An Ordo for Easter 3 Year C (10 April 2016)

Please note that Saint Faith's is using the Hebrew Bible reading suggested by the English Language Liturgical Consulation for the first reading and Psalm in Easter.

The Collect is taken from the Trial Use Texts prepared by the Liturgy Task Force of the Anglican Church of Canada.

The Third Sunday of Easter

10 April 2016

The Gathering of the Community

Entrance Hymn

‘Come and Journey with a Saviour’  Common Praise #482

Greeting

Alleluia!  Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia!

May his grace and peace be with us.

May he fill our hearts with joy.

There is one body and one Spirit;

there is one hope in God’s call to us;

one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

one God, the Source of all being.

Canticle

‘Gloria, Gloria, in Excelsis Deo’  Common Praise #376 (thrice in English)

Collect of the Day

Let us pray.

Risen Christ,

you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope:

strengthen us to proclaim your risen life

and fill us with your peace,

to the glory of God, who raises the dead to life.  Amen. [i]

The Proclamation of the Word of God

The First Reading

A Reading from Isaiah (61.1-3).

            The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to provide for those who mourn in Zion — to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.  They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.

Thanks be to God.

The Psalm of the Day

Psalm 90.13-17 with Refrain from Songs for the Holy One

Refrain (twice):  Gracious God, strengthen our hands that we may serve.

¹³ Return, O Lord; how long will you tarry? *

            Be gracious to your servants.

¹⁴ Satisfy us by your loving-kindness in the morning; *

            so shall we rejoice and be glad all the days of our life.

Refrain:  Gracious God, strengthen our hands that we may serve.

¹⁵ Make us glad by the measure of the days that you afflicted us *

            and the years in which we suffered adversity.

¹⁶ Show your servants your works *

            and your splendour to their children.

¹⁷ May the graciousness of the Lord our God be upon us; *

            prosper the work of our hands; prosper our handiwork.

Refrain:  Gracious God, strengthen our hands that we may serve.

The Second Reading

A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles (9.1-6).

            Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.  Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”  He asked, “Who are you, Lord?”  The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.  But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.

Thanks be to God.

Hymn before the Gospel

‘Jesus Calls Us!  O’er the Tumult’  Common Praise #432 vv. 1, 2, 3

The Gospel

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John (21.1-19).

Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

            After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way.  Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.  Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.”  They said to him, “We will go with you.”  They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

            Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.  Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?”  They answered him, “No.”  He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.”  So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.  That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”  When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea.  But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.

            When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.”  So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn.  Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.”  Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord.  Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.  This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

            When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”  He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”  Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”  A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”  He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.”  Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”  He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”  Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?”  And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”  Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.  Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished.  But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.”  (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.)  After this he said to him, “Follow me.”

The Gospel of Christ.

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Hymn after the Gospel

‘Jesus Calls Us!  O’er the Tumult’  Common Praise #432 vv. 4, 5

The Sermon

The Apostles’ Creed

Do you believe in God the Father?

I believe in God,  the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.

Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God? 

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the virgin Mary,

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,

he is seated at the right hand of the Father,

and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit? 

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.

The Prayers of the Community

Intercessions, Petitions and Thanksgivings

The Exchange of the Peace

May the peace of the risen Christ be with you all.

And also with you.

The Holy Communion

Offertory Hymn

‘Will You Come and Follow Me’  Common Praise #430

The Prayer over the Gifts

Let us pray.

Creator of all,

you wash away our sins in water,

you give us new birth by the Spirit,

and redeem us in the blood of Christ.

As we celebrate the resurrection,

renew your gift of life within us.

We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ the risen Lord.  Amen. [ii]

The Thanksgiving at the Table

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is indeed right, our duty and our joy,

that we should at all times and in all places

give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God,

for the glorious resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ,

the true Paschal Lamb who gave himself to take away our sin,

who in dying has destroyed death, and in rising has brought us to eternal life. 

And so, with Mary Magdalene and Peter and all the witnesses of the resurrection,

with earth and sea and all their creatures,

and with angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim,

we praise your name and join their unending hymn: [iii]

Holy, holy, holy Lord,

God of power and might. 

Heaven and earth are full of your glory. 

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 

Hosanna in the highest. [iv]

Holy God, mighty Lord, gracious Father: 

Endless is your mercy and eternal your reign. 

You have filled all creation with light and life;

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

We praise you for the grace shown to your people in every age: 

the promise to Israel, the rescue from Egypt,

the gift of the promised land, the words of the prophets;

and, at this end of all the ages, the gift of your Son,

who proclaimed the good news in word and deed

and was obedient to your will, even to giving his life.

In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread,

and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: 

Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. 

Do this for the remembrance of me.

Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks,

and gave it for all to drink, saying: 

This cup is the new covenant in my blood,

shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. 

Do this for the remembrance of me.

For as often as we eat of this bread and drink from this cup,

we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 

Christ has died.  Christ is risen.  Christ will come again.

Therefore, O God, with this bread and cup

we remember the life our Lord offered for us. 

And, believing the witness of his resurrection,

we await his coming in power

to share with us the great and promised feast. 

Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus.

Send now, we pray, your Holy Spirit,

so that we who share in Christ’s body and blood

may live to the praise of your glory

and receive our inheritance with all your saints in light. 

Amen.  Come, Holy Spirit.

Join our prayers with those of your servants of every time and every place,

and unite them with the ceaseless petitions of our great high priest

until he comes as victorious Lord of all. 

Through him, with him, in him,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

all glory and honour is yours, Creator of all,

now and forever.  Amen. [v]

 The Lord’s Prayer

As our Saviour taught us, let us pray,

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins

as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial,

and deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power,

and the glory are yours,

now and for ever.  Amen. [vi]

The Breaking of the Bread

Lord, we died with you on the cross.

Now we are raised to new life.

We were buried in your tomb.

Now we share in your resurrection.

Live in us, that we may live in you.

The gifts of God for the people of God.

Thanks be to God.

Communion

Hymn after Communion

‘You, Lord, Are Both Lamb and Shepherd’  Common Praise #630

The Sending Forth of the Community

The Prayer after Communion

Author of life divine,

in the breaking of bread we know the risen Lord.

Feed us always in these mysteries,

so that we may show your glory to all the world.

We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen. [vii]

May the light of God illumine your hearts.

May the flame of Christ kindle your love.

May the fire of the Spirit free you to live boldly.

And the blessing of holy and undivided Trinity:

✚ Source of all being, Word of redemption and Spirit of wisdom,

be with you all, now and for ever.  Amen. [viii]

Closing Hymn

‘She Comes Sailing on the Wind’  Common Praise #656 (Ref, vv. 1, 2, 3, Ref vv. 4, 5, Ref)

The Dismissal

Let us go forth in the name of Christ.  Alleluia, alleluia!

Thanks be to God.  Alleluia, alleluia!

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[i] Liturgy Task Force, ‘Trial Use Collects and Prayers over the Gifts and afterCommunion for Year C:  Easter during the Daythrough Pentecost’ (2015), 3.

[ii] The Book of Alternative Services (1985), 338.

[iii] Evangelical Lutheran Worship:  Leaders Desk Edition (2006), 275.

[iv] Common Praise #719.

[v] Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), 66 alt.

[vi] Songs for a Gospel People #12.

[vii] The Book of Alternative Services (1985), 338-339 alt.

[viii] J. Philip Newell, Celtic Benediction:  Morning and Night Prayer (2000), 5 alt.

Resurrection as Defiance: Reflections on John 20.19-31 (Easter 2C 3 April 2016)

Resurrection as Defiance

Reflections on John 20.19-31

RCL Easter 2C

3 April 2016

Saint Faith’s Anglican Church

Vancouver BC

Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist.

         On Easter Monday I began my day as I often do.  I turn on my iPad and browse the BBC and Guardian on-line news services.  As I scanned the Guardian, the title of an op-ed piece immediately caught my eye:  ‘The resurrection isn’t an argument.  It’s the Christian word for defiance.’  The author of this piece, published in the Guardian on Thursday the 31^st of March, is the Rev’d Giles Fraser, a priest of the Church of England.

         Dr Fraser is the priest-in-charge of a small parish in one of London’s poorest neighbourhoods and he is no stranger to controversy.  He was a Canon of Saint Paul’s Cathedral but resigned when the Dean of the Cathedral called the police to remove ‘Occupy London’ protesters from the Cathedral grounds.  In his op-ed piece Dr Fraser wrote these words:  'The resurrection is not an argument, still less a philosophical argument. . . . The resurrection is more an identity than an argument. . . . It is who we are --- our word for how we go on in the face of overwhelming odds.  It’s the Christian term for defiance.'

         Later he describes how his parish opens itself up to the homeless, offering a safe place to sleep and breakfast.  I loved how he summed this up:  'Do I believe in resurrection?  Of course I do.  And I believe in it by frying bacon and refusing to give up.  This Easter rising is not just some fancy intellectual idea, it’s a form of praxis.'

         On Easter morning, almost two thousand years ago, a group of frightened and confused people defied the authorities and gathered together.  Rumours about Jesus of Nazareth were circulating, but all those who were present that morning knew that they were in danger.  Proclaiming that a dead Jewish rabbi, accused of sedition and executed by the Roman authorities with the cooperation of the Jewish leadership, was not a wise thing to do.  So they huddled together and probably were discussing their options when the unexpected happened:  Jesus showed up and the world was never the same again.

         When Jesus breathes on them and empowers them to loose and bind sin, we need to be very clear about two things.  First, in John’s gospel, sin is not a moral but a theological category.  To sin, in John’s gospel, is to fail to recognize what God is doing in the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.  It is a form of blindness to the possibility that God, in Jesus of Nazareth, is doing a new thing, unanticipated by traditional religious teachings.  It is a refusal to acknowledge God’s actions in the teaching and healing ministry that Jesus has undertaken for the past three years.  To loose people’s sins means to proclaim the good news of God in Jesus of Nazareth wherever we are and with whomever we share our lives.  To bind is not to condemn other people; it is to entrust them to God and to continue our own work of proclamation.

         The other thing we need to know is that this ministry of loosening and binding is not limited to those who exercise ordained leadership in the Christian community.  Proclaiming the good news of God is a baptismal ministry.  Every person who has been baptized promises to ‘proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ’. [1]  Each time we witness a baptism we reaffirm this promise.  Each time we recite the Apostles’ Creed we proclaim the faith into which we were baptized.

         In today’s gospel the gathered community of Jesus’ disciples do exactly what Jesus commissioned them to do.  They do not abandoned their ‘bound’ friend, Thomas, but bring him into their midst on this Sunday, one week after their own experience of the risen Christ.  Thomas’ bonds are loosened and he offers the most powerful affirmation of Christ:  ‘My Lord and my God!’ (John 20.28)  According to legend, Thomas leaves Jerusalem behind and travels to the east beyond the boundaries of the Roman Empire.  To this day an entire community of Christians who live along the south-western coast of India call themselves ‘Thomas Christians’ after the one who brought the good news to them.

         I like Giles Fraser’s description of belief in the resurrection as defiance.  Christian defiance means doing justice, even when injustice may be more convenient and self-interested.  Christian defiance means loving kindness, even when this may mean going beyond our ‘comfort zones’ to reach out to people whose needs are far greater than our own and who are easily ignored.  Christian defiance means walking humbly with God, even when this may mean sacrificing privileges and aspirations in order to serve God’s purposes.

         I like talking about the resurrection as defiance because I think that we live in a world where decay and death fill our daily news.  Rarely do we hear of the various acts of defiance by good and faithful people throughout the world, such as Muslims who help Christians in those parts of the world where oppression of minorities is widespread.  Resurrection is living a life that affirms words that have become my Easter mantra:  ‘Goodness is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate; light is stronger than darkness; life is stronger than death; victory is ours through Jesus who loved us.’ (Archbishop Desmond Tutu as quoted in Morley, Bread for the Journey)

         Contrary to popular thinking, living the resurrection as defiance is never futile.  It is like water dripping on a stone; it is the stone that shall be shaped by the water, no matter how long it takes.

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[1] The Book of Alternative Services (1985), 159.