if they haven’t been listening or watching. They simply fail to grasp what sort of King Jesus is. 

Jesus takes the road to Jerusalem and James and John follow, but they try to do so on their own terms. Are we like that? Is the cost of discipleship too much, or is it something cultural, in a world where independence and being your own person is constantly emphasised?

When asked if they are willing share in what Jesus is doing, James and John say yes, but are they really in the same adventure? Similarly, we who follow Jesus and ask God to act for us, how committed are we to hearing and doing what God might be asking of us? 

In recent years we have seen all sorts of ecological initiatives in this country. One high-profile initiative has been the re-introduction of beavers into the UK. Once upon a time, they were an indigenous species but went locally extinct as people hunted them for their fur. 

Beavers work as a community. They create a lodge and dam that provides their family space and shelter. And in felling trees and making dams, they change the landscape, creating new wetland habitats for themselves, and for plants and other animals in the surrounding countryside. They bring new light and space and improve water quality and prevent harmful flooding. This description might be a helpful analogy for the gathered church. 

The church provides a place for a family, a community, to gather and shelter. Church members serve and transform their neighbourhood, flooding the area with God’s unconditional love, bringing the light of Christ into people’s lives and improving the quality of their lives. 

The Kingdom of God is not about position or status. It is about setting ourselves aside and, in partnership with fellow disciples, using our God-given gifts to help people in need within our society. In this way they glimpse the personality and nature of Christ, so much so, that they want to play their own part in working for the establishment of the Kingdom of God here on earth. 

It was Mother Teresa who said, ‘Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.’ When we are challenged to serve a needy world, the task can seem overwhelming. The world is a big place. We feel useless and helpless. But we can all do one thing with great love. We can start by thinking about the needs of the part of the world where God has placed us, among the challenges of our church or other community groups. Is there one thing that we might take on? We are not alone. We are all in this together.

Do we see God in every human being? Dare we pray less for what we want and more for the world as God sees it? It can be a challenge to see people who are different to us – people with different ideas and principles, people we may genuinely fear – as being God’s children. 

Jesus calls us to love and to serve everyone, not just our friends and family. That can be very challenging. In the words of St Loyola: ‘Teach us to give and not to count the cost.’ In Jesus’ kingdom, the normal pattern of the contemporary world is inverted and it is the slave who reveals what it means to be really great. 

May our lives be surrendered into God’s loving purposes so that, in so doing, we may be led into a greater understanding of what God wants of us and that, more and more, we will get the right end of the stick. Then, as a consequence, God’s love will be revealed more and more in what we say and do. Amen 

Prayers of Intercession 

Christ throughout his ministry, repeatedly reached out to people in need and taking on the nature of a servant sought to heal them whether in body, mind or spirit. Often his first action was to use the power of prayer, as we will do now as we pray not just for people and situations, but to challenge ourselves how we may be able, through word and/or deed to help ‘make difference’. 

So let us pray:

Lord, we pray for those who have given their lives to serve whether on far-off mission fields or just around the corner, pouring out love and compassion on those you have placed in their lives; may they know your strength, especially when they are weary or overwhelmed. Be their refuge, O God, and give them all they need for each day. 

Lord, we pray for those who, in their vocations and work, care for others, looking after the sick and lonely, providing housing or advice, being at the other end of a phone, transporting those who cannot get around easily. We thank you for them, and ask your blessing on them. May they be provided with the resources to do their jobs well. And we pray that those who are in supervisory positions might have wisdom and awareness of the needs of those who work for them. 

Lord, we pray for each one of us, that you may lead us in our own service of others, reminding us of the deep motivation of Christ’s love, and giving us a heart for your world. In Jesus’ name we pray. 

Amen. 

The Lord’s Prayer 

Our final hymn reminds us that Jesus has shown us the way and, as we take up his invitation to serve others, he goes with us. 

Hymn SoF 803 I, the Lord of sea and sky

Blessing (with actions)

Lord, take our thoughts (touch head) and turn them into prayer (hands together) Take our prayer and turn it into love (hands over heart) Take our love and turn it into life today and every day (palms face up in offering). In Jesus Christ, Amen

Sunday 17th October 2021

 BURTON JOYCE 

COMMUNITY CHURCH

In association with  

17 October 2021

A service written by Rev David Speed and adapted for Burton Joyce Community Church by Phil Colbourn. 

Hymns in Songs of Fellowship (SoF)

We invite you to spend a few moments with God, knowing that other people are sharing in this act of worship with you. We hope that you find this service helpful. 

Call to Worship 

Blessed be the Lord our God for He has come to set his people free 

Hymn SoF 1583 We have a gospel to proclaim 

Prayer 

Lord, your wonder streams from sun and star, you are at the heart of everything in all creation, and yet near to each loving heart. We praise you for your graciousness, and your love. 

We are only sorry for the many times we have failed to live up to them and you. Your love and your ways are so much greater than ours. 

Please, forgive us our failings. Help us to start again, and believe that you are with us, and in us, to make it possible that we can become more like you.  

Amen

We pray the Lord’s Prayer together

Reading - Psalm 51: 10-17 

Hymn SoF 278 I will sing the wondrous story 

Sermon – Worship: Offering of the heart

The theme for today is worship. Someone once wrote a book describing Methodism as ‘The Music of the Heart’. I would like to suggest that worship is the Offering of the Heart.

What makes up a human being? Hands, feet, ears, heart, mind, imagination, love. You’ll have your own ideas. Some of us are thinkers, some of us are doers, some of us tend to feel with the heart. Others of us tend to think with the mind. 

Whichever it is, we can bring it to our worship. 

How do you feel about worship? ‘I’m always glad to be here with my friends’. Or you might say, ‘It depends on who’s preaching. It depends how I feel’. Or you may feel that you’re not very good at worshipping. 

You don’t have to be. Whatever you have, you can bring to your worship, so long as we use it not to show off but to show God. 

Long before the National Health Service, the only place where you could be treated if you were severely ill was the monastery. Do you remember the story of the juggler, who fell seriously ill, and the only place and who was treated at the monastery? The monks, after some time, nursed him back to health. He had no money and did not know what to do to say, ‘thank you’. Eventually, he went to the Chapel, and began juggling. A monk was passing by and was shocked. He ran to the Abbot and explained what was happening. The Abbot went to the Chapel, saw what was going on and made up his own mind. “Leave him alone”, he said, “He has done what he could”. 

If hands used to juggle can be used to worship, what else can they be used for? Praying, playing, painting, presenting the offering, giving and receiving from God. How can the feet be used? How can the ears be used? How can the mind be used? What about the imagination? All you and I have can be offered to God in worship. All that matters is that it comes from the heart. 

The first British Christians used to talk about the ‘seven-stringed harp’. All our skills can be used to worship God. Even the thing that we’re not good at can be offered. You may not be of Katharine Jenkins or Bryn Terfel. Does that mean that your voice should not be used in worship? 

An invading Army burnt down a monastery. Three old monks escaped and lived in the forest. They found a beautiful glade, which they called their cathedral. Each day they worshipped God. Their voices were old and cracked and the only song they sang was the Magnificat. They sang this each evening until one day a stranger with a beautiful voice joined them, and they stopped singing. 

After a while, an angel appeared and said, “The Lord wishes to know why there is no praise now sent up to Him”. “But there is. Has the Lord not heard this man’s beautiful singing – far finer than ours could ever be?” 

The angel said, “Yes, it is beautiful, but that man does not sing to praise the Lord but for the pleasure of hearing his own voice. The Lord wishes you to start singing again”. 

A very young child gives you a picture that she has painted. It’s not very good, though it might raise £50,000 in the Tate Gallery. She is giving you the best she has as a gift of love. In the same way, we offer worship to God. We may do things like that and the Lord receives them gladly because it is our gift and comes from the heart. 

Henry Olonga was a Zimbabwean cricketer who fell foul of Robert Mugabe’s regime. He was almost too talented. He was a cricketer and he was also a singer who could write his own songs. One of them was about how, as a little boy, he brought weeds from the garden to give to his mother, and how she received them as if they were the best gift ever. In the same way, our Heavenly Parent receives our gifts of love. 

An offering from the heart will mean giving God the best we have to offer. It will reflect a generosity of spirit. 

Someone has said, “Only the best is good enough for God”. Yet, if our best isn’t really very good, I believe God still receives it as a delighted parent. 

Let’s think about how we can offer worship, both personally, and in Church, to God. We pray that God will show us. Sometimes, the answers will surprise us. 

To the praise of God and the benefit of each other, where worship comes from the heart, we all have a part to play.

Amen

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession

Let us pray 

Offer one item on the news that you would want to bring before God.

Offer one person who is on your mind before God

Offer one member of your family

Remember one person in the Church 

Offer one concern in your own life 

Remember all those who are praying at this time 

The Lord hears our prayer. 

Thanks be to God. Amen

Hymn SoF 308 Jesus, the very thought of Thee

The Grace 

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, evermore. Amen

Sunday 10th October 2021

 BURTON JOYCE 

COMMUNITY CHURCH

with 

Nottingham North East Circuit

This short act of worship has been prepared for you by one of our local preachers, Jan Davies.

Theme: Encountering God on ‘Pilgrimage’

Introduction: Most people who go on a pilgrimage hope to encounter God and see more clearly the road ahead. You are invited to come on a pilgrimage of the imagination, there to encounter God. This is a meditation service – so no sermon. However, there are stories, a poem and prayers around a theme. Jesus told many stories but He did not often say what they meant. It was left up to us to interpret them. You will notice that there are times of quiet reflection when we can look at what these might mean for us. 

Prayers: Adoration and Praise
Blessed are you, Lord our God
Your word brought light and life from chaos Your light still shines in the darkness of an evil world, and has never been extinguished.
Praise be to you, Lord God. Blessed are you, mighty, creator God.
We glimpse some of your creative energy in the magnificence and wonder, the colour and beauty, of the created universe, or in the minute detail of the living cell or in a new born child.
Praise be to you, Creator God. Blessed are you, Lord Jesus Christ.
You welcomed the little children, Shared the pain of the suffering and marginalised, who touched the leper and healed the blind.

Praise be to you, Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed are you, Lord Jesus.
Your hands stretched out in love on a cross. Our lives are bound up for eternity in your resurrection life.
Praise be to you, Lord. Blessed are you, Spirit of the living God.
You inflame the hearts of those who love you. You inspire our worship and guide us in the path that leads to life.

Praise be to you Spirit of the Living God. AMEN

Hymn: SoF 1377: Jesus, be the Centre 

Part One: Unexpected Encounter 

Jeremiah 29:4-14 (A letter of Jeremiah to the exiles in Babylon)

Poem: by John Betjeman ‘The Sharp Conversion of St Paul’ 

Now is the time when we recall 

The sharp Conversion of St. Paul. 

Converted! Turned the wrong way round – 

A man who seemed till then quite sound, 

Keen on religion – very keen –
No-one, it seems, had ever been

So keen on persecuting those Who said that Christ was God and chose  To die for this absurd belief As Christ had died beside the thief.  Then in a sudden blinding light Paul knew that Christ was God all right –  And very promptly lost his sight.  Poor Paul! They led him by the hand He who had been so high and grand  A helpless blunderer, fasting, waiting,  Three days inside himself debating  In physical blindness: ‘As it’s true  That Christ is God and died for you,  Remember all the things you did

To keep His gospel message hid. Remember how you helped them even To throw the stones that murdered Stephen.  And do you think that you are strong  Enough to own that you were wrong?’  They must have been an awful time,  Those three long days repenting crime  Till Ananias came and Paul Received his sight, and more than all  His former strength, and was baptized.  Saint Paul is often criticized  By modern people who’re annoyed  At his conversion, saying Freud  Explains it all. But they omit The really vital point of it,  Which isn’t how it was achieved  But what it was that Paul believed.  He knew as certainly as we Know you are you and I am me That Christ was all He claimed to be.  What is conversion? Turning round  From chaos to a love profound.

And chaos too is an abyss In which the only life is this.  Such a belief is quite all right If you are sure like Mrs. Knight  And think morality will do For all the ills we’re subject to.  But raise your eyes and see with Paul  An explanation of it all. Injustice, cancer’s cruel pain,  All suffering that seems in vain, The vastness of the universe,  Creatures like centipedes and worse –  All part of an enormous plan Which mortal eyes can never scan  And out if it came God to man. Jesus is God and came to show The world we live in here below Is just an antechamber where We for His Father’s house prepare.  What is conversion? Not at all  For me the experience of St. Paul,  No blinding light, a fitful glow Is all the light of faith I know

Which sometimes goes completely out  And leaves me plunging round in doubt  Until I will myself to go And worship in God’s house below –  My parish Church – and even there  I find distractions everywhere.

Quiet Reflection

Part Two: Encounter By the lake
Peter’s Story of Encountering Jesus by the lake 

The morning sun has just risen above the Galilean hills. Long streaks of gold stream though the countryside and out onto the lake. This must be the most perfect spring morning. There is not a cloud in the sky. There’s a slight breeze ruffling the water of lake which glitters in the sunlight. And there is the smell of fish cooking on an open fire. Jesus is busily tending the fire seeming to give all His attention to it. We are all hungry after a night’s fishing. We hadn’t caught anything until the Master arrived. Then the catch was so great we could hardly pull in the net. Was He reminding me of the time three years ago when He called me away from the nets, “to catch people” he had said? In my confusion I had tried to go back to fishing. The truth is we can never go back. 

But as I sit here, I am very aware that this is the first time I have been alone with Jesus since He returned. The guilt I feel for leaving Him alone in the garden and then denying that I even knew Him – not once, but three times, is eating into my very soul and I am paralysed, unable to look Him in the face. Then Jesus speaks. He doesn’t look at me. He is busy tending the fire. “Do you love me more than these others do Peter?” 

I manage to find my voice, but just staring at my hands as I say “you know I love you Lord”. “Then feed my lambs”. He says it quietly. 

I am usually impetuous, always ready to speak – too ready some might say. I want to ask Him what He means but I am still weighed down by guilt. For a second time Jesus asks “Peter, do you love me?” Did He have to ask again? “Yes Lord, you know that I love you!” “Then look after my sheep” 

My face is burning red as He turns to look me full in the face, His eyes searching mine. “Peter, do you really love me?” My eyes fill with tears that run down my cheeks. How can He still doubt me? “Lord” I shout at Him, “you know everything. You know that I love you” Now He is smiling at me. He nods His head as He says “Yes Peter, feed my sheep” And now, suddenly, it is all clear. Others may condemn me for what I did but Jesus has forgiven me and that is all that matters. I will never return to the boats and fishing now. There is work to be done and a whole kingdom to win. He trusts me enough to put me in charge of His little flock. I have no idea what this is going to mean but just sitting here in the bright morning sunshine with him beside me, I think I can do anything. 

Prayer 

Can I ever go back Lord? When the confidence has gone, and I am unsure of my calling, when the road ahead is lost in the mist of confusion, can I go back? The familiar closes in around me, like a comfortable pair of slippers or the patched jacket I could never bring myself to throw away. I’m safe here. I can’t be buffeted by the stresses and strains of always trying to do the right thing. But you know Lord, that I am not safe here, not safe from you. Long ago Lord you put into my heart the longing for something more. You called me away from the familiar. You called me to an amazing adventure with you. You didn’t say it would be easy, but I accepted your challenge and didn’t you say that once we put our hand to the plough. There was no turning back. So, Lord, when I am confused, unsure of the way to go, stop me craving the safety of the familiar. My safety, although uncomfortable at times, is with you, my Lord. Amen

Reading: 1 John 1:1-4 

A time for quiet reflection 

Hymn: SoF 1030: The Lord’s my Shepherd 

Part Three: Encounter in the Garden
Voice of Mary Magdalene followed by prayer 

Have you ever reached that moment of calm emptiness when all the tears have been shed and the storm of emotion has passed, leaving only a tangled pain in your throat and chest but a merciful dullness in your mind? Well, that was how I felt early on that Sunday morning as we crept through the garden and out onto the hillside. The air held the promise of a beautiful day. The sky had changed from the inky blackness of night to the predawn grey of a new day. A spring mist hung over the valley below us. 

On Friday afternoon we had lifted Him gently from the cross; battered, bruised and bloody. For a moment I cradled Him in my arms and wiped away some of the blood. In spite of the battering His face had relaxed into the peace of death. For us there was no consolation except to know He would not be tipped with the others onto the rubbish heap in the Kedron Valley. Joseph had at last come out into the open and secured permission from the governor to give Him a decent burial. Perhaps Pilate felt some shame in the way he had been manipulated into this crucifixion. Whatever the reason, we could give the Master a proper burial. We only had time to get Him into the tomb and wipe away some of the dirt and blood before they dragged me away and sealed Him in. I couldn’t bear to think of Him lying cold and alone in the grave. His tomb was on a hillside, carved out of rock and surrounded by an olive grove. As we passed, the papery leaves rustled in the breeze of early dawn. The birds, first one and then others chuckled and twittered as though it was any other morning, as the first streaks of gold lit up the greyness of the sky. None of this touched the greyness inside for we had come to do Him one last service. Beyond that, there was no future for His light had gone out of our lives. 

But the great round stone - we had wondered how we were to move it - had been rolled to one side. We ducked our heads to peer into the gloom. All we could make out was that His body was gone and the grave clothes had been laid aside. How could they have stolen His body? Were they afraid of Him even in death? Couldn’t they leave us this one consolation? By the time I had stumbled out, the others had gone. Tears were again streaming from my eyes, already swollen with grief. The sun had risen and I was blinded by the light. 

That was when I saw Him standing in the shadow of the trees - a gardener perhaps. I shouted and He turned. “Where have you taken Him? Please! Please! Just show me!” I threw myself at His feet. Then He stepped from the shadow and whispered my name, “Mary”. I lifted my head from the ground. How could this be? Had I gone mad? I had seen Him die. But He is here, gloriously, magnificently alive. I flung myself at Him but He stepped back and smiled. “Don’t cling to me”. He was different. The Master that we knew was now revealed in all His glory. “Go and tell my brothers that I am alive”. I ran like the wind to find the others, to spread the news. But it was to me that He appeared first and I hug that knowledge to myself - it was to me. 

Prayer: 

No wonder every one found it difficult to believe. They saw you die, carried your broken body to the tomb. How was it possible for Mary to find you again? And why did you step away from her? Why didn’t you let her cling to you? Only a week later you allowed Thomas to handle you – prove you were real. But Mary didn’t need proof. She knew you were her Lord. Did she want to cling to the past – want everything to go back to the way things were – Rely on your physical presence? The Lord she knew was now released for all time So I can encounter you – You are no longer a distant preacher in Palestine but an ever-present Lord for all time. Thank you, Lord, for those who, like Mary, let you go. And thank you for the consolation she felt in knowing that she was loved and trusted. As I too meet with you, where I least expect it May I too learn not to cling to the past
But realise that I am loved and trusted too. 

Quiet Reflection: 

Prayers: Confession: 

I am so busy Lord 

I don’t have time 

Demands are made 

I don’t have time 

I am tired, weary so I put off praying again today
I don’t have time 

Maybe tomorrow 

I don’t have time 

I just want to get this finished 

I don’t have time 

Father, we wonder why you feel so far away, why we don’t experience your guidance, why we stumble and fall so often. If it is because we don’t give you the time, forgive us and lead us to those places where we can encounter you. Thank you, Lord that you have promised to forgive us when we recognise our sin. So, forgive us and help us to make another fresh start in our journey with you. Amen

The Lord’s Prayer 

Prayers of Intercession: 

We pray for places of violence and hunger, Afghanistan, Yemen. 

We pray for refugees who have fled their homes to seek a new life. 

We pray for those suffering wild fires – those who have lost homes.

We pray for those who have known flooding. 

We pray for the Church: for those who live with persecution.

We pray for all the local churches, staff and people. Amen

Hymn: SoF 174: He who would valiant be 

Blessing: 

The Lord who conquered darkness with light 

Grant us peace 

The Lord who conquered death with life 

Grant us peace 

The Lord who conquered loneliness with love 

Grant us peace 

And, may the Lord’s blessing go with us, this day and always Amen