Sunday Service 12 APRIL 2020

Easter Day

The term ‘Spiritual Communion’ has been used historically to describe the means of grace by which a person, prevented for some serious reason from sharing in a celebration of the Eucharist, nonetheless shares in the communion of Jesus Christ. The form of prayer, below, offers Christians an opportunity to give thanks for their communion with him, particularly at times when they would ordinarily be present at the Eucharist. 

The Church of which we are members is not defined by the walls of a building but by the Body of Christ of which we are members. In making our communion spiritually, we are joining with Christians everywhere to be nourished by the one who tells us, ‘I am the Bread of Life’.

EASTER DAY

Easter Day is the Sunday of Sundays, the first day of the new creation, which extends into a whole season of joyful reflection on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

The miracle of the resurrection lies not only in the triumph of Jesus over death, but also in the inner experience of the Christian who is dead to sin and has risen with Christ in Baptism. This victory is a trailer of the final victory and redemption at the end of the age.

The Easter or Paschal Candle is lit today and burns at every service throughout Eastertide. It symbolises the light of Christ overcoming death and sin – a light which can never be extinguished. The candle is also used throughout the year at baptism services (and sometimes funeral services) to remind us of our vocation as Christians to be children of the light, and bearers of it in the world around us.

This Easter Day service is intended to be a real experience of new life for the worshipper – a passing from darkness to light which offers hope to all the faithful. The service begins in relative darkness, as a reminder of the fact that Jesus died on Good Friday. The Paschal Candle is then lit, symbolising the presence of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God and also the Light of the World. The Easter Gospel is proclaimed with all the joy and splendour that the Church can find. We renew our baptismal vows, as we call to mind that Christian baptism is a participation in the death and resurrection of Christ, a dying to sin in order to be reborn in him. Finally, we join together in a celebration of the Eucharist, calling to mind the fact that Jesus broke bread and shared a cup of wine with his followers at the Last Supper before he died. He asked us to take and consume the bread and wine, symbolising his body and his blood – his life given for us, that we might one day enjoy eternal life with him.

Traditionally, the service starts in darkness with the lighting of the Paschal candle. In your own home, whatever time you celebrate Easter, you may like to light a candle to symbolise the light of Christ coming anew into your life: 

       May the light of Christ, risen in glory, banish all darkness from our hearts and minds.                    The light of Christ. Thanks be to God.

Click on the arrow below to hear the hymn: "Jesus Lives! Thy Terrors Now...".
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Reflect on the day and on your relationships.

Let us pray that we may reign with the risen Christ in glory

Collect for Easter Day 

Click here to hear the collect read by the Rev'd Annita Denny 

The first lesson for Easter Day is from the Acts of the Apostles chapter 10, verses 34-43
Peter gives a summary of the story of salvation brought by Jesus, but the crucial point here is the universal scope of the work; it is for gentiles as well as for Jews. A major step in the Church's life and the spread of the good news.

Click here to hear the first lesson read by David Wade

The second lesson is from St Paul's letter to the Colossians chapter 3, verses 1-4
To become a Christian is to enter a whole new sphere of life, with Christ as its principle, indeed its true setting. This is the real fruit of Easter.

Click here to hear the second lesson read by Pauline Wade

Click on the arrow below to hear the hymn: "This Joyful Eastertide". 
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The Gospel according to John, Chapter 20, verses 1-18

Click here to hear the Gospel read by the Ven. Trevor Jones 
Two stories of Easter Day, telling first of the abandoned tomb and then of Jesus' meeting with Mary Magdalene. A new world is born, and the old is put behind. And love and recognition are the marks of the new.

The Sermon is given by the Ven. Trevor Jones:

We are all confined.  We are in a time of enforced isolation for the benefit of others, their health and well being; for the sake of our National Health Workers, carers, emergency service workers and key workers responding to and providing for our essential needs. So, I don’t know about you, but this period of home confinement, apart for the once a day walk and essential shopping trips, is a time for doing the things we often keep putting off, like having a sort out. Now as I sorted through some drawers, I discovered a postcard from the Church of St Margaret, Bodel Wyddan in North Wales.  And this is what it says on the card:

     ‘Every time I pass a Church
     I pay a little visit.
     So when at last I’m carried in
     The Lord won’t say:
     'Who is it?’ ‘

In our gospel reading from John, Mary, in the company of Peter and John, the Beloved Disciple, comes to the tomb. It is still dark.  And they come by cover of darkness, possibly because they fear for their lives. Their crucified Lord and Master, Jesus, had been accused of subverting the nation; of attempting to overthrow the ruling powers.  And, for this, he had been put to death, the death of a common criminal, by crucifixion.  So those who were his followers, were, if you like, ’tarred with the same brush’, they too were suspect subversives.  So, they come to the tomb ‘while it is still dark’. 

Darkness can often be a bit ‘spooky’, darkness can distort reality, cast shadows and run riot with the imagination. Mary, Peter and John come to complete the burial preparations.  Jesus, by all accounts had a hurried burial because his death was close to the sabbath, the holy period when work was forbidden.  So now, as the sabbath passes with the dawn displacing the darkness of the night, Mary, Peter and John, come to the tomb.  Mary appears to stand back as Peter and then John enter the tomb only to find it empty, with the grave clothes of death cast aside. Somewhat downcast and bewildered, Peter and John return to the company of disciples in hiding, again for fear of their lives.  But Mary remains; she  also finds the tomb is empty. The only person she could enquire from is a man whom she assumes is the gardener.  But Mary’s perception is about to change radically, as the supposed gardener addresses her by name, ‘Mary’.  And in that moment of intense intimacy, Jesus calls her by her own familiar name, and in so doing reveals a new relationship; ‘do not cling on to me’; don’t hold to the past, look to the future.  For this is resurrection, a new beginning. And Mary, having come in the darkness; the darkness of fear, the darkness of unknowing;  as the night gives way to the dawning of a new day; as the shadows begin to disappear and fears dissipate,  Mary leaves the garden and the empty tomb, bathed in the sunlight of a new dawn, a new day, a new hope. And all this Mary takes joyfully to the fearful disciples. ‘I have seen the Lord’.

The person on my postcard, always calls into a Church to pay a little visit so that, at his end, the Lord wouldn’t suddenly say, ‘Who is it?’  As Jesus knows Mary by name; as Jesus calls Mary by her name, so too, he knows us by name. And it is with our name that we are called to live the life of resurrection; the promise of hope now and the promise of a new creation beyond the grave. We are known for who we are. And we are called to be people who live, not with optimism, but rather people who live in hope.  

And we do so in these difficult and stressful days when the cruel disease, Coronavirus, is taking lives throughout the world, and significantly in our own country, restricting all of us, damaging economies and stretching relationships. In these days the church has been called on to live out the resurrection hope of not only life beyond the grave, but in bringing peace and light and hope to people living in the darkness of fear and dread. We are discovering afresh what it means to live resurrection. In these days our buildings are closed, yet the Church is open: open in our praise of God; open in our prayer for others; open in sharing in service to others, and with others, in our communities.  To do this, against the odds as some may say, is to live the resurrection hope.

The Apostle Paul reminds us that nothing can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus. God’s love is revealed afresh in Jesus, and we are called to live that love in the joy and peace; in the confidence and hope of his resurrection. Amen. 

Click here to hear the sermon read by the Ven. Trevor Jones

Click here to hear the post communion prayer read by the Rev'd Jon Rose 

Click here to hear the Organ Voluntary for Easter Day played by Bob Millington 

Offerings:
Thank you to all those who are continuing their regular donations to the church. We appreciate all donations to support our the maintenance of our building and the continuation of our ministry. Click here if you would like to find out how you can make your offering.

On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb to anoint the body                      …. the angel said, "he is not here, he has risen" (from a window in Sidmouth Parish Church)

GF