United Benefice of

St Mildred’s, Whippingham

and

St James’, East Cowes

18th April 2021 Third Sunday of Easter

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

CURRENT WORSHIP ARRANGEMENTS

As we are allowed to gather in groups of 6 or less outdoors, there will be coffee and tea available in the Parish Centre garden at St Mildred’s if the weather remains suitable!

Meanwhile the diocesan website www.portsmouth.anglican.org still has a direct link to parishes that are streaming live worship, while for those unable to access such resources this pewsheet continues to contain material for offering a “spiritual communion” at home. You must do whatever feels right and safe for you.

ONLINE WORSHIP

Previous services at Whippingham are now being shown on YouTube via the following link:

(4) Church Service – Easter Sunday – YouTube

Today’s service will appear on YouTube later this week.

FOR YOUR PRAYERS THIS WEEK:

Give thanks for: new Christians; opportunities to serve our communities

Pray for: Northern Ireland; countries at war

PRAYERS FOR THOSE IN NEED:

Please pray for: Irene and Henry; Richard Gray; Bob Hitchens; Dave; Reg and Eileen King; Beryl; Maureen & Gordon; Joy and Dave; Oliver; Rita; Stuart; Thabani Maposa and family; Paul and family; James; Maureen; Jill; families of those in mourning

Give thanks for: Gillian and Bob’s new granddaughter

If you wish particular names to be added to the prayer list, please inform Rev Susan. All names will be reviewed on a monthly basis. Please keep Rev Susan updated if you would like a name to stay on the list beyond the current month.

PRAYERS FOR THE DEPARTED:

HRH Prince Philip

COLLECT FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

Risen Christ,

you filled your disciples with boldness and fresh hope:

strengthen us to proclaim your risen life

and fill us with your peace,

to the glory of God the Father.

Amen.

READINGS

NEW TESTAMENT READING Acts 3 : 12-19

12When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, ‘You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk? 13The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. 14But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, 15and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. 16And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.

17 ‘And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. 18In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. 19Repent, therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.’

GOSPEL Luke 24 : 36b-48

While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ They were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, ‘Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.’

ADDRESS

I was hunting for a good image to put on this week’s pew sheet that expressed something of the disciples’ experience of meeting with the risen Christ, and it proved remarkably difficult. All the images of Jesus indoors seemed very dark and gloomy, and the artists seemed to have conspired to identify Jesus by portraying him in robes so white that detergent companies would have been queuing up to use his services to advertise their products. I don’t personally believe that in all probability Jesus glowed: he would never have been mistaken for a gardener is that were the case. What has happened is that the risen Christ was definitely different in some way that prevented instant recognition, but that difference can’t be captured by oils on canvas. I expect I shall have even more fun when I’m trying to find an image for Ascensiontide, because no artist anywhere has ever been able to make sense of the intensely spiritual experience except by some outlandish image of a Jesus sailing through the air, leaving just his footprints behind.

I’m rather sorry that art doesn’t reflect reality either in the resurrection or the ascension. I can’t help feeling it would be rather handy to be able to identify Jesus as the luminous snowy-white individual of the pictures, or to be able to see people being physically lifted up to heaven. But of course it doesn’t work like that, any more than our attempts to describe the Holy Spirit bear any resemblance to reality. If we want to see Jesus we have to look far harder and recognise him in the people around us who are doing his work in the world today.

Again, it would be easier to spot people doing Jesus’ work in the world today if they glowed all over and drew our attention, but that would be more than a little embarrassing. Most work that is done for Jesus happens quietly and unobtrusively, and it happens whenever people show compassion, act generously, forgive and accept others and enable them to flourish. All too often we get sucked into making value judgements that are a far cry from the openness of Jesus to those around him. It’s easy to get distracted by things like not approving of someone’s lifestyle, not agreeing with their politics, maybe having been offended by something they did or said to us or about us recently, and so on. Those judgemental surface impressions and prejudices can easily blind us to the actual work of Jesus that is going on. Yet despite that, Christians are indeed doing their best to make the world a better place – alongside Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and many other faiths, as well as self-professed atheists. Nobody has the monopoly on doing good work for the Lord. And that is nothing new – Jesus too had to demonstrate in his teaching that individuals that others saw as sinners had something to offer God: the good Samaritan, the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet, Zaccheus – the gospels are full of such examples.

While I was reflecting on all this, I had occasion to take the funeral of a man who had been a Casualty nurse in a hospital. What struck me particularly about him was that he had had a mentality of “getting the job done” – and that is what I think matters when we go looking for signs of Jesus in the world. For that matter, getting the job done was very much what Prince Philip adhered to all his life, in his own inimitable way.

It seems to me to be far more important to care for the needy, help the poor and marginalised, feed the hungry and so forth than to worry about whatever is going on in other people’s lives that we disagree with. Jesus himself put it in quite a succinct way when he said “By their fruits you will know them”. Maybe the Kingdom of God would advance all the more quickly if we paid more heed to that shrewd advice. Because it isn’t that we have got Jesus captive in the church and that we have to take him out into the world: he is already in the world, and it is our job to look for signs of his presence, to see what God is already doing and to join in, as Rowan Williams once famously said. In an age where everything seems to need a strapline to justify its existence, that wouldn’t be a bad one for the church: St Mildred’s and St James’ – seeing what God is doing and joining in. Now is a good time for us to do just that. Amen.

INTERCESSIONS(Supplied by Robert Hall)

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the life of Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip. We give thanks for all the support, advice and guidance he has given to everyone over the years. At this time we think of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth ll and all the Royal Family. Give them strength at this time and remember all the good work that Prince Philip has done in supporting Her Majesty.

We also ask you to give comfort to those that have lost ones, giving them strength and remembering the good times that they had together.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer

Heavenly Father, as Bishop Christopher goes into retirement, we give thanks for all the guidance and support that he has given to this Diocese over the years. We pray that he and Sally will enjoy their retirement. We also ask you to guide and support Archdeacon Peter, Rev Susan, associate priests Mike and Pete, as well as our Churchwardens, Peter, Robin, Colin and Rose. Give them all the guidance and strength as they go about the Church’s work.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank you for all those people who have supported us, and are still supporting us, in these troublesome times. Many have been thought about in our prayers but we pray also for those that have gone about their work in such a way that they have failed to be mentioned. Give all of them strength that they can to continue to do their work, and that they can return safely to their families.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer

Heavenly Father, as visitors start to return to our Island, let them see the wonderful place that we have. Let them enjoy the Island safely and be able to return to their own homes- refreshed- so that they can go about their lives with a fresher outlook on life. We also think of all the people who live here, as they welcome the visitors to our Island and we also pray that we might all enjoy the sunshine as we start to go about our daily lives safely.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer

Heavenly Father, as school has restarted, give all children the strength to study, and all teachers the wisdom to explain to all pupils so that they can understand their teaching. Keep everyone who works in schools safe and well, so that they can return to their loved ones.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer

Heavenly Father, we think of all those people that do not have proper shelter, food, safety and are afraid to speak out. Please give them the support that they need. We also ask you to guide their leaders so that these people can have better and safer places to live in. We also ask that these leaders are prepared to accept that not everyone agrees with them, and that everyone can live together, even if their views differ.

Lord, in your mercy,

Hear our prayer

Merciful Father,

Accept these prayers

for the sake of your Son,

our Saviour, Jesus Christ,

Amen.

PREPARING FOR SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

In union, Lord, with the faithful at every altar of your Church, where the Holy Eucharist is celebrated, I offer you praise and thanksgiving. I present to you my soul and body with the sure hope that I may always be united to you. And since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, I ask you to come spiritually into my heart. I unite myself to you and embrace you with all my being. Let nothing ever separate you from me. May I live and die in your love. Amen.

You might like to sit in silence for a while, then pray:

Living God,

your Son made himself known to his disciples

in the breaking of bread:

open the eyes of our faith,

that we may see him in all his redeeming work;

who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Amen.

To conclude, either listen to the music links below or simply rest quietly in God’s presence

NOTICES

THANK YOU!

Special thanks to everyone who helped make our churches so beautiful over Easter, and to all the church wardens whose hard work in setting everything up is often overlooked. Also, particular thanks to Rev Mike Exell for taking services last Sunday in my absence. Rev Susan

FOODBANK

The Foodbank needs the following items, which may be left in church:

ST MILDRED’S CAFÉ

The Café is now open on Mondays to Thursdays from 10.00am – 3.00pm. Please contact Sue Richmond (297883) for up to date details!

ADVANCE NOTICE

St Mildred’s APCM is still to be arranged, so watch this space.

St James’ APCM will be on Sunday 25th April at 10.30am in church, following the morning service. If you are interested in standing for PCC membership please have a word with the wardens! In case you are wondering what sort of people are on your PCC, below is a handy description of a typical PCC membership…