Back to the Upper Room - an Easter Celebration

After a sunrise service on Cleeve Hill [see the previous blog] we returned to Highbury for breakfast and then lots more people joined us in a church we had laid out once more as the Upper Room, meeting around the table to share in a memorable meal.

It was the women who made it happen.

It was the women

who saw it through to the end.

It was the women who spread the word

The Women of Galilee

Through the cities and villages of Galilee

And everywhere he went Jesus had a message to share –

the Good News of the Kingdom of God

On earth as in heaven your kingdom come

Your will be done

It wasn’t only the twelve who were with him.

There were some women too.

Some had been sick, very sick

And they had been healed, made whole, by Jesus.

Mary, called Magdalene

And Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza

And Susanna, and many others.

They were the ones who made it happen.

They provided for Jesus,

It was the women who made it happen.

It was the women

who saw it through to the end.

It was the women who spread the word

The Women of Galilee

That Friday as darkness came over the whole land

When all the crowds who had gathered for the spectacle

saw what had taken place,

they returned home, beating their breasts. 

But all his friends,

including the women who had followed him from Galilee,

stood at a distance and watched.

It was the women who made it happen.

It was the women

who saw it through to the end.

It was the women who spread the word

The Women of Galilee

The women who had come with him from Galilee followed,

and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. 

Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. 

On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

It was the women who made it happen.

It was the women

who saw it through to the end.

It was the women who spread the word

The Women of Galilee

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn,

Those very same women came to the tomb,

taking the spices that they had prepared. 

They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,

but when they went in, they did not find the body.

While they were perplexed about this,

suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 

The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them,

‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ 

Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 

Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles.

It was the women who made it happen.

It was the women

who saw it through to the end.

It was the women who spread the word

The Women of Galilee

It was the women who spread the word

The women of Galilee

Women:           Christ is risen!

Men:                He is risen indeed!

Women:           Christ is risen!

Men                 He is risen indeed!

Women:           Christ is risen!

Men:                He is risen indeed.

1     Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia.

       our triumphant holy day, Alleluia.

       who did once, upon the cross, Alleluia.

       suffer to redeem our loss. Alleluia.

2     Hymns of joy then let us sing

       praising Christ, our heavenly King,

       who endured the Cross and grave,

       sinners to redeem and save.

3     But the pains that he endured

       our salvation have procured;

       now above the sky he's King,

       where the angels ever sing.

Surrexit Christus hodie    (CCL3540)

Anonymous Latin, Lyra Davidica (1708), Compleat Psalmodist (1749 Arnold), Charles Wesley (1707-88)

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

The meals had always been memorable.

Maybe, it was the company he kept.

On occasion the well to do, more often than not the ones everyone else had no time for.

Tax collectors and sinners.

The meals had always been memorable.

The woman who had poured such expensive pefume all over him – what a shock to the system.  And yet he simply accepted her.

He had stories to tell of great banquets in heaven.

And then that last night – bread that he broke and a cup that he shared.

And then his body had been broken, his blood had been shed, in the cruellest of ways.

Their dreams had been shattered …

Telling of the Road to Emmaus

Luke 24:13-31a

A Supper at Emmaus

1     As we walked home at close of day,

       a stranger joined us on our way.

       He heard us speak of one who’d gone

       and when we stopped, he carried on.

2     ‘Why wander further without light?

       Please stay with us this troubled night.

       We’ve shared the truth of how we feel

       and now would like to share a meal.’

3     We sat to eat our simple spread,

       then watched the stranger take the bread;

       and, as he said the blessing prayer,

       we knew that someone else was there.

4     No stranger he; it was our eyes

       which failed to see, in stranger’s guise,

       the Lord, who risen from the dead,

       met us when ready to be fed.

5     Alleluia! Alleluia!

       Alleluia! Alleluia!

       As Mary and our sisters said,

       The Lord is risen from the dead!

John L Bell (born 1949) and Graham Maule (born 1958)

© 1988 WGRG, Iona Community

Used By Permission. CCL Licence No. 3540

A Meal in the Upper Room

The meals became even more memorable

Never to be forgotten.

Telling of the return – Luke 24:31b to 3543

And then listen out for what happens in the upper room …

Reading: Luke 24:36-43

Lord, I lift Your name on high,
Lord, I love to sing Your praises,
I'm so glad You're in my life,
I'm so glad You came to save us.

You came from heaven to earth
To show the way,
From the earth to the cross,
My debt to pay,
From the cross to the grave,
From the grave to the sky,
Lord, I lift Your name on high.

Rick Founds CCl 3540

Breakfast on the Beach

The meals had always been memorable.

But now they became even more  memorable.

Telling of the catch of fish John 21:1-8

Reading:  John 21:9-14

This is the Good News

The grave is empty

Christ is risen

All:       HE IS RISEN INDEED!  ALLELUIA!

This is the Good News

The light shines in the darkness

And the darkness can never put it out

Christ is risen

All:       HE IS RISEN INDEED!  ALLELUIA!

This Is the Good News

Once we were no people

Now we are God’s people

Christ is risen

All:       HE IS RISEN INDEED!  ALLELUIA!

1     Good Christians all, rejoice and sing!

       Now is the triumph of our King!

       To the whole world glad news we bring:

       Alleluia!

2     The Lord of life is risen today;

       death's mighty stone is rolled away:

       let every tongue rejoice and say:

       Alleluia!

3     We praise in songs of victory

       that love, that life, which cannot die,

       and sing with hearts uplifted high:

       Alleluia!

4     Your name we bless, O risen Lord,

       and sing today with one accord

       the life laid down, the life restored:

       Alleluia!

Cyril A Alington (1872-1955) © Sir Richard Mynors

CCL 3540

Offering and Dedication

The Table is Prepared

Three times Peter denied Jesus and he wept.

In words we have spoken we too have denied Jesus

Father, forgive us

In deeds we have done we too have denied Jesus

Father, forgive us

In thoughts we have hidden

we too have denied Jesus

Father, forgive us.

Three times Peter affirmed his love for Jesus

Jesus asks us by name, Do you love me more than these?

Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

Jesus says to each of us, “Feed my lambs.”

Jesus asks us by name, Do you love me?

Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.

Jesus says to each of us, “Tend my sheep.”

Jesus asks us by name, “Do you love me?”

Lord, you know everything,

you know that I love you.

Jesus says to each of us, “Feed my sheep.”

Feed my sheep – caring for others – Louise to introduce Christian Aid Wheelathon

Our Communion Collection for

Cruse Bereavement Care

1     Led like a lamb to the slaughter

       In silence and shame,

       There on Your back You carried a world

       Of violence and pain.

       Bleeding, dying, bleeding, dying.

       You're alive, You're alive,

You have risen, Alleluia!

       And the power and the glory is given,

Alleluia, Jesus, to You.

      

2     At break of dawn, poor Mary,

       Still weeping she came,

Now speaking her name.

       Mary, Master, Mary, Master!

       Refrain

3     At the right hand of the Father

       Now seated on high

       You have begun Your eternal reign

       Of justice and joy.

       Glory, glory, glory, glory.

       Refrain

Graham Kendrick (born 1950)  CCL 3540

We break bread and share the cup

Using the passage from Luke 24:28ff

Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son;

endless is the victory thou o'er death hast won.

Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,

kept the folded grave clothes where thy body lay.

Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son:

Endless is the victory, thou o'er death hast won.

Lo! Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb;

lovingly he greets us, scatters fear and gloom.

Let his church with gladness, hymns of triumph sing;

for her Lord now liveth, death hath lost its sting.

Refrain

No more we doubt thee, glorious prince of life!

Life is nought without thee; aid us in our strife;

make us more than conquerors,

       through thy deathless love:

Bring us safe through Jordan to thy home above.

Refrain

Edmund L Budry (1854-1932), translated by Richard B Hoyle (1875-1939)  CCL 3540

Words of Blessing

Now to him who is able to keep us from falling, and to make us stand without blemish

in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, 

to the only God our Saviour,

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

be glory, majesty, power, and authority,

before all time and now and for ever. Amen.

Walking the Way of the Women - a Sunrise Service on Cleeve Hill

First thing this morning our Easter celebrations began on Cleeve Hill shortly after the sun had risen on a glorious, though cold, Spring morning, with wonderful views over to the snow clad Malvern hills.  In our mind's eye we went back to the first Easter and walked the way of the women

It was the women who made it happen.

It was the women who saw it through

to the end.

It was the women who spread the word

The Women of Galilee

He had been down to the sea, up to the heights

Of Galilee

Through cities and villages

And everywhere he went he had a message to share

The Good News of the Kingdom of God

On earth as in heaven your kingdom come

Your will be done

It wasn’t only the twelve who were with him.

There were some women too.

Some had been sick, very sick

And they had been healed, made whole, by Jesus.

Mary, called Magdalene

And Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza

And Susanna, and many others.

They were the ones who made it happen.

They provided for Jesus,

Got everything ready for him

And they saw it through

That Friday afternoon it had gone dark,

Very dark, dark as night.

And the crowds who had come for the spectacle

Saw exactly what had happened.

They had had enough.

They returned home, beating their  breasts.

But his friends, and those women,

The women who had followed him from Galilee,

Stood at a distance,

Watching.

And what they saw, they forever remembered.

Coming towards that place they saw

A good man, a righteous man,

A man who had been waiting expectantly

For the Kingdom of God

Waiting for God’s kingdom to come

Waiting for God’s will to be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

They saw a good man called Joseph

He was coming from Pilate – of all things to do,

He asked for the body, the body of Jesus.

He took  it down, wrapped it in a cloth

Still, those women stood at a distance.

Still they watched.

The women who had come with him from Galilee

Followed.  They looked.

And what they saw they forever remembered.

He laid the body in a tomb carved out of the rock.

No one had ever been laid in that tomb before.

They looked, and they saw the tomb,

They saw how his body was laid.

They returned back to the city

and there they prepared spices and ointments.

And on the first day of the week,

A Sunday morning,

At early dawn when the sun had risen

Those women,

The women who had followed him from Galilee

Made their way from the comfort of their home

To the cold of the tomb.

And as they walked, one question was in their minds.

Who will roll away the stone for us

From the entrance to the tomb?

To the tomb

It was the women who made it happen.

It was the women who saw it through

to the end.

It was the women who spread the word

The Women of Galilee

Still they wondered in the cold of the morning

Just after the sun had risen

Who will roll away the stone for us

From the entrance to the tomb?

And then they reached the tomb

They looked up.

They looked and they saw.

And what they saw, they forever remembered.

They saw that the stone, which was very large,

had already been rolled back

As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side;

and they were very frightened.

And then he spoke.  And they listened.

And this is what he said.

‘Do not be afraid;

you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth,

who was crucified.

He has been raised;

he is not here. Look,

there is the place they laid him. 

But go, tell his disciples and Peter

that he is going ahead of you to Galilee;

there you will see him, just as he told you.’ 

It was the women who made it happen.

It was the women who saw it through

to the end.

It was the women who spread the word

The Women of Galilee

And what they saw, they forever remembered.

1     Led like a lamb to the slaughter

       In silence and shame,

       There on Your back You carried a world

       Of violence and pain.

       Bleeding, dying, bleeding, dying.

       You're alive, You're alive,

You have risen, Alleluia!

       And the power and the glory is given,

Alleluia, Jesus, to You.

      

2     At break of dawn, poor Mary,

       Still weeping she came,

       When through her grief she heard Your voice

       Now speaking her name.

       Mary, Master, Mary, Master!

       Refrain

3     At the right hand of the Father

       Now seated on high

       You have begun Your eternal reign

       Of justice and joy.

       Glory, glory, glory, glory.

       Refrain

Graham Kendrick (born 1950)  CCL 3540

To Galilee

And so it was the eleven disciples went to Galilee.

And what of the women?

It was the women who made it happen.

It was the women who saw it through

to the end.

It was the women who spread the word

The Women of Galilee

They saw him.  With their own eyes, they saw him.

And what they saw, they forever remembered.

They looked and once more they saw.

They saw Jesus come.

And as he came, he spoke.

And as he spoke they heard what he had to say.

And what he had to say spoke to them all.

And what they heard

they forever remembered.

“All authority in heaven and on earth

has been given to me.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,

Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

And teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

And then he gave them a promise.

It was a promise for the eleven disciples

It was a promise for the women

who made it happen.

It was a promise for the women

who saw it through to the end.

It was a promise for the women

who spread the word

It was a promise for The Women of Galilee

It was a promise, they forever remembered.

It was a promise they passed on.

It is a promise that is for us all

It is a promise for men and for women

It is a promise for young and for old

It is a promise for us and for everyone

It is the promise of Easter,

It is the promise of the Risen Lord Jesus

“And remember,

I am with you always

To the end of the age.”

He is with us all

He is with men and women, young and old

He is with everyone now and forever.

Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son;

endless is the victory thou o'er death hast won.

Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away,

kept the folded grave clothes where thy body lay.

Thine be the glory, risen conquering Son:

Endless is the victory, thou o'er death hast won.

Lo! Jesus meets us, risen from the tomb;

lovingly he greets us, scatters fear and gloom.

Let his church with gladness, hymns of triumph sing;

for her Lord now liveth, death hath lost its sting.

       Refrain

No more we doubt thee, glorious prince of life!

Life is nought without thee; aid us in our strife;

make us more than conquerors,

       through thy deathless love:

Bring us safe through Jordan to thy home above.

       Refrain

Edmund L Budry (1854-1932), translated by Richard B Hoyle (1875-1939) CCL3540

That promise is for us

That promise is for ever

Remember, I am with you always

To the end of the age.

Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

Will hardship, or distress, or persecution,

or famine, or nakedness,

or peril, or sword? 

No, in all these things

we are more than conquerors

through him who loved us. 

For I am convinced that

neither death, nor life,

nor angels, nor rulers,

nor things present, nor things to come,

nor powers, nor height, nor depth,

nor anything else in all creation,

will be able to separate us

from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Amen

Faithfully Following

With the excitement of the inauguration of the new Pope in Rome and of the new Archbishop of Canterbury in Canterbury you may not have noticed news of another important event in Westminster Abbey this last week.

To mark the 200^th anniversary of the birth of David Livingstone the new President of Malawi has been over here visiting David Livingstone’s  birthplace in Blantyre in Scotland and his tomb in Westminster Abbey.  The memory of David Livingstone is highly honoured in Malawi – passionate to educate himself at loom, studying to be a Doctor and then giving himself to missionary service as one of a second generation of missionaries going out to Africa through our Mission agency, the London Missionary Society.  That has now become the Council for World Mission and the LMS become the CWM.  The links are important.

It’s not long since a group from our Congregational Federation churches went over to Malawi to spend time with our CWM partners there, the Churches of Christ in Malawi.  One of them joined us on a Sunday morning and reported back on that partnership.  We then got involved in welcoming the Malawi team to Cheltenham for the Olympics planting out that flower bed in the shape of the Malawi flag.  And in the summer, a small group from Malawi will be visiting our churches here and joining us at the International Congregational Fellowship conference.  They will be in Witney staying with Nan who was one of the Malawi team.  They are hoping they can visit us while they are over in Witney.

At our SW Midlands day Nan was saying how good it has been for Malawi since the election of their new President.  When we gave the design of the Malawi flag to the garden it was under the old regime.  By the time the athletes arrived the flag had subtly changed – in the hope that a new dawn was breaking in Malawi.

By all accounts that is happening.

What makes it a remarkbable moment to mark is that the new President of Malawi is a woman.  President Joyce Banda has according to our friends in Witney brought a degree of stability and hope to the country that has brought it back from the brink.

Interesting it should be a woman.   Women have made a big difference in Africa in conflict resolution.  It's less than two years since President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, together with colleague Leymah Gbowee, also of Liberia, and Tawakuk Karman of Yemen were  awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work."

The part women play in the story of Jesus' mission and in the Passion is easy to overlook, but of fundamental importance.

Luke 8:1-3

Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

An interesting mix of women who were as much involved in the work of Jesus as he through cities and villages proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.    Mary called Magdalene – had received the healing touch of Jesus and had been restored to her right mind and to the wholeness – Joanna is the wife of Herod’s steward – interesting that she should come from the court of the Heoridan dynasty, Susanna and many others.  They weren’t just there but they provided for them out of their resources.  These were the ones who funded – who made it happen.  Maybe they organised the itinerary.  Event management.  Significant part to play.

Jump forward to Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem … and Luke passes comment on the women in the crowd as Jesus was being taken out to his execution.

²⁷A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. ²⁸But Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. ²⁹For the days are surely coming when they will say, “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.”³⁰Then they will begin to say to the mountains, “Fall on us”; and to the hills, “Cover us.” ³¹For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?’

The weeping of the women.

Images that horrify from Syria that cause us deep and profound concern – of the women who weep.   The weeping woman of Picasso’s Guernica inspired paintings – horror at the war.

Jesus directs their weeping – not at him, but for themselves.  He has wept over Jerusalem – would that they had recognised the things that make for peace but they had not.   Weep for yourselves he says.

Then it is that Jesus is taken out to the cross.  He shares those powerful words

Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.

The promise to the one beside him also on the cross  – Truly, I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.

And then that final breath, “Father into your hands I commend my spirit.”

At a distance there were some watching – who were they?  The women …

⁴⁸And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. ⁴⁹But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

The women who watch and wait and look on from a distance.  And they are the women who had followed faithfully from the first through those towns and villages in Galilee - there is a tenacity here.  A determination not to give up.

Then Jesus is taken down from the cross, laid in a tomb …

⁵⁴It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning.⁵⁵The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. ⁵⁶Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments.

On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

And again, it is the women who had come with him from Galilee who followed.

Isn’t that interesting – we catch a glimpse of a very real determination to keep on following in the footsteps of Jesus.

It seemed as if everything had failed, all had fallen.  But they have the confidence to keep on going.  To journey faithfully on.

They thought the journeying had come to an end.  But they discovered it hadn’t.

We so often start our Easter readings at Luke 24.  But 24:1 follows straight on from 23:56 – the women who come to the tomb on Easter morning are the women who had been to the tomb at his burial – and these are the women who had come with him from Galilee.

What a remarkable testimony to their doggedness.

It’s a story for us all to take to heart – it’s something too for all of us to take to heart.   The need to journey on, to keep at it – through all the difficulties that all encounter.

Faithfully following ...

Touched with his healing,

Changed by his provision

Lord, keep us faithfully following

all the journey through

Comforted in our weeping

Strengthened in our loss

Lord, keep us faithfully following

all the journey through

Watching, waiting,

Unsure where this way will lead us

Lord, keep us faithfully following

all the journey through

Following through to the bitter end

And beyond to resurrection glory

Lord, keep us faithfully following

all the journey through.         

Luke 8 and 23