You may wish to light a candle at the start of this time of worship.
Alleluia! Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Theme Prayer
Eternal God, your Son Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life:
grant us to walk in his way, to rejoice in his truth, and to share his risen life;
for he is alive and reigns, now and for ever. Amen.
Confession
By the wounds of Jesus wounds we are healed. We come to the Lord our God knowing our need of his grace, to make confession of our sins.
Father, you entrust the world to our care: forgive our thoughtlessness and neglect. Lord, have mercy: (Lord, have mercy.)
Jesus, you entrust our neighbours to our care: forgive our thoughtlessness and neglect. Christ, have mercy: (Christ, have mercy.)
Holy Spirit, you entrust your gifts to our care: forgive our thoughtlessness and neglect. Lord, have mercy: (Lord, have mercy.)
God is good. On all whose lives are open to change from guilt to grace, and from darkness to light, he pronounces his pardon and grants his peace. Thanks be to God. Amen.
God’s Word - John’s Gospel, chapter 14, verses 1 to 14 :-
Jesus said, ‘Set your troubled hearts at rest. Trust in God always; trust also in me. There are many dwelling-places in my Father’s house; if it were not so I should have told you; for I am going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I shall come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also; and you know the way I am taking.’ Thomas said, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus replied, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except by me.
‘If you knew me you would know my Father too. From now on you do know him; you have seen him.’ Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father; we ask no more.’ Jesus answered, ‘Have I been all this time with you, Philip, and still you do not know me? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. Then how can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? I am not myself the source of the words I speak to you: it is the Father who dwells in me doing his own work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else accept the evidence of the deeds themselves. In very truth I tell you, whoever has faith in me will do what I am doing; indeed he will do greater things still because I am going to the Father. Anything you ask in my name I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name I will do it.’
Thanks be to God, for this his holy word. Amen.
A Reflection on the Reading
There are some big promises in today’s reading, and none bigger than those last few words. “If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” Anything? So how come we are still surrounded by this virus, when people all over the place, people of faith, are praying that it might go away or be defeated. How come so many other ills in the world still persist, in spite of our prayers, in spite of our hopes and dreams, in spite of our faith?
St John shows us Jesus speaking these words on his last night with them, out in the Garden of Gethsemane, literally just minutes before they are surrounded by armed guards who seize their Master and take him away. On the next day, as they see him crucified, or hear about it from the women who were there, all their dreams are shattered, and the faith Jesus has encouraged them to have is sorely tested.
These fifty days between Easter and Pentecost reflect the time it took for those disciples to realise the truth of what had happened that day. Initially they could only see it in terms of disaster and failure. Now we can say, “Lord, by your wounds we are healed.” Now we can see that on the cross Jesus freely accepted the weight of all our sin, but it took time and patient teaching for them to grasp that. The way of Jesus is not the way of the world. It is the way of the cross. We are not living in zoo cages, but in a world of freedom which inevitably includes the freedom for bad things to happen, even to good people. Small children may stamp their feet and cry out, “It’s not fair!” That’s a lesson we need to learn. Real life isn’t fair. But the very fact that we realise that shows we have a spark of God’s goodness within us.
The way of Jesus is to enter the unfairness and painfulness of the world and to share it, and in the spirit of a servant and a friend, to seek to transform it, to change things for the better - not by waving a magic wand, but with sleeves rolled up and sweated brow. And at the last, with the mark of the nails in hands and feet and the mark of the spear in his side, those marks still there as he appears to his disciples on the evening of Easter Day.
So we are not promised an easy ride, for Jesus says, “If you come with me, you must share in my cross.” And, if we are truly to ask in his name when we pray, we should not be praying for anything we’re not also ready to work for and to give for. For to pray in the name of Christ isn’t to use that name as a sort of magic formula that will make everything happen as we want it, but to commit ourselves to his way and to his work, and to seek his direction in all we do.
Pain remains a problem for all who live by faith. But in his book “The Problem of Pain” C.S. Lewis noted how pain inspires heroism. Just at the moment, in these hard times, thank God we are surrounded by heroes. Many of them are motivated by their own faith in God, many others are not, but all share what religious faith should really have at its heart - a desire to heal, to comfort, to make things better, to build a better world.
On Friday last we were reminded of the heroes who fought to save our land and our world from tyranny in the war that ended seventy-five years ago. Every day we are reminded of the heroes in our hospitals and elsewhere. There’s nothing special about them, they don’t have super-human powers. Heroes are ordinary people inspired to do extraordinary things. People who care, and who at the right and needful time stood up to be counted. And “Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it” is a prayer to inspire and kindle the heroism latent in each one of us.
Statement of faith
We believe in the God who binds up the broken hearted, who proclaims freedom to those held captive, who calls for justice for those treated unfairly, and who lifts up those who are cast down and overburdened. We have seen his love in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in his dying and rising again. He calls us to follow the way of the cross, and promises the gifting power of the Spirit to all who commit themselves to his service. May the one God who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit touch our hearts this day, and inspire us to love and obedience. May his name be praised for ever in his Church active on earth, and in the songs of saints and angels. Amen.
Prayers
Give thanks for the freedom preserved in the dark times of the Second World War 75 years ago, and pray we may value our freedom today and work for the freedom of all, and for an end to injustice and unfairness. Pray for all who are working to find effective cures and treatments for Covid 19. Pray for all world leaders, that they may have vision, understanding and discernment.
Pray that the Church everywhere may be inspired to follow the way of the cross, and to be like Jesus in the welcome, acceptance, healing and support we offer . Pray especially today for the Anglican Church in Kenya, for the many international links our own Diocese has, and for the work and witness of Christian Aid, as Christian Aid Week begins.
Pray for those in need today: for all who grieve, for the worried and anxious, and for those who are struggling with isolation and loneliness. Pray for all who are ill, including all who are infected by Covid 19. Pray for their care and treatment and recovery, and for all who are “on the front line”, as medical staff, carers and in other ways, that they may be safe at work and home, and be given the support and protection they need.
As we look towards the easing of lockdown restrictions, pray for our own communities and for families and friends, and that we may continue to act with care, looking out for one another and keeping safe.
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Prayer for today and Blessing
May the light of Christ, rising in glory, banish all darkness from our hearts and minds. Amen.
May God our Father, by whose glory Christ was raised from the dead, strengthen us to walk with him in his risen life. And may almighty God bless us, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
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