Doing Church Differently - Worship at Home 19th April 2020 provided by Sonia Butler and Revd. Richard Barrett
A note from Dalwyn
Before you move onto this week's worship material, I would like to draw your attention to All We Can's Coronavirus Appeal. It would be great if you could make time to look at their website, to see how ALL WE CAN are supporting efforts to combat the virus in other parts of the world. You will find details here https://www.allwecan.org.uk/give/current-appeals/emergencycoronavirusappea
Entering Worship
On this second week of Easter we focus on Thomas and his initial
reaction to Jesus resurrection. However, when Jesus appears to Thomas and
speaks directly to him those immortal words “Peace be with you” the response is
overwhelming. Are we ready to accept the invitation to embrace the risen Jesus?
Call to worship:
Come, embrace the risen Christ.
Come embrace the Prince of Peace.
Come, embrace his pierced hands.
Come, meet the Lord your God.
Hymn: STF.303 I know that my Redeemer lives.
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ,
We praise you for the message of Easter,
The assurance that life is not in vain,
That love is not blotted out, that faith is not futile.
We praise you that death is not the end but the new
beginning,
a gateway to heaven, a door to untold blessings
you hold in store for us.
receive the worship we offer you this day,
and teach us to live each day in the light of your
Easter triumph.
Risen Lord, lead us form death to life.
Gospel Reading: John
20:19-31 New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19 On the
evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with
the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among
them and said, “Peace be with you!” 20 After he said
this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they
saw the Lord.
21 Again Jesus
said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” 22 And
with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If
you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them,
they are not forgiven.”
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 Now Thomas
(also known as Didymus[a]), one of
the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So
the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But he said to them, “Unless I
see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put
my hand into his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later
his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the
doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with
you!” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here;
see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and
believe.”
28 Thomas said
to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus
told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who
have not seen and yet have believed.”
The Purpose of John’s Gospel
30 Jesus
performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not
recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you
may believe[b] that Jesus
is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his
name.
Hymn STF 316 vv 1,5 and 6 When Easter to the dark world came.(perhaps not one of the more familiar hymns but it
compliments the focus of our worship) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLuvrDNsM9U
“Would you
believe it” (Thomas) A meditation from Nick Fawcett’s “No Ordinary Man.”
Book 1.
Would you
believe it!
They’re all at
it now, the whole daft lot of them!
I never thought
I’d see the day.
Not Peter,
anyway I thought he had more sense.
And James and
John, hot-headed at times perhaps,
but they had
their heads screwed on, or so I thought.
OK, maybe the
others were a little suspect. Simon for one.
To be honest, I
felt he’d believe anything sometimes
And the rest,
they had their moments too, to put it kindly.
But this? Jesus
alive and kicking, dropping in on them for a quiet chat…..
Who are they
trying to kid? It really is beyond me.
I mean, they
were the first to mock when the women came back trembling and laughing
Like a bunch of
mixed up children.
We all agreed it
was nothing more than hysteria, poor things.
So what’s
changed? What’s got into them?
If you ask me
it’s this cursed waiting:
Waiting for the
sound of footsteps, waiting for the knock on the door,
Waiting for the
moment when we know it’s all up for us just as it was for him.
That’s enough to
make anyone go off their trolley.
But even so you
won’t catch me rabbiting on about Jesus being alive –
I’ll want more
than a few fanciful visions before I start doing that.
Let me touch him
perhaps, see the scars, put my hand in that spear-wound,
Feel where they
smashed those nails home, and then who knows it may be different.
But be honest,
what chance is there of that?
Do you believe
it could happen? I don’t.
Prayer:
Lord, Jesus Christ,
It is hard sometimes to believe,
In the face of frustrated hopes and broken dreams,
Of sorrow suffering and death,
We too, like Thomas, can find ourselves doubting,
Wanting irrefutable proof before we dare accept what we are told.
You appeared to Thomas and gave him the assurance he wanted,
But you also told him that those who have not seen but still believe are
most blessed of all.
Help us then, even when faith is hard, even when it’s a struggle to hold
on,
To put our trust in you knowing that you will not fail us.
AMEN
Reflection courtesy of Rev. Richard Barrett
Like the disciples in the story, we are locked indoors and like them we
are fearful –in our case, of contact with other people, of an uncertain future,
even the possibility of illness and death. We are forced to sit huddled
together, waiting for an unknown end, feeling helpless and vulnerable. For the disciples, their fear was of the authorities,
arrest and death, the hostility of
the people, but perhaps most of all, the question of having to face a risen
Jesus who they had deserted.
Jesus breaks through their lock-down with his greeting “Peace be with you”, no recrimination,
no rehearsing of past failures. A better word is the Hebrew word “Shalom”. “Peace” feels too negative and
flat. Shalom is such a rich, potent idea, which embraces not just forgiveness
and new relationships in community, but health, a long, fulfilled life and
wellbeing, safety and completeness- no-one missing out. It includes the
flourishing of the whole of creation- everything as it was meant to be. Sharing
the Peace in worship really does contain all that!
We could say Jesus came to spread Shalom and the
risen Christ sends his disciples out to take Shalom into the world.
How desperately our world needs to hear it now! Easter gives us hope that after
all this, things can be different. Post austerity, post Brexit, post
coronavirus, we can break from the past.
A new world – surely we have grasped that global
warming requires such emergency measures as one planet; a new politics – surely
we understand that the old economic models are finished and all accept the
central role of the state for the common good; a new community –we have been
amazed at the recent public spirit and care for the vulnerable, the recognition
of key workers who support us; a new sense of what matters in life – family,
friends, neighbours, care and dedication, security and comfort, health and
wellbeing -both physical and mental, praying for others and knowing you are
held in their prayers, the day- to- day joys of just being alive.
What we must not do is waste this opportunity of real change and settle
for less. Christ’s resurrection means taking a gigantic step to bring Shalom
nearer.
But in the story Thomas has
an important message for those who would take up Jesus’ mission. When he says
he has to see Jesus’ hands and side before he will believe, he is not just
wanting to prove it really is him, like seeing a mole on his face that would
identify him. He is saying he must be sure that Jesus really did suffer and
die, that he bled from the spear wound, that his hands were pierced by nails.
When John was writing, some people doubted this, believing it unthinkable for
God to die. John is saying in his gospel
that the human face of this man of
flesh and blood reveals God’s glory, full of grace and truth, in his life and death and resurrection. Here is life as it
is meant to be lived, with no fear of death because it is not the end.
With this epidemic we have come face to face with the reality of death. It is random and unpredictable. Loved ones
are dying alone, separated from family. Proper funerals are no longer possible.
It is apparently not a gentle, peaceful death. And Jesus chose to die because
of his commitment to the truth and his care for others which he believed was
God’s will – the way of Shalom.
There is much talk of “defeating
the enemy” – the virus and even death. Neither are actually our enemies.
Terrible as the coronavirus is, viruses are part of the natural world and have
played their part in evolution and the spread of diversity and now in genetic
engineering. The risk of getting ill and building up immunity and hopefully
getting better is part of life. We will never remove viruses, we have to learn
how to live with them. Though we try to deny it, death too is part of life. The
artist David Hockney recently observed that the cause of death is birth.
But we fear them. Christ’s death
and resurrection tells us not to be afraid but to follow his way of self-sacrifice, of wounded bodies and hands. How many medical staff and carers, bus
drivers and key workers, charity workers and volunteers, have shown
extraordinary selflessness over the last days.
When Jesus was asked to go to see his sick friend Lazarus near Jerusalem
where his opponents were, Thomas said “Let us go and die with him”. We are told
Thomas ended his life a martyr in India.
Jesus’
disciples must bear the marks of the cross if they are to stand for Shalom in this world. That means costly forgiveness to heal the
divisions in our society, standing up for the vulnerable, taking action about
global warming.
This Easter the risen Jesus comes to us through the
locked doors of our fear and says “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so
I send you.”
PRAYERS for Others
The risen Jesus showed his disciples his wounded
hands. Let us pray for those today whose hands are worn and weary in doing
good:
Those who carry out tests on the sick and health workers, those caring
for the sick in hospitals, ambulances, hospices, care homes and their own
homes, those aching to hold the hands of the dying, those whose hands are
clasped in prayer for themselves or others, those preparing the bodies of those
who have died, those knocking on neighbours’ doors, those delivering food and
medicine , those who continue to drive buses and trains and lorries.
Give them grace and strength for their tasks and decisions they must
make.
Lord in
your mercy, hear our prayer.
Those whose hands are empty with little to feed their families, whose
future looks uncertain, those who struggle with constantly living together,
those who are alone and fearful, those who feel depressed and anxious.
Give them the support they need and a sense of calm in their
struggles.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
Those whose hands are occupied with experiments and research to speed
the end of the epidemic as safely as possible.
Give
them insight and perseverance to find solutions,
Lord in
your mercy, hear our prayer.
And we do not forget those, not on the front line, in whose hands are
responsibilities for resources and strategies.
Give them wisdom and courage, honesty and sensitivity.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
We give you thanks for the outpouring of good will and continued self-
sacrifice by so many, for all those worn and weary hands doing good in the
midst of distress and need. At Easter we remember your self- giving on the
cross which death could not end. We rejoice to witness it in action today.
Give us faith and hope through these dark days until the dawn breaks on
a new day.
Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.
As we say the Lord’s Prayer
Closing Hymn: STF 314.
This Joyful Eastertide
Closing prayer (adapted from Roots)
Let us take the touch of the risen Christ,
And the peace that he gives, and
May the grace………
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