During the service we once again sat around the table as we had done on Maundy Thursday evening and we shared in the Lord's Supper.
Happy Easter
and welcome to Highbury
There’s so much more to Easter!
It’s a holiday and much more!
It’s Easter Eggs and much more!
It’s Spring and much more!
It’s glorious flowers and much more!
It’s a mystery and much more!
It’s history and much more!
It’s faith and much more!
It’s something to experience
We invite you to take time to experience
Easter as you walk around the church and
reflect on the message of the first Easter
and the difference it makes this Easter.
Come to the foot of the cross and move on
to the empty tomb. Make the journey to
Emmaus and on to Galilee and discover the
promise of 153 Hsh and the charcoal fire.
And in church use those flowers and the
wonderful music that fills this place to think
of the resurrection victory we all may share
in the risen Christ.
At the foot of the Cross
It once stood stark,
Bare and barren
On a hilltop
It once bore the pain
And the agony
Of one who felt abandoned,
Abandoned by God.
It once had the last word
But no longer
Transformed
Into a thing of beauty
It stands empty
For the one who bore that pain
The one who endured that agony
Has risen!
He is risen indeed!
Look and see
The lamb of God
Who has taken away the sin of the world
And lay at the foot of the cross
The burden that weighs you down.
Hear from the cross
Those words of forgiveness
Father, forgive
And know that forgiving love
Deep in your heart
Forgiven, freed of the burden
Sense the presence
Of the risen Christ
The Empty Tomb
See the folded grave clothes
Sense the mystery
All had been lost
But no longer
The Dawn breaks
The Sun rises
The Son is risen
He is risen indeed!
And yet the burial had to happen
The end had to come
The dumb, sense of nothingness
There was no escaping it
Only through its seeming defeat
Could victory come
Thanks be to God
Who gives us the victory
Through our Lord Jesus Christ
It’s not the emptiness of the tomb
That makes the difference
It’s the presence of the risen one,
The presence of the one
Who spoke the name of Mary
Who speaks the name of each of us
The presence of the one
Who goes ahead of us to the
And meets us there!
The Road to Emmaus
The road can seem long and lonely
The conversation heavy with sadness
All hope is gone
Nothing is left to live for
It’s when we are at rock bottom
When all seems to have failed
That’s the moment He arrives,
The moment He draws alongside us..
Not that we recognise that presence
He reaches out to meet us
Just where we are
In the midst of all our questioning
He is there with us.
It’s a long road to follow
It feels as if we are alone
But One is there with us
All along the way
It would he so easy
To leave the stranger outside
Better by far to invite him in
And then comes a moment,
Not planned, not anticipated
A moment when His presence is real
It’s really there.
The moment passes
But the journey goes on
There is so much to share
And such little time
On to the Galilee of our fears
There's something about a cooked breakfast
The smell lingers
It does now
It did then.
Was there expectation in their hearts?
Did they think they would see him again?
Or were they simply going back,
Back to what they knew best
Or thought they knew best.
They did everything they should have done
But they caught nothing.
Familiar, yet fearful too
They had given up so much to follow him
And without him their fears grew.
And then his presence was there
Making a difference to them
As ever he had done before.
Such a massive catch of fish
153 in alll
And a charcoal ire to cook them on!
But it was his presence and the promise
That made the difference.
It was a presence that would never depart
A promise that brought peace
A presence that meant the work had to go on
A task to do, a message to share
And a new way of living
In the Presence of the Risen One
In prayer and in praise
So, what difference does it all make?
Take time to be still,
Take time to be quiet
And sense again the presence
Sense again the promise
It may be a promise of peace
It may be the presence deep in your heart
In prayer open your heart
to the God who is love
and bring before God the needs
of those you love,
of those you hear of on the news
the needs of troubled people
the needs of a troubled world
And here in Church
Look again
at the beauty of those spring flowers
relive the story of that first Easter
Hear again
The beauty of resurrection
In the music that surrounds us
And be prepared
To hear God’s word
To sense God’s promise
To take God’s love
Into whatever lies ahead
Experience Easter not just here
In this place in the breaking of bread
But as you take the presence
of the Risen Christ
out into a world of need.
No comments:
Post a Comment