Easter Sunday 2014

I BOUGHT THIS FOR POST REFLECTION time

Some images

EASTER SUNDAY MERRIWA 11am 

Call to Worship for Easter  adapted from Cheryl Lawrie

We’re here because we’re people who who’ve heard more than a rumour

That there’s life beyond our lives

We’re here because we are people of hope offering life to the full today

And that hope calls us to action

We’re here because Jesus calls us to follow

In doing this we share life with everyone we meet

We’re here because He is Risen!!

He is Risen Indeed

HYMN “Christ the Lord is Risen Today”

OPENING PRAYER forgot where I stole this from, mostly re:worship

Compassionate God,

Through you Jesus conquered death and rose from the dead and is alive evermore

Help us never to forget your loving presence with us

Help us to remember

That you are with us in every time of confusion to guide and direct us

That you are with us in every time of sadness to comfort and counsel us

That you are with us in every time of temptation to strengthen and inspire us

That you are with us in every time of loneliness to cheer and befriend us

That you are with us in every time of doubt to point us to abundant life

We thank you, we own up to sometimes letting you down

And we pray thanks for your compassion and grace.....

xxxx extra bit...

Amen

WELCOME

STORY with pics ‘Dave the Donkey’ Peter C

BIBLE READING John 20: 1-18

REFLECTION    “Standpoint”

VIDEO “Easter Drawing Countdown” 4min 16

HYMN “Thine [Yours] be the glory, risen, conquering Son” 

NOTICES + CONCERNS

PRAYERS FOR THE WORLD

Our God we pray for a world in trouble not easily solved

We pray today for conflict in Ukraine and Syria and so many places across the planet

We pray for our country, for those who struggle and those who don’t help

We pray wisdom for leaders and compassion for those in need

We ask you God to invite us into action for change

If prayer were enough there would be no poverty, no hunger, no pain

If prayer were enough we would all love our neighbour as ourselves

God help us to bringers of hope, sources of care and creators of community

+........

Amen

COMMUNION

HYMN ‘Lord Jesus Christ You Have Come to Us’ 1,2,3

COMMUNION.... stripped back with all the 'triangles' covered

...

BREAK THE BREAD

Christ is the bread of life,

food for healing and wholeness.

LIFT UP THE CUP

Christ is the cup of hope,

wellspring of resurrection life.

The gifts of God for the people of God.

As we share may we be found in Christ and Christ in us

Communion distribution by the Elder

Prayer

Hymn “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise” 1,2,3,5

Sending Out

God sends you

God’s Spirit guides you

Jesus is your example to follow

Amen

‘STANDPOINT’ ROUGH NOTES

[1] IT’S EASTER SUNDAY, a moment of celebration,

where faith breaks out of the normal boundaries of reporting and memory…

In John 20 v 18 “Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.”

Simply reporting, doesn’t cut it… 

Imagination, story-telling and the experiences of the people in the story,

Give us the ‘good news’

but also the diversity of the gospel accounts… “Christ is risen”

[2] AND Easter for me this year has been about seeing the story,

Through the eyes of those people whose stories we’ve glimpsed…

Nicodemus, the un-named woman at the Well, the man born blind,

Mary-Jesus mother, Mary Magdalene and Peter to name a few…

[3] American theologian/activist, Robert McAfee Brown, SAID

“where you stand, will determine what you see” and;

“whom you stand with will determine what you hear; and

“what you see and hear will determine what you say and how you act”

I can’t tell you how many Easter Camps, workshops, weekends or occasions I’ve heard speakers and storytellers echo these words, to encourage and explore, what it means to be a follower of JESUS…

In McAfee Brown’s case it was a plea for people to get alongside

and understand life through the eyes of the poor, the dispossessed

and those whose life is a struggle…

[4] Others I know, describe our task in relation to Scripture,

As being one of figuring out where we LOCATE ourselves …

It’s more than HOW YOU SPEAK OF GOD [CALLED THEOLOGY]

it’s about HOW YOU LIVE OUT YOUR FAITH…

The central theme of John’s gospel is…?

That Jesus is the Son of God… that Jesus is God

WHEN John talks about the promise of “abundant life”

That’s this gospels way of speaking of “the Kingdom of God”

[5] In the Easter a/c here is Jesus, from God, returning to God

BUT like I was saying, we have the story through the eyes of those in it…

Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved,

Mary Magdalene only, not “the women” as in the other gospels

Whether this is an earlier tradition OR the writers ‘touch’

We know Mary hears in a single sentence,

the secret Jesus shares to the others over 5 chapters in [John 13-17]

And this one sentence makes sense of the resurrection event…

reminds WA Uniting Church theologian Bill Loader…

17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

[6] Jesus echoes his last conversations with those following

And inviting them to see this amazing turn of events as an explanation

15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him,

“Sir, if you have carried him away,

tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew,

“Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher).

The dramatic race across town and what they found,

give way to this grief filled conversation between Jesus and Mary…

[7] And in v 18

18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples,

“I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

- We are invited into Mary’s standpoint in the story, to recognize/respond

- We are called to live as a community who BELIEVE in/live out our faith

- Where will we stand, where do you locate yourself in response?

Which people do we know, from the very edges of Merriwa,

who, if WE STOOD WITH THEM,

would encounter JESUS love and teach and share it with all of us?

THE VIDEO REFLECTION