23 March 2008

Welcome to St Alban’s Anglican Church 

Today's Scripture (HC) : Jeremiah 31: 1-6   Acts 10: 34-43   S. Matthew 28: 1-10  

Today's Liturgy: 8.35 a.m. BCP Matins;  9.00a.m. Easter Eucharist ;  EP 6.00 p.m.;  St. Mary’s HC 7.30 p.m.

This Week: Monday & Tuesday in Easter Week 12.30 p.m. Holy Communion;  Thurs & Fri 12.30 p.m. Midday Prayer.  Northward Prison Saturday 10.00 a.m.

Easter Day

Almighty God, who through thine only-begotten Son Jesus Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of everlasting life: We humbly beseech thee, that as by thy special grace preventing us thou dost put into our minds good desires, so by thy continual help we may bring the same to good effect; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.

FAITH IN FOCUS: THE INDELIBLE PROMISE

The empty tomb confronts us with the most basic question we can ever ask: Why are we here? What is the purpose of the short period between our birth and our death and how does it affect what happens afterwards?

This is the deepest of all questions because it gets right down to the very purpose of life. Does life, in fact, have a purpose or is it just an accident of biology that comes and goes with no lasting significance? These are issues that our society doesn’t like to face and so we find ourselves caught up in so much shallowness and tinsel, in a culture that prizes the here and now and that worships passing celebrity and eye-catching notoriety or entertainment.

If Jesus Christ died but did not rise again then our Christian hope is in vain. It would mean that he was nothing more than a very good man, a religious leader with some excellent ideas that could change the way the world lives. Or perhaps some would call him a fake who made claims about his relationship with God that were not true.

But Easter proclaims a message that shatters such gloom and incredulity. Easter broadcasts the good news that Jesus, the man from Nazareth, has triumphed over sin, has destroyed the power of evil to ever take complete control of us, has risen from the dead and has given us the chance to share in this victory here and now on earth and forever in heaven.

Easter is the full flowering of God’s indelible promises, the restoring of that harmony of creation which men and women interrupted by sin and selfishness. God shouts from the mountain tops that our lives do have a meaning, that we have been created for a purpose and that there is a point to all we experience. The resurrection is a triumph over all that seeks to drag us down, all that makes us less than human, all that threatens our natural dignity as creatures of God. Sin, sickness and death have lost their terrifying grip.

And so Christians rejoice. We thank God for that first resurrection 2000 years ago and we ask that we may now share in the effects of Christ’s victory in our daily lives. For the resurrection means that with God on our side we need fear nothing and no one. This day was made by the Lord; let us rejoice and be glad!

 

WORD OF GOD

"Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said." (S. Matthew 28: 5)

WORD FOR TODAY

Our credibility as Christians stands or falls by the resurrection. Without it our God lies rotting; with it our lives are transformed and we can both enjoy a life of faith here on earth and a promise of fullness of life hereafter. And Christ is risen indeed!

THE GREAT TRAGEDY of modern man is having lost the dimension of depth to life. (Paul Tillich)

EITHER THE SOUL is immortal and we shall not die, or it perishes with the flesh and we shall not know that we are dead. Live, then, as if you were immortal.

(André Maurois)

 

EASTER WEEK’S BIBLE READINGS:

Mon: Exodus 12: 1-14, Acts 2: 14, 22-32, Matt 28:8-15

Tues: Exodus 12: 14-36, Acts 2:36-41, John 20: 11-18

Wed: Exodus 12: 37-end, Acts 3:1-10, Luke 24:13-35

Thurs: Exodus 13:1-16, Acts 3:11-end, Luke 24:35-48

Fri: Exodus 13:17 - 14:14, Acts 4:1-12, John 21:1-14

Sat : Exodus 14:15-end, Acts 4: 13-21, Mark 16:9-15

NEXT SUNDAY (1^ST AFTER EASTER): Acts 2:14a, 22-32, 1 Peter 1:3-9, S. John 20: 19-end