Easter 2
Collect for Easter 2
Almighty Father, you have given your only Son to die for our sins
and to rise again for our justification: Grant us so to put away the leaven
of malice and wickedness that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth;
through the merits of your Son.
1 John 1: 1-4
John 20: 19-29
Witnesses to the resurrection
Mary Magdalene in the garden John 20:18 ‘I have seen the Lord’
Disciples on the road to Emmaus Luke 24:31 ‘Their eyes were opened and they recognised Him’
Disciples on the beach. John 21:7 ‘It is the Lord’
In the locked upper room John 20: 20 ‘ On seeing the Lord, the disciples were overjoyed’
Thomas 20:28 ‘My Lord and my God’
On the road to Damascus Acts 9:4,5 Saul fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ He asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.’
Stephen the martyr (Acts 7:56): But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’
You and me: John 20:29 ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’
We can take lessons from Thomas and Stephen
From Thomas: to see the Lord on our own terms – what proof do we need in order to believe?
From Stephen: after the Resurrection, in the Power of the Spirit
We are challenged to decide what we need to ‘see’ to believe – and then to seek it in the power of the Holy Spirit. And when we have seen, ‘to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that He has commanded us. And remember, He is with us always, to the end of the age.’ Matthew 28:19, 20
Previous Posts
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I hope and pray that I shall leave the world in a better place than I entered it, otherwise I shall have wasted the opportunity to live in freedom of body and soul as a disciple of Christ.
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‘…make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes…’
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It didn’t matter what you had been, said or done – like Paul, you were given the chance to repent.
Praying Together 7th September 2025
So, if we truly offer Him everything, does that leave us with nothing? Quite the opposite. When we give our life to Jesus, it includes the bad bits as well as the good bits.
Praying Together 31st August 2025
The heavenly banquet has only one rule of etiquette – That you accept Jesus , the Christ, as Saviour and Redeemer. And then your place and theirs is at the head of His table, alongside Him.
Praying Together 24th August 2025
Salvation does not ever come through religious practice – it comes through Christ, the only sinless one, whose sacrifice is given as a free gift in love, to those who can’t help themselves.
Paying Together 17th August 2025
We ask that our faith is strengthened in the power of the Spirit when it is tested – and that we will have the courage to live as the Body of Christ, who alone offers life.
Praying Together 10th August 2025
And while we think of the things we value most, do we remember that we are of such value to God, that His Son was prepared to go into the flames for us?
Praying Together 27th July 2025
In a word, it is all prayer, a rich sequence, choreographed in different moments of gathering, praise, listening and communion.
Praying Together 20th July 2025
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Praying Together 13th July 2025
May we never miss meeting your gaze,
in the eyes of our sibling, the stranger.
Praying Together 6th July 2025
Always remember that ‘success’ is simply doing His will – it’s not necessarily achieving the outcome we would ourselves consider to be ‘successful’. Leave that definition with Him.