30 March 2008

Welcome to St Alban’s Anglican Church 

Today's Scripture (HC) :Acts 2:14a, 22-32,    1 Peter 1:3-9,    S. John 20:19-end

Today's Liturgy: 8.35 a.m. BCP Matins;   9.00a.m. Scripture Study Preparation;   9.30 a.m. Holy Eucharist;    6.00 p.m. Evening Pr.;    7 p.m. S. Mary’s Holy Eucharist, Stake Bay C.B.

This Week: Monday 12.30 p.m. Feast of the Annunciation (transferred) H.C. 12.30 p.m.

First Sunday After Easter

Almighty Father, who hast given thine only Son to die for our sins, and to rise again for our justification; Grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness, that we may alway serve thee in pureness of living and truth; through the merits of the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

FAITH IN FOCUS: HARD EVIDENCE

Easter’s a time of faith. It’s a time for deepening our faith and a time for reflecting on it.

It’s easy to have faith when we’re together in church. Like the early Christian community we feel the support of other people, we feel part of the family and even when we’re a bit low we can be carried along in faith by the words of the prayers, by the songs we sing and the music we hear. When we renew our baptismal faith in the words of the Creed it’s easy to believe. In fact, believing in things, in facts and events is not hard at all. You either do or don’t believe that Christ was born for us and that he suffered for us and rose from the dead. The same goes for believing what we claim about one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church etc.

But as we see in today’s gospel with Thomas, it can sometimes be hard to believe when belief involves trusting in a person rather than just agreeing to facts. Thomas wanted some hard evidence before he would believe that Jesus really had appeared to his friends after the resurrection. He found it difficult to trust.

We too have to learn to recognise Jesus, not as the disciples did physically, but through the sometimes dimmer light of faith. We are called to the light of the resurrection, to learn to recognise Christ and follow him in that trusting faith whose shadow we glimpse both in desolation and consolation. Jesus himself tells us that we will be blessed if we can believe with this type of faith.

And so we look for the light of the resurrection not only in its obvious religious haunts, not only in the robust expressions of confidence but also in the unexpected recesses of our lives. We can see it even in distress and disaster, in the faces of those who shine with its light, in the glimmers of new hope that so often flicker after seemingly overwhelming distress.

Faith is Easter’s gift; and it is also Easter’s quest. We never fully exhaust it and we always need to pray for it to persevere in us. Today, in the echo of last week’s tumultuous events surrounding the resurrection, Jesus approaches us more quietly and invites us to renew our faith and trust. Doubt no longer, but believe.

 

WORD OF GOD

You believe because you can see me. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.

(John 20:29)

WORD FOR TODAY

If you were looking for signs of the resurrection today where would you expect to find them, inside a church or in the lives of "risen" men and women? We carry Christ’s resurrection around with us through the new life of baptism and today is another opportunity for us to show it to others.

O LORD, PUT NO TRUST in me; for I shall surely fail if thou uphold me not. (St Philip Neri)

I WOULD RATHER WORK with God in the dark than go alone in the light. (Mary Gardiner Brainard)

TO BELIEVE ONLY POSSIBILITIES is not faith but mere philosophy. (Sir Thomas Browne)

THIS WEEK’S BIBLE READINGS:

Mon(ANNUNCIATION): Isaiah 7:10-14, Hebrews 10:4-10, Luke 1: 26-38

Tues (ST. JOSEPH): 2 Sam 7:4-16, Romans 4:13-18, Matthew 1:18-end

Wed: Exodus 16:11-end, Colossians 2:1-15, John 20:19-end

Thurs: Exodus 17, Coloss 2:16 - 3:11, John 21: 1-14

Fri: Exod 18:1-12, Coloss 3:12 - 4:1, John 21:15-19

Sat: Exod 18: 13-end, Coloss 4:2-end, John 21:20-end

NEXT SUNDAY (2^nd after EASTER): Acts 2:14a, 36-41, 1 Peter 1:17-23, S. Luke 24:13-35