Easter Sunday

We have made it. We have travelled all week with Our Lord and have seen high points and low. We have ended up here in a garden and at the site of a borrowed tomb. It all feels surreal after the roller coaster of emotions we have been on both emotionally with the Lord and in our own present day experience.

Hymn Thine be the glory

The Collect for Easter Sunday

Lord of all life and power, who through the mighty resurrection of your Son overcame the old order of sin and death to make all things new in him: grant that we, being dead to sin and alive to you in Jesus Christ, may reign with him in glory; to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be praise and honour, glory and might, now and in all eternity.

Reading

John 20:1-18 New Revised Standard Version 20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, 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, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” 3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. 4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; 9 for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 Then the disciples returned to their homes. 11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look[a] into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 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,[b] “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). 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.’” 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.

What do you think happened to the Lord?

Was he somehow taken away?

In your place today of isolation we are at our goal, have you met with God through this experience?

Did Christ call you by name as you travelled along with him at his greatest need?

Can you tell the others when you are free to travel again that you have seen the Lord?

Now the green blade riseth, from the buried grain, Wheat that in dark earth many days has lain; Love lives again, that with the dead has been: Love is come again like wheat that springeth green. In the grave they laid Him, Love who had been slain, Thinking that He never would awake again, Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen: Love is come again like wheat that springeth green. Forth He came at Easter, like the risen grain, Jesus who for three days in the grave had lain; Quick from the dead the risen One is seen: Love is come again like wheat that springeth green. When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain, Jesus' touch can call us back to life again, Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been: Love is come again like wheat that springeth green. Source: Hymns for a Pilgrim People: a congregational hymnal #210

Prayer

O Lord, this week we have travelled with you, on the way to the cross

and on to the Resurrection.

We are filled with the joy of new life in all we see around us

even in these days of Coronavirus,

nothing can keep us from your love.

There might be much we cannot understand, but we can do all with you.

Help and guide as we return to life in our homes from our spiritual pilgrimage,

allow us to be open to your leading,

that we may be used by you, and the joy we have discovered in our isolation

may be the opening of the door to a deeper relationship with you,

may our spiritual pilgrimage change us, so that we can share your love and joyful story with others.

In the name of the risen Christ Amen

The Lord is risen Alleluia! Alleluia!

He is risen in deed. Alleluia! Alleluia!

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.

Happy Easter! Pasg Hapus!