Welcome to our Service of Home Worship for 2nd May 2021

Greeting

God the Father,
By whose love Christ was raised from the dead,
Open to you who believe the gates of everlasting life..
All: Amen.

God the Son,
who in bursting from the grave has won a glorious victory,
give you joy as you share our Easter faith.
All: Amen.

God the Holy Spirit,
who filled the disciples with the life of the risen Lord,
empower you and fill you with Christ’s peace.
All: Amen.

Grace, mercy and peace
from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ
be with you
All: and also with you.

Our Opening Hymn is – How Great Thou Art (Mission Praise 506)

1) O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed

Chorus: Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art

2) When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur
And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze

Chorus:: Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art

3) And when I think of God, His Son not sparing
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing
He bled and died to take away my sin

Chorus: Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art

4) When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And lead me home, what joy shall fill my heart
Then I shall bow with humble adoration
And then proclaim, my God, how great Thou art

Chorus: Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art (by Stuart Hine, 1949)

Collect for the Fifth Sunday of Easter

Almighty God,
who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Prayers of Penitence

Almighty God, you have accepted our Lord’s sacrifice for our salvation.
By your power you have raised Him from the dead,
you have clothed Him again with flesh on these resurrection appearances
so that his disciples might recognise him.

We say together

We humbly confess that,
while we know the story and believe it,
it often has made too little difference in our lives,
and at times we have been silent when we should have spoken of it.

Forgive us, we pray.
Enable us today to reflect more deeply on the sacred story,
that our obedience may increase,
that our service may be more joyful, and our testimony may be more courageous. Hear us in the name of our risen Saviour.
Amen.

Words of Praise

Let everything be said and done in the name of the
Lord Jesus,

All: giving thanks to God through Jesus Christ.
Sing psalms, hymns and sacred songs:

All: let us sing to God with thankful hearts.
Open our lips, Lord:

All: and we shall praise your name.

Our Second Hymn is – Morning has broken (Mission Praise 467)

1) Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the world

2) Sweet the rains new fall, sunlit from Heaven
Like the first dewfall on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where His feet pass

3) Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God’s recreation of the new day

4) Morning has broken like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the (by Eneanor Farjeon (1881-1963)

A Song of Triumph – Psalm 95

1) O come, let us sing to the Lord;
let us heartily rejoice in the rock of our salvation.

2) Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving
and be glad in him with psalms.

3) For the Lord is a great God
and a great king above all gods.

4) In his hand are the depths of the earth
and the heights of the mountains are his also.

5) The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands have moulded the dry land.

6) Come, let us worship and bow down
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.

7) For he is our God;

we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.

The First Reading is Psalm 1

1) Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,

2) but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law, day and night.

3) That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither –
whatever they do prospers.

4) Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.

5) Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6) For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

This is the word of the Lord
All: Thanks be to God

Our Third Hymn is – Praise to the Holiest in the height (Mission Praise 563)

1) Praise to the Holiest in the height,
and in the depth be praise:
in all his words most wonderful,
most sure in all his ways.

2) O loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
a second Adam to the fight
and to the rescue came.

3) O wisest love! that flesh and blood,
which did in Adam fail,
should strive afresh against the foe,
should strive and should prevail;

4) And that a higher gift than grace
should flesh and blood refine,
God’s presence and his very self,
and essence all-divine.

5) O generous love! that he, who smote
in Man for man the foe,
the double agony in Man
for man should undergo;

6) And in the garden secretly,
and on the cross on high,
should teach his brethren, and inspire
to suffer and to die.

7) Praise to the Holiest in the height,
and in the depth be praise:
in all his words most wonderful,
most sure in all his ways. (by John Henry Newman ( 1801 – 1890)

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John Chap: 20

Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene

11) Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb

12) and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13) They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying? ’‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’
14 ) At this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realise that it was Jesus.

15) He asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’

16) Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’

She turned towards him and cried out in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means ‘Teacher’).

17) Jesus said, ‘Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’

18) Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: ‘I have seen the Lord!’ And she told them that he had said these things to her.

This is the Gospel of the Lord
All: Praise to You O Christ

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Rev. John’s Sunday Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter

Three Major gardens in the Bible

The First Garden – A garden of Innocence

The first dwelling place of man on earth that God placed him was in a garden. Although today many people live in towns and cities, gardens are recognised as havens from the turmoil of life. The first garden was Eden and was a place of perfect harmony between man, animals and plants. There was no animosity, pain or death.

Today it can be rather difficult to imagine. It was also a garden where Adam and Eve had perfect fellowship with God. The Bible tells us in Genesis Chap: 2 that God walked in the garden and they would talk together and enjoy each other’s company.

However, it was a garden of innocence. Only when Satan tempted Eve and then Adam that their innocence was lost, when they ate from the tree of good and evil which God had forbidden them to do. The moment they were cast out, sin, evil and death entered their lives and the world they were to live in. They had to work the land. The animals became predators between them and each other.

We are sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. All human beings have inherited that lost innocence and sinful nature. But down through the ages, God has sought to restore that lost relationship with Himself. However, to no avail until we reach the second garden.

The Second Garden – A garden of Agony

It was in this garden that a second Adam came, Jesus.

It was here that Jesus prayed with blood sweating down His face saying,

‘Take this cup of suffering from me, but not my will but Thine be done.’ (Luke Chap: 22 Vers: 39 to 47)

Jesus was about to be the substitute on mankind’s behalf to reconcile man to God and restore that broken relationship that had occurred in the first garden.

In the garden of Gethsemane were olive trees. The olive tree was one of the most valued and useful trees in Israel. The berries were used as food and commercially crushed berries became olive oil.

All over Israel are olive and grape presses. The crushed olives are a symbol of Jesus crushed body on the Cross where His life was poured out.

It was in that garden that Jesus was betrayed, arrested and taken for trial and crucifixion. From a place of prayer, it became a place of pandemonium.

This word, ‘pandemonium’ was first used in the English language by John Milton in his epic work, ‘Paradise Lost’.

So, Jesus was led out to be crucified the next day as ‘The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’. But there was something wonderful to happen in the third garden!

The Third Garden – A garden of Resurrection

This garden of resurrection is a joyful place of restoration and reconciliation; restoration for Mary and the other disciples; reconciliation between God and mankind.

‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting man’s sins against him’ (2 Corinthians Chap: 5 Ver 19).

Having bridged the gap of sin on the Cross, the relationship of the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve would be forever, because of the resurrection.

Jesus said on a number of occasions, ‘He who believes in me will never die but have everlasting life’.

We will physically die but our souls will be raised with a resurrection body.

The encounter that Mary had in this garden was one of an overwhelming and awesome Divine revelation. (John Chap: 20) First there were the angels and then the Person she thought was the gardener, but it was Jesus Himself.

Imagine you were the actual gardener of that garden where there was Jesus’ tomb?

You tended the garden day after day, perhaps month after month, year after year. You were familiar with all the plants and you watched and met all the people who came and went. But after the events of the stone rolled away you may have arrived to have seen soldiers’ boots trampled across the ground or even the garden closed by the authorities pending their investigations.

You may even have been interrogated by the Jewish rulers and priests.

It must have left the gardener wondering what it was all about – the wonder of the Person of Jesus.

Isn’t that the normal response of anyone to the Person of Jesus – wonder?

The wonder of His birth, His death and His resurrection.

Finally, there is something that all these gardens have in common for us today. Every garden represents a stage in our life – and God is in each garden of them:

1) A garden of innocence

2) A garden of sin and pandemonium

2) A garden of discovery of Jesus. The wonder of His birth, death and resurrection. A place of restoration, repentance, reconciliation, grace, forgiveness and peace.

We can only find real peace, the peace of God, when first of all we have peace with God.

People may have the most beautiful gardens and discover a form of peace, but ultimate peace can only be found in the One true Gardener, Jesus Christ.

In John Chap: 15 Jesus said,

‘I am the vine and my Father is the gardener….. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing

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Affirmation of Faith

We say together

I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.

Intercessions for the Fifth Sunday of Easter

In joy and hope let us pray to the Father.
That our risen Saviour may fill us with the joy of his
glorious and life-giving resurrection …

we pray to the Father.
All: Hear our prayer.

That the isolated
may find fresh strength in the good news of Easter …

we pray to the Father.
All: Hear our prayer.

That God may grant us humility
to be subject to one another in Christian love …

we pray to the Father.
All: Hear our prayer.

That the Lord may provide for those who lack food, work or shelter …

we pray to the Father.
All: Hear our prayer.

That by his power war and famine may cease through all the world …

we pray to the Father.
All: Hear our prayer.

That he may reveal the light of his presence to the sick,
the weak and the dying,
to comfort and strengthen them especially at this time of the coronavirus …

we pray to the Father.
All: Hear our prayer.

That, according to his promises,
all who have died in the faith of the resurrection
may be raised on the last day …

we pray to the Father.
All: Hear our prayer.

That he may send the fire of the Holy Spirit upon his people,
so that we may bear faithful witness to his resurrection,

we pray to the Father.
All: Hear our prayer.

Heavenly Father,
you have delivered us from the power of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of your Son:
grant that, as His death has recalled us to life,
so His continual presence in us may raise us to eternal joy;
through Christ our Lord.

All: Amen.

A time of Silence …. As we bring our own personal prayers to God.

We say together

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that 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

Praise to you, Lord Jesus:

We say together

Praise to you, Lord Jesus:
Dying you destroyed our death,
rising you restored our life:
Lord Jesus, come in glory.

We praise you and we bless you, our risen Lord Jesus, King of glory,
for in your resurrection the power of love breaks open the earth
and frees life from death.
Almighty and eternal God, who, for the firmer foundation of our faith,
allowed your holy apostle Thomas to doubt the resurrection of your Son
till word and sight convinced him:
grant to us, who have not seen, that we also may believe
and so confess Christ as our Lord and our God;
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for eve

All: Amen.

Our Closing Hymn is – The Servant King (Mission Praise 165)

1) From heaven you came helpless babe
Entered our world, your glory veiled
Not to be served but to serve
And give Your life that we might live

Chorus: This is our God, The Servant King
He calls us now to follow Him
To bring our lives as a daily offering
Of worship to The Servant King

2) There in the garden of tears
My heavy load he chose to bear
His heart with sorrow was torn
‘Yet not My will but Yours, ‘ He said

Chorus: This is our God, The Servant King
He calls us now to follow Him
To bring our lives as a daily offering
Of worship to The Servant King

3) Come see His hands and His feet
The scars that speak of sacrifice
Hands that flung stars into space
To cruel nails surrendered

Chorus: This is our God, The Servant King
He calls us now to follow Him
To bring our lives as a daily offering
Of worship to The Servant King

4) So let us learn how to serve
And in our lives enthrone Him,
Each other’s needs to prefer,
For it is Christ we are serving

Chorus: This is our God, The Servant King
He calls us now to follow Him
To bring our lives as a daily offering
Of worship to The Servant King (by Graham Kendrick – 1982)

Closing Blessing

Lord, grant us simplicity of faith and a generosity of service
that gives without counting cost.
A life overflowing with Grace poured out from the One who gave everything,
that we might show the power of love to a broken world,
and share the truth from a living Word.
And the blessing of God Almighty – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

All: Amen

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord

All: In the Name of Christ.
Amen