Collect.

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 only Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Sprit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen

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A reading from The Acts of the Apostles  (5. 27 - 32):

When they had brought the apostles, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, ‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.’

But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour, so that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.’

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

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Psalm 150  

1. Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament!

2. Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his surpassing greatness!

3. Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp!

4. Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe!

5. Praise him with clanging cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

6. Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be:

world without end.

Amen

 

A reading from The Book of Revelation  (1. 4 - 8):

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen.

‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

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Listen to the Gospel of Christ according to St John (20. 19 - 31):

Glory to you, O Lord

When it was evening on the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’  After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.  Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

    Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you.  As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’  When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them;  if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.’

    But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.  So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’

    But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’

    A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them.  Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’

    Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands.  Reach out your hand and put it in my side.  Do not doubt but believe.’

    Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’

    Jesus said to him, ‘Have you believed because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.’

    Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.  But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

    Praise to you, O Christ.

 

Reflection - AE

 

Poor Thomas;  Thomas who hadn’t been in the room;  Thomas who missed the crucial moment.  Not very sharp Thomas, and always Doubting Thomas.

 

Very rarely, brave Thomas, who actually dared to say out loud what secretly everyone else was thinking.

 

He had been the only one, before the crucifixion, who had responded to Jesus’ assertion that he was going to his father’s house, and they all knew the way.

 

Everyone else just stood there, pretending they knew exactly what Jesus meant, but, bravely, Thomas actually said out loud, “Hang on, no we don’t, we don’t know where on earth you’re going, and of course we don’t know the way.’

 

Now, everyone told him Jesus had been in the room, but Thomas had last seen him nailed to the cross, apparently defeated by the authorities.

 

Only human, then, to be doubtful that he had returned.

 

But brave to say so out loud.

 

When Jesus came back for Thomas’s sake, though, he was not in the slightest reproachful.

 

He did not stand across the room and say, “See, here I am, just like they all said.”

 

He came in, and stood right among them, close up.

 

He invited Thomas to come closer, to reach out and touch him, to put his hand right in to his side.

 

As ever he does with all of us, he called him to a closer presence.

 

Thomas accepted totally and immediately, fearlessly, Christ’s presence, and declared boldly that Christ was, indeed, his Lord and his God, acknowledging him as the true, one and only God, the Messiah.

 

The peace which Christ spoke of, spoke into them, was something much more  than just the peace any of us might wish on each other when we say good morning, or even as we do here when we share the peace.

 

Peace be with you in that time of deep fear, in a closed room, immediately after his own apparent defeat and when the disciples were cowering as wanted men and enemies of the state, was the peace of a new beginning.

 

A new time had come when they must all go out, sent in the power of the Spirit, with a new confidence created into them, literally, by Christ, and born of their certain knowledge of his triumph over death.

 

When the Council brought them all to answer for they continued teaching, that same confidence gave Peter the ability to stand up and answer.

 

All the disciples, not least Peter, had shown a distinct lack of courage in the time leading up to Jesus’ execution.

 

The closer that time came, and as it became more apparent how things were going to end, the flakier they all became, until at the end none of them were to be seen anywhere.

 

The resurrection, though, showed God’s power over death itself, and certainly over the Jews.  Filled with the Spirit and at last understanding, or almost understanding, Christ’s promise of eternal life, all of them became brave, not just Thomas.

 

That same Spirit is what has given Church people the ability to speak truth to power ever since, and despite regular martyrdom and assassinations the Church’s voice is still heard.

 

Pope Francis was one such voice, and in the address at his funeral yesterday there were again calls to continue his demand for peace, justice and protection of the poor.

 

I wonder how many of those world leaders sitting there were actually, really listening.

 

Interestingly this morning I heard a Cardinal pointing out that their task now, as well as finding a successor to Pope Francis, is to find a successor to Paul.

 

Of course you have to be brave, like Thomas and Peter, to be that voice, and many a priest, pastor, simple lay christian proclaiming Christ’s message of “Peace be with you,” has paid with their lives.

 

But this new age of resurrection has made being brave possible, because on peace and justice’s side is the greatest power of all.

 

Amen

 

Post-Communion Prayer

Lord God our Father, through our Saviour Jesus Christ you have assured your children of eternal life and in baptism have made us one with him:  deliver us from the death of sin and raise us to new life in your love, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen