John 1: 1 – 5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

Reflection

Wow, what a beginning! In reading the opening of John’s gospel we can imagine it being accompanied by a fanfare of momentous music.  John certainly does not skimp in his description of the cosmic context of what is going on here.

The author is already familiar with what the other gospel writers have said about this Jesus Christ. He is well versed in Jewish learning and has a profound understanding of Greek thought and philosophy … and now brings all this together in this stupendously spiritual gospel. As John Marsh commented: “The result is a unified piece of theological writing unmatched in Christian literature.”

In contrast to the other gospels, John opens the stage curtain for his gospel drama not with Jesus’ lineage going back to Abraham or Adam but instead to creation itself. In fact, he wonderfully transports us to BEFORE creation, so that we see the entrance of Jesus not as a third Act development but having been fundamentally built into the very fabric of the whole dramatic narrative from the outset.   

Jesus is the Word, the Logos, which has resonances in both Jewish and Greek thought, and conveys a sense of the central essence, the creative purpose and dynamic being of God. This force was there, fashioning creation in Genesis and is here now at the beginning of this gospel forging a new creation.

And we the reader, the disciple, have the prime position, not just to sit in the stalls, but to step up on to the stage itself. We are privileged to be part of this wonderful narrative, to be invited to enter into this new creation through the loving transforming salvation that Christ brings.

I wonder in our day-to-day discipleship – perhaps at times routine and uninspired – do we really appreciate what an astonishing invitation is being offered.

Prayer

Creator God,
Numinous Logos
Saviour Christ
Co-eternal with the Creator
We stand in awe and wonder
We are overwhelmed with gratitude
As we begin to comprehend
the astounding grace
inviting us to enter your new creation.
Amen. 

 

worship to comfort & inspire, excite & energise

Order of Service Below you will find the Order of Service, prayers, hymns and sermon for today’s service.   You can either simply read this or you can   to listen to the service and sing along with the hymns.  This will open up a new screen, at the bottom of the screen you will see a play symbol.  Press that, then come back to this window so you can follow along with the service.

Sunday Worship from the United Reformed Church for Sunday 4 May 2025   Today’s service is led by the Revd Andy Braunston   Welcome Hello and welcome to worship as we continue to celebrate the season of Easter.  My name is Andy Braunston and I have the privilege of serving as the United Reformed Church’s Minister for Digital Worship; I live up in the beautiful island County of Orkney off Scotland’s far north coast.  We’re well into spring now and summer is coming.  Here in Orkney, we are ablaze with colour with primroses, bluebells and orchids all in flower and the rare Scottish Primrose is out too alongside meadow buttercup, flag-iris, and marsh marigold.  The birds are nesting, and visitors are starting to come to see the puffins, guillemots and fulmars; the fields around us are alive with the sound of curlew in their breeding season as nature gives thanks to the Risen Lord.  As we journey through Eastertide we are going to think today of the conversion of a zealot fundamentalist who was happy to murder to keep faith pure.  Yet Saul was stopped in his tracks and had his life turned around by a vision of the Risen One.   So with nature and with Paul let us worship God together. Call to Worship Had Christ not been risen from the dead: our faith would be in vain, but he burst forth from his three-day prison banishing sin and sorrow. Even though we know that, like flowers and plants,  we will slumber for a season, we know that when the trumpet sounds, we will rise with Christ. Death no longer has the power to chill us, since Christ crossed death’s flood and, in God’s good time, Jesus will deliver our souls. Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!  Alleluia! Hymn     This Joyful Eastertide George Ratcliffe Woodward (1848-1934) Public Domain sung by Josh Turner This joyful Eastertide, away with sin and sorrow. My Love, the Crucified, hath sprung to life this morrow: Had Christ, that once was slain, ne’er burst his three-day prison, our faith had been in vain: but now hath Christ arisen, arisen, arisen, arisen. My flesh in hope shall rest, and for a season slumber: till trump from east to west shall wake the dead in number:  Had Christ, that once was slain, ne’er burst his three-day prison, our faith had been in vain: but now hath Christ arisen, arisen, arisen, arisen. Death’s flood hath lost its chill, since Jesus crossed the river: Lover of souls, from ill my passing soul deliver:  Had Christ, that once was slain, ne’er burst his three-day prison, our faith had been in vain: but now hath Christ arisen, arisen, arisen, arisen. Prayers of Approach, Confession and Grace O Most High, we bring You our praises for all that is good in our lives, for the change in the seasons, refreshing showers and sun-filled days, new life around us in field and flower, nest and den, and in our lives – where Your love banishes the chill of death, saving us from loneliness, despair, and degradation.   O Risen Lord, You call us again and again to turn our lives around and follow You, sometimes we pretend not to hear You, sometimes we wait for blinding visions before following, and sometimes we just go our own way. Forgive us, Good Lord, and give us time to change; time to hear You afresh, time to follow, time to turn around. O Healing Spirit, You are at work deep within us, bringing about change, refreshing tired lives, and opening jaded eyes. Remind us, again and again, of Your presence,  driving us to love and serve, helping us to see our world and our neighbours as You do and ever making us holy and whole, Amen. Like a father who runs to welcome home the estranged, God is loving. Like a mother eagle teaching her young to fly, God is steadfast. Like a rock on which we stand, God is secure. So, accept the loving, steadfast, secure forgiveness offered to you, forgive those who have wounded you,  and have the courage to forgive yourselves;  that you may be examples of God’s steadfast and secure love to those around you.  Amen. Introduction In our readings today we hear of Saul, the murderous fundamentalist teacher on a mission to hunt down Christians stopped in his track and blinded by his encounter with the Risen Lord.  This dangerous zealot became the Church’s most famous early missionary and theologian founding churches all over the Mediterranean world and whose writings have informed, and puzzled, the Church ever since.  Psalm 30 with it’s powerful movement of praise of the One who raised the poet from the miry pit is appropriate when thinking of how Saul’s life was turned around. This ancient poet, like Paul in later centuries, knew both the sorrow and joy of life.  Finally, in our reading from Revelation, we have a vision of heavenly praise where the angels and saints praise the Lamb who was slain and who, through his death and new life offers humanity redemption.  Let’s pray and then listen for God’s word.   Prayer of Illumination O God, sometimes it is as if You are hiding in plain sight; we sense Your presence like perfume in the air,  or movement in the stillness, but fail to see where You are at work. You have revealed Yourself in cloud and fire, in miracle and majesty,  in sacred word and precious law, but most of all You reveal Yourself in Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh. Be with us now as that Word made flesh is exposed and proclaimed  in ancient and contemporary words, that the scales may fall  from our eyes, and we behold You face to face.  Amen.   Reading     Acts 9:1-20 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank. Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength. For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” Psalm 30  Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. I will extol you, O LORD, for you have drawn me up and did not let my foes rejoice over me. O LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Sing praises to the LORD,  O you God’s faithful ones, and give thanks to God’s holy name. God is angry but for a moment; but God’s favour lasts a lifetime.  Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” By your favour, O LORD, you had established me as a strong mountain; you hid your face; I was dismayed. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. To you, O LORD, I cried, and to the LORD I made supplication: “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit?  Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?” Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me!  O LORD, be my helper! You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.  O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Hymn     Lord of Creation, To You Be All Praise! Jack Copley Winslow 1882-1974 OneLicence A-734713  sung by Gareth Moore of the Isle of Man Methodist Church and used with his kind permission.   Lord of creation, to you be all praise!       Most mighty your working, most wondrous your ways!       Your glory and might are beyond us to tell,       and yet in the heart of the humble you dwell.  Lord of all power, I give you my will,       in joyful obedience your tasks to fulfil.       Your bondage is freedom, your service is song;       and, held in your keeping, my weakness is strong.  Lord of all wisdom, I give you my mind;       rich truth that surpasses our knowledge to find,       what eye has not seen and what ear has not heard       is taught by your Spirit and shines from your word.  Lord of all bounty, I give you my heart;       I praise and adore you for all you impart,            your love to inspire me, your counsel to guide,       your presence to shield me, whatever betide.  Lord of all being, I give you my all;      if ever I leave you, I stumble and fall;       but led in your service your word to obey,      I’ll walk in your freedom to the end of the way.    Reading     Revelation 5:11-14 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing!” Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them, singing, “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the elders fell down and worshiped. Sermon Often it’s the unbidden crises in our lives that brings about deep and meaningful change.  Back in the early 1990s I was sure of just one thing; I hated Manchester.  I’d visited a few times and found it rather down at heel and boring.  An unexpected, and painful, relationship failure meant I ended up living in Manchester and, to my surprise, I found I rather liked the place and ended up living and ministering there for 25 years or so.  They say that the addict has to reach rock bottom before deciding to change – often reaching rock bottom is connected to loosing work, children or a relationship.  In our first two readings today we hear of crises; Saul’s encounter with the Risen Lord whose followers he’d been mercilessly persecuting and the ancient unnamed poet who believed God’s power had turned mourning into dancing, night time tears into joyful mornings.  Saul’s change of life recalls the dangerous discipleship offered to God’s people in our reading from Revelation.  Three passages with much to offer us in these joyful days of Easter.   Saul’s zeal in opposing the Church reads as a modern-day fundamentalist railing against decadent Western culture only too happy to kill to achieve his goals.  Imagine if such a fundamentalist turned in his tracks, had an encounter with God that so changed him that not only his own future – but the world’s – was changed.  Paul’s conversion here is as life changing and significant.  The account of his conversion has resonances with that of God’s calling of Moses with the drama of a burning bush, or Ezekiel responding to God by falling to the ground.  Like Moses before him Saul does not recognize God when he is spoken to.   The story is one many of us learned in Sunday School; the murderous persecutor of the Church becomes its greatest asset.  It’s an interesting passage to preach from though as I assume that most URC congregations are unlikely to have murderous zealots present thinking about whether they should convert.  We may, however, have folk who are on the edge spiritually – even if they are at the heart of the community:   The addict clinging to bottle or needle instead of to life. The workaholic putting their all into work instead of relationship or family. The person who can’t forgive and so lets another’s actions dominate.  The lover full of revenge at being jilted who can’t let go and plans destructive patterns of stalking and violence The employer whose internal prejudices about equality and diversity are now validated by the actions of politicians and the so called “tech bros” The demanding parent incapable of giving a child a break The sports person utterly incapable of being sporting We can all relate to the headstrong Saul who could not believe  he was wrong,  he had been unaware of the harm his burning ambition did,  how addictive his behaviour was, and  how the harm he wished upon others harmed him too.   What happens to us when we see the light?  What happens when we turn around and walk in paths that lead to light?  There’s opposition of course;  a friend realised he had a drink problem and stopped drinking alcohol and realised how almost his entire social circle found this disturbing.  He wasn’t telling them to go dry but he found any social interaction resulted in heavy pressure to join them in a drink.   The workaholic who determines not to answer emails after work, who stops getting in early and finishing late may find their employers think they are not hard workers anymore – forgetting that rested employees work better than exhausted ones.   The risk in forgiving can seem too huge as to be as paralysing as holding onto resentment.   Revenge may be delicious served cold but rarely satisfies and letting go of pain can result in a huge sense of loss;  Ugly prejudices coming the fore are the bane of our contemporary world where political leaders relish unleashing hatred but letting go of them may appear to be counter cultural these days. Discipleship is an ongoing change of direction in life; a movement always turning towards the light and away from the gloom.  An ever-conscious effort to see the error of our ways.  And, guess what, that turning towards Turning to God’s light is a continued action as we’re constantly called back.  Some of Paul’s later attitudes are ones many of us would recoil from now; even with a dramatic conversion experience Paul seems, at times, torn between seeing women as co-workers and church leaders yet, at the same time, tells them to be silent in church.  Paul proclaimed social equality yet returned a slave to his master.  He needed, just as we do, to turn back again and again, to the blinding light of God’s presence.   The ancient poet who wrote Psalm 30 had a life changing experience; the present, future and past all feature in the poem in praise of the God who rescued the writer from the pit.  No wonder the Psalm is paired with our first reading about Paul’s conversion.  In the face of God’s wondrous work, the Psalmist commanded readers to sing God’s praises; yet the poet’s view of God was nuanced – seeing anger, if only for a moment, in the divine make up.  Sincere praise recognises both the night time weeping and morning joy inherent in life and discipleship.   In the middle of the Psalm, we get a glimpse of the personal tragedy which had been alluded to in the opening verses.  The Psalmist had been well established, as firm as a mountain.  There had been prosperity which had been interpreted as God’s favour, yet God’s face was hidden and the poet dismayed. The immovable poet moved; the secure psalmist became insecure; the rich faithful disciple became poor. Life changed in some way; we presume not in a good way.  Maybe illness, maybe personal tragedy but huge significant change took away all the foundations of the poet’s life; like Saul hundreds of years later there’s disruption and all that was once held dear is found to be lacking.  Yet in these moments of crisis life changing events happen and discipleship is honed. In the passage from Revelation we are offered two short hymns extracted from a larger section. (starting at v1).  The hymns are two parts of a three-hymn set all acknowledging the sovereignty of the Lamb who had been slain; the Lamb’s authority comes not from a lion’s roar but from his death and resurrection. The Lamb’s authority comes from the redemption of his people through his death and resurrection; his people are called to a dangerous discipleship which might also result in their deaths; a call which, for Saul, started on the road to Damascus and ended with execution in Rome.  This is a call still given to those now who die for their faith at the hands of fundamentalists every bit as zealous as Saul was.   It’s the crises in life which shake us up and give us the opportunity to turn our lives around.  Saul could have rejected the vision and sunk into greater depths of hatred; instead he turned around choosing a path of dangerous discipleship – a path that led to his eventual death.   Whilst such conversion experiences are rare there is much in our own lives we need to continually turn away from; the crises of our time give us time to change and re-evaluate how we live.  There is much the Church can do to help those who wish to change, to be freed from the miry pits of life. Our Psalm, and the reading from Revelation, remind us that praise should be grounded in the reality of life, even painful reality.  It’s easy to sing praises when all is going well; much harder when we’re in the pit of despair.  In Revelation we see the Lamb who was slain and raised from the dead, whose death redeemed us, the Lamb who calls us, just as he called Paul, to follow and live lives of committed discipleship.  Let’s pray: Give us the courage, Good Lord, to follow. Help us to see You at work when crises come, to see how our lives need to change so that our discipleship is genuine, our trust increased,  and night’s sorrow turned into morning joy.  Amen. Hymn     All I Once Held Dear Graham Kendrick © 1993 Make Way Music OneLicence A-734713  BBC Songs of Praise   All I once held dear, built my life upon, all this world reveres and wars to own. All I once thought gain I have counted loss; spent and worthless now, compared to this. Knowing you, Jesus knowing you,  there is no greater thing! You’re my all, you’re the best; You’re my joy, my righteousness And I love you, Lord. Now my heart’s desire is to know you more; to be found in You and known as Yours, to possess by faith what I could not earn: all-surpassing gift of righteousness. Knowing you, Jesus knowing you,  there is no greater thing! You’re my all, you’re the best; You’re my joy, my righteousness And I love you, Lord.   Oh, to know the power of your risen life, and to know You in Your sufferings; to become like you in your death, my Lord: so with you to live and never die. Knowing you, Jesus knowing you,  there is no greater thing! You’re my all, you’re the best; You’re my joy, my righteousness And I love you, Lord. Affirmation of Faith As followers of Jesus Christ, living in this world— which some seek to control, and others view with despair – we declare with joy and trust: our world belongs to God! From the beginning, through all the crises of our times, until the Kingdom fully comes, God keeps covenant forever for: our world belongs to God! In our world, where many journey alone, nameless in the bustling crowd, evil forces seek whom they may scatter and isolate; but God gathers a new community — those who by God’s gift put their trust in Christ. In this new community all are welcome: the homeless come home, the broken find healing, the sinner makes a new start, the despised are esteemed, the least are honoured, and the last are first. Here the Spirit guides and grace abounds for:  our world belongs to God! In a world estranged from God, where happiness and peace are offered in many names and millions face confusing choices, we witness – with respect for followers of other ways – to the only one in whose name salvation is found: Jesus Christ. In Jesus, the world is reconciled by and to the God who loves all creation for our world belongs to God! God is sovereign: let the earth be glad! Christ is victor: his rule has begun! The Spirit is at work: creation is renewed! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord for: our world belongs to God! Offertory All good gifts around us are sent from You O God; we give thanks for all those gifts, and for all Your love. Bless us now as we return to You some of what you have given to us. We thank You, Great God, for Your many gifts, sunshine and rain, flower and plant, bird song and joy. Bless these gifts which we offer to You now, that we may use them wisely and widely, sharing Your love and changing our ways. Amen Intercessions We give thanks, O God, for those who’ve changed their ways;    Saul of Tarsus – changed by the blinding light of Your presence,     Pilate’s wife – who took dreams seriously,    Francis of Assisi – who turned from wealth to love You in the poor,    Hilda of Whitby – royal princess who heard your call    to be a nun and abbess,    William Wilberforce – who defied social convention dedicating     himself to ending slavery,    Elizabeth Fry – who turned from her middle-class comfort     to reforming prisons,    Edith Stein – a Catholic nun murdered by the Nazis for being Jewish,    Oscar Romero – who turned away from the rich to serve the poor     and protest injustice Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. We offer to you, Lord Jesus, the places in our world which need to change:    Nations beset by military regimes, corruption, and dictators;    places where war and terror rule, and people live in fear;    countries and territories with insecure borders,       where treaties are jokes, and babies are bombed;    those left behind by business and capital,       where global supply chains impoverish the poor;    and people living in fear that their very existence       is hated by newly empowered elites. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. And we bring ourselves to You, Most Holy Spirit,      that we may be changed as we hear Your call;    set us free from all that drags us down,    give us the courage to say “no”       to powers and patterns that entrap us,    help us distinguish Your call from the siren voices of our world. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. And so, with all your people we pray as Jesus taught, Our Father…     Hymn     The Love of God Comes Close John L Bell & Graham Maule (c) 1988, 1997 Iona Community, GIA Publications,  OneLicence  A-734713  Sung by the Frodsham Methodist Church Cloud Choir The love of God comes close, where stands an open door, to let the stranger in, to mingle rich and poor: the love of God is here to stay embracing those who walk his way. The peace of God comes close to those caught in the storm; forgoing lives of ease to ease the lives forlorn: the peace of God is here to stay embracing those who walk his way. The joy of God comes close where faith encounters fears, where heights and depths of life are found through smiles and tears: the joy of God is here to stay embracing those who walk his way. The grace of God comes close to those whose grace is spent, when hearts are tired or sore and hope is bruised or bent: the grace of God is here to stay embracing those who walk his way. The Son of God comes close where people praise his name, where bread and wine are blest and shared, as when he came: the Son of God is here to stay embracing those who walk his way. Holy Communion The Gracious Words Hear the gracious words of our Lord Jesus Christ;  “Come to me, all you that are weary  and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”    “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never be hungry,  and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” “Anyone who comes to me I will never drive away.”    The peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.  Peace be with you.  The narrative of the Institution of the Lord’s Supper  Hear the narrative of the institution of the Lord’s Supper as it was recorded by the apostle Paul. I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.  In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and following his example, we take this bread and this cup, and give thanks to God.  Lift up your hearts.  We lift them to the Lord.  Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.  It is right to give our thanks and praise.  With joy we give you thanks and praise,  Almighty God, Source of all life and love, that we live in your world,  that you are always creating and sustaining it by your power,  and that you have so made us that we can know and love you,  trust and serve you.  We give you thanks that you loved the world so much  that you gave your only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him  may not die but have eternal life.  We thank you that Jesus was born among us  that he lived our common life on earth;  that he suffered and died for us;  that he rose again and that he is always present through the Holy Spirit.  We thank you that we can live in the faith that your kingdom will come,  and that in life, in death and beyond death you are with us.  Therefore, with all the company of heaven,  and with all your people, of all places and times,  we proclaim your greatness and sing your praise.  Holy, holy, holy Lord God of power and might,  Heaven and earth are full of your glory.  Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest.  Holy Lord God by what we do here in remembrance of Christ  we celebrate his perfect sacrifice on the Cross  and his glorious resurrection and ascension.  We declare that he is Lord of all and we prepare for his coming in his kingdom.  We pray that through your Holy Spirit this bread may be for us  the body of Christ, and this wine the blood of Christ.  Accept our sacrifice of praise;  and as we eat and drink at his command unite us to Christ  as one body in him, and give us strength to serve you in the world.  And to you, one holy and eternal God, Source, Sign, and Seal,  we give praise and glory, now and for ever. Amen.  Let us praise the Lord.  Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.  Blessing and honour and glory and power  be to our God for ever and ever. Amen.  The bread which we break  is the communion of the body of Christ.  The cup of blessing which we bless  is the communion of the blood of Christ.  Take, eat – this is the body and blood of Christ  which is broken and shed for you;  do this in remembrance of him.  Music for Communion     I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say Sung by Chris Brunelle and used with his kind permission Prayer after Communion  Most gracious God, we praise you for what you have given  and for what you have promised us here.  You have made us one with all your people in heaven and on earth.  You have fed us with the bread of life, and renewed us for your service.  Now we give ourselves to you and we ask that our daily living may be part of the life of your kingdom, and that our love may be your love reaching out into the life of the world; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Hymn     Lord of the Church We Pray for Our Renewing Timothy Dudley Smith © 1984 Hope Publishing Company OneLicence A-734713. Sung by members of Christ Church, Cockfosters. Lord of the Church, we pray for our renewing: Christ over all, our undivided aim. Fire of the Spirit, burn for our enduing, wind of the Spirit, fan the living flame! We turn to Christ amid our fear and failing, the will that lacks the courage to be free, the weary labours, all but unavailing, to bring us nearer what a church should be. Lord of the Church, we seek a Father’s blessing, a true repentance and a faith restored, a swift obedience and a new possessing, filled with the Holy Spirit of the Lord! We turn to Christ from all our restless striving, unnumbered voices with a single prayer: the living water for our souls’ reviving, in Christ to live, and love and serve and care. Lord of the Church, we long for our uniting, true to one calling, by one vision stirred; one Cross proclaiming and one creed reciting, one in the truth of Jesus and his word. So lead us on; till toil and trouble ended, one Church triumphant one new song shall sing, to praise his glory, risen and ascended, Christ over all, the everlasting King! Blessing May the One who stopped Saul in his tracks and turned his life around; the One who commissioned Saul to be his evangelist; and the One who inspired Saul to follow and take up his cross stop you in your tracks and turn you around,  commission you to share the good news of the coming Kingdom and  give you the grace to follow. And the blessing of Almighty God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be with you all evermore, Amen.

Where words are copyright reproduced and streamed under the terms of  ONE LICENSE A-734713 PRS Limited Online Music Licence LE-0019762

Icon of The Resurrection
Isaac Fanous (1919 – 2007)

Information

The Coptic Orthodox Church is an Oriental Orthodox church based in Egypt.  Copts believe their church to have been established by Mark during the middle of the first century. Due to disputes concerning the nature of Christ, the Oriental Orthodox and the Eastern Orthodox were in schism after the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451.  After AD 639, Egypt was ruled by its Islamic conquerors from Arabia. The 12th century saw the Copts become a religious minority in Egypt. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the larger body of ethnic Egyptian Christians began to call themselves Coptic Orthodox, to distinguish themselves from the Catholic Copts and from the Eastern Orthodox, who are mostly Greek.  In 1959, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church was granted self-governing status. This was extended to the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church in 1998 following the successful Eritrean War of Independence from Ethiopia. Since the 2011 Egyptian revolution, Coptic Christians have suffered increased religious discrimination and violence.  The Coptic language used in worship is a form of ancient Egyptian.  The Coptic Archbishop Angaelos of London has attended our General Assembly in the past.

A Coptic Icon is a painting, window, or a 2-dimensional image, which follows the Coptic style and traditions. It aims to aid a worshipper in prayer and give a deep understanding of biblical truths, as taught by the Orthodox Church. In the 1960 – 1980’s a new style named the ‘Neo-Coptic’ style was developed and this is the style used in the Coptic Church today.  Neo-Coptic is the term given to the new Coptic style that was developed in the 1960 -1980’s by the late Professor Isaac Fanous. Until this period, a formal knowledge of the Coptic arts (e.g. Art, Music, Language) was barely existent among the Copts. It had been lost over the centuries for various reasons. It was therefore the late Pope Kyrillos VI’s instruction – to several qualified members of the church – to seek out what had been lost in these arts and to re-educate the people.  Isaac Fanous spent several years in France studying iconography with the Russian Iconographer Leonid Ouspensky, before returning to Egypt and redeveloping the lost Coptic style. The Neo-Coptic school of iconography was then born with his appointment as head of the Coptic Arts department at The Institute of Coptic Studies, Egypt.

John 1: 5 

“The divine light shines in the shadows, and the shadows have not overcome it”

Reflection

I have always found icons helpful in my own personal devotions. In fact I have recently discovered I am an audio and visual learner so to be able to gaze at an image of Jesus really helps me to connect personally with him. Being able to engage with an image of Jesus lifts his two dimensional character from the page and breathes life into him for me.

This icon is interesting because as you look at it you notice that all the light comes from the centre; from Jesus himself. Everything is in shadow and your attention is drawn inexorably to the light, a bit like a moth to a candle flame. This is what resurrection to me is like. You cannot help but be drawn to its light and mystery, and you cannot help but be transformed by the hope and the promise it offers you. 

When we think about the world as it is right now, much is shrouded in shadow and feels impenetrable as the middle of the night just before the stars come out. But this icon to me offers hope and reassurance that even in the midst of all that chaos, the light of Jesus’ resurrection shines through and offers transformation, new life and fresh starts. This icon reminds me that “the divine light shines in the shadows, and the shadows have not overcome it”.

Prayer

Thank you Jesus,
that you draw us into the light of your presence.
Thank that your light can penetrate even the most challenging and chaotic moments of life.
And thank you that your resurrection,
brings hope, new beginnings and fresh starts.
As we begin this new day,
may the warmth of your love touch our lives,
and strengthen us for whatever lies ahead.
And may we celebrate the joy and mystery of your resurrection,
that we can live the hope and promise it brings to us,
this day and always.
In the powerful and precious name of Jesus we ask this.  Amen.

Michael Smither, ‘Doubting Thomas’ (c.1970), St Joseph’s Church, Ngāmotu New Plymouth
Image: Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, Public Art Heritage Aotearoa New Zealand, 2021

inspiration in your inbox Thursday 1 May 2025 public domainWilliam Blake, ‘Mary Magdalen at the Sepulchre’ |  Information This is one of approximately eighty watercolour illustrations to the Bible produced by William Blake for his loyal patron Thomas Butts between 1800 and about 1805.  It is not clear how these designs originally functioned as illustrations: they may have extra-illustrated a large Bible or they might have been kept in their own portfolio or volume as a Bible in pictures.  The design is from c.1805 and depicts Mary Magdalene at the tomb (or sepulchre) of Jesus; it is probably an illustration to John 20, because in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, there are others with Mary when she goes to the tomb, and it is John that mentions Mary seeing ‘two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain’, which Blake has included in the design (v. 12). However, Blake has compressed several moments in the narrative together in a single frame: in John’s account Mary stays ‘without’ the tomb and stoops to look inside (v. 11); she then turns around and sees Jesus but mistakes him for a gardener (v. 14). Although Blake has placed Mary on the threshold of the tomb, she is at the bottom of a flight of steps leading down to it, and so she is not stooping; Jesus stands at the top of the steps above her. St John 14. 18-20   I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.  In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live.  On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.   Reflection   In this beautiful visionary sketch, Blake captures the moment when Mary recognises the risen Christ.  It’s startling.  His approach is far from conventional.  Typically artists who tackle this subject set Mary and Jesus, whom they see as two very human beings, in the garden outside the tomb; and they portray Mary being repudiated by Jesus.  In representing the first realisation by a human being that Christ had risen from the dead as a moment of rejection, they fail entirely to convey the spiritual intensity of the account in John’s gospel.   Blake on the other hand, does.  His emphasis is different.  He conveys not rejection, but relationship.  We catch the vision from inside the sepulchre, as we watch from the other side of the empty tomb.  We see Mary kneeling in her mourning dress at the bottom of the steps, turning her face, flushed with grieving, from the grave clothes and the jar of spices, looking back over her shoulder in amazement at the manifestation behind her.  The figure is insubstantial yet real.  There is no doubt about it. Still dressed in a burial gown, this is the risen Christ.  It is a moment of bewilderment and of transformation, illumined not by natural light but by visionary radiance.  The two angels, their heads inclined in a posture of reverence, are bright with heavenly light; likewise Mary – as if it had been bestowed on her by Christ.  Her outstretched arms parallel those of her Lord, she too is changed.  In this remarkable sketch, Blake succeeds in conveying the new relationship between God, the risen Christ and the faithful disciple.   As Mary participates in this moment of Resurrection, she is filled with hope and joy, so too are those disciples to whom she will tell the good news, so too through their witness is the church.  So too, in all the challenges of life, are we today.   Prayer   Everlasting God, in you are found new life and hope. Open my eyes that I may see you in the world you have made. Let all lovely things fill me with gladness and lift my mind to your everlasting loveliness, through Jesus Christ your Son our Saviour.  Amen

Today’s writer The Revd Fleur Houston, retired minister, member of Macclesfield and Bollington United Reformed Church New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicized Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

John 21
© Ally Barrett (www.reverendally.org) and used by permission.

Information

Ally Barrett is currently a chaplain working in higher education, having spent eleven years in parish ministry, four years teaching practical theology to trainee ministers, and a year as a children’s minister.  She is also an artist.  This piece is one of several paintings she has created that assumes a degree of physical contact in encounters with Jesus, proportional to the words that are recorded in scripture.  She notes “I guess I think Jesus might have hugged people if that’s what they needed!”   It was  painted with wooden coffee stirrers.

Reflection

There is such warmth conveyed in this picture—not only by the colours of the sunset, but also by the human connection depicted between Jesus and Peter, which serves as the central focus of the artwork. 

I reached out to the artist, Ally Barrett, to understand more about her inspiration for the painting. She graciously responded and said that she simply refers to the piece as “John 21,” She shared with me that ‘in her mind, she imagined that many of Jesus’ interactions with people likely included hugs’ 

I must admit, I had never considered the idea of Jesus having a “ministry of hugs” before this conversation but it is such a beautiful notion to carry with us into our day today and I hope it encourages us to think about the ways we can embody that same spirit of connection and compassion with others.

The painting shows the reconciliation between Jesus and Peter in John 21, the text doesn’t dwell on past mistakes or require Peter to suffer for his previous denials; instead, it emphasises love, faith, and trust.

Recognising that some people may not enjoy hugs, the essence of this artwork is rooted in love and compassion for others. This is something we can all practice, regardless of whether we consider ourselves to have a “ministry of hugs.” 

Ultimately, this picture invites us to consider how we can bring warmth and compassion into our own interactions, we have the power to uplift and support one another, embodying the spirit of connection that lies at the heart of this beautiful artwork.
 
Prayer
 
God of warmth and compassion,
We give thanks for images which evoke feeling and challenge.
For the beauty in warmth, touch, and connection.
May we all embody this in our day today.  Amen.

Information

My son helped me stretch this canvas on an old window frame.  As he helped, he told me of his friend, Tancred who had passed a road accident on the way to school one day and, in the course of that day, was told that his mother had died in it.  His family fell apart and Tancred became homeless.  The church where I ministered gathered around, found him a home, helped him furnish it and cared practically with no demand to confess a faith.  

Galatians 3:25-29

But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.
Reflection

This is Nativity Tancred, the longer story of which is here (which includes my reason for the painting’s name)  I thought of life emerging from life, light shocking the darkness and of fire, which does not destroy.  I thought of the vine which courses life through us all. Jesus’ face arrived with me, no pictures copied for him. He gave me that penetrating stare from an intensely alive person on a cross, seeing through all and still deepening friendship with those caught in that sight. We read that his body is the Temple of God, and in this image, people of all hues and types stream, welcome, into that locus of Love.  The title is Nativity (Tancred) reminding us that the Nativity revealed the presence of God in humanity, who grew to an adult (not stuck in the ‘sweet’ Nativity narrative) and who as he grew, welcomed all to the temple and to the eternal place of God. There are none stuck on the outside in this temple.  

If you want to see Nativity Tancred, you are welcome to see him where he lives at St Bride’s Church, Liverpool, the home of the Open Table Network.  Because of his message of absolute inclusion, Nativity Tancred was gifted to the Church as a reminder to everyone of the inclusion felt by the giver because of both the church and the Open Table Network.  We may read of Jesus’ open invitation, of the early Christ followers’ work of inclusion, of the theological demand to include all. What this painting does is help us see that, as compared to imagine it.  One viewer said, “You mean…Jesus loves everyone?” Well, yes. Sometimes we need to see things to believe them. 

Prayer

O God of everyone, whether it makes sense to me or not,
help us all to see what you truly mean by inclusive love.
Give us courage to do the hard work of putting that into practice.
Let us look each stranger in the face and honestly say, “I’ll try.”

Kelly Latimore Crucifixion and Resurrection icons. used under licence

Information

These two icons were conceived as a matched set, and aim to subvert the deadly dualism of light and darkness in the Christian tradition. They provide a meditation on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the work of the liberator God of Exodus. They serve to remind us that God has  taken the side of oppressed people everywhere and were commissioned not long after the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others. But the immediate impulse came from the death of James Cone in 2018. These icons are meant to bring to mind Cone’s seminal work The Cross and the Lynching Tree.  Kelly was asked to make his point of departure two older images (an El Greco painting of the crucifixion and an Orthodox icon of the resurrection), but to make the composition and other details his own and to portray Jesus and his disciples with African-American features.  The priest who commissioned the icons serves in America – a country with a history of slavery, lynching, and other forms of white supremacist violence and felt it was of crucial importance to make the deep connection (as Cone does) between lynching and the crucifixion of Jesus. Both are public acts of torture and murder, intended to terrify and subject other human beings and keep them in their so-called “place.” It is equally important to have images to pray with to encourage the ongoing process of conversion needed to make us more effective allies and participants in today’s struggles.

Reading    Colossians 1: 24 – 29

I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.  I became its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,  the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.  For this I toil and struggle with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.

Reflection

Protestants, generally, don’t like depictions of the Crucifixion in church preferring to focus on the empty tomb.  They can be impatient of Anglican and Catholic art which often focuses, like the first of today’s pictures, on Christ crucified.  Preferring to think of Calvary as a once-and-for-all-time thing, they worry that scenes of the Crucifixion mean we are trying to replay Jesus’ death over and over again.  Yet, one of the many ecumenical convergences over the last 60 or so years concerns our understandings of Holy Communion as a way of making Calvary present now.  It’s a deeply Catholic idea and is given expression in our Basis of Union where we say that, at Communion, “…in obedience to the Lord’s command his people show forth his sacrifice on the cross by the bread broken and the wine poured for them to eat and drink..”  There’s a deep connection between our celebrations of Holy Communion and Jesus’ death at Calvary; it’s mystery more than memory.

Perhaps this is what the writer of Colossians meant by that striking first verse about “completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions…”  It might indicate the writer was uniting their own sufferings with the Cross or it might be a Jewish idea that there would be pain and suffering before the Messiah appeared.  Kelly Latimore, perhaps, takes this idea in the first of today’s pictures by showing that contemporary unjust deaths, especially of black people at the hands of racists, can be united with Jesus’ suffering on the Cross. Jesus is killed over and over again in His people.  After all He said that whatever we do to the least we do to Him.

We, however, can’t linger too long at the Cross without also contemplating the resurrection and our second picture shows a risen Lord triumphing over death, injustice, and pain.  We pray that we will live to see justice reign, evil defeated, and Calvary and the Garden transfiguring all our pain.

Prayer

Help us, Lord Jesus, 
to see where You are crucified in Your people now.
Open our eyes to see the evil that stalks 
both your world and your Church,
that we may ease suffering, 
end injustice, 
and find peace in the empty tomb.
Amen.

 
Today’s service is led by the Revd Dr Michael Hopkins

 
Welcome & Call to Worship

Whoever you are, wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here. Welcome to this service from the United Reformed Church.  My name is Michael Hopkins, I serve as Moderator of the Wessex Synod, a family of churches across several counties in the south of England and the Channel Islands.

We come to worship the risen Christ: who brings peace into our fear;
who bring hope into our despair; who brings love into our world;

Alleluia!  Christ is risen! He is risen indeed.  Alleluia!
Let us worship God.

Hymn     Christ is Alive! Let Christians Sing
Brian Wren (1968, 1978) Hope Publishing Company OneLicence A-734713. Frodsham Methodist Church Cloud Choir. accompanied by Andrew Ellams and produced by Andrew Emison and used with their kind permission.

Christ is alive! Let Christians sing.
The cross stands empty to the sky.
Let streets & homes with praises ring.
Love, drowned in death, shall never die.

Christ is alive! No longer bound
to distant years in Palestine,
but saving, healing, here and now,
and touching every place and time.

In every insult, rift, and war,
where colour, scorn, or wealth divide,
Christ suffers still, yet loves the more,
and lives, where even hope has died.

Women and men, in age and youth,
can feel the Spirit, hear the call,
and find the way, the life, the truth, 
revealed for Jesus, freed for all.

Christ is alive, and comes to bring
good news to this and every age,
till earth and sky and ocean ring
with joy, with justice, love, and praise.

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Risen Christ, you are conqueror of death, 
we praise you for life, love and fellowship; 
for friendships mended and relationships restored. 
We praise you for the possibility of change, 
for ways out of fear, darkness, and guilt. 
We praise you for the gift of the Holy Spirit, 
who works change, who gives confidence, who brings peace.

As we praise you, God, 
we are aware of our own frailty and brokenness, 
and the frailty and brokenness of the Church 
and the world in which we share.
If we have locked ourselves away within walls of our own making, 
we are sorry.
If we are afraid of what people will think if we say we believe, 
we are sorry.
If we doubt your promises, 
or ignore the signs that you give in our own lives, 
we are sorry.

Breathe your freedom into us, Risen Christ.  
Let your love unlock the door of our doubts, 
as your grace, mercy, and love flow into us.

Silence

Wherever regret is real, God pronounces pardon, 
and offers us freedom and a new start.  
Thank you, God, for forgiving us.  
We accept your love, as we pray together as Jesus taught us: 

Our Father in heaven, 
hallowed be your name, 
your kingdom come, 
your will be done, on earth as in heaven.  
Give us today our daily bread.  
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.  
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.  
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory 
are yours now and forever.  Amen.

Introduction

We live in a world of fake news, or claims of fake news, whether it’s the spurious stories about the cat eating immigrants in Springfield, or the deliberate fuelling of riots.
Are there really such things as ‘alternative facts’?  What about different truths?  Can ‘truth’ depend on your perspective or context?  How can we check out or test competing claims?  These are all things that we find ourselves having to consider every day.

Have you ever made a wrong statement or decision because you didn’t know all the facts, having otherwise been convinced you had ‘got it right’?

In a moment we’re going to hear a Bible reading from John’s gospel, telling the story of Thomas, whose quest for evidence led to the Church nicknaming him ‘doubting Thomas’.  This is very unfortunate, because seeking, searching, and questioning are vital parts of faith.  Before we hear the story of Thomas, we pray.

Prayer of Illumination

Living God, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the Scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today, in Jesus’s name.  Amen.

Reading     St John 20:19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.  Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’  When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’  Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’  Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’ Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Hymn     Christ Has Risen Whilst Earth Slumbers
John L. Bell & Graham Maule © 1988, 1996 WGRG, admin. GIA Publications, Inc., Chicago, IL. OneLicence A-734713. Sung by the Grosse Pointe Memorial Church (Michigan) Virtual Choir.
and used with their kind permission.
 
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!

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.

Christ has risen to companion former friends who fear the night,
sensing loss and limitations 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.

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.

Sermon

Perhaps you know the old story of sending the apprentice out on their first day to ask in the shop for a tin of tartan paint, or a jar of elbow grease.  Of course, we all encounter the impossible every day.  How often have you found yourself saying things like, “I just can’t see that ever happening.”  Or “I’ll never get through this.”  Or “No way.  Never.”

I’m sure most of us have found ourselves thinking that kind of thing sometimes.  We’ve all found ourselves facing something impossible in our lives.  We all live with our own version of what is and what isn’t possible in our lives.  I think that most of the time, most of us work within the parameters of what is possible, but what if life is bigger than that?  What if the impossible can be made real?  What if the impossible really does happen?  What if the impossible really is possible? 

The story is told that apprentices in the Lamp Division at General Electric were asked to frost lightbulbs on the inside.  One day, a newcomer named Marvin Pipkin not only found a way to frost lightbulbs on the inside but developed an etching acid that actually strengthened each bulb.  No-one had told him that it was impossible, so he did it.

I suspect that many of us could tell stories of impossible things that were made real in our own lives.  

What if everything impossible in our lives which actually happens is an experience of resurrection?  What if each one is a time when Jesus stepped through the locked door of our life?  That’s exactly what happened in today’s gospel reading. 

In the gospel reading it’s evening on the first Easter Day.  The disciples are gathered in a room.  The doors are locked.  It’s impossible for someone to get in.  They’ve made sure of that.  They’re scared.  Then the impossible happened.  Jesus arrived in the room.  He wasn’t dead.  He’s alive.  That didn’t happen just once.  It happened twice.  Twice Jesus stepped into that room of frightened disciples hiding behind their locked doors of impossibility.  

The possibility of the impossible isn’t just the story of Easter.  It’s the story of Jesus.  Jesus is always stepping through our locked doors of impossibility.  That’s the Good News.

The Bible is full of stories of impossibilities that became real.

God became human in Jesus, or as John puts it, “The Word became flesh and lived among us” (John 1:14).  That would be a good reason why John says, “Yet, the world did not know him…. His own people did not accept him” (John 1:10-11).  It’s impossible.  Who would believe that God would become one of us? 

A virgin gives birth to a child.  “How can this be” (Luke 1:34)?  That’s not just Mary’s question, but also the question of anyone reading this.  That kind of thing is impossible.

Water is turned into wine (John 2:1-11).  Chance would be a fine thing!

Five thousand are fed with two fish and five loaves of bread (John 6:1:13).  Until it happened Philip would never have thought it possible.  “Six months wages would not buy enough bread for each to get a little,” he says (John 6:7).

Martha knows the impossibility of her brother, Lazarus, coming out of the tomb. “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days” (John 11:39).  And then the dead man walks out, the door of death has been unlocked and opened.  And then there’s Jesus’ own resurrection.  The women’s good news of the empty tomb seemed to the men “an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (Luke 24:11).  After all, dead men can’t live.  It’s impossible.  And the tomb could never be the means to new life, could it?

None of that was possible until it happened.  I can’t tell you how any of it happened.  I just don’t know.  I don’t know how it has happened in my life.  I don’t know how it has happened in your life.  I have no explanation.  But that doesn’t mean it cannot or did not happen.  We know better.  We are “witnesses to these things” (Luke 24:48). 

Unexplainable and impossible are not the same thing, and that’s the paradox. The impossible becomes possible, but it doesn’t become understandable.  We all have our personal locked doors of impossibility.  I wonder what is being unlocked and opened for you and for me today?

We’ll never know what might be unlocked and made possible for us unless we consider the impossible possible.  What if, instead of starting with what we consider possible, reasonable, or achievable, we began with the impossible.  Let us not get trapped by what we think is possible, but instead go to the place of impossibility in our life.  That is where we’re most likely to find Jesus.  That is where he is breathing peace.  That is where doors are being opened.  That is where new life is beginning.  And that’s where I want to be.

What if the impossible isn’t really impossible?  What if what we see as impossible is really just us catching up with Jesus?

Hymn     This Joyful Eastertide, What Need is There for Grieving
Fred Pratt Green © 1969 Hope Publishing OneLicence A-734713  
Sung by Paul Coleman and used with his kind permission.
 
This joyful Eastertide, what need is there for grieving?
Cast all your cares aside and be not unbelieving:

Come, share our Easter joy that death could not imprison,
nor any power destroy our Christ, who is arisen!

No work for him is vain, no faith in him mistaken,
for Easter makes it plain His Kingdom is not Shaken:

Come, share our Easter joy that death could not imprison,
nor any power destroy our Christ, who is arisen!

Then put your trust in Christ, in waking and in sleeping,
His grace on earth sufficed; He’ll never quit his keeping:

Come, share our Easter joy that death could not imprison,
nor any power destroy our Christ, who is arisen!

Prayers

Living God, we live in a world where many doubt. We bring to you those who doubt because no one has ever shown them the love of Jesus. Risen Christ, breathe your Spirit of peace.
 
We bring to you those who doubt because the circumstances of their lives just don’t hold any sign of a God of love. Risen Christ, breathe your Spirit of peace.
 
We bring to you those who doubt because they have been hurt or let down by others, or have never learned to trust. Risen Christ, breathe your Spirit of peace.
 
We bring to you those who doubt because war or natural disaster has destroyed them or those they love, especially praying for people in Ukraine and Russia, the nations of the Middle East, Sudan, Myanmar, and all affected by war or natural disaster. Risen Christ, breathe your Spirit of peace.
 
We bring to you those who doubt because they are in pain of body, mind, or spirit. Risen Christ, breathe your Spirit of peace.
 
We bring to you all who doubt your love for whatever reason: shine your resurrection light in their lives.  Risen Christ, breathe your Spirit of peace.

Living God, we bring you all our prayers, spoken and silent, through the power of Christ’s new life.  Amen.

Prayer of Dedication

Risen Christ, every week we give you our money, 
our time, our skills, and our energy.  
As we try to serve you, walk with us through this week, 
support us when we try to see the truth in things that puzzle us, 
give us courage to search for answers, 
and hold us in your unfailing and all-encompassing love, 
each and every day.  Amen.

Hymn     The Head That Once was Crowned with Thorns
Thomas Kelly (1820) Public Domain played and Sung by Gareth Moore of the Isle of Man Methodist Church and used with his kind permission.
 
The head that once was crowned with thorns
is crowned with glory now;
a royal diadem adorns 
the mighty victor’s brow.

The highest place that Heav’n affords
is his, is his by right,
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
and Heav’n’s eternal light.

The joy of all who dwell above,
the joy of all below,
to whom he manifests his love
and grants his name to know.

To them, the Cross, with all its shame,
with all its grace is giv’n;
their name an everlasting name,
their joy the joy of Heav’n.
 
They suffer with their Lord below,
they reign with him above;
their profit and their joy to know
the myst’ry of his love.

The cross he bore is life and health,
tho’ shame and death to him;
his people’s hope, his people’s wealth,
their everlasting theme.
 
Blessing

The service has ended.
Go in peace and joy, and the blessing of God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, 
is upon you, and all God’s people,
now and forever. Amen.

 

Information

Anneke Kaai- van Wijngaarden, born in 1951 in Naarden, Holland, studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam after a classical education at the Gooise Academy for Visual Art.  Her paintings are inspired by the Bible and faith.  Studying in the late sixties and early seventies was a time in which many traditions and values, rightly or wrongly, were overthrown. Anneka notes “the Church also got it in the neck and God was declared dead! The latter affected me deeply, because despite my doubts and questions, I experienced God as very close. This poignant accusation gave rise to my wish that, as soon as I graduated, I would be inspired by this God, who was ‘alive and kicking’ to me…I find my Inspiration in the Bible and related themes and I hope that the viewer experiences something of this ‘Inspiration’ when seeing my work. As a painter I experience that my faith feeds my work and that my work strengthens my faith.”  Anneka paints a series of works in a theme, the theme for today’s work is the Apostle’s Creed.

Matthew 28.1-8
 
After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.2 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8 So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples.
 
Reflection 

Anneke’s depiction of resurrection and ascension does not include figures and is not narrative. As such it can be very helpful for anyone struggling with a literal interpretation of those gospel events. Rob B, an artist in our congregation, talks of 3 traditional elements within a painting “foreground, background, and a connecting object – bringing about the unity of the image”. He notes that “if you stare at the black in isolation it looks infinite. If you look at the brownish/whitish part the black disappears and ceases to exist. These extremes appear irreconcilable suggesting the painting is binary in meaning.  If so you could argue the painting breaks traditional rules by presenting dis-unity. But then that is contradicted because the lighting streak connects the two separate parts making it tripartite”. 
 
And that’s one thing Jesus’ resurrection does.  It breaks the rules and it makes connections which defy reason.  In contrast to the two static darker elements of the painting, the lightening streak is dynamic and sizzling with energy and creates another dimension to reality.  This is a breaking through of electrifying proportions, an unimaginable violation of the norm of life and death. 
 
‘But that I can’t believe’ was written by Bishop John Robinson in 1967 – around the time Anneke was studying.  Whilst questioning traditional beliefs about resurrection, for him ‘the empty tomb is not the Resurrection any more than the shell of the cocoon is the butterfly. And the real interest of the New Testament is in the butterfly, not the cocoon’.  The reality, the concrete truth of the resurrection, is in the continuing experience of believers to this day, experience which like Anneke’s painting knows of the drab and the dark but is shot through with the utterly captivating, ever moving shaft of light and power which is God among us.  And in so doing it transforms and it redeems taking  human life and lifting it above and beyond itself into the very heart of God.
 
Prayer
 
God in every mystery
holding us in the between places
thin enough for heaven and earth
to get tangled.
God in every light,
darkness and glory
who crosses the lines of our theology
with a story.
May we meet here
in the borderlines
where all that is rational
gets mixed up in all that is imaginative,
and where systems get redrawn with new colours,
and let you grow a little more …
(Rev Roddy Hamilton – Church of Scotland)