27 April 2025
10:30 | 
Posted by
Dr Platts |
The sun greeted us today for "Low Sunday" the eighth day of Easter, or as Fr Chris quipped, low, because of the low attendance! Not too low though. The choir officially has a day off, but many of them were still there for the service. Not low in numbers however were the children of the Sunday school.
A reminder that at 11.15 next week is our annual church meeting. There are vacancies for PCC members and a church warden as Chris Field is hanging up her official staff and retiring. Please think and pray to see if you can fill a role in the running of the church.
After Rogation Sunday on 25th May there will be a "Bring and share lunch". There is a sign up sheet at the back of the church so we don't end up with 250 sausage rolls and nothing else. The more the merrier.
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.
When the temple police 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.’
Revelation 1:4-8
A reading from the book of Revelation.
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.
John 20:19-31
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
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.
