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Sing praises to the Lord, you faithful; We will give thanks to God's holy name. Weeping may linger for the night But joy comes with the morning. God has turned our mourning into dancing! Let us praise and not be silent! Hymn 127 – O worship the King (vv 1,2,3,6) Prayers of Adoration and Confession God of the Risen Christ, we come before you this day giving thanks for all the wonder in your creation: for the tiny perfection revealed in a baby’s fingers grasping ours, in each daffodil unzipping its jacket to greet the spring, and each rock face worn by wind and water, bearing its rugged beauty with your praise. These details lift our hearts to praise you. So let the details of the story the Risen Christ lift our hearts this day, that we may greet a new week as an occasion to discover him in our midst, making all things new with the springtime of your Spirit. Receive our heartfelt worship, O God. When we're slow to ask for Your advice and to look for Your guidance; when we think we know best and forge ahead regardless, because we are sure we know Your mind, please forgive us. Remind us in firm but gentle ways of how close and active You always are – You who are the ever-living, Lord of all creation. So set the Spirit free to move among us here and now to inspire us ever to work for your justice and your peace. Lord’s Prayer Readings – Acts 9: 1-6 John 21: 1 -19 Hymn 532 Lord, you have come to the seashore (1,2,4) Weekly Prayer Almighty God, your Son Jesus revealed himself again and again, convincing his disciples of his glorious resurrection. Help us to feel his risen presence, so that we too can lovingly feed his sheep, and care for the lambs of his flock here in the community of our Cheviot Churches. Amen Reflection You can almost smell the fish cooking. There is nothing like barbecue out in the open and listening to the sizzling of meat or fish or even peppers for the vegetarian option. Jesus shows that he is a dab hand at cooking in our Gospel reading today and has breakfast on when the disciples come ashore. But there is a lot more to this story. We have been looking at the disciples after the resurrection. Jesus has appeared at least twice to them, but we see that they are still traumatised by what has happened – by Jesus’ death and indeed their own part in it, for they didn’t exactly cover themselves in glory. And so they go back to the familiar, to their home area, to the lakeshore and back to the boats. ‘Let’s go fishing’, Peter says. Perhaps there was an element of running away and keeping their heads down, but also maybe it was a reminder of how things used to be. To remember the time when their faith was strong and vital, when the adventure had begun and the future seemed full of hope and possibilities – when life seemed abundant with potential, and indeed this story from John is so reminiscent of the call of the disciples. There is a touch of déjà vu. But sometimes we need to get away to a place where we can reflect on where we are in our spiritual journey, and that’s why people go on pilgrimages to Lindisfarne or the Holy Land or to places associated with the holy and where earth seems to come closer to heaven. Maybe the disciples returned hoping to rekindle their faith. And Peter said, Let’s go fishing. But Peter was the one who was caught! They were professionals, but somehow that night their skill and their luck deserted them. They didn’t catch a thing. To make it even worse, a chap appeared on the lakeshore and made suggestions. They were professionals, how dare he! But, hey, they had not a single bite, so what did they have to lose, and they followed his directions – and their nets were groaning with the weight of their catch. And it dawned on them who this solitary walker on the shore was. Jesus. And we have this wonderful picture of Peter jumping in the water to rush and greet him. Interestingly he puts on his clothes before jumping in the water, as if somehow ashamed to appear less than covered up before Jesus. Jesus invites them to eat. I think here, and in the passage which follows, Jesus is doing something special. He is reaffirming the disciples. By giving them a bumper catch after their own failure, he is re-instating them to service. But more so Peter, and after they have their breakfast on the beach, Jesus takes Peter aside and asks him three times to feed his sheep, and Peter’s triple confession by that charcoal fire, erases his threefold denial of Jesus. In doing this, Jesus offers Pater and us two things: He offers firstly a sense of belonging. We all need to belong, to feel part of something. That we are part of a larger group to have a sense of identity. One of the tragedies of modern living is perhaps the number of people who feel isolated, who don’t feel they belong – who even feel rejected. ‘I am afraid to tell you who I am, because if I tell you who I am, you may not like who I am – and it is all I have’ Yet the church should always be a place to welcome people as they are. Peter is acutely aware he has let down Jesus, but here but Jesus reinstates him and drawing him back into the community where he belongs. But Jesus is doing something else. He is giving Peter a sense of purpose. Feed my sheep. Jesus is giving Peter not only a sense of belonging, but giving him a job to do – feeding the sheep meant being a leader, looking out for others and looking after others. Again, all of us need a sense of purpose in our lives, a belief that what we do matters. A belief that we can contribute to society in some way. And certainly in the Church and in the community we can make vital contributions. Peter was given a sense of belonging and reinstated; he was given a sense of purpose and commissioned to be a leader. He took him beyond the fishing to a wider scenario. For us, we are accepted for whom we are, not as Super-Christians, but just who we are– by God’s grace, and invited to be part of the church community and we can each of us be used by God in God’s service, in small or big ways. Jesus can be on the lakeshore beckoning us, ready to welcome and ready to use us to bless the world around us and to give glory to God. Hymn 416 – Christ is alive Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession Eternal and generous God, thank You for Your many gifts to us – not least the gift of Your Son who in turn gave His own life for the life of the world. Help us we pray to live as generously: ready to offer time, energy and all we have and are, for Your kingdom's sake. Take these gifts we pray, and let them symbolise the giving of ourselves afresh to You this day. Use them and use us, to spread and to share Your love, Influencing this world with hope, joy and peace. Lord Jesus Christ, We draw near to you in prayer this day, trusting that your love does change lives and your resurrection brings renewal and redemption into the world God loves. We lay before you the concerns on our hearts today, We lay before you the concerns we share from the news headlines and the many world situations where hope and change are desperately needed. In your great mercy, Hear our prayers. We lay before you, Lord, those who are in hospital or care and all those who struggle with illness, pain or health burdens of any sort; and we remember those facing grief and loss, bearing burdens of sorrow and worry. In your great mercy, Hear our prayers. We lay before you, Lord, families under stress, relationships that are strained, friends and neighbours in need of reconciliation, and we pray for the healing of divisions in our country. In your great mercy, Hear our prayers. We lay before you, Lord, the earth itself, struggling in so many places to maintain its fruitfulness, and we pray for all the vulnerable creatures and communities who are finding it harder and harder to live on land, sea or sky. In your great mercy, Hear our prayers. Amen Hymn 533 – Will you come and follow me Benediction Go in peace to love and serve the Lord, and may the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit be with you, now and always. Amen.
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