Printable services for those unable to attend St C

MC900155368[1]

St Clement Church Community Easter Season Service

Good morning to you all. As we commemorate the 5^th Sunday of Easter, I pray that in these uncertain times we can continue to find hope in the Easter message, hope that is so needed throughout our world.

Much love and may Christ’s love sustain you always.

Rev Di and family xx

Alleluia! Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Let us pray: Risen Christ, your wounds declare your love for the world and the wonder of your risen life: give us compassion and courage to risk ourselves for those we serve, to the glory of God the Father.

Amen.

Hymn; ‘All people that on Earth do Dwell’

Our prayers of Penitence

On this 5^th Sunday of Easter, in a moment of quiet reflection let us honestly examine our lives, remembering where our attitudes have been wrong, where love has grown cold, where hurts have not been forgiven, or where cries for help have not been answered…

When we are faced with something that challenges us, but fail to step out in faith and instead regress into old attitudes;

Lord, have mercy.

When we face these difficult times, but fail to recognise that through it all you are holding us in your loving arms;

Christ, have mercy.

When we fail to forgive past hurts to the detriment of restoring relationships;

Lord, have mercy.

When we look inwards to our own concerns rather than seeking to help those in need;

Christ, have mercy.

When we are agents of gloom rather than messengers of hope;

Lord, have mercy.

May Almighty God have mercy upon us, forgive our mistakes and failings, and bring us to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us pray our Collect for the fifth Sunday of Easter

Almighty God, who through your only begotten Son Jesus Christ have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life: grant that, as by your grace going before us you put into our minds good desires, so by your continual help we may bring them to good effect; through Jesus Christ our risen Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Readings:

Acts 8. 26 -end

1 John 4. 7-end

Hymn; ‘O Jesus, I have Promised’

The Gospel Reading

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.

(John 15.1-8)

Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus said; ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you.

Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ.

Reflection

My late Stepfather, an aviation engineer, always said that the lives of helicopter crews depend on one bolt – the bolt that holds the huge whirling rotor in place, and that aviation mechanics call this; the ‘Jesus’ bolt. Maybe they call it this because the crew would just about have enough time to exclaim in no uncertain terms; ‘Jesus Christ!’ as they plummet to the ground, or maybe not. Though I expect some of the crews I’ve since met at RNAS Culdrose would be exclaiming much stronger words indeed…..

You can see though, that without the ‘Jesus’ bolt they’d be doomed. The crew’s safe flight and return home depends entirely on that one bolt.

So, the way my mind strangely works, I think that could be a modern analogy of our Gospel reading today. To use the imagery of the ‘Jesus’ bolt holding the rotor arms in place and keeping them secure, I imagine the trunk of the vine as the ‘Jesus’ trunk, holding the flailing branches securely, and if such branches were disconnected from the trunk they’d die. Get it? If not I’ll draw you a diagram later, I said my mind worked strangely!

Well, the people of Israel knew all about vines and vineyards. They knew the secrets of proper planting, grafting and pruning. They also knew the responsibilities of keeping a vineyard, that when plants failed to produce, the keeper of the vineyard needed to remove them. After all, they're not there for show, and unless the branches of the vines bear fruit, they're taking up valuable space, and need to make room for those that will. So, the keeper of the vineyard would do everything possible to plant the best vines, cultivate and nurture them, that in time, he could enjoy the fruits of his labour.

Well, it didn't take much for the Hebrews to draw the analogy that the vineyard was the people of Israel, and God was the vineyard keeper, who plants the vines according to his will, prunes them to make them healthy and strong, and tends to them carefully so that they grow. The story would tell them that, as God’s people, they could enjoy the protection and providence of the vineyard keeper, but at the same time knowing that he expected them to bear fruits of righteousness to the glory of his name.

So, a fundamental view of this story is that firstly; it's God who does the planting. Just as a vineyard doesn't magically appear, we're here on this earth by God's design. And, as those whom God has planted in this time and beautiful place, we shouldn’t take God's blessings for granted.

And just as God plants, God prunes, and often, the pruning is painful. We don't always get what we want, things and people are cut out of our lives that we wished to keep, and things don’t always work out the way we'd planned.

Yet, through it all, we become stronger and more resilient. And, ironically, we often find that our strength is as much a product of our failures as our successes. That it's not the pleasures of life, but the pain, that proves to be the mettle of strong character and lasting faith.

So God plants, God prunes, and thankfully, God also provides.

In the New Testament, the parting words of Jesus to his disciples were:

"Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

God will be with us, now and always. That's the promise. All God asks in return is that we do our best to live our lives for him, and that we live and work together in the unity of his Spirit. Because when we work together in accordance with God's will, we will attain all the hopes and dreams we seek to do, and by bearing such fruit, we’ll lead others to become part of the vine of Christ. But we do need to work together, and I mean work, whatever our job is in our church community. Each one of us is needed to play an active role, we can’t afford to sit back and leave it to others, becoming like those branches that don’t bear fruit, and draining the ones who do.

We can only move forward and bear to fruition our plans for the future of our church if each of us plays a part, and more helpers are needed, be it volunteering for the rotas, growing and tending plants, or even learning to ring the bells, give some thought as to what you think could do. Now is the time to stand up and be counted, especially as it is APCM today after this service.

Our strength is in the connection – our Jesus bolt – and through him our relationship to each other, our church, which is the body of Christ in the world today.

Jesus said;

"I am the vine. You are the branches.
Those who abide in me, and I in them, bear much fruit."

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Hymn; ‘Immortal, Invisible God only Wise’

Affirmation of our faith

Let us declare our faith in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; he was buried; he was raised to life on the third day and afterwards he appeared to his followers and to all the apostles: this we have received, and this we believe. This is the faith of the Church. This is our faith. We believe and trust in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our intercessions this week are written by Daphne Hawkins

In the power of the Spirit and in union with Christ, let us pray to the Father. Merciful Father, as we gather here in our little church together with those who join us from their homes on the Fifth Sunday of Easter, we pray for your divine presence here with us in our much-loved church.