St. John’s Internet Church
Weekly Online Worship Service
The Rt. Rev. Dr. +Everett A. Brown, Rector
EASTER SUNDAY
The Holy Eucharist: Rite II
INSTRUCTIONS: The words printed in “bold”
type are the words spoken
By Bishop Everett and the words in “regular” type are the words for you,
the people, to speak, either aloud, or
silently, as you worship at St.
John’s Internet Church.
The Word of God
A hymn,
song, or anthem may be sung
Bishop
Everett, the Celebrant, says:
Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
People: And blessed be his kingdom, now and forever.
Amen.
Bishop
Everett: Let us pray.
Almighty
God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known,
and from you
no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our
hearts by
the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may
perfectly
love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name;
through
Christ our Lord.
Amen.
The
following hymn is sung or said
Glory to God
in the highest,
and peace to his people on earth.
Lord God,
heavenly King,
almighty God
and Father,
we worship you, we give you thanks,
we praise you for your glory.
Lord Jesus
Christ, only Son of the Father,
Lord God,
Lamb of God,
you take
away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us;
you are
seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer.
For you
alone are the Holy One,
you alone
are the Lord,
you alone
are the Most High,
Jesus Christ,
with
the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
The Gospel Lesson
Bishop
Everett: The Holy
Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ
according to John 20: 1-10.
People: Glory
to you, Lord Christ.
Please take your Bible and read the Gospel lesson.
Bishop
Everett: The Gospel
of the Lord.
People: Praise
to you, Lord Christ.
The Sermon:
Bound For Glory
"The Lord has been taken from the tomb! We don't know where they have put Him" (John 20; 2).
"He had loved so much, He had given so much, He had done so much, and nobody understood. As far as we can tell, He died utterly forlorn and utterly alone." These words express so well the way the disciples must have been feeling immediately after Jesus' execution. They had been so filled with hope. They had left everything -- their security, their families, and the job they knew for a job they didn't know -- because they had experienced the Presence of God in and through Jesus. And then Good Friday, and they were wiped out -- emotionally and spiritually wiped out. The power of evil had seemed to conquer, contradicting everything Jesus had said about the power of good. And then, and then came the dawn of the first Easter. Can you feel what they must have felt? To go to the tomb and find it empty: "The Lord has been taken from the tomb" (Jn. 20:2). Then, as the day moved on, to experience His living Presence in the most fulfilling way possible! Things that Jesus had said to them about God, about being born again, about eternal life, and about how the grain of wheat had to fall into the earth and die in order to produce new life, it all began to open up for them. They began to be caught up in the wider implications of what was happening. They couldn't explain it, but they were experiencing it. They were able to recognize in the Risen Jesus, the Resurrection Power of God -- always acting to transform despair into hope, defeat into victory, sorrow into joy, death into life.
This awareness of God's Resurrection Power spilled over from those first disciples into the next generation and the next, and the next, until here we are today. Why are we here? We are here to celebrate the Resurrection Power of God. Easter is the time above all times for music and singing and feasting and rejoicing.
If your life situation is making it difficult for you to feel in a festive mood, consider the situation of the early Christians. Half of their income was being taxed away. There was spiraling inflation. There was famine in and around Jerusalem. The Romans were persecuting them. Some were being thrown into prison. Some were being killed. There were Roman soldiers everywhere. There were the Zealots among the Jews, carrying weapons, waiting for war to break out at any moment. The prophets of doom were telling them there was no hope, no tomorrow. And in the midst of all that there were Peter and the others preaching to them, writing to them, saying, "Blessed be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed is He who, in His great mercy, gave us new birth; a birth unto hope which draws its life from the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Pt.1:3).
In contemporary language, if you fed all the evil into the computer and all the good into the computer, the final printout would read "Victory of good over evil!" Peter and the other first Evangelists were telling the people that whatever their situation is now, there is tomorrow and it's full of promise, full of hope, full of glory because of what God has done in Jesus Christ. "There is cause for rejoicing here," Peter writes ( 1 Pt. 1:6).
When you experience the Resurrection Power of God, you are bound for glory. "Glory" is a word in which you try to express all your aspirations for wholeness, and for peace, and for a future. When you experience the Resurrection Power of God, it's like getting on a train, and even if you're hiding back in the caboose, the train is moving, bound for glory.
Some of you are here online today carrying a heavy burden -- hurting in some way. Some of you may be feeling despair. But Easter has come to tell you "There is cause for your rejoicing here!" This is not some Pollyanna, playtime theme. We are talking about a God who is in the midst of all your need and pain, a God whose Resurrection Power is moving through all the distress, into a greater life. And what you can experience today is a renewal of your hope for a new tomorrow.
In an old "Peanuts" comic strip, Charlie Brown is watching a golf match. The announcer is saying "All right, golf fans, this is it! The last day of the match. The old pro has to make this one. He's down to the last putt and he can't play it safe. He has to go for it. There's no tomorrow." Little Sally walks in just in time to hear the last part, "there's no tomorrow," and she panics. She runs out screaming to all the kids, "They've just announced on TV that there's no tomorrow! Run! Hide! Flee to the hills! Run to the rooftops!" In the last panel, the whole gang is huddled together on top of Snoopy's doghouse. Linus is holding his security blanket and he's saying, "Somehow I never thought it would end this way." Snoopy is saying, "I thought Elijah was supposed to come first."
There are times when the voices of the prophets of doom begin to get to us, and we begin to wonder if there will be a tomorrow. There are even voices within ourselves that begin telling us to flee to the hills of despair. And then comes Easter, and at the center of our being, both as individuals and as a people, we know that there is a tomorrow and that it is full of hope and full of promise and full of assurance that we are bound for glory.
But there is a problem. The problem is there are a lot of folks who are not on the train that is bound for glory because they didn't get a free ticket. But there is no free ride. You can no more become a committed Christian merely by sitting in Church than you can become a chicken by sitting in a hen house. Through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ you must be born again into a new life and a new life style, both. A "born again" Christian lives like a Christian. "Get rid of all bitterness," Paul writes. "Get rid of anger, harsh words, slander, and malice of every kind. Be kind to one another, compassionate, and mutually forgiving, just as God has forgiven you in Christ" (Eph. 4:25-32).
At a time in his life when his children were still young, the great piano virtuoso, Arthur Rubenstein, often had to be away from his family for extended concert tours. And always, when he returned, there was a kind of family celebration. Once, after being away for weeks, as he walked through the door his little daughter Eva ran up to him, saying, "Daddy, daddy, you're home, play for me. Play for me." Rubenstein was delighted. He had been longing to get back to the family and he sat down at the piano determined to play as he had never played before. But as he began to play, little Eva cried out, "No, daddy, not the piano, the phonograph."
The Easter Message is not a recording. It is live! The living Christ is among us, in Person, longing for us to hear His song of salvation as we have never heard it before; longing for us never again to feel that there is no tomorrow; longing for us never again to fall that low; longing for us to respond to His offer of new life with a decisive "Yes!"
Now, we say, "Yes!" to the Lord Jesus Christ and forevermore we are bound for glory! Alleluia! Happy Easter!
Amen.
Nicene Creed
We believe
in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe
in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin
Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius
Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of
the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the
living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the
giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is
worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and
apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the
forgiveness of sins.
We
look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
The Prayers of the People Form V
In peace,
let us pray to the Lord, saying, "Lord, have mercy."
For the holy
Church of God, that it may be filled with truth
and love,
and be found without fault at the day of your
coming, we
pray to you, O Lord.
Here
and after every petition the People respond:
Lord, have
mercy.
For Bishop Everett, for all bishops, priests, deacons, and other ministers,
and for all the holy people of God, we pray to you, O Lord.
For all who
fear God and believe in you, Lord Christ, that our
divisions
may cease, and that all may be one as you and the
Father are
one, we pray to you, O Lord.
For the
mission of the Church, that in faithful witness it may
preach the
Gospel to the ends of the earth, we pray to you, O
Lord.
For those
who do not yet believe, and for those who have lost
their faith,
that they may receive the light of the Gospel, we
pray to you,
O Lord.
For the
peace of the world, that a spirit of respect and
forbearance
may grow among nations and peoples, we pray
to you, O
Lord.
For those in
positions of public trust,
that they
may serve justice, and promote the dignity and
freedom of
every person, we pray to you, O Lord.
For all who
live and work in our communities,
we pray to
you, O Lord.
For a
blessing upon all human labor, and for the right use
of the
riches of creation, that the world may be freed from
poverty, famine,
and disaster, we pray to you, O Lord.
For the
poor, the persecuted, the sick, and all who suffer; for
refugees,
prisoners, and all who are in danger; that they may
be relieved
and protected, we pray to you, O Lord.
For this online
congregation [for those who are present, and for
those who
are absent], that we may be delivered from
hardness of
heart, and show forth your glory in all that we
do, we pray
to you, O Lord.
For our
enemies and those who wish us harm, and for all
whom we have
injured or offended, we pray to you, O Lord.
For
ourselves; for the forgiveness of our sins, and for the
grace of the
Holy Spirit to amend our lives, we pray to you, O
Lord.
For all who
have commended themselves to our prayers; for
our families,
friends, and neighbors; that being freed from
anxiety,
they may live in joy, peace, and health, we pray to
you, O Lord.
For all who
have died in the communion of your Church, and
those whose
faith is known to you alone, that, with all the
saints, they
may have rest in that place where there is no pain
or grief,
but life eternal, we pray to you, O Lord.
Rejoicing in
the fellowship of all the saints, let us commend ourselves,
and one
another, and all our life to Christ our God.
To you, O Lord our God.
Silence
For yours is
the majesty, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
yours is the
kingdom and the power and the glory, now and
for ever.
Amen.
Confession of Sin
Bishop
Everett:
Let us
confess our sins against God and our neighbor.
Silence
may be kept.
Minister
and People
Most
merciful God,
we confess
that we have sinned against you
in thought,
word, and deed,
by what we
have done,
and by what
we have left undone.
We have not
loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved
our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly
sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake
of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy
on us and forgive us;
that we may
delight in your will,
and walk in
your ways,
to the glory
of your Name. Amen.
Bishop
Everett:
Almighty God
have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins
through our
Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all
goodness,
and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in
eternal life.
Amen.
The Peace
Bishop
Everett: The peace of the Lord be always
with you.
People: And
also with you.
Here
you may greet those present and worshiping
with
you in the name of the Lord.
To
complete your worship service without Holy Communion continue.
To continue your worship with an Online Service of Holy Communion click on the words below.
Bishop Everett:
And now, as
our Savior
Christ has
taught us,
we are bold
to say,
People
and Celebrant
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 forgive
us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us
not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is
the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
The Bishop
blesses the people.
Bishop
Everett:
The blessing
of Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
be upon you
and remain with you now and forever.
Amen.
Bishop
Everett:
I rejoice
that we can worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ together in our gathering
through this electronic online media. It is
provided as a supplement to your regular worship. I encourage you to attend the church of your choice and to give
your tithes and offerings to your home
Church.
Dismissal
Bishop
Everett: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
People: Thanks
be to God.
