Celebrating Eastertide from Home: 6th Wednesday of Easter
In these worship resources,
we continue our journey in Eastertide.
Getting started
Read a reflection on Eastertide and ideas for celebrating this season from home
Opening to the Word
You will have pain, but your pain will turn into joy.
Vos autem contristabimini,
sed tristitia vestra vertetur in gaudium
John 16:20
The Liturgy of the Word
Click on one of the reading references to read the Bible passages:
Short Reflection
Being a Christian isn’t, as some thinkers have famously said, merely an opium or a set of rose-tinted spectacles.
Seeking to open to God involves pain as we learn to throw off our lethargy and become more authentically what we are called to be: fully human, in God’s image and likeness.
This growth is perhaps best exemplified in the labyrinth,** whereby at the beginning of the pilgrimage we make great progress.
Unlike mazes, which are designed so that you get lost, labyrinths have a single path, and they will always take us to the centre and back out again, albeit circuitously.
In a maze we lose ourselves,
in a labyrinth we find ourselves.
Robert Ferré**
The Christian life also has another dimension relating to pain.
The more we become more fully human, the more we recognise that we are connected to other human beings: their pain becomes our pain.
That is why many (not all!) of the great social changes over the centuries have been made by people of faith.
So, faith is no blind matter, but a genuine seeking to open up to the God who loves us and to our neighbour (i.e. all humankind).
Prayer
Pray that we may experience the freedom of the sons and daughters of God,
that we, who are already made in God’s image and likeness,
may become more fully human and thus more sensitive to the pain of others.
At this time, pray for our politicians and leaders.
Pray for those caring for patients with COVID-19
and for those working to protect the most vulnerable in society from this disease.
Pray for essential workers.
Pray for us all.
Music for reflection *
GP Telemann: Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend
Lord Jesus Christ! Turn towards us,
send your Holy Spirit to us:
with her help and grace may God rule us
and lead us on the way to truth.
An Eastertide hymn
1 Blest be the everlasting God,
the Father of our Lord!
Be God’s abounding mercy praised,
and majesty adored!
2 When from the dead he raised his Son,
and called him to the sky,
God gave our souls a lively hope
that they should never die.
3 There’s an inheritance divine
reserved against that day;
’tis uncorrupted, undefiled,
and cannot fade away
4 Saints by the power of God are kept,
till that salvation come;
we walk by faith as strangers here,
till Christ shall call us home.
Isaac Watts, alt.
Alternative Eastertide Hymn (especially for the evening)
1 Stay with us Lord, for day is almost over;
Come to us in peace and greet us with your word.
You we have known, your love has sought and found us:
Speak to us now, our brother and our Lord.
2 Stay with us Lord, your word like fire within us
Sheds its searching light on all our despair:
We had forgotten you, the risen Master,
Taking our way, you talked with us there.
3 Stay with us Lord, and ever go before us,
Soon will your future dawn on us like day;
Stretch out your hand to hold and lead us always,
Gentle and strong one, Lord of our way.
Words: Alan Griffiths
© 1995 Alan Griffiths
from ‘Hymns for Prayer & Praise‘
The Lord’s Prayer
You can say this in any language you choose.
Here it is, in English, Latin and French.
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your Kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those
who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom,
the power and the glory are yours.
Now and for ever. Amen.
Pater noster, qui es in cælis;
sanctificatur nomen tuum:
adveniat regnum tuum;
fiat voluntas tua,
sicut in cælo, et in terra.
Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie:
et dimitte nobis debita nostra,
sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris:
et ne nos inducas in tentationem:
sed libera nos a malo.
Quia tuum est regnum,
et potestas, et gloria, in saecula.
Amen.
Notre Père qui es aux cieux,
que ton nom soit sanctifié.
Que ton règne vienne.
Que ta volonté soit faite sur la terre comme au ciel.
Donne-nous aujourd’hui notre pain de ce jour.
Pardonne-nous nos offences
comme nous pardonnons aussi
à ceux qui nous ont offensés.
Et ne nous soumets pas à la tentation,
mais délivre-nous du mal.
Car c’est à toi qu’appartiennent le règne,
la puissance et la gloire
pour les siècles des siècles. Amen.
Concluding prayer
O God,
you have prepared for those who love you
such good things as surpass our understanding:
pour into our hearts such love towards you,
that we, loving you in all things and above all things,
may obtain your promises,
which exceed all that we can desire;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Alleluia! Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed. Alleluia.
* You can find more organ music from Holy Trinity Church, Stirling
on Alistair Warwick‘s website and on SoundCloud
** A highly recommended book is
Living the Labyrinth by Jill Geoffrion
In these strange times, we are called to trust
Other resources
Acknowledgements
The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel lessons are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Collects are from the Scottish Episcopal Church, 1982.
The hymn ‘Stay with us Lord’ by Alan Griffiths, is taken from ‘Hymns for Prayer & Praise‘.
Images, unless otherwise stated, are from lockdown, by Alistair Warwick.
Music engraved by The Art of Music.
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