April 16, 2023, Easter 2 

Lighting the Christ Candle

 

Welcome and Announcements 

Called to Worship:
Christ our Saviour is risen from the dead.
We break forth into joy!  We sing together!  God comforts those whose hearts are broken in sorrow.
When we fear the journey, when we cry out in despair
We rejoice in the victory over death.  We know joy over despair.  We look to our inheritance in Christ.
We have been shown mercy and have a living hope.
Our faith is strengthened, our joy increases, we rejoice in the promise of our salvation.  

 

Hymn:  248 At the dawning of salvation

 

Prayer of Adoration 

What a joy it is, O God, to walk in the security of your arms and to be shaped into your image, as we claim our inheritance as children and servants in your kingdom.   We praise you that you work among us, and that we have our home, our purpose and our calling firmly set within your grace and mercy.  We praise you that you have called us to Kingdom work, and we pray that we will be faithful to our calling as co-heirs with Jesus.  Amen.  

 

Unison Prayer of Confession:
We are your Easter people, Holy One. 
Doubters, saints, sinners, questioners, spiritual and religious, who skip, run, and stumble on the journey. 
We pray that whoever we are this journey, that you might open our ears and eyes to your call, to be Your love, where ever we are. In the name of Christ we pray, Amen.  

 

Assurance of Pardon 

Open your hearts and ears, beloved people of God. You are loved, forgiven and chosen to be called disciples. Be at peace! 

The Peace 

May the peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 

 

Hymn:  352 And can it be that I should gain

 

 

Scripture Lessons:

 

Psalm 16 responsive
1 Peter 1: 3-9
John 20: 19-31 

Sermon:  Our inheritance in Christ 

The commentator Kaalund, quotes a song written by Ira Stanphil, which was often sung by her grandmother: 

I don’t know about tomorrow, I just live for day to day;
I don’t borrow from the sunshine, For its skies may turn to gray.
I don’t worry o’er the future, For I know what Jesus said;
And today I’ll walk beside Him, For He knows what lies ahead.
Many things about tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand;
But I know who holds tomorrow, And I know who holds my hand. 

It is always good to remember that our future is in God’s hands.  It is even better to remember that God walks with us and guides us in the present.   

The truth is that sometimes the present is difficult.  Life brings its troubles.  Somedays those troubles can feel overwhelming and we can forget who holds tomorrow and who holds our hands today. 

It seems that the people to whom Peter is writing are in that place.  They are discouraged and feeling difficulty.  They are not citizens of the country in which they live, and for that reason they were vulnerable to abusive treatment.   

Although they lived, and worked and paid taxes, they had absolutely no rights.  They were denied legal protections—protections that most of us would take for granted.   

Why?  They were a different race, a different nationality and a different faith.   

We have seen this story played out again and again in Scripture as Abraham lived in exile waiting for the land promised to him, and as the Hebrew people  struggled under slavery in Egypt.  Then again and again as the people were invaded by neighbouring countries and brought into exile.   

That history is born out in the lament of Psalm 137 where we read: 

By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
    when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars
    we hung our harps,
3 for there our captors asked us for songs,
    our tormentors demanded songs of joy;
    they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 

4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord
    while in a foreign land?  NIV 

But in the very next psalm, Psalm 138 we see that there is an answer to this kind of hopelessness and anxiety.  In the Psalm we read: 

I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart;
    before the “gods” I will sing your praise.
2 I will bow down toward your holy temple
    and will praise your name
    for your unfailing love and your faithfulness,
…3 When I called, you answered me;
    you greatly emboldened me.  NIV 

It seems then, that the answer to our troubles, our distress and our anxiety is to remember whose we are. 

That is what Peter is urging in this letter.  He writes with thanksgiving that celebrates God’s merciful actions in the past, and reminds the people those actions ensure the future. 

First, he reminds the people that God is merciful. 

Then he reminds them of God’s presence, not just in the past but rather as a part of the ongoing transformation that happens as we walk hand in hand with Jesus. 

And finally, Peter reminds them that their new birth means that God has already provided for the future. 

When we remember these truths then we too can say God has done good for me therefore I will enjoy the gifts of his grace. 

The therefore list that Peter presents is intended to lift our faith and our confidence. 

THEREFORE, we have a living hope. 

Our hope is based in the resurrection of Jesus and the promise that in him we have eternal life. 

THEREFORE, we have a permanent inheritance in Heaven as well as God’s eternal protection. 

This inheritance cannot be changed.  God will never change his will and his mind and we will never be disinherited.   

THEREFORE, our inheritance is already a Heavenly, Divine reality which we can confidently anticipate. 

We have reason to trust in God’s protective power, and can relax and trust in God’s eternal plans. 

THEREFORE, we trust that we have an eternal salvation. 

We enjoy that salvation while still here on earth, because in God it is already present. 

Christians exist as transformed resident aliens in a hostile environment, which may bring suffering.  More than that, we are reminded that this earth is not our home.  We are just passing through on the journey as we anticipate all the glory that is ours because Jesus died and rose again. 

In the writing of Peter we are reminded that the uncertainty of the future is overshadowed by the blessed assurance that Jesus knows the future, holds the future and holds our hand as he guides us through this life. 

What Peter says should cause us to pause and rethink what the relationship between the past and the future means for us.  He says that new birth and living hope are the gifts of our past.   

The gifts of our past.  We have already unwrapped them and claimed them they are ours and no one and no thing can take them away from us.  God has given us those gifts and will protect them with his power.   

This is the reason why Jesus suffered and died.  Better than that, it is the reason why our living hope is resurrection.   

We have already noted that our life is a journey of transformation as we walk with Jesus.  On that journey we renew our living hope daily, and if need be moment by moment.   

All human life knows difficulties, from illness, to grief and sorrow, to persecution and hostility from those around us.  We don’t all know the same difficulties, but each of us knows the difficulties of our own journeys.   

Yet we are called upon to have joy, because those difficulties do not define us and do not have power over us.  Our living hope is a reminder that we can see the light in the darkness, even when everything seems hopeless.   

The hymn Blessed Assurance reminds us of the power of living hope and the power of God… The first line says:  Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine, oh what a foretaste of glory divine.   

We are reminded of the words in the letter to Timothy:  

I know Whom I have believed,
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day.   2Timothy 1:12 KJV 

That living hope that is ours in Jesus was a gift in the past, which empowers the present and points to the future. 

The commentator Kaalund urges us to remember that hope is a state of expectation and provides us sight beyond what we can see.  This is a gift of the Spirit that helps us move through our day to day lives.  We remember that our inheritance in Jesus fills our lives with the possibility to ignite our hope and renew our faith.   

That renewed hope and renewed faith reminds us that this hope is eternal.  Through the resurrection of Jesus God has given us a new life and a new eternal home.    

THIS IS AN INHERITANCE THAT CAN NEVER BE TAKEN FROM US. 

The commentator Jones reminds us that we live in hope, saying, “hope is a firm confidence grounded in God’s character and God’s saving actions.”  Moreover, in the resurrection of Jesus, God has shown us himself and his unswerving loyalty to us. 

This living hope is the source of our self-worth, as we remember whose we are.  That remembrance transforms the current reality of our lives.   

We have value simply because God loves us.   

We have value simply because God welcomes us. 

We have value simply because God honours us. 

We have value because God has redeemed us. 

We belong to God and God belongs to us—this is our inheritance in Jesus.  

THEREFORE, Easter joy, and resurrection hope is about more than the new life we have in the present.  This present life is merely a prelude of the life we have prepared for us in the future.   

Alleluia, Amen. 

Hymn:  259 This joyful Eastertide

 

Offering
Doxology

Offertory Prayer 

God of great mercy,
accept our offerings,
given out of what is more precious than gold—
our faith in you, giver of hope and life.
And through these gifts,
reveal the risen Christ
in acts of mercy, love, and joy. Amen. 

 

Gathering Prayer Requests
Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer 

Risen Christ, our eternal Savior, in your extravagant generosity, your boundless love, you appear to us in our fear and love us in our doubts and grant us the oceans of your peace.  Thank you for loving us as we are, and sharing your inheritance with us. 

Risen Christ, be light in our world, and help us to be that light as well. 

Today we bring you our prayers of Joy. 

 

Today we bring you our concerns for your people. 

 

Today we bring you our concerns for your world.  

 

Thank you that you hear our prayers, and answer.  So often your presence and mercy are a mystery that brings us to deeper faith.  We know that we are not  alone, but in the best of company: the disciples who walked with you and all the saints who have walked and served you because of their testimony.  We trust in that testimony, and we trust in your mercy.   

And grant to all of us, living Lord Christ, renewed faith, great courage, and your boundless peace, as we pray together as Jesus taught us, saying: 

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the power and the glory, forever AMEN. 

Hymn:  350 To God be the glory

 

 

Charge and Benediction 

In great mercy, God has given us a new birth
into a living hope, for it is the risen Christ
who stands in our midst and says, “Peace be with you!”
We go forth to walk the path of new life
and living hope as we live out our purpose in Jesus.
May grace, peace and mercy, from God:  Father Son and Holy Spirit be with us now and forever.  

Sung Blessing
252 He is Lord