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Sentence

Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners. Matthew 9:12-13

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

O God, you have assured the human family of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Saviour:
deliver us from the death of sin and raise us to new life in him, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Genesis 12:1-9
• Psalm 33:1-12
• Romans 4:13-25
• Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

• Next Week:

• Genesis 18:1-15
• Psalm 116:1-2, 11-18
• Romans 5:1-11
• Matthew 9:35-10:8

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A Thought to Ponder

Pentecost 2 – Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
The second Sunday after Pentecost brings us into the heart of Jesus’s ministry, where we encounter two key themes: the calling of the unlikely, and the power of healing. These passages—Matthew 9:9–13 and 9:18–26—show us a Christ who moves toward those in need, who upends social expectations, and who embodies mercy in ways that challenge religious structures. The stories of Matthew’s call and Jesus’s healing acts emphasise restorative mercy. This mercy is not simply words, not just words of forgiveness or absolution, but tangible acts of restoration that show what the kingdom of God ought to be like.
The call of Matthew (9:9) is striking for several reasons. First, tax collectors were viewed as traitors within Jewish society. Working for Rome, they were associated with economic oppression, often collecting excessive taxes to benefit the empire and themselves. Matthew’s presence at a tax booth signifies his active role in this system—yet Jesus sees him, calls him, and invites him into his circle. The response is immediate: Matthew leaves everything and follows.
The next scene (9:10–13) reveals the radical nature of Jesus’s mission. While sharing a meal with tax collectors and sinners, Jesus is questioned by the Pharisees, who ask why he associates with such people. His response reveals a relational ethos: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” This statement is a direct challenge to the religious order. The Pharisees emphasise purity and sacrifice, but Jesus reorients the discussion toward mercy, toward healing, and toward relationship.
The second part of this reading (9:18–26) brings us into two intertwined healing stories—a synagogue leader’s daughter and a woman suffering from chronic bleeding. These two individuals stand at opposite ends of the social spectrum: The synagogue leader is prominent, while the woman is unnamed and ostracised. The synagogue leader is confident enough in himself to walk directly up to Jesus, while the woman lives in a state of shame and desires to move unnoticed. For both people, Jesus responds with equal compassion.
The woman’s faith is remarkable. She believes that simply touching Jesus’s cloak will heal her. Jesus, like a traditional healer, perceives the woman’s act of faith and affirms her: “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” This is not just a physical restoration—it is a social and spiritual reintegration. She is no longer unclean, no longer cut off from her community. Her restoration stretches beyond the physical ailment. Her healing is holistic. Jesus is good medicine, for body and soul. And his healing brings communal restoration, as she no longer needs to hide herself and walk unnoticed.

It is good and right as Jesus-followers to look to Jesus as our example and seek to emulate his life. We certainly need to embrace compassion as a relational ethic. But I want to also suggest that we need to use our sanctified imaginations to see ourselves within the other characters in these stories. After all, life is not easy. We continue to need the healing work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, in both body and soul.
And for those of us who live in North America, we must reckon with the fact that we may be the tax collectors of our society, profiting off current and past injustices, and globally speaking, we occupy the richest sectors of society. Do we recognise how much we ourselves are in need of mercy and the healing touch of Jesus? And are we ready to respond to his call?
Or perhaps today you feel like that dead girl. Life has been sucked out of you, or perhaps you feel you are spiritually dead, in a dark night of the soul. As hard as it may be, can you trust that others are seeking Jesus on your behalf, and that Jesus has the power to revive?
© Working Preacher

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Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here

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Sentence

Proclaim the Name: ’The Lord, the Lord, a God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.’ Exodus 34:6

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace by the confession of a true faith to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the divine majesty to worship the Unity:
keep us steadfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities, for you live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Exodus 34:1-8
• Song of the Three
• 2 Cor 13:11-13
• Matthew 28:16-20

• Next Week:

• Genesis 18:1-15
• Psalm 116:1-2, 11-18
• Romans 5:1-11
• Matthew 9:35-10:8

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A Thought to Ponder

Trinity Sunday – Matthew 28:16-20
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son . . . for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:16-18
As Ordinary Time resumes, two “solemnities of the Lord” are celebrated on the next two Sundays. Today’s celebration of the Trinity originated in France in the eighth century and was adopted by the universal Church in 1334. The solemnity focuses on the essence of our faith: the revelation of God as Creator, God’s re-creation of humankind in Jesus the Redeemer, the fullness of the love of God poured out on us in the Sustainer Spirit.

Today’s periscope omits the context of this Gospel. Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, comes under the cover of darkness to meet the remarkable rabbi he has heard so much about. In their exchange (today’s Gospel), Jesus speaks of the need to be reborn “from above” and of the great love of God who gives the world his own Son, not to condemn humankind but to save it.
Today we celebrate the essence of our faith manifested in our lives: the loving providence of the Creator who continually invites us back to him; the selfless servanthood of the Redeemer who “emptied” himself to become like us in order that we might become like him; the joyful love of the Spirit that is the unique unity of the Father and Son.
As revealed to us by Jesus, our God is a God not of endings but beginnings; a God who does not demand the payment of debts but who constantly offers unconditional and unlimited chances to begin again; a God who does not take satisfaction in our failures but rejoices in lifting us up from our brokenness, despair and estrangement from him and from one another.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus challenges Nicodemus to move beyond old, incomplete and “childlike” images of God in order to grow toward a more complete, “adult” faith that recognises the God who works and moves from his Spirit of unfathomable love; the God who constantly takes the initiative to be reconciled with us, despite our failings; the God who is not removed from his creation but constantly present in every act of love and compassion and forgiveness.
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Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here

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Sentence

‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me,’ says the Lord;’ and let the one who believes in me drink. For out of your heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ John 7:38

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

Almighty God, at the feast of Pentecost you sent your Holy Spirit to the disciples, filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel: empower us with that same Spirit to witness to your redeeming love and draw all people to you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Acts 2:1-21
• Psalm 104:26-36
• 1 Cor 12:1-13
• John 20:19-23

• Next Week:

• Exodus 34:1-8
• Song of the Three
• 2 Cor 13:11-13
• Matthew 28:16-20

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A Thought to Ponder

Day of Pentecost – John 20:19-23
Jesus breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit . . .”
Pentecost was the Jewish festival of the harvest (also called the Feast of Weeks), celebrated 50 days after Passover, when the first fruits of the corn harvest were offered to the Lord. A feast of pilgrimage (hence the presence in Jerusalem of so many “devout Jews of every nation”), Pentecost also commemorated Moses’ receiving the Law on Mount Sinai. For the new Israel, Pentecost becomes the celebration of the Spirit of God’s compassion, peace and forgiveness – the Spirit that transcends the Law and becomes the point of departure for the young Church’s universal mission (the planting of a new harvest?).
In his Acts of the Apostles (Reading 1), Luke invokes the First Testament images of wind and fire in his account of the new Church’s Pentecost: God frequently revealed his presence in fire (the pillar of fire in the Sinai) and in wind (the wind that sweeps over the earth to make the waters of the Great Flood subside). The Hebrew word for spirit, ruah, and the Greek word pneuma also refer to the movement of air, not only as wind, but also of life-giving breath (as in God’s creation of man in Genesis 2 and the revivification of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37). Through his life-giving “breath,” the Lord begins the era of the new Israel on Pentecost.
Today’s Gospel of the first appearance of the Risen Jesus before his ten disciples (remember Thomas is not present) on Easter night is John’s version of the Pentecost event. In “breathing” the Holy Spirit upon them, Jesus imitates God’s act of creation in Genesis. Just as Adam’s life came from God, so the disciples’ new life of the Spirit comes from Jesus. In the Resurrection, the Spirit replaces their sense of self-centred fear and confusion with the “peace” of understanding, enthusiasm and joy and shatters all barriers among them to make of them a community of hope and forgiveness. By Christ’s sending them forth, the disciples become apostles – “those sent.”
The feast of Pentecost celebrates the unseen, immeasurable presence of God in our lives and in our Church – the ruah that animates us to do the work of the Gospel of the Risen One, the ruah that makes God’s will our will, the ruah of God living in us and transforming us so that we might bring his life and love to our broken world. God “breathes” his Spirit into our souls that we may live in his life and love; God ignites the “fire” of his Spirit within our hearts and minds that we may seek God in all things in order to realize the coming of his reign.
Today we celebrate the gift of God’s Spirit: the Spirit that enables us to love as selflessly and as totally as God loved us enough to become one of us, to die for us and to rise for us; the Spirit that takes us beyond empty legalisms and static measurements of “mine” and “yours” to create a community of compassion, reconciliation and justice centred in “us”; the Spirit that enables us to re-create our world in the peace and mercy of God.
In Jesus’ “breathing” upon them the new life of the Spirit, the community of the Resurrection – the Church – takes flight. That same Spirit continues to “blow” through today’s Church to give life and direction to our mission and
ministry to preach the Gospel to every nation, to proclaim the forgiveness and reconciliation in God’s name, to baptize all humanity into the life of Jesus’ Resurrection.
The Spirit of God enables the Eleven – and us – to do things they could not do their own: to understand the “truth” of God’s great love for his people that is embodied in the Risen Christ, and then to boldly proclaim the Gospel of Christ. The Spirit empowers us with the grace to do the difficult work of Gospel justice, forgiveness and compassion.
The miracle of Pentecost (Acts 2) is the Spirit’s overcoming the barriers of language and perception to open not only the minds of the Apostles’ hearers but their hearts as well to understanding and embracing the Word of God.

© Connections/MediaWorks. All rights reserved

Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here

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Sentence

‘Those who love me will keep my word.’ Jesus promises, ‘and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.’ John 14:23

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

O God, you have prepared for those who love you joys beyond our understanding:
pour into our hearts such love for you, that, loving you above all else, we may obtain your promises that exceed all we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Acts 17:22-31
• Psalm 66:7-19
• 1 Peter 3:8-22
• John 14:15-21

• Next Week:

• Acts 1:6-14
• Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35
• 1 Peter 5
• John 17:1-11

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A Thought to Ponder

Easter 6 – John 14:15-21
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows him. But you will know him, because he remains with you, and will be in you.”
In legal terminology, an advocate defends the accused on trial. For the writer of the Fourth Gospel, Christ is the first “Advocate,” who comes to liberate humanity from the slavery of sin. The second “Advocate,” promised by Jesus in today’s Gospel, is the Spirit of truth, the Church’s living, creative memory in which the mystery of God’s love, revealed by and in Christ, lives for all time.
The Spirit of truth, “whom the world cannot accept,” illuminates our vision and opens our hearts to discern the will and wisdom of God. The Spirit/Paraclete “advocates” for what is good, what is right and what is just, despite our scepticism, rejection and blindness to the things of God.
The Risen Christ challenges us, in the gift of the “Spirit of truth,” not to approach truth in terms of profit, power, comfort or convention, but to embrace the truth of God’s justice and compassion present in our world. Throughout his Gospel, the writer of John’s Gospel never allows love, as taught by Jesus, to remain at the level of sentiment or emotion. Its expression is always highly moral and is revealed in obedience to the will of the Father. To love as Jesus loved – in total and selfless obedience, without conditions and without expectation of that love ever being returned – is the difficult love that Jesus expects of those who claim to be his disciples.
The Spirit of truth is the creative, living memory of the Church. Through that “living memory,” the Church enters into the mystery of Christ himself. Jesus, the wise Rabbi, the compassionate Healer, the Friend of rich and poor and saint and sinner, the obedient and humble Servant of God, is a living presence among us to give us hope, strength and light as we struggle to balance and direct our lives until he calls us to the new life of his Resurrection.

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Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here

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Sentence

‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life,’ says the Lord. ‘No one comes to the Father except through me.’ John 14:6

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

Everliving God, whose Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life:
give us grace to love one another, to follow in the way of his commandments, and to share his risen life; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Acts 7:55-60
• Psalm 31:1-5, 17-18
• 1 Peter 2:11-25
• John 14:1-14

• Next Week:

• Acts 17:22-31
• Psalm 66:7-19
• 1 Peter 3:8-22
• John 14:15-21

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A Thought to Ponder

Easter 5 – John 14:1-14
“Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater than these, because I am going to the Father.”
Today’s Gospel takes place at the Last Supper. John’s account of that night is the longest in the Gospels – five chapters in length (but with no account of the institution of the Eucharist). The evangelist uses a literary device common in Scripture: A leader (Moses, Joshua, David, Tobit) gathers his own (family, friends, disciples) to announce his imminent departure, offer advice and insight into the future and give final instructions.
At the time of the writing the Fourth Gospel, Christians are being harassed by both the Jews and the Romans. Proclaiming the Crucified Jesus as the Messiah is blasphemy to Judaism, while accusing the Romans of “judicial murder” in the death of Jesus threatens the new faith’s chances of survival as a “lawful religion” tolerated by their Roman occupiers.
The dominant themes here are consolation and encouragement: Be faithful, remember and live what I have taught you, for better days are ahead for you. Christ – the Way to God, the Truth of God and Life incarnate of God – will return for the faithful “who do the works that I do.”
The Jesus of the Gospel does not only show us the way – his life of humble and generous servanthood is the way; he not just philosophises about a concept of truth – he is the perfect revelation of the truth about a God of enduring and unlimited love for his people; he is not just a preacher of futuristic promises – he has been raised up by God to a state of existence in God to which he invites all of us. In embracing the Spirit of his Gospel and living the hope of his Word, we encounter, in Christ, God himself.
Regardless of the career path we choose – doctor, labourer, bank teller, teacher, parent or priest – if we truly consider ourselves disciples of the Risen Jesus, we are called “to do the work I do.” In our homes, workplaces, city halls and playgrounds, we are called to bring the miracle of Easter life: the reconciliation, justice and peace of the Risen One in whom God has revealed himself to all of humanity.
Seldom do we think of death as a return home, but today’s Gospel image of the “house with many dwelling places” helps us to realise we were created for a life beyond this one – we were created by God for life in and with him.
As Christians, we live in the eternal hope of one day living in God’s dwelling place – but that “place” of hope and compassion and peace exists here and now in the places we create where the poor and sick are cared for, the fallen are lifted up, and lost and rejected are sought after and brought home.

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Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here

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Sentence

‘I am the good shepherd,’ says the Lord. ‘The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.’ John 10:11

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

God of all power, you called from death our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep:
send us as shepherds to rescue the lost, to heal the injured, and to feed one another with understanding; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Acts 2:42-47
• Psalm 23
• 1 Peter 2:1-10
• John 10:1-10

• Next Week:

• Acts 7:55-60
• Psalm 31:1-5, 17-18
• 1 Peter 2:11-25
• John 14:1-14

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A Thought to Ponder

Easter 4 – John 10:1-10
“I am the gate for the sheep . . . Whoever enters through me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture . . . “I came so that they might have life and have it to more abundantly.”
Chapter 10 of John’s Gospel is Jesus’ “Good Shepherd” discourse. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus points to two kinds of sheepfolds or corrals: In the community or town sheepfold, the real shepherd was recognised by the gatekeeper and his flock knew his voice and followed; out in the fields, the shepherd slept across the corral opening – his body became the corral gate. Both “gates” are beautiful images of the Redeeming Christ, the “Good Shepherd” who lays down his own life to become the very source of life for his people.
John places these words of Jesus right after the curing of the man born blind (the Gospel read a few weeks ago on the Fourth Sunday of Lent). The evangelist uses these references about shepherds, sheep and sheep gates to underline the miserable job of “shepherding” being done by the Pharisees and the temple authorities as in the case of the blind man. John is writing in the spirit of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 34): God will raise up a new shepherd to replace the irresponsible and thieving shepherds who feed themselves at the expense of the flock.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls himself the “gate” of humble justice, selfless compassion and ready forgiveness that leads us to the dwelling place of God. In this Easter season, God invites us to pass through the threshold that is his Risen Christ: to leave behind our sadness and fears and doubts in order to come into the safety and warmth of God’s hearth of peace and compassion.
When our spirits ache over what has been lost, when we lose our moral and ethical way, when we feel our footing slip beneath us as we try to navigate life’s twists and turns, Christ’s voice can always be heard above the noise and din our lives if we listen for it with hope, conviction and faith.
Sometimes we look at the Gospel from our modern, sophisticated perspective and quietly dismiss what Jesus says as too unrealistic or too simplistic to deal with the complex problems we must face. But there is no high-tech, comfortable, convenient road to living the Gospel of forgiveness, compassion and justice. “To have life to the full” demands that we journey by way of the “gate” of Gospel wisdom, charity, reconciliation, compassion and justice.

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Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here

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Sentence

This is eternal life, that we may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. John 17:3

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

O God, whose Son, Jesus, prayed for his disciples, to proclaim the coming of your kingdom:
by your Holy Spirit, hold the Church in unity, and keep it faithful to your word, so that, breaking bread together, we may be one with Christ in faith and love and service, now and for ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Acts 1:6-14
• Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35
• 1 Peter 5
• John 17:1-11

• Next Week:

• Acts 2:1-21
• Psalm 104:26-36
• 1 Cor 12:1-13
• John 20:19-23

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A Thought to Ponder

Easter 7 – John 17:1-11

“Father, I pray for those you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them.”
Today’s reading from John’s Gospel is the climax of the Last Supper discourse: the “high priestly prayer” of Jesus. As his “hour” of glory approaches, Jesus prays to the Father for the unity of present and future disciples, a union rooted in the love of the Father and the Son.
In the first part of his prayer, Jesus prays that his disciples will be worthy and effective witnesses of the Gospel he has entrusted to them. When Jesus left this world, he had little reason to hope. He seemed to have achieved so little and to have won so few. And the Twelve – soon to be the Eleven – to whom he has entrusted his new Church are certainly not among the most capable of leaders or the most dynamic of preachers. Yet with so small a beginning, Jesus changed the world. As Jesus returns to the Father, he leaves a portion of the Father’s glory behind: the community of faith.
Jesus’ priestly prayer is a prayer not only for his followers at table with him then but also for us at this table: that we may be united and consecrated in the truth Jesus has revealed and that we may reveal to the world the love and care of the Father for all of the human family.
The Church as a community of prayer is at the heart of today’s readings: prayer that is, first and foremost, an attitude of trust and acceptance of God’s presence in the community, an attitude that is not occasional but constant and continuing, an attitude not limited to asking for something but of thanksgiving for what is and for what has been. The prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper and the prayer of the company of disciples seek not God’s acquiescence to their will but that God’s will might be done effectively through them.
In baptism, the Gospel first preached by Jesus and then by the Eleven is passed on to us – we became witnesses of the great Easter event and accepted responsibility for telling our children and people of our time and place the good news of the empty tomb. Not in words alone but in our attitude of joy, our work for reconciliation among all, our commitment to what is right and just, our simplest acts of generosity and compassion, do we witness the Father’s name and presence to the generations who follow us.
© Connections/MediaWorks. All rights reserved

Sermon – not available

You can read the Pew Sheet here

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Sentence

Repent, and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38-39

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

O God, your Son made himself know to his disciples in the breaking of bread:
open the eyes of our faith, that we may see him in his redeeming work; who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Acts 2:14a, 36-41
• Psalm 116:1-4, 11-18
• 1 Peter 1:13-25
• Luke 24:13-35

• Next Week:

• Acts 2:42-47
• Psalm 23
• 1 Peter 2:1-10
• John 10:1-10

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A Thought to Ponder

Easter 3 – Luke 24:13-35
Jesus meets the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: “While he was sitting with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and the recognized him . . . ”

Today’s Gospel begins on the afternoon of that miraculous Easter Sunday. Having just completed the observance of the Passover Sabbath, two disciples of Jesus (one identified as Cleopas) are making the seven mile trip to the village of Emmaus. By identifying them as disciples, Luke is emphasizing that these two were more than just impartial observers of the events of Holy Week.
Luke writes that their exchange was “lively” – we can well imagine! As well as anger at the great travesty of justice that had taken place, they must have felt emotionally shattered at what had befallen their revered Rabbi Jesus. The two are suddenly joined by a stranger who asks the subject of their “lively” conversation. The stranger then explains, to their astonishment, the meaning of each of the events of the past week. When they reach the village, the two disciples ask the stranger to stay with them. And, in the words from Luke’s Gospel that we have come to treasure, the two disciples “come to know (the Risen Christ) in the breaking of the bread.”
Luke’s Easter night story parallels our own experience of the Eucharist: We come to the Lord’s table feeling angry, hurt, despairing, alone – but at this table, coming to “know him in the breaking of the bread,” we can experience the peace and presence of the Risen Christ.
It has been said that true friendship begins when people share a memory. Like the two disciples who recognize Jesus in the breaking of bread, we, too, are bound as a Church by the same memory of the Risen One. In the word we hear together and the bread we share together, God’s love is both remembered and relived, giving us hope and direction and meaning in the course of our individual journeys.
As the two disciples discover on their journey to Emmaus, Christ is alive and present in our midst in the love, charity and goodness we give and receive, in the sacrament of his body and blood, in moments of grace and prayer.
Like the disciples journeying to Emmaus, we are disciples are on a journey, a journey reaches its zenith in the great Paschal journey from crucifixion to resurrection. As the disciples traveling to Emmaus discover, the journey is not ended. It continues through the wilderness and is marked by the cross. But God is still very much present to us along the way.
God travels with us on our own roads to Emmaus; God is present in the broken bread of compassion and healing we offer and receive from our fellow travellers. Easter faith is to recognize God in our midst: in our wanting to understand, in our struggle to make things right, in our brokenness. May this Easter season open our hearts and spirits to recognize Christ among us in every moment of our lives, in both the bright promising mornings and the dark, terrifying nights.

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Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here

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Sentence

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

Almighty and eternal God, the strength of those who believe and the hope of those who doubt:
may we, who have not seen, have faith and receive the fullness of Christ’s blessing; who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Acts 2:14a, 22-32
• Psalm 16
• 1 Peter 1:1-12
• John 20:19-31

• Next Week:

• Acts 2:14a, 36-41
• Psalm 116:1-4, 11-18
• 1 Peter 1:13-25
• Luke 24:13-35

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A Thought to Ponder

Easter 2 – John 20: 19-31
“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you. And when he said this he breathed upon them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit . . . ” Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your
hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”
Scene 1 takes place on Easter night. The terrified disciples are huddled together, realising they are marked men because of their association with the criminal Jesus. The Risen Jesus appears in their midst with his greeting of “peace.” John clearly has the Genesis story in mind when the evangelist describes Jesus as “breathing” the Holy Spirit on his disciples: Just as God created man and woman by breathing life into them (Genesis 2: 7), the Risen Christ re-creates humankind by breathing the new life of the Holy Spirit upon the eleven.
In scene 2, the disciples excitedly tell the just-returned Thomas of what they had seen. Thomas responds to the news with understandable scepticism. Thomas had expected the cross (see John 11: 16 and 14: 5) – and no more.
The climactic third scene takes place one week later, with Jesus’ second appearance to the assembled community – this time with Thomas present. He invites Thomas to examine his wounds and to “believe.” Christ’s blessing in response to Thomas’ profession of faith exalts the faith of every Christian of every age who “believes without seeing”; all Christians who embrace the Spirit of the Risen One possess a faith that is in no way different less than that of the first disciples. The power of the Resurrection transcends time and place.
We trace our roots as parish and faith communities to Easter night when Jesus “breathed” his spirit of peace and reconciliation upon his frightened disciples, transforming them into the new Church.
The “peace” that Christ gives his new Church is not a passive sense of good feeling or the mere absence of conflict. Christ’s peace is hard work: the peace of the Easter Christ is to honour one another as children of the same Father in heaven; the peace of the Easter Christ seeks to build bridges and find solutions rather than assigning blame or extracting punishment; the peace of Christ is centred in relationships that are just, ethical and moral.
The “peace” that the Risen Christ breathes into us at Easter shows us a way out of those tombs in which we bury ourselves; the forgiveness he extends enables us to get beyond the facades we create and the rationalisations we devise to justify them.
Jesus’ entrusting to the disciples the work of forgiveness is what it means to be the church: to accept one another, to affirm one another, to support one another as God has done for us in the Risen Christ. What brought the apostles and first Christians together as a community – unity of heart, missionary witness, prayer, reconciliation and healing – no less powerfully binds us to one another as the Church of today.
While today’s Gospel has been read by the Church as Jesus instituting the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the whole Christian community possesses the power to “forgive” and “retain,” and the grace to “bind” and “loosen.” The Risen
Christ gives to every one of us the “power,” the “authority,” the grace to forgive and to bind one another in love.
All of us, at one time or another, experience the doubt and scepticism of Thomas: While we have heard the good news of Jesus’ empty tomb, all of our fears, problems and sorrows prevent us from realising it in our own lives. In raising his
beloved Son from the dead, God also raises our spirits to the realisation of the totality and limitlessness of his love for us.
We all have scars from our own Good Fridays that remain long after our own experiences of resurrection. Our “nail marks” remind us that all pain and grief, all ridicule and suffering are transformed into healing and peace in the love of God we experience from others and that we extend them.
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Sermon

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Sentence

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Luke 24:34

                                                                                                                             

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Collect  

Glorious Lord of life, by the mighty resurrection of your Son you overcame the old order of sin and death to make all things new in him:
grant that we, who celebrate with joy Christ’s rising from the dead may be raised from the death of sin to the life of righteousness; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

                                                                                                                                                      

Readings

This Week:

• Acts 10:34-43
• Hymn to the Risen Christ
• Colossians 3:1-4
• Matthew 28:1-10

• Next Week:

• Acts 2:14a, 22-32
• Psalm 16
• 1 Peter 1:1-12
• John 20:19-31

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A Thought to Ponder

Easter Day – John 20:1-9
On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”

John’s Easter Gospel says nothing of earthquakes or angels. His account begins before daybreak. It was believed that the spirit of the deceased hovered around the tomb for three days after burial; Mary Magdalene was therefore following the Jewish custom of visiting the tomb during this three day period. Discovering that the stone has been moved away, Mary Magdalene runs to tell Peter and the others. Peter and the “other disciple” race to get there and look inside. Note the different reactions of the three: Mary Magdalene fears that someone has “taken” Jesus’ body; Peter does not know what to make of the news; but the “other” disciple – the model of faithful discernment in John’s Gospel – immediately understands what has taken place. So great are the disciple’s love and depth of faith that all of the strange remarks and dark references of Jesus now become clear to him.
While the Easter mystery does not deny the reality of suffering and pain, it does proclaim reason for hope in the human condition. The empty tomb of Christ trumpets the ultimate Alleluia: that love, compassion, generosity, humility and selflessness will ultimately triumph over hatred, bigotry, prejudice, despair, greed and death. The Easter miracle enables us, even in the most difficult and desperate of times, to live our lives in hopeful certainty of the fulfilment of the resurrection at the end of our life’s journey.
The Risen Christ is present to us in the faithful witness of every faithful follower of Jesus who shares the good news of the empty tomb, who seeks to bring resurrection into this life of ours: to rise above life’s sufferings and pain to give love and life to others, to renew and re-create our relationships with others, to proclaim the Gospel of the empty tomb.
Today we stand, with Peter and John and Mary, at the entrance of the empty tomb; with them, we wonder what it means. The Christ who challenged us to love one another is risen and walks among us! All that he taught – compassion, love, forgiveness, reconciliation, sincerity, selflessness for the sake of others – is vindicated and affirmed if he is truly risen. The empty tomb should not only console us and elate us, it should challenge us to embrace the life of the Gospel. With Easter faith, we can awaken the promise of the empty tomb in every place and moment we encounter on our journey through this life.
In Matthew’s Easter Gospel, the Risen Jesus instructs the stunned Mary and her companion to “go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.” Galilee is the place where Peter and the others were first called, where everything began — to return there means to see everything they experienced in following Jesus in the light of the cross and the empty tomb. Returning to Galilee transforms the horror of the past week into the new, radiant light of Easter — and, in that new light, their lives and ours are forever made new and whole. This Easter, may we make our way back to the Galilees of our life, to meet again God’s Risen One in the reconciling and healing peace of this holy season.
© Connections/MediaWorks. All rights reserved

Sermon

You can read the Pew Sheet here