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Bolingbroke Deanery Team Parishes Faithful, Confident, Joyful 19th April 2020 SECOND SUNDAY of EASTER (Gold or White) BLESSINGS AND PEACE this EASTERTIDE This week: Weekday Prayer: Daily Second Sunday of EASTER 9.00am Low Sunday Service at Home https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media- centre/church-online 10.00am Prayer in our own homes See below 1 Bolingbroke Team Ministry Easter II Morning Worship As the disciples in the locked room reached out and touched you, let us reach out and touch you today, living Lord Jesus. Let us feel your scarred hands and feet. Let us put our hands in your side. Let us be still and know that you are our Lord and our God. Amen. Hymn: (© Jubilate Hymns Ltd 7 7 7 7 Trochaic) 1 Love's redeeming work is done; fought the fight, the battle won: see, our Sun's eclipse has passed; see, the dawn has come at last! 2 Vain the stone, the watch, the seal: Christ has burst the gates of hell; death in vain forbids his rise Christ has opened paradise: 3 Now he lives, our glorious king; now, O death, where is your sting? Once he died, our souls to save where's your victory, boasting grave? 4 We are raised where Christ has led, following our exalted head; made like him, like him we rise 2 ours the cross, the grave, the skies: 5 Hail the Lord of earth and heaven! praise to you by both be given; every knee to you shall bow, risen Christ, triumphant now! Prayer of Confession Like Mary at the empty tomb, we fail to grasp the wonder of your presence. Lord, have mercy. Like the disciples behind locked doors, we are afraid to be seen as your followers. Christ, have mercy. Like Thomas in the upper room, we are slow to believe. Lord, have mercy. Assurance of Pardon May the Father of all mercies cleanse us from our sins, and restore us in his image to the praise and glory of his name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Reading: Acts 2:14a, 22-32 Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them: ‘You that are Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know – this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. But God raised him up, having freed him from death, because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. For David says concerning him, “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; moreover, my flesh will live in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One experience corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life; 3 you will make me full of gladness with your presence.” ‘Fellow Israelites, I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. Foreseeing this, David spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, saying, “He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh experience corruption.” This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. Reading: John 20:19-31 When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’ But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.’ Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’ Homily from the Diocesan Website So-called ‘Doubting Thomas’ is an easy target given today’s Gospel reading, as he dominates the passage. However, maybe there is some other useful material here which can easily be overlooked, so let’s step 4 around Thomas and see what else this text might have to say to us. Let’s begin, in fact, with Mary Magdalene. She doesn’t appear in this passage, but earlier in the chapter she meets the risen Jesus and is commanded by him to ‘Go to my brothers and tell them’. She does exactly this, exclaiming to the disciples ‘I have seen the Lord!’ So, what do they do? Rush out and tell everyone else? No, they lock themselves away. Full of excitement about this unique and life-changing event, that death itself has been conquered, that evil has been defeated, that finally there is a life worth living, that Jesus is alive, they retreat into a locked room. Why, for goodness’ sake? Because they’re scared. In Luke’s account Jesus specifically tells them to wait (Acts 1:4), but John misses this out. They’re not waiting in hopeful anticipation of the gift of the Spirit: they’re just plain terrified. Let’s be honest and admit that for much of the Church today our reaction is the same. We have heard the good news of the risen Jesus, and we understand that our job is to go far and wide and tell everyone. But instead we feel safer locked in our churches (or rather locked out of our churches at the moment!) doing our own churchy things. The very word ‘evangelism’ fills us with all sorts of dread, all sorts of negative images, and all sorts of desires never to go anywhere near such an embarrassing idea! It’s into this scenario that Jesus suddenly appears. He comes not to tell them off. He shows complete understanding of their situation and feelings (we can see this through a peep back at Thomas). And he comes bearing gifts – three, to be precise. First, he brings peace. They’ve been through a really tumultuous few weeks, so it’s no wonder that they’re not exactly feeling ready to face the world. Theologians talk about ‘speech acts’ – words which have real power. To talk about forgiveness is very different from actually forgiving someone. That’s why the absolution in a service can be so powerful – the words do what they say. So, Jesus doesn’t just talk about peace – he gives them peace. Then he brings them proof. Thomas (sorry, hard to stay away from him, isn’t it?) needs to know for sure, and although he misses the first appearance of Jesus, the other disciples probably needed to see Jesus’ 5 scarred hands and side just as much as he did. Yes, says Jesus, this is real. You’re not just dreaming it; you didn’t make it up! I really am alive. And then thirdly he brings them power. Verse 22 has been called ‘John’s Pentecost’. Just as Luke suggests that without the power of the Holy Spirit all their attempts to tell others and build the Church would be severely limited (Acts 1:8), so John agrees that if they are to achieve anything, they need an experiential encounter with the Holy Spirit. The wind of Pentecost becomes the breath of Jesus, and the disciples are equipped and empowered to go out and change the world, announcing to people everywhere that sins can be forgiven, that lives can be transformed, that there can be a new start. So, let’s come back to 21st century Christians, so often terrified to go public with the good news. How can Jesus’ gifts to us make the difference in us which they made to those scared disciples? Some of us, maybe, need peace. Our fears need quelling by the powerful words of Jesus – ‘Peace be with you!’ Not just words, but speech acts which make a difference. Maybe we need to hear Jesus giving us peace again today and allow his words to take root in us. Maybe some of us need proof.