Third Sunday of Easter, Sunday April 18th“Be still and know that I am God”. Lord, may your spirit guide us to seek Your Loving presence more and more. For it is there I find rest and refreshment from this world.

Jesus' Appearance While the Apostles are at Tableby Duccio di Buoninsegna (1255-1319)

IntroductionAlmighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known,and from whom no secrets are hidden:cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy name,through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hymn – Good Christians all, rejoice and sing

https://youtu.be/RowIQiL0jTU

Good Christians all, rejoice and sing!Now is the triumph of our King!To all the world glad news we bring:alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

The Lord of life is risen for ay:Bring flowers of song to strew his way;let all the earth rejoice and say:alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Praise we in songs of victorythat love, that life which cannot die,and sing with hearts uplifted high:alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

Your name we bless, O risen Lord,and sing today with one accordthe life laid down, the life restored:alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

PreparationIn baptism we died with Christ, so that as Christ was raised from the dead,we might walk in newness of life. Let us receive new life in himas we confess our sins in penitence and faith.

Jesus Christ, risen Master and triumphant Lord,we come to you in sorrow for our sins,and confess to you our weakness and unbelief.We have lived by our own strength,and not by the power of your resurrection.In your mercy, forgive us.

Lord, hear us and help us.

We have lived by the light of our own eyes,as faithless and not believing.In your mercy, forgive us.

Lord, hear us and help us.

We have lived for this world alone,and doubted our home in heaven.In your mercy, forgive us.

Lord, hear us and help us.

Almighty God, who in Jesus Christ has given usa kingdom that cannot be destroyed,forgive us our sins,open our eyes to God’s truth,strengthen us to do God’s willand give us the joy of his kingdom,through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The Collect for Third Sunday of Easter

Almighty Father, who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples with the sight of the risen Lord: give us such knowledge of his presence with us, that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life and serve you continually in

righteousness and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

The Liturgy of the WordFirst reading: Acts 3.12-19

Peter addressed the people, ‘You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you. ‘And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.’

Gospel Reading:  Luke 24.36b-48

Alleluia, alleluia. I am the first and the last, says the Lord, and the living one; I

was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore.    Alleluia.

While the eleven and their companions were talking about what they had heard, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence. Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you – that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.’ 

This is the Gospel of Christ

Reflection from RuthDear FriendsJust a little background to this week’s (Easter 3) readings ….Acts Chapter 3 reading takes place immediately after Peter heals a lame man, what a confusion that caused!!John writes his epistle - we think - during his old age, he had lived alongside Jesus when he was much younger and now is using his experience and memory

of that time to encourage the Christian church still in its infancy and coming up against all sorts of heresies. And Luke, Dr Luke was a physician and possible a Gentile. He was not one of the 12 apostles but possible one of the 70 disciples chosen by Jesus to go and preach the gospel in Luke 10. It gets harder by the day to hear the still small voice. There is a clamorous nature in our culture which makes dialogue, the healing of conflict or even simple understanding of a challenge increasingly difficult.Today’s world is full of disputes, large and small, Nations, ethnic groups, politicians shout each other down and bluster across the media and House of Commons. Members of some faith groups often insist their views are the only view and show apparent contempt for the good faith of those whose journey towards the truth does not run on the same tracks. This was also the world of Dr Luke, the disciples and of course our Lord Jesus Christ when on earth. The Roman empire was in charge, the Jewish religious leaders bowed to them to keep the peace and into this mix comes Jesus the Son of God the King of Kings!!! What were the disciples to do? What would you or I do? How would we or could we live in this world starting to turn upside down or is it beginning to turn upside down?Because Jesus does not bluster or nag or bully with words, He is telling about a different way to live and if only people will stand still or open our eyes and ears and listen, we will hear what He is telling us through scripture this morning.… I once attended a Quakers seminar on Leadership, during my ordination training (I was required to do a placement and I chose the Quakers.)They taught that that we should spend time and remember that in God’s eyes all are equal. That silence and waiting patiently on God can bring results so subtle and perfect that there is no doubt that God is in the answer. Every time I feel the urge to have the last word or forget to “consider it possible you may be mistaken”, I offend against truth and all its possibilities. It is sometimes said that the only thing that will get you thrown out of the Society of Friends is the conviction that you have all the answers!It seems the only way forward is the one that we read of in our scripture readings this morning. A way which is the hardest, whichever way you look at it …….. Repentance and forgiveness.

Luke shares with us that when Jesus appeared to his disciplesHe opened up the scriptures .. what does that mean?Don’t you think that the disciples minds must have been reeling, confused perhaps even fearful at the ‘happenings of the last few days and weeks in their lives?How does Jesus deal with this, How does he deal with us as we too are often are like those disciples, fearful, confused minds reeling at the ‘happenings’ of today?I’ll tell you how Jesus dealt with the disciples and how he wants to deal with us today …….. The answer is right here in the gospel!The church is to be rooted in scripture and active in mission.Repentance and forgiveness of sins are to be spoken to all nations.

Our gospel reading was written by Dr Luke to a Greek-speaking world. He wanted them to know that Christ’s message of God’s love and forgiveness should go to the whole world.Whatever the dissenting voices of our present-day world shout at us we must never ignore the worldwide power of the gospel of Christ.God wants the whole world to hear this gospel of his sacrificial love and forgiveness of sins when we repent and turn to him.Acts 2, Peter says ‘Repent therefore and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out’ John’s first Letter was written to do away with doubts and to reassure the early church,

Is Jesus really God? Did he really come to save sinners like us? Does God really care for me?

‘How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God,’(1 John 3 v 1)…. And that is what we are! We are members of God’s family; reflections of God, knowing that we are His children should encourage us to live as Jesus did.Finally.. A Christian acquaintance of the Duke of Wellington once asked him whether Christians should be evangelizing or not. The Duke who was wonderfully direct, said, ‘what are your orders?’The acquaintance replied ‘well we are told to go and proclaim in Christ’s name to all nations, repentance and forgiveness… ‘Very well’ said the Duke ‘Obey your orders.’Amen

Creed

Let us declare our faith in God.

We believe in God the Father,from whom every family in heaven and on Earth is named.

We believe in God the Son,Who lives in our hearts through faith and fills us with His love.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit,

Who strengthens us with power from on high.We believe in one God,Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Intercessions

Let us pray to the Father who raised His Son to life that we might live in him.

In our worship, and our openness to the spirit of life,in the work of the church -our Bishops, Philip and Hugh, our Parish priest, Brian, our Readers Peter and Graham, and Ruth and in all seekers and honest doubters

In this pray, May God be glorified.

Among the Nationsin all welfare programmesin peace-making missionsin struggles to uphold justicein aid to the hungry and homeless

In this we pray, May God be glorified.

In the loving and costly commitment of mothers and fathers, brothers and sistersdaughters and sons,In forgiveness in all lives shared and cherished.

In this we pray, May God be glorified.

In the work of caring, nursing and medicinein the work of Sarah our Parish Nursein kind interaction and the relief of pain and distress.In remembering those for who our prayers are asked....

In this we pray, May God be glorified.

In the twilight years and facing deathIn lives well lived now breaking into eternity.in the lives of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Richard Okorogheye....

In this we pray, May God be glorified.

In the freedom offered through forgivenessin the joy of the resurrection life,in the hope of eternity.

In this we pray, May God be glorified.

Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your son, our saviour Jesus Christ.   Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

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.

Hymn – All my hope on God is founded

https://youtu.be/W3LCGh02Vew

All my hope on God is founded;he doth still my trust renew,me through change and chance he guideth,only good and only true.God unknown,he alonecalls my heart to be his own.

Pride of man and earthly glory,sword and crown betray his trust;what with care and toil he buildeth,tower and temple fall to dust.But God's power,hour by hour,is my temple and my tower.

God's great goodness aye endureth,deep his wisdom, passing thought:splendour, light and life attend him,beauty springeth out of naught.Evermorefrom his storenew-born worlds rise and adore.

Still from man to God eternalsacrifice of praise be done,high above all praises praisingfor the gift of Christ, his Son.Christ doth callone and all:ye who follow shall not fall.

Final Prayers

Circle Us O God, Keep Peace within, keep strife withoutCircle Us O God, Keep hope within, keep despair withoutCircle Us O God, Keep Calm within, keep turmoil withoutCircle Us O God, Keep Strength within, keep weakness without

May the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,

that great shepherd of the sheep, make us perfect in every good work to do his will; the grace of God uphold us, the love of God flow from us and the

strength of God protect us and those we love and bring us safely through this day.

Amen