{"id":259,"date":"2020-04-26T06:13:53","date_gmt":"2020-04-26T06:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heuristika.co.uk\/lfgdiscussion\/?p=259"},"modified":"2020-04-26T06:13:53","modified_gmt":"2020-04-26T06:13:53","slug":"worshipping-together-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heuristika.co.uk\/lfgdiscussion\/2020\/04\/26\/worshipping-together-apart\/","title":{"rendered":"Worshipping Together \u2013 Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear All,<\/em>
\nHere then is this week\u2019s Bible Reading and some thoughts on it. You will see that once again I have placed it in the centre of an informal Service of Eucharist which you can use at home, alone or with your family \u2013 wherever you do it you will in fact be worshipping together (with so many others) though apart. On Easter Sunday morning many of you will have seen or heard the Archbishop of Canterbury celebrating the Communion with his wife in their own kitchen so have no qualms about doing so yourself today in yours. I used a Poppy and Sesame cracker as my \u2018bread\u2019 and had a slurp of the Bucks Fizz with which I was celebrating the end of the Lenten fast as my \u2018wine\u2019 on that day. There are no rules, use what you have to hand, make your kitchen table your altar and following Christ\u2019s instruction to remember him in this way you will find that, perhaps unexpectedly you too \u2018recognise him at the breaking of the bread.\u2019<\/em>
\nWith every blessing<\/em>
\nKeep separate, keep safe<\/em>
\nBut remember you are never separated from the love of God or from the prayers of us all<\/em>
\nMary Tucker<\/em><\/p>\n

A Service to say at home
\nCall to Worship<\/h5>\n

The Lord be with you
\nAnd also with you<\/strong>
\nGod in Jesus has revealed his glory
\nCome let us worship together<\/strong>
\nFrom the rising of the sun to its setting
\nThe Lord\u2019s name is greatly to be praised<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Hymn – Sing something you enjoy!!)<\/p>\n

Prayer of Confession<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Holy God we bring you ourselves
\nAll that we are and all that we long to be
\nOur weakness, our failures, our sinfulness and our brokenness<\/p>\n

Son of Mary Have mercy on us
\nCarpenter of Nazareth Have mercy on us
\nHealer of the sick Have mercy on us
\nBringer of light Have mercy on us
\nSaviour of the poor Have mercy on us
\nBread of life Have mercy on us
\nYou who call us sister, brother, friend Have mercy on us
\nYour body and Spirit with us
\nHoly God we bring you ourselves
\nAll that we are and all that we long to be
\nOur weakness, our failures, our sinfulness and our brokenness
\nHave mercy on us<\/p>\n

Bible Reading \u2013 read Luke 24:13-35
\nThe Walk to Emmaus<\/h5>\n

Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, \u201cWhat are you discussing with each other while you walk along?\u201d They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, \u201cAre you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?\u201d He asked them, \u201cWhat things?\u201d They replied, \u201cThe things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.\u201d Then he said to them, \u201cOh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?\u201d Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.
\nAs they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, \u201cStay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.\u201d So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, \u201cWere not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?\u201d That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, \u201cThe Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!\u201d Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.<\/p>\n

This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.<\/p>\n

Some Thoughts on the Reading<\/h5>\n

Recognising Jesus at the Breaking of the Bread<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many years ago now we were staying in a posh hotel down in Devon, very near the place where they were shooting the film, \u2018Ladies in Lavender\u2019, with Judy Dench and Maggie Smith, a most unlikely place for us to be it has to be said.<\/p>\n

We, along with the rest of the family, had been summoned, in an \u2018Agatha Christie like\u2019 way, to this cliff top venue by my Mother in Law (long gone now but much loved and missed.)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s OK, no one was actually murdered (though I do remember a few tense moments as she ordered us about with the authority of the one who was paying the bill), but something extremely embarrassing did happen.<\/p>\n

Dressed to the nines, and most uncomfortable, my husband and I were proceeding through the grand entrance hall towards the dining room when, coming towards us, I spied a familiar face. The trouble was,
\nthat, though I knew I knew him, for the life of me I couldn\u2019t think who it was! As we closed on each other
\nI did what I always do on these increasingly frequent occasions (I think it\u2019s an age thing), I smiled broadly and confidently, exuding, I hoped, absolute certainty of who this was and, as we drew near to each other said what I always say in these situations, \u201cHello! How nice to see you. How are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

I was aware of two things immediately. One was a strange gasp from my husband at my side, the other, a momentary look of confusion on the face of my approaching friend. \u201cHa!\u201d I thought, \u201cIt\u2019s not just me!\u201d I thought. Put someone in the wrong environment and we can all find it difficult to place them. He pulled himself together quickly however, and as we passed, smiled back with equal confidence and replied, \u201cI\u2019m fine thanks and how are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

As neither of us had received the necessary clues to identity we perhaps hoped for and which would have enabled us to chat further, we both kept moving, passed, and continued on our opposite courses, me still wracking my brains to place my associate.<\/p>\n

My thoughts however were rudely interrupted by the hoarse and embarrassed whisper of my long suffering spouse who, red in the face and horrified, said, \u201cWhat did you do that for?\u201d<\/p>\n

I started to explain about my \u2018not being able to place a friend in a strange place\u2019 technique but, before I could go on, he said, \u201cBut you don\u2019t know him, it was Charles Dance, he\u2019s a famous actor!\u201d<\/p>\n

Well how was I supposed to know the cast of the film were staying there? I\u2019m just relieved it wasn\u2019t Maggie Smith! Who\u2019d want to be on the receiving end of one of her Downton-esque put downs?!<\/p>\n

When I read today\u2019s Gospel passage, the thing that really struck me was the weirdness of the two disciples not recognising the man they\u2019d been with for the last days, weeks, possibly years. It didn\u2019t seem to make sense.<\/p>\n

In the BBC series \u2018The Passion\u2019, made in 2010 I think and watched by me again this last Holy Week, they had the risen Jesus played by a different actor on the road at the beginning of this story and then changed him back to the original one at the breaking of the bread.<\/p>\n

That, I have to say, just didn\u2019t feel right to me and I continued to worry away at how on earth they couldn\u2019t have recognised him when the true tale I\u2019ve just told you came to mind.<\/p>\n

Walking through that hotel foyer, I was so taken up with not making a fool of myself by admitting to someone I thought I knew that I couldn\u2019t for the life of me remember who they were, that actually, really and truly, my \u2018eyes were closed\u2019, I was \u2018kept from recognising\u2019 a really famous face I knew well, and ended up making an even greater fool of myself!<\/p>\n

The disciples had a similar reaction once they recognised Jesus and he had gone. They couldn\u2019t believe that they hadn\u2019t known who it was. \u201cDidn\u2019t our hearts burn within us?\u201d they gasped in amazement at their own blindness. But they had been so taken up with their grief and their disappointment at the apparent failure of all they had thought Jesus stood for, that their eyes were closed, they were kept from recognising a really familiar face. I\u2019m sure they too felt really foolish, but that feeling was far outweighed by their joy at the revelation they had received, so much so that they set off immediately on the return walk, of some 15 or 20 miles, to share their new found recognition with their friends. Lack of recognition, we must admit, is not so unusual or so inexplicable as we may at first have thought<\/p>\n

The other possible interpretation of the words, \u201cTheir eyes were kept from recognising him.\u201d is that this was part of the plan, part of God\u2019s plan and we can empathise with this too. In things that happen in our lives, embarrassing things, unfortunate things, frightening things, even tragic things (and we are experiencing quite a lot of this at present), and whether we want to say they are part of God\u2019s plan or just things that, having happened, are used by God, with hindsight we recognise that we have grown from the experience.<\/p>\n

These disciples not only failed to recognise their Lord and leader in the resurrected flesh, but had also failed to recognise in their own scripture, \u2018The law and the Prophets\u2019, just what sort of a God they were dealing with. They had failed to recognise in the person of Jesus, through those days, weeks and perhaps years together, what sort of salvation he was going to bring.<\/p>\n

Believing in a wrathful God who needed to be placated by sacrifice and careful keeping of the law, expecting a conquering hero who would drive out the Romans and re-establish Jewish supremacy, they could not recognise the \u2018suffering servant God\u2019 who loved them, who died to save them and in whose weakness was strength and absolute victory.<\/p>\n

No wonder they went racing back! Not only were they taking the news that Jesus truly was alive, but a new understanding that their long talk with the unrecognised \u2018stranger\u2019 on the road had given them. And that, I suppose, is the message for us. We may not always be aware that God is at work. We may not recognise that the experiences we have, the people we meet (or pass at a distance!), the things we do, are all part of God\u2019s plan or can and will be used by him in that plan. But it may well be, that in our prayer time in the cool of the evening or on a Sunday morning in the quiet of Church (yes it will come again), in the familiar words and at the breaking of the bread (on altar or kitchen table), things fall into place, our eyes are opened, and we are briefly and strongly aware of the Jesus who has walked with us, sometimes unrecognised but always there, every step, on the road of our lives.<\/p>\n

Prayers<\/h5>\n

We pray to the Lord for courage as we walk, together but apart, the road of life.
\nIn this unprecedented time of crisis, give your Church the courage to give up her preoccupation with herself and to give time to your mission in the world. Lord, help us to recognise you in our lives, give us strength and hear our prayer.
\nMay the blood and water flowing from the side of Jesus bring forgiveness to your people and help us to face the cost of proclaiming salvation as we work together and apart in your damaged world. Lord, help us to recognise you in our lives, give us strength and hear our prayer.
\nGive your world the courage to give up war, bitterness and hatred, and to seek peace and healing for each other. Lord, help us to recognise you in our lives, give us strength and hear our prayer.
\nMay the shoulders of the risen Jesus, once scourged by soldiers, bear the burden of our times. Lord, help us to recognise you in our lives, give us strength and hear our prayer.
\nGive us the courage to give up quarrels, strife and jealousy in our families, neighbourhoods and communities. Lord, help us to recognise you in our lives, give us strength and hear our prayer.
\nMay the presence of the risen Jesus, his body once broken and now made whole, bring peace and direction as we live with one another. Give us the courage to give up our selfishness as we live for others, and to give time, care and comfort to the sick and those who care for them in ways that are safe for them and for us. Lord, help us to recognise you in our lives, give us strength and hear our prayer.
\nMay the wounded hands of Jesus bring his healing touch to all who suffer, and the light of his presence fill their hearts and homes. Lord, help us to recognise you in our lives, give us strength and hear our prayer.
\nGive us the courage to give up our fear of death and to rejoice with those who have died in faith. May the feet of the risen Lord Jesus, once nailed to the cross, walk alongside the dying and bereaved in their agony, and walk with us and all your Church through death to the gate of glory. Lord, help us to recognise you in our lives, give us strength and hear our prayer, here and in eternity. Amen.<\/p>\n

We pray with confidence as our Saviour has taught us
\nOur Father, who art in heaven,<\/strong>
\nHallowed be thy Name.<\/strong>
\nThy Kingdom come.<\/strong>
\nThy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.<\/strong>
\nGive us this day our daily bread.<\/strong>
\nAnd forgive us our trespasses,<\/strong>
\nAs we forgive those who trespass against us.<\/strong>
\nAnd lead us not into temptation,<\/strong>
\nBut deliver us from evil.<\/strong>
\nFor thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever.<\/strong>
\nAmen<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Home Communion<\/h5>\n

Take bread and wine or juice and pray<\/em><\/p>\n

Blessed are you O God
\nFor you have brought forth bread from the earth
\nBlessed are you O God
\nFor you have created the fruit of the vine
\nHere at your table
\nYou offer us light, bread and wine for the journey
\nTo nourish us as sons and daughters<\/p>\n

Jesus took bread, and having blessed it
\nHe broke it and gave it to his disciples saying
\nTake, eat, this is my body which is given for you
\nIn the same way after supper, he took the cup of wine
\nAnd gave you thanks, he gave it to them saying
\nDrink this all of you, this is my blood of the new covenant
\nWhich is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins
\nSo now, following Jesus\u2019 example
\nWe take this bread and this wine and pray<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus Christ, present with us now
\nBreathe your Spirit upon us and upon this bread and wine
\nThat they may be heaven\u2019s food for us
\nRenewing, sustaining and making us whole
\nThat we may be your body on earth
\nLoving and caring in the world<\/p>\n

Look \u2013 The bread of heaven – The light of the world
\nHere is Christ, coming to us in bread and wine
\nThe gift of God for the people of the world<\/p>\n

The table of bread and wine is now made ready
\nIt is the table of company with Jesus
\nSo, come to this table, you who have much faith
\nAnd you who would like to have more
\nYou who have been to this sacrament often
\nAnd you who have not been for a long time
\nYou who have tried to follow Jesus
\nAnd you who have failed
\nCome \u2013 it is Christ himself who invites us to meet him here<\/p>\n

Eat your bread and sip you drink and take a moment of quiet before praying<\/em><\/p>\n

Concluding Prayer<\/h5>\n

Holy God, we have seen with our eyes
\nAnd touched with our hands the bread of life the light of the world
\nStrengthen our faith
\nThat we may grow in love for you and for each other
\nThrough Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen<\/p>\n

And may the blessing of God Almighty the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be with us all, those we love and those we pray for. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear All, Here then is this week\u2019s Bible Reading and some thoughts on it. You will see that once again I have placed it in the centre of an informal Service of Eucharist which you can use at home, alone or with your family \u2013 wherever you do it you will in fact be worshipping … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Worshipping Together \u2013 Apart”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heuristika.co.uk\/lfgdiscussion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heuristika.co.uk\/lfgdiscussion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heuristika.co.uk\/lfgdiscussion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heuristika.co.uk\/lfgdiscussion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heuristika.co.uk\/lfgdiscussion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.heuristika.co.uk\/lfgdiscussion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":261,"href":"https:\/\/www.heuristika.co.uk\/lfgdiscussion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions\/261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heuristika.co.uk\/lfgdiscussion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heuristika.co.uk\/lfgdiscussion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heuristika.co.uk\/lfgdiscussion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}