26 March 2023
10:00 | 
Posted by
Dr Platts |
This Sunday was Passion Sunday, our 10 am service was Matins. Father Chris was unwell, so Janet and Chris our Churchwardens took the service. Joanna sang the versicles and we all sang the responses. The Benedicite and the Jubelate Deo were sung. The former in the setting by Lloyd and the latter in the setting by CV Stanford.
There was no sermon so we finished a little early.
Meanwhile the Sunday School children had been following the path from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, and made some crosses to remind themselves of the events during the week.
Next Sunday, Palm Sunday, if the weather is kind we shall start in the Church Hall and process up the lane to the church with palms. If it is wet, we will meet in the Parish rooms instead.
Services for Easter are in the diary do try to come and join us.
8am Holy Communion
Ezekiel 37:1-14
A reading from the book of the prophet Ezekiel.
The hand of the Lord came upon me,
and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord
and set me down in the middle of a valley;
it was full of bones.
He led me all round them;
there were very many lying in the valley,
and they were very dry.
He said to me, ‘Mortal, can these bones live?’
I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’
Then he said to me,
‘Prophesy to these bones, and say to them:
O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
Thus says the Lord God to these bones:
I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.
I will lay sinews on you,
and will cause flesh to come upon you,
and cover you with skin,
and put breath in you, and you shall live;
and you shall know that I am the Lord.’
So I prophesied as I had been commanded;
and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise,
a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
I looked, and there were sinews on them,
and flesh had come upon them,
and skin had covered them;
but there was no breath in them.
Then he said to me,
‘Prophesy to the breath,
prophesy, mortal,
and say to the breath:
Thus says the Lord God:
Come from the four winds, O breath,
and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’
I prophesied as he commanded me,
and the breath came into them,
and they lived,
and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.
Then he said to me,
‘Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel.
They say, “Our bones are dried up,
and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.”
Therefore prophesy, and say to them,
Thus says the Lord God:
I am going to open your graves,
and bring you up from your graves, O my people;
and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
And you shall know that I am the Lord,
when I open your graves,
and bring you up from your graves, O my people.
I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live,
and I will place you on your own soil;
then you shall know
that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,
says the Lord.’
Romans 8:6-11
A reading fromthe letter of Paul to the Romans.
To set the mind on the flesh is death,
but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God;
it does not submit to God’s law—
indeed it cannot,
and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh;
you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit
of God dwells in you.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ
does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you,
though the body is dead because of sin,
the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
he who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also
through his Spirit that dwells in you.
John 11:1-45
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
A certain man was ill,
Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume
and wiped his feet with her hair;
her brother Lazarus was ill.
So the sisters sent a message to Jesus,
‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’
But when Jesus heard it, he said,
‘This illness does not lead to death;
rather it is for God’s glory, s
o that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’
Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,
after having heard that Lazarus was ill,
he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to the disciples,
‘Let us go to Judea again.’
The disciples said to him,
‘Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you,
and are you going there again?’
Jesus answered,
‘Are there not twelve hours of daylight?
Those who walk during the day do not stumble,
because they see the light of this world.
But those who walk at night stumble,
because the light is not in them.’
After saying this, he told them,
‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,
but I am going there to awaken him.’
The disciples said to him,
‘Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.’
Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death,
but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep.
Then Jesus told them plainly,
‘Lazarus is dead.
For your sake I am glad I was not there,
so that you may believe.
But let us go to him.’
Thomas, who was called the Twin,
said to his fellow-disciples,
‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’
When Jesus arrived,
he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem,
some two miles away,
and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to console them about their brother.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him,
while Mary stayed at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’
Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’
Martha said to him,
‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’
Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.
Those who believe in me,
even though they die, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?’
She said to him,
‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,
the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’
When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary,
and told her privately,
‘The Teacher is here and is calling for you.’
And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him.
Now Jesus had not yet come to the village,
but was still at the place where Martha had met him.
The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her,
saw Mary get up quickly and go out.
They followed her because they thought
that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him,
she knelt at his feet and said to him,
‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’
When Jesus saw her weeping,
and the Jews who came with her also weeping,
he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.
He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’
They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’
Jesus began to weep.
So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’
But some of them said,
‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man
have kept this man from dying?’
Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb.
It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’
Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him,
‘Lord, already there is a stench
because he has been dead for four days.’
Jesus said to her,
‘Did I not tell you that if you believed,
you would see the glory of God?’
So they took away the stone.
And Jesus looked upwards and said,
‘Father, I thank you for having heard me.
I knew that you always hear me, but
I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here,
so that they may believe that you sent me.’
When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice,
‘Lazarus, come out!’
The dead man came out,
his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth,
and his face wrapped in a cloth.
Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary
and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
10am Matins
Ezekiel 37:1-14
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
Romans 8:6-11
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
John 11:1-45
1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)
3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.
7 Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.
8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.
11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.
16 Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.
17 Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.
18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:
19 And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.
21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.
29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.
30 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.
31 The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.
32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!
37 And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?
38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.
