Morning Service for the Third Sunday of Easter 2024

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September 4, 2024

"If a dead man is raised to life, all men spring up in astonishment. Yet every day one that had no being is born, and no man wonders, though it is plain to all, without doubt, that it is a greater thing for that to be created which was without being than for that which had being to be restored. Because the dry rod of Aaron budded, all men were in astonishment; every day a tree is produced from the dry earth, ... and no man wonders ... Five thousand men were filled with five loaves; every day the grains of seed that are sown are multiplied in a fullness of ears, and no man wonders.

Morning Service for the Third Sunday of Easter 2024

HYMN The Lord is risen indeed! NEH 118 – Narenza

1 The Lord is risen indeed!

Now is his work performed;

Now is the mighty Captive freed,

And death’s strong castle stormed.

2 The Lord is risen indeed!

Then hell has lost his prey;

With him is risen the ransomed seed

To reign in endless day.

3 The Lord is risen indeed!

He lives, to die no more;

He lives, the sinner’s cause to plead,

Whose curse and shame he bore.

PRAYER OF PREPARATION
Almighty God,
to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen

PRAYERS OF PENITENCE

Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith,

firmly resolved to keep God’s commandments and to live in love and peace with all.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father,
we have sinned against you
and against our neighbour
in thought and word and deed,
through negligence, through weakness,
through our own deliberate fault.
We are truly sorry and repent of all our sins.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
who died for us, forgive us all that is past
and grant that we may serve you in newness of life
to the glory of your name. Amen.

May the God of love and power
forgive you and free you from your sins,
heal and strengthen you by his Spirit,
and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE COLLECT

Almighty Father,

who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples

with the sight of the risen Lord:

give us such knowledge of his presence with us,

that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life

and serve you continually in righteousness and truth;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, Amen.

FIRST READING – Acts 3.12-19

Peter… addressed the people, “You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.

“And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out

HYMN Breathe on me breath of God NEH 342- Carlisle

1 Breathe on me, Breath of God,

Fill me with life anew,

That I may love what thou dost love,

And do what thou wouldst do.

2 Breathe on me, Breath of God,

Until my heart is pure,

Until with thee I will one will,

To do and to endure.

3 Breathe on me, Breath of God,

Till I am wholly thine,

Until this earthly part of me

Glows with the fire divine.

4 Breathe on me, Breath of God,

So shall I never die,

But live with thee the perfect life

Of thine eternity.

GOSPEL – Luke 24.36b-49

While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

SERMON

We Have Become Dull

“If a dead man is raised to life, all men spring up in astonishment. Yet every day one that had no being is born, and no man wonders, though it is plain to all, without doubt, that it is a greater thing for that to be created which was without being than for that which had being to be restored. Because the dry rod of Aaron budded, all men were in astonishment; every day a tree is produced from the dry earth, … and no man wonders … Five thousand men were filled with five loaves; every day the grains of seed that are sown are multiplied in a fullness of ears, and no man wonders. All wondered to see water once turned into wine. Every day the earth’s moisture, being drawn into the root of the vine, is turned by the grape into wine, and no man wonders. Full of wonder then are all the things which men never think to wonder at, because they are by habit become dull to the consideration of them. “ So wrote St. Gregory the Great, a Catholic Saint and Pope (590-604).

It’s just so easy to miss the point, to just failed to see what’s there, sometimes because it’s too obvious, and sometimes because it’s not obvious at all. One of the hardest things for us to do is to understand the significance of the commonplace, the ordinary, the unremarkable.

Perhaps that is why Jesus is recorded as having come to his disciples at ordinary times and in ordinary ways. He eats with them, shares their food, affirms that in that this simple act of fellowship he is once again one with them. Not as some shadowy hazy ghost-like thing, but as he always was. He exists both in God’s dimension and in ours. He is still the link between the corporal earth, and the God who is Spirit – he is still incarnate. That is what I think Luke means when drives home the point that Jesus was no ghostly apparition.

Jesus said “when two or three gather together in my name, they’re also am I.” This too is a commonplace, this is something so ordinary that we are apt to miss its significance completely. When I say morning prayer on a weekday morning, as I am bidden to do, I do you usually alone. But when someone joins me the experience is transformed. Nothing much has changed, the service is the same as it ever is, the Church is the same. And yet the difference in those services is extraordinary. It’s not easy to describe it properly, but it feels much more as if we have been joined, that the God we pray to is there with us.

After the resurrection the disciples experienced Jesus among them, conveying the renewing life he had before Good Friday – embodying the grace and the gift of God, the peace and, above all, the forgiveness, the acceptance of God.

We come here Sunday by Sunday, overlooked by 90 per cent of the population of the parish and yet something special is here, something special is being offered here, something special comes among us – we must never undervalue it, fail to witness to it, be amazed by the simple grace of it – and never fail to try to live up to it, in grace and peace and, above all, mutual forgiveness and acceptance.

The resurrected life of Christ is all around us – all we have to do is look and listen and be aware – and be in awe.

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
Let us declare our faith in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ:
Christ died for our sins

in accordance with the scriptures;
he was buried; he was raised to life on the third day
in accordance with the scriptures;
afterwards he appeared to his followers,
and to all the apostles: this we have received,
and this we believe. Amen. 1 Corinthians 15.3-7

HYMN Alleluya Alleluya! Hearts to heaven NEH 103 – Lux Eoi

1 Alleluya! Alleluya!

Hearts to heaven and voices raise;

Sing to God a hymn of gladness,

Sing to God a hymn of praise;

He who on the Cross a victim

For the world’s salvation bled,

Jesus Christ, the King of glory,

Now is risen from the dead.

2 Christ is risen, Christ the first-fruits

Of the holy harvest field,

Which will all its full abundance

At his second coming yield;

Then the golden ears of harvest

Will their heads before him wave,

Ripened by his glorious sunshine

From the furrows of the grave.

3 Christ is risen, we are risen;

Shed upon us heavenly grace,

Rain, and dew, and gleams of glory

From the brightness of thy face;

That we, Lord, with hearts in heaven

Here on earth may fruitful be,

And by angel-hands be gathered,

And be ever safe with thee.

4 Alleluya! Alleluya!

Glory be to God on high;

To the Father, and the Saviour,

Who has gained the victory;

Glory to the Holy Spirit,

Fount of love and sanctity;

Alleluya! Alleluya!

To the Triune Majesty.

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION – Katherine Royle

Father God, as we join together this morning to worship and praise you we thank you for your creation of this world and everything that lives in it. We thank you for the sacrifice of your son Jesus Christ who came to restore us into your presence. Forgive us when we take this sacrifice for granted and forgive us when we go our own way rather than yours.