The flowers in the sanctuary today are to the honour and Glory of God and in loving memory of the Black and Whittington families given by Doris Black.
*Garage Bake 1420.00 Thank You!
*Craft Club. Third Saturday at 10 a.m. All welcome. Apr. 20
*Our food cupboard. Butch 519-615-9106.
*Earth Mass. Apr. 22, 2024 7:30 Antler River Band. St. James.
*Penny Social May 3 6:30 for 7:30. Set up at 1:00 p.m. Baking donations needed &Items. Drinks and chips available.
*Masonic Visit. Sunday May 5. Lunch.
*Welcome Sunday. May 19. Lunch.
*Jazz Vespers. St. James. May 26. Afternoon. Stephen
*Dinner. June 8. 5:30. 10$ Tickets. Meat or Veggie pies. Buns. Fresh Salad. Ice Cream and Strawberry topping. Silent Auction-baking, business doantions sought. Invite friends and family.
*Jeremy Smith. Sun. July 28. Afternoon.
*Meat and Veggie Pies. 5$ for a great meal.
*Mint smoothies Sandra $3
*Cancelled stamps. Gloria Thompson.
*Rinsed empty drink containers Dan Davies
*Apportionment. 2024 $19,571.00
*Sept. 22. Bishop Todd visits. Change!
*Slate Sisters by Adam C- H. Kydra R. Acting. April 18 – 29. For tickets call 519-615-2210.
*There are three ways to support our church. Volunteering at events. Generosity. Prayer. Our church is a team*If you wish, our regular weekly donations or special donations may be sent to our Envelope Secretary:
As we move through every sorrow and trial of this life,
uphold us with knowledge of the final morning
when, in the glorious presence of your risen Son,
we will share in his resurrection,
redeemed and restored to the fullness of life
and forever freed to be your people. Amen.
Reading Luke 24:36b-48
24:36b While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
24:37 They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost.
24:38 He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
24:39 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.”
24:40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
24:41 While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
24:42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
24:43 and he took it and ate in their presence.
24:44 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.”
24:45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,
24:46 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,
24:47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
24:48 You are witnesses of these things.
Sermon
The Risen Christ, On Repeat Luke 24:36b-48
Repetition is the key to success.
Whether it’s learning a new soccer move,
or a tennis swing,
memorizing a poem,
or learning a new language,
we have to do it over and over again.
We have to get the golf swing
or the yoga move into our muscle memory.
We have to learn just the right touch
for sanding wood
or kneading bread dough.
We have to remember how to edit a video
or play a song.
It works with music,
manners and art.
Repetition is part of growing faith, too.
In the Bible,
one sighting of the resurrected Jesus isn’t enough.
One conversation between him
and the disciples won’t suffice.
He kept showing up and showing up
so the disciples could show up where needed—
He keeps showing up
so we can really understand this new reality.
It takes a while for this amazing important fact of
Jesus walking with us
to sink in.
Luke’s gospel story finds us
on Sunday evening,
the day of resurrection,
with Jesus busy continuing to make appearances
to the people he loves.
All four gospels have appearances
outside the now- empty tomb,
then Jesus moved out into the wider world.
Matthew and Mark
remember these appearances
happening in the Galilee,
where the story began,
But Luke’s Gospel leaves
the disciples in Jerusalem.
He left them fearful, hiding, and locked in,
but still where it all happened.
—
If you think about it
Our faith is all about the visible, the real,
Our faith is from what we can see and hold onto.
These tangible experiences at the base of our faith
come from Jesus himself,
the giver of bread and cup,
the hands-on healer,
the foot washer.
Jesus went to a lot of trouble to show up in person,
after his resurrection.
He wanted his friends to know,
without a doubt that he was real
alive in a kind of physical body.
The stories go out of their way to tell us
that this was not a ghost
or a hallucination.
The risen Christ is central to the stories —
to Thomas believing when he touched Jesus,
to the others who needed to feel and see him,
even Jesus eating to show us how real he was.
That particular body of Christ is gone,
but there is a body of Christ
still in the world.
We — the church,
A community of faith,
the people gathered now in Jesus’ name —
are the enduring body of Christ.
These stories have something to tell us,
the church, the living body of Christ,
about our life of faith.
The risen Christ is persistent.
Jesus kept showing up
to show his friends this new truth.
One appearance wouldn’t do it.
This is the second story set on Easter night in Luke,
and the other gospels have other stories.
Until the job is done and the good news revealed,
the living body of Christ keeps showing up.
Still does.
The risen Christ meets needs.
The people who need
to see Jesus to make it all real
get that.
A young minister shared,
Once when I served as a hospice chaplain,
a young man was extremely distraught
about the upcoming passing of his mother.
Wanting to find something to hold onto,
he asked me if he would see his mother again.
He wondered if
she would come to him in a dream
or if he would feel her presence.
I was stumped for a minute.
I couldn’t guarantee anything to him,
Yet I didn’t want to leave him with nothing.
Running over past experiences in my mind,
it struck me that there was a pattern.
In my experience, I said,
each of us gets what we need.
Whatever assurances people need
will come to them, somehow.
If you need that, I told him,
you’ll receive it.
The same happened when Jesus showed up
People got what they needed.
The people who needed
a reminder about the scriptures,
got that.
The people who need
a second chance got that.
The people who needed
to touch him get that.
===
Or
How many times,
in the gospel of John,
did the risen Jesus tell Peter
to feed his sheep?
Three,
as if to redeem each denial.
Peter needed healing,
To know he was forgiven for denying his friend
and he got that.
The risen Christ points outside itself.
Jesus came with work
for his friends to do
He sent them out with a task.
They were not meant
to sit around reminiscing,
but to go out
and share what they experienced.
This is still true of us today
we have tasks to do for God.
Even if sometimes
we don’t know what they are,
Even if sometimes
we don’t even know
when we have accomplished them.
The risen Christ resists locked doors.
Like those disciples,
we, too, can lock ourselves away.
We close up part of our lives,
forget to take chances,
see people with suspicion,
We think nothing better is possible.
If we can just seal things up tightly enough,
We don’t take risks.
As a congregation,
we can lock our spiritual doors too,
If our vision is too small…
If we draw our circle of concern too small
If our prayers too limited…
If our dreams are too tiny.
We forget that Jesus is the one who opens doors.
Just like some people can’t resist a challenge,
Jesus can’t resist a closed-up place,
someone walled off,
or a locked door.
That’s the place where he loves to come in
and ask us
what he asked those first disciples:
“Why are you so afraid?”
In that way, the risen Christ
is an remedy to fear.
When we feel afraid,
anxious, worried,
out of strength,
the risen Christ is medicine for that.
“Be not afraid,”
Jesus says over and over in his life,
and the risen Christ says it again here.
“Peace be with you,”
is not just a greeting,
it’s a remedy for fear.
Ultimately our Lord has it all in hand,
Everything is restored,
Life goes on…
This is soul school
“Peace be with you,”
we say,
we can catch
encouragement, hope
strength from each other
for this work
of being the followers of Christ
in the world.
The risen Christ gives us strength
For being the workers for Christ in this world.
What we can’t do alone,
we can do together —
as a body of faith.
As long as
we all show up willing to help…
When we decide we don’t need to show up
The strength of everyone
is diminished, lessened.
We have been touched by the risen Christ,
now it’s our turn
to be that living body in the world.
We are the only body of Christ
there is in this world,
our Hands and feet are his feet and hands.
God has work for us to do.
Lets turn out.
Hymn: Amazing Grace
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He 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,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again
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.
Prayers:
O God, your Son remained with his disciples after his resurrection,
teaching them to love all people as neighbors.
As his disciples in this age,
we offer our prayers on behalf of the universe
in which we are privileged to live
and our neighbors with whom we share it.
Prayers: Linda (Deb Mc.); Christine A.; Bob H.; Dori; Garfield; Eunice S.; Connie C.; (Church)Suzanne (Ron and Jan);Gloria A. (Carol); Belinda,; Ross B., Francis & Bill W.; Jeff G. (Dori); Kenny; Jim T.; Norma A,;Dave F.; Peter T.; Dan B.;. (Garfield & Diane); Gord T.;Amy W. ;Yvonne;Maryanne;Gus; Jay P.;; Rick W.;.; Sharon; Anne F.; Marcel D.; Jeff B.; (Sandra); Mike J.; Scott H.; Lisa (Keeling), Wendy;Eric P,; Sarah-Jane P.; Linda H.; Sharon D.; Philip D; Jacquie and Cam .; Janice & Darrin R; Roland; .(Suzie D.)
Open our hearts to your power moving
around us and between us and within us,
until your glory is revealed in our love of both friend and enemy,
in communities transformed by justice and compassion,
and in the healing of all that is broken. Amen.
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.
Glory to God,
whose power, working in us,
can do infinitely more
than we can ask or imagine.
Glory to God from generation to generation,
in the Church and in Christ Jesus,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Prayer based on Scripture:
Holy and righteous God,
you raised Christ from the dead
and glorified him at your right hand.
Let the words of scripture,
fulfilled in Jesus your Son,
burn within our hearts
and open our minds to recognize him
in the breaking of bread. Amen.
Blessing from the Book of Common Prayer:
The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, be amongst you, and remain with you always. Amen.
Our Parting Blessing Song:
May God’s blessing surround you each day
As you trust Him and walk in His way
May His presence within guard and keep you from sin,
