Celebrating Eastertide from Home: 6th Friday 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
your hearts will rejoice,
and no one will take your joy from you.gaudebit cor vestrum:
et gaudium vestrum nemo tollet a vobis.
John 16:22
The Liturgy of the Word
Click on one of the reading references to read the Bible passages:
Short Reflection
At Cenchreae [Paul] had his hair cut,
for he was under a vow.
Acts 18:18
This verse, from the end of our first reading, struck me as rather ironic, given our current circumstances in lockdown.
Many of us will be in desparate need of a haircut (except those who’ve taken the matter into their own hands).
It’s difficult to believe how long we’ve been in lockdown (over nine weeks in Scotland).
Almost every aspect of our lives has changed, with some positive effects and others, tragically, less so.
Despite the possibility of a staged relaxing of the lockdown, we all need to play our part in helping to keep each other safe.
In a sense, we all become public health practitioners as we help to limit the spread of the virus. If one less person infects somebody else, then this has a long-term benefit by reducing the reproductive number (the number of people each infected person infects) to less than one (R0<1).
Yes, there is pain and inconvenience now, but the longer-term benefits to public health of staying at home greatly outweigh that inconvenience.
One day we will come out of this situation (although it could be longer than we expect), and some semblence of normality will resume.
However, we will all be changed.
There will be joy again, after the pain.
There will also be the opportunity to cry and to mourn properly.
Meanwhile, we can use this time as a retreat, a time when we have an opportunity to go back to base, as it were, to reassess our priorities, as a nation (whichever nation you live in) and as individual, yet connected, human beings.
Never was a truer word spoken:**
No man is an island.
Prayer
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 *
Max Reger: Melodia in B flat
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
** from Meditation XVII by John Donne
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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