Peace be with you (18 April 2021)

18 Apr 2021 by Karen R (Service), Hazel Davies (Message), Mavis B (Photo) in: Worship Services: 2021

Acknowledgement of Country

 

We acknowledgement the Dharawal people the original inhabitants of this land and space now known as Engadine.  We acknowledge their love of this land, the place of their livelihood of culture the making of many stories.    We pay our respects to the Elders past present and emerging.

Call to Worship

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!

Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.    But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

 

Psalm 4: 1-2

Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;   have mercy on me and hear my prayer.

 How long will you people turn my glory into shame?

   How long will you love delusions and seek false gods[b]?

 

 

The joy of the living Christ be with you all

 

Response  - And also with you

 

The Lord has lifted up our souls from great caverns of death

 

Response – and has restored our life from the deep pit of despair

 

God has turned our weeping in to dancing

 

Response – and has removed the rags of sorrow and clothes us with happiness

 

First Hymn – Christ has Risen

Bible readings

Luke 24: 36-48

36 While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

37 They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost.38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? 39 Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”

40 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet.41 And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish, 43 and he took it and ate it in their presence.

44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

45 Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

 

Acts 3: 12-19

 

When Peter saw this, he said to them: “Fellow Israelites, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? 13 The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go. 14 You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 16 By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him, as you can all see.

17 “Now, fellow Israelites, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. 18 But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Messiah would suffer.19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

 

Through these readings we hear God speak.

Thank you God for your words of life.

 

Prayer of Thanksgiving

 

God of things made utterly new, as we gather here in the name of the risen Christ,

Uplift us with his continuing Easter joy.

Extend our worship beyond habit, higher than loving duty

and deeper into that universe of the spirit

Where delight and praise flow more freely than the air we breathe,

To the glory of your name

Amen

 

Prayer of Confession and Assurance

 

Answer us when we call to you, our righteous God. Give us relief from our distress; ... have mercy on us and hear our prayer.

 

With confidence in Christ’s work for the healing and liberation of humanity let us open our hearts to his inflowing grace.

 

Let us Pray together

 

Loving God, Saviour of the weak and the foolish and also the saviour of the strong and the sophisticated,

We confess that we, without exception, have sinned  and fallen short of the glory of Christ Jesus.

 

We have rushed in where we should have gone gently, we have stood back on the sidelines when we should have got involved.  For our successes we have looked for too much praise and in our failures we have accepted too little responsibility.

 

We have grabbed for shallow happiness at the expense of others, and have clamped down on those generous impulses which would have cost us much yet fostered profound happiness.  We who should be best friends with ourselves are often our own worst enemies.

 

Now we turn to you for reproof, forgiveness, correction and courage.  Please have mercy upon us.  Through  Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

 

Second Hymn -  Lord of all hopefulness

The Message (Hazel Davies)

 

The Lord’s Prayer

 

Third Hymn –  The Power of your Love

Benediction

 

 

May our footsteps on these ancient lands,

Remind us of creation and connectedness, in our search for truth.

May the gum tree, from its roots to its branches,

Remind us to dig deep and reach high, in our action for justice.

May the eagle, who soars in the sky,

Remind us of the power, in our call for love.

May the expanse of the lands and seas, of the sky and stars,

Remind us of God’s timing in our faith in hope.

May the Holy three, Creator Spirit, Lord God, Papa Jesus,

Remind us of community.

So with grace, mercy, and peace, go in truth, justice, love and hope.

 

 

Resources used in this service wholly or in part from the following sites:

http://bruceprewer.com/DocC/C30east3.htm

https://www.commongrace.org.au/blessing_brooke_prentis