Worship at Home - Sunday 26th April - Easter 3

Worship at Home - Sunday April 26th 2020 

On the Road to Emmaus

Before you engage in this act of worship - you may wish to spend some time familiarising yourself with the hymn that comes after the sermon and leads into a time of quiet contemplation  - StF 371 - the track below is played by Pete recorded especially for this act of worship
https://youtu.be/sgoMx3RS1fs

Introduction

The lectionary readings set for today, take us back two weeks to an event that took place later on the day and into the evening of the third day after Jesus' death.  This relaxed attitude to chronology, reminds us of the mystery of the resurrection that goes beyond our human desire for data, calculations and conclusions.  

Perhaps it helps us to understand the difficulty being faced by our government at the moment who find themselves sitting in the tense place between wanting to be 'lead by the science' but feeling that they need to respond appropriately to the emotion, generated, to some extent, by the media, which plays on people's anxieties and uncertainties. 

It reminds us, maybe, that our resurrection faith, rests on more than just the measurable and quantifiable data.  That is not to say that it defies such verifiable information, but it is to say that it cannot rely entirely upon it.

Opening words of Scripture

It is written

What no eye has seen,

what no ear has heard,

what no human mind has conceived - 

the things God has prepared for those who love him - 

these are the things that God has revealed to us by his Spirit.  (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

Let us begin our worship today by asking God's Spirit to open our eyes to see, our ears to hear and our minds to conceive those things that God is teaching us today.    

Hymn - Spirit of Faith Come Down - Tune Diademata. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7WdUonorUA - there are 3 verses here but hopefully enough to get you going! 

1 Spirit of faith, come down,

Reveal the things of God;

And make to us the Godhead known,

And witness with the blood:

'Tis thine the blood to apply,

And give us eyes to see,

Who did for every sinner die,

Hath surely died for me.

2 No one can truly say

That Jesus is the Lord,

Unless thou take the veil away,

And breathe the living word;

Then, only then, we feel

Our interest in his blood,

And cry, with joy unspeakable:

'Thou art my Lord, my God!'

3 O that the world might know

The all-atoning Lamb!

Spirit of faith, descend, and show

The virtue of his name;

The grace which all may find,

The saving power, impart,

And testify to humankind,

And speak in every heart.

4 Inspire the living faith,

Which whosoe'er receives,

The witness in himself they have,

And consciously believe;

The faith that conquers all,

And doth the mountain move,

And saves whoe'er on Jesus call,

And perfects them in love.

Charles Wesley (1707-1788)

Prayers for Ourselves and Others

Almighty God,

You search us and know us,

the thoughts and desires of our hearts lie open before you,

Send your Spirit and help us to pray,

We pray for those for whom not-knowing brings threat and anxiety,

those who are separated from loved ones and for whom being in contact is difficult,

those who are unable to visit the sick in hospitals and care-homes,

Send your Spirit and help us to pray,

We pray for those for whom too much information causes unrest and distress,

those whose time at home is filled with watching, listening or reading the news

and who are unable to process excessive or conflicting information

Send your Spirit and help us to pray,

We pray for those who are unable to grieve for loved ones in ways they normally would,

family who cannot attend funerals because they live too far away, are too ill or vulnerable,

friends who cannot share their memories because gathering is not possible.

Send your Spirit and help us to pray,

We pray for doctors, nurses and other carers who seek to treat the sick,

for researchers and scientists who search for treatments and vaccines,

for all whose work on the front-line brings them into close contact with Coronavirus

Send your Spirit and help us to pray,

These and all our prayers we ask in Jesus' name who taught us when we pray to say,

The Lord's prayer

Hymn - StF 296 - Christ has risen - (can be sung to Blaenwern or Hyfrydol)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wMTJK6Z8HU

1 Christ has risen while earth slumbers,  

Christ has risen where hope died,  

as he said and as he promised,  

as we doubted and denied.  

Let the moon embrace the blessing;  

let the sun sustain the cheer;  

let the world confirm the rumour.  

Christ is risen, God is here!  

2 Christ has risen for the people    

whom he died to love and save;    

Christ has risen for the women    

bringing flowers to grace his grave    

Christ has risen for disciples    

huddled in an upstairs room.    

He whose word inspired creation    

can't be silenced by the tomb. 

3 Christ has risen to companion   

former friends who fear the night,   

sensing loss and limitation   

where their faith had once burned bright.   

They bemoan what is no longer,   

they expect no hopeful sign   

till Christ ends their conversation,   

breaking bread and sharing wine.  

4 Christ has risen and forever    

lives to challenge and to change    

all whose lives are messed or mangled,    

all who find religion strange.    

Christ is risen. Christ is present    

making us what he has been -

evidence of transformation    

in which God is known and seen. 

John L Bell (born 1949) and Graham Maule (1958-2019)

© 1988 WGRG, c/o Iona Community, 21 Carlton Court, Glasgow, G5 9JP, Scotland. 

Engaging with Scripture

Reading Luke 24:13-35 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)On the road to Emmaus

Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognising him. 

He asked them, ‘What are you discussing together as you walk along?’ 

They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, ‘Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?’ 

‘What things?’ he asked. 

‘About Jesus of Nazareth,’ they replied. ‘He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.’ 

He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. 

As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going further. But they urged him strongly, ‘Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.’ So he went in to stay with them. 

When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognised him, and he disappeared from their sight. 

They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’ 

They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, ‘It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.’ 

Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognised by them when he broke the bread.

Picture used in https://witshadows.wordpress.com/2012/04/22/journeys-on-the-road/

Reflection

Living in a post-modern society that places so much importance on the, so-called, STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Electronics and Mathematics), means that for many of us, the idea of living with 'not-knowing' is unimaginable.  We have been encouraged to have a thirst for knowledge: as the maxim would have it, "knowledge is power."  It is no accident, then, that our television schedules are filled with quizzes of various shapes and sizes, where knowing stuff enables people to become winners.  I sometimes wonder, whether this emphasis on facts, data and information means that we have lost sight of what it means to learn and to know at a deeper and more meaningful level.

When I was a school-leader, I would often refer to Dickens' novel, Hard Times.  I felt that his critical analysis of the modern approach to schooling still spoke with amazing insight to educators in the early twenty-first century.  

The novel opens with the main character, Thomas Gradgrind, espousing his educational philosophy:

‘Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. ‘

He ends his oration with the grand conclusion, ‘In this life, we want nothing but Facts, sir; nothing but Facts!’ 

Dickens' describes this as all taking place in a "plain, bare, monotonous vault of a school-room" and Thomas Gradgrind he tells us is "A man of realities. A man of facts and calculations."  

The book (Dickens' shortest) goes on to describe the tension between Gradgrind's monochromatic, and dare I say, boring, view of the world and the more colourful outlook on life introduced by one his pupils, Sissy Jupe.  Dickens clearly intends us to conclude that Sissy’s more colourful view of the world informed by the arts and imagination as well as facts is a more reasonable and realistic perspective.  We see through the story how Gradgrind's philosophy impacts his own children, who both end up broken and wounded by the insistence that their whole lives should be based only on that which can be measured, verified and known without doubt to be true.

Dickens’ point, is that we must appreciate that life is multi-dimensional and people’s way of learning and understanding the world is diverse and colourful.  Facts and calculations cannot account for all that it means to be human; they cannot provide us with all of the answers to life’s big questions.  So how do we respond to the idea that learning to live a full life is more than gathering facts and making calculations?

When it comes to Christ’s resurrection, there are plenty who have sought to reduce it to a scientific theorem that can be proved and tested.  I will not deny that this approach appeals to some, but I would suggest that even those who need to start in such a way will ultimately discover that the Risen Christ is experienced just as much in mystery as in neat answers to scientific enquiries.  That point comes out in today’s reading as Luke introduces his story of Cleopas and his companion by telling us that Jesus' intentionally keeps his identity hidden from them?

We find themes of veiling and unveiling and different ways of knowing at the heart of this story.

Jesus not only veils his identity, but at first he keeps his knowledge of the events to himself.  He opens his conversation with the two disciples by allowing them to believe that he knows little of what has happened in Jerusalem.  This is presented as a device, used by Jesus, to draw out the disciples' own knowledge and understanding, and especially to reveal the gaps in their understanding of who he was.  (It is a common device by teachers to hold back their own knowledge and understanding in order to illicit the prior learning of those who are being taught.)

Verses 19-24 contains the summary of their knowledge and understanding and whilst they say nothing outrageously untrue, it is clear that they have not fully grasped the purpose of Christ’s mission on earth.  Their concluding remark doesn’t just describe the experience of the disciples who visited Jesus’ tomb, it is a useful hinge in Luke’s story of how Jesus’ identity remains veiled to all of his followers.  "They did not see Jesus.” (v24)

Despite their closeness to him, seeing him perform miracles and hearing his teaching, the group of disciples still did not fully grasp the fullness of who Jesus was.  Do any of us?  The disciples are confused, distressed and, of course, grieving, but this alone does not account for their veiled understanding.  In terms of experience, it is true, up to this point, on that day, none of the men had set eyes on this Jesus who the women had reported seeing, alive. (see Mt 28:8-10 and Jn 20:11-18)  Their lack of sight is not just about their disbelief of the women’s’ testimony,  during the years of his ministry, they had not fully seen who this Jesus is and what it was that he had come to do.

A veil remains over their eyes and yet Jesus had tried to teach them about his death and resurrection in preparation for these events.  It seems that their vision of God’s kingdom was limited by their concentration on the 'now'.  Their understanding is still informed by their desire for the physical redemption and liberation of Israel. (v21)  Their minds are full of Roman occupiers who need to be driven out in order to allow Gods people to raise up their own nation with its own government and religion.  They are looking for immediate answers to immediate problems.  How often do we find ourselves unable to see the wood for the trees; getting caught up with the detail of this moment and not allowing ourselves to step back and take a wider view of what God is doing in our lives? 

Sometimes we think that the answer lies in gathering more and better information.  It is tempting for us to become addicted to rolling news hoping to catch some snippet that will make sense of everything. 

Luke makes it clear that the answer to the disciples’ problem (and ours) does not lie in just gathering more and better data, even Jesus’ opening of Scripture does not provide them with all that they need to see and understand.  Whilst a fuller understanding of the revelation of Scripture helped provide answers and prepared the ground, only a living encounter with the Risen Christ would begin to unveil their eyes and dissipate their questions and uncertainty.  There is more to knowing than just having the facts to hand.  Faith is not, as someone once said, "having the smartest answers to the hardest questions." 

Scripture is the primary source of our faith and studying it and meditating upon it is important if we are to grow in knowledge and understanding.    However, if we approach the Scriptures merely to harvest information, in order to prove a point we miss that the written text is really about: it points us to the Living Word – Jesus.  Jesus himself said: 

"You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life.  These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life."  (John 5:39-40)

So, even after a Bible lesson delivered by the best Teacher, the Living Word himself, Cleopas and his friend are still not able to fully grasp what Christ’s death and resurrection are all about.   Their hearts have been stirred by Jesus’ teaching, but they still need something else to unveil their understanding.  Something that goes beyond facts, information and data.  That 'something else' isn't going to be delivered in the classroom, the church pew or the university library.  The 'something else' is a personal, real and almost intangible experience of the presence of Jesus.  It is a moment when their knowledge is transformed into a lived-out reality and it comes in the context of a very ordinary act: the blessing of bread at the table.  Do we live in the expectation that the things that we have learned will be transformed by moments of encounter and that these may occur in any place at any time?  

It is moments of encounter that make the difference.  It is these fleeting moments that give us living faith, transforming our Christianity from being a religion to be studied into a life to be lived.  The structured lessons of the classroom are certainly important, but they are not the be all and the end all.  Likewise, the learning we do when we hear sermons and participate in Bible studies are important, but that learning becomes real in the everyday, ordinary experiences of life.  These disciples only truly understood when their knowledge was put together with an experience at the meal-table in a moment of unveiling.

They needed a moment of insight to see that the one whose teaching had caused their hearts to burn within them was the One who had, three days earlier, broken the bread and given it new meaning and significance.  Only then, could they begin to truly grasp the wonder that was unfolding before them. 

Such moments may be so momentary as to be almost unbelievable, sometimes we question ourselves, wondering whether we have truly seen what we think we have.  Moments of revelation, like this, cannot be measured or calculated.  They are moments, as someone once put to me, when you “know it in your knower.” 

In that moment of recognition around the Emmaus table, once the two disciples saw him for who he was, he was gone.  It was a fleeting moment of insight, a flash of understanding, of knowing; an instant of unveiling, which gave way, as so often they do, to a new veiling. 

But such moments can be enough.   Enough for God to grant us the gift of a slightest spark of faith; enough to allow us to see something of the Risen Christ; enough to move us beyond facts and calculations into knowing.    They can be enough to enable us to endure ordinary days and even extraordinary days. 

And these are, indeed, extraordinary days.   Our vision of God’s presence in these days may be built upon the lessons that were learnt so long ago.  Such vision may show us that we have relied so much on some things that are not of substance whilst missing other things that are in fact the reality of God and God’s kingdom among us. 

We may find ourselves asking God to do for us what he did for the disciples at Emmaus.  To transfigure our ordinary and solitary moments into opportunities for encounters with the Living Presence of the Risen Christ.  To recalibrate our compass, so that we can begin to direct our lives towards Christ’s risen power and away from the immediate moment with its questions and certainties.

Are our moments of seeing enough for us?  Or are we tempted to cast them aside too quickly, in the search for hard information, data and facts?  Are we grasping hold of the 'now;’ in a desire to reclaim the old ‘normal’ because it was where we were most comfortable?  Do we demand instant answers to immediate problems?  Or are we willing to rest in the arms of the Eternal One, trusting that God will reveal his nature in his own way and his own time and reshape our lives and our perspective?

Let us pray, that God's Spirit will help us to continue to learn so that our hearts burn within us.

Let us ask God to continue to give us those moments of insight that are enough to convince us that beyond the facts of now lies a whole realm of mystery that God is just waiting to disclose to us and invite us to enter into.  There is life beyond the veil in which we are all invited to participate. 

Let us pray that God will give us patience to rest in the presence of the Eternal One who has promised never to leave us or forsake us.     Amen

Hymn - StF 371 - Breathe on me, Spirit of Jesus
https://youtu.be/sgoMx3RS1fs

1 Breathe on me, Spirit of Jesus.

Breathe on me, Holy Spirit of God.

2 Fill me again, Spirit of Jesus.

Fill me again, Holy Spirit of God.

3 Change my heart, Spirit of Jesus.

Change my heart, Holy Spirit of God.

4 Bring peace to the world, Spirit of Jesus.

Bring peace to the world, Holy Spirit of God. 

Tina Pownall

© 1987 Sovereign Music UK, PO Box 356, Leighton Buzzard, LU7 3WP, UK. sovereignm@aol.com. Used by permission.

Prayers to centre our attention on God.

We pray a prayer based on the words of Richard of Chichester

Almighty and everlasting God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
I turn my attention to you, to worship you.

[In silence, give yourself time and space for your thoughts and breathing to slow down and for your attention to settle on God and God's presence with you as your worship.  

You may find it useful to concentrate on your breathing, in order to help silence the 'sound' of your thoughts.  

Some people find it useful to choose a sacred word to help centre their thoughts and attention on God.  When other thoughts and distractions come in, the sacred word can help us to return to God]

When your time of silence in God's presence comes to its natural end, you may wish to pray these words of Richard of Chichester.

O Dear Lord,
three things I pray:
to see you more clearly,
to love you more dearly
and follow you more nearly,
day by day.

Hymn  StF 141 Abide with Me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiLNTWFV6j8

1 Abide with me; fast falls the eventide:

the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide:

when other helpers fail, and comforts flee,

help of the helpless, O abide with me.

2 Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;

earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away;

change and decay in all around I see:

O thou who changest not, abide with me.

3 I need thy presence every passing hour;

what but thy grace can foil the tempter's power?

Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be?

Through cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me.

4 I fear no foe with thee at hand to bless;

ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness.

Where is death's sting? Where, grave, thy victory?

I triumph still, if thou abide with me.

5 Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes;

shine through the gloom, and point me to the skies;

heaven's morning breaks, and earth's vain shadows flee;

in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.

Henry Francis Lyte (1793-1847)