Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on Easter Sunday. This morning we have just one service in the parish - at 11.15 at St Thomas' Church.
If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find resources below to worship at home.
Our first hymn this morning is "Jesus Christ is Risen Today"
Today's Gospel
Matthew 28:1-10 Jesus has Risen
After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 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. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 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.” So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
Reflection
Happy Easter everyone!! It’s been a very busy week this week so I have chosen to share a short reflection that I wrote a few years ago which features the two Marys.
I’ll focus on the interaction with the two Marys, (Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James). We should bear in mind that, although Jesus had repeatedly told his followers that He would rise again, that was not the reason why they went to the tomb. In fact, it was probably the last thing they expected to see, after all they had seen their Lord crucified and buried only a few days before. No, they were at the tomb out of an act of pure love, empathy and devotion. They were there to anoint Jesus’ dead body with expensive perfumes and spices purchased by Salome who was also present.
As they arrive, there is an enormous earthquake caused by the appearance of an Angel from heaven. Such was the nature of the earthquake and the entrance of the angel that it rendered the roman guards unconscious. But not the two Marys. Although the angel told them not to be afraid, I suspect that was exactly how they felt. Then the angel removes the stone from the tomb and says, “Come, see the place where he lay.” Matthew’s gospel does not go into detail about what happens in the tomb and the garden, but please take time to read John’s gospel for this.
Matthew next describes how the Marys felt, “They left with fear and great joy”. It’s almost a throw away comment, but just imagine for a moment what must have been going through their minds and how their emotions would have been in turmoil. Yes fear; amidst earthquakes, bright angels, and the body of their Lord gone! Then, the news from the angel that Jesus has been raised from the dead. Everything Jesus had been telling them was true – He is the son of God. What overwhelming Joy must have filled their hearts!
Then to top everything, Jesus appears in person. Absolute and irrefutable proof that He is risen indeed. But in this version from Matthew, Jesus appears to be almost nonchalant. He says to them, “Greetings”. As it is described here, it’s almost like an everyday, “hello” as if to say, “Hey what’s the big deal, I told you I’d be back didn’t I?” The Marys recognise Him immediately and are overcome with bliss at His loving compassion. They are compelled to touch His Holy feet and worship Him. We can only imagine what outright delight must they have felt.
It is a message of joy and delight for us too on this most Holy of days……. God keeps His promise to all of us. It is a message of love, hopefulness and forgiveness. It the truth that: God so loves the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16). That is worth celebrating not only on Easter Day but every day. Happy Easter! Paul
Our Prayers
Christ is Risen: The world below lies desolate,
Christ is Risen: The spirits of evil are fallen
Christ is Risen: The angels of God are rejoicing,
Christ is Risen: The tombs of the dead are empty
Christ is Risen indeed from the dead, the first of the sleepers,
Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on Palm Sunday. Our Church Services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 at St Agnes' and 11.15 at St Thomas'.
If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find resources below to worship at home.
Our first hymn this morning is "Meekness and Majesty"
Today's Gospel
Matthew 21:1-11 Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King
When Jesus and his disciples had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, `The Lord needs them.'
And he will send them immediately." This took place to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,
"Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey,
and on a colt, the foal of a donkey."
The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.
A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
"Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven! "
When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?" The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."
Reflection
A brief reflection this week, because at the beginning of Holy week there is so much to consider and reflect on as we move from Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem to his sacrificial death on the cross.
I have recently been looking at the topic of leadership and in particular leadership in the church, and that gave me a different perspective on the first Gospel reading for Palm Sunday.
It made me think about the preparations we have to do each and every Sunday to get ready for our Sunday worship. Of course most people don’t see or realise what has to be done because, hopefully, by the time the congregation arrives everything is in place to make things run as smoothly as possible.
But consider a few things that people who volunteer each week do. There is putting the hymn numbers up on the board, (or if we are in the Community Room, printing them out everyone including the vicar). But long before that, someone has to look at the readings for the day and decide which hymns are most appropriate and then someone who is a bit tech savvy has to load them up to a media player.
There are seats to be put out and cleaned and carpets to be hoovered, the ladies who come early and make sure the kettles are filled and there is fresh milk in the fridge. And most importantly, as we are the Church of England, there has to be a generous supply of cake and biscuits.
Add to that someone has to come in a few hours before the service and ensure the heating has been turned on. Then someone has to prepare the altar just before the service and set up the bread and wine for communion, (because no one likes to receive soggy communion wafers that have been on the altar since the day before).
There are so many other things which need attending to, not least your vicar spending many hours reading, praying and asking for guidance from the Holy Spirit as they prepare the sermon.
I am not saying this to make anyone feel guilty, however when we look at the beginning of the Gospel of the Palms, above I realised that Jesus was doing what any good leader does….. he was making preparations so that everything would run smoothly. All the things he was doing were about setting the stage so that all went to plan and ensuring that there were no hiccups. He was doing exactly what we do before a service at church.
He was ensuring that people got the message. The prophet Zechariah had foretold that the Messiah would come from the Mount of Olives, just had Jesus had done. He would come riding on a donkey, just as Jesus had done.
Jesus’ method of entry into Jerusalem was itself a deliberate teaching tool. When Jesus did this, most of the people knew exactly what was going on. He wanted people to relate to the Jewish teachings and prophesies and understand that he was the Messiah.
In addition to being the fulfilment of prophecy, it was Jesus showing the people how the Kingdom of God was going to conquer the world. He wanted to ensure that those who would listen and witness his entry would know exactly who he was and how important the events that would unfold over the next few days were..
What are we doing to help other people accept Jesus and know who He is?Paul
Our Prayers
Heavenly Father
you brought your son Jesus into Jerusalem
to show people the radical grace of your love.
Show us this grace,
and give us eyes to see your goodness.
We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ,
our Saviour and Lord..
Amen
Today's final hymn is "Make Way, Make Way for Christ the King"
Notices
Please see the poster below for all of our services this week
Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Fifth Sunday of Lent. Our Church Services this morning are at the usual times of 9.15 at St Agnes' and 11.15 at St Thomas'.
If you are unable to be with us in person, you will find resources below to worship at home.
Our first hymn this morning is "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling"
Today's Bible Reading
Ezekiel 37:1-14 Valley of Dry Bones
The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.
Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,” says the Lord.
Today's Gospel
John 11:1-45 Jesus Raises Lazarus from the Dead
Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”
Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
Reflection
Ezekiel was a prophet who lived around 600 years before Jesus was born, during what is considered the darkest period in the history of Israel and Judaea.
The Jews had broken their covenant with God and were rebellious against God. They broke the commandments handed down to Moses, by cheating, deceit, immorality and treating the poor and sick badly. Worst of all many had turned their backs on God and had begun again to worship false Gods and idols.
God had spoken to them through other prophets like Jeremiah and had warned them to repent and turn away from their sinful ways. Yet they didn’t take any notice, they continued to ignore God.
So now they were being punished and removed from the Promised Land. First they suffered an invasion by the Assyrian army, and when they continued to disobey God they were conquered by the brutal Babylonian Empire. The Babylonians captured and exiled tens of thousands of Jews across the regions including Ezekial who at the time was in his mid-twenties.
When he was 30 years old, Ezekiel had several powerful visions in which he recognised the Glory of God in all of His magnificence. He came to understand the immense power of God the creator and ruler of the whole cosmos – of everything that has ever existed.
God called him to be his prophet, to speak his people. And God warned Ezekiel that his mission as a prophet would not be easy, because there would be many who wouldn’t believe him and because they were so rebellious. (After all they hadn’t listened to the other prophets!)
God uses Ezekiel to warn the Israelites that if they don’t repent, they will face much more suffering and destruction including against some of their enemies (such as the Moabs, Ammonites), who had moved into some of their land. He also foretells the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon which took place shortly afterwards in 587 BCE.
As God had warned, Ezekiel faced derision and mistreatment when he told the people that God wanted them to repent and change their ways. But Ezekiel has the absolute power of faith and absolute belief in the power of God. He had seen the Glory of God in his visions.
And through God, Ezekiel not only delivers warnings, but he also delivers a message of hope and future redemption. A message of a new covenant, where He tells the Israelites that they can still repent and be saved by the Glory and grace of God.
It’s a message that God still loved his people and wanted them to change and come back to him.
In his vision of the valley of bones, that we just heard, Ezekiel understands that the lifeless bones represent the nation of Israel being restored. Where the people will return from exile - and God, who breathed life into Adam will breathe new life into the nation of Israel. It is a story of a merciful God who has infinite power. A message that through the power of God’s Love, we can experience the Power of Faith - and through Faith, God gives us the Power of Hope.
Even though the situation the Israelites find themselves in seems totally dire and irretrievable and even though it is a situation of their own making – God reminds them of His infinite power and his love for His people. His message through Ezekiel is a promise of hope for the future.
God’s hand is clearly at work and it’s a reminder to us that we should not doubt that the word of the Lord can do what seems impossible.
Then we come to John’s story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Jesus, of course, totally understands the Power of God – He knows how this story ends. He knows that the Father will raise Lazarus – he knows that this is a sign so that others may believe in the Glory and Power of God.
He even tells them plainly, “Lazarus is dead”. And He also tells them, “it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
So Jesus does not hurry to the bedside of the of the one we are told He loves.
Jesus could have asked God to heal him before he returned to Bethany - like He did for the son of the royal official in Capernaum [John 4:46-53]. But He doesn’t, He chooses instead to take the hard alternative and let Lazarus die.
As a consequence of this, the story unfolds into one of deep sorrow for Mary and Martha, who Jesus also loved. And it’s a story of sadness for the other friends and mourners.
Yet amidst all the sadness, we see the power of faith.
Both Martha and Mary had no doubt that Jesus could have saved Lazarus if He had got there in time, but neither really believed that Jesus could raise him from the dead. Not after 4 days when his body had begun to decompose.
Nonetheless, Martha says those wonderful words, “But even now, I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” That is a statement of faith in the power of God and Jesus - even if they did not believe that Lazarus could be raised there and then!
In reality no one present expected that!
Jesus did what the Father wanted, to demonstrate beyond all doubt, the power of God. A power that is infinitely greater than death. A power of God’s love and mercy for us all when we do his will.
In the prophecy of Ezekiel and the story of Lazarus, we can see the presence of God in the times of utmost grief and despair.
We can see God’s hand at work doing the impossible.
So, in a world that is broken and at times seems full of despair, let us put our trust in God. Let us show the power of faith in the power of God to reveal His glory. The God through whose word the universe and all that lives came into existence.
Let His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Paul
Our Prayers
Father God,
We thank you that you demonstrated your power
through Jesus, Christ your son.
That you demonstrate your power over death
and reveal your glory to the world through your word.
Help us to have the power of faith
to put our total trust in you.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen
Today's final hymn is "Christ Triumphant, Ever Reigning"
Notices
Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, and in addition to our usual services, St John's Church are holding "Stations of the Cross". Please see the poster below for details.
