Easter Sunday

2021-04-012021-04-01 VandaLeave a comment

This Sunday is Easter Sunday a day we gather together to celebrate that God raised Jesus from the dead.

The Bible tells us that it was early morning, on the first day of the week. A day full of hope and possibilities.

The tomb that Jesus had been buried in belonged to Joseph of Arimathea and was situated in a garden close to Calvary.

On Good Friday the women had stayed near the cross all day until Jesus had died. Then Saturday the Jewish Sabbath they had still waited as they could not do anything on that day. But on Sunday the women in an amazing act of kindness and loyalty hurried towards the tomb carrying spices to embalm Jesus’ body.

When they arrived at the tomb they found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. Bravely they went into the tomb to perform their task, but the body was not there. the body was gone, they were filled with confusion and fear. And to add to their fear and confusion as they stood there puzzled wondering what to do. Two angels appeared, they gently scolded the women. The Angels ask, why are “you looking for the living among the dead .”

Then women began to remember what Jesus had told them, they were filled with wonder, and they rushed off eager to share the news of the empty tomb with the eleven disciples and their friends, for the truth of the resurrection was beginning to dawn on them (Luke 24: 10).

At first their news was met with disbelief by the disciples, who thought that the women were imagining things. But Peter and John went to the grave to see for themselves.

The men looked into the tomb, and saw that it was empty and that the linen wrappings, were lying untouched on the ground. John knew at once that what the women had said was true.

The two men went home but Mary Magdalene stood crying near the tomb. She was trying to understand what had happened. Then she saw a man who she thought was the gardener.

She said to him if you have taken my Lord away please tell me where to find him. She did not know that she was speaking to Jesus.

Then Jesus said, “Mary!” She knew at once who it was and she was overcome with Joy.

Jesus Christ has risen indeed.

Revd Peta May

JESUS IN THE TEMPLE

2021-03-072021-03-07 VandaLeave a comment

John 2: 13 – l6

Every year, Jewish people from far and near went to the temple in Jerusalem to celebrate a special feast. Long ago they had been slaves in Egypt and God saved them. The feast they went to celebrate was called the feast of the Passover’ Jesus had been visiting Capernaum with his mother and his friends. When it was time to go to Jerusalem for Passover.

They walked from Capernaum to Jerusalem. When they got to Jerusalem Jesus went into the temple. There Jesus found people selling cattle, sheep and doves. Money changers were sitting at a tables collecting money. Some of these money-changers were cheating the people who were trying to buy animals and birds to offer as sacrifices for their sins.

Jesus was very angry when he saw that the people were showing no respect in God’s house, in fact they were using it as a market place. The temple was meant to be a place of worship. A place were people could come and pray and talk to God.

Jesus was so angry when he saw the people being cheated and the fact that the temple had been turned into a market place that he made a whip out of pieces of rope he drove the animals out of the temple. He then over turned the tables of the money changers and spilled the money they had collected all over the floor.

He said to the people who were selling doves and animals, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house into a market place!”

“God’s house is to be a house of prayer for all people”.

Thank you to Revd Peta May for this week’s Sunday School lesson.

Sunday School

THE WAY OF THE CROSS

2021-02-272021-02-27 VandaLeave a comment

Mark 8: 31 – 38

Jesus called the disciples to follow him. They left their homes and their work and went around the country with Jesus. It was a wonderful time of miracles and crowds following him. Life was a great adventure. When they were sitting around a campfire one evening Jesus asked them if they knew who he really was. After a while Peter said, ‘We know that you are the Anointed One of God. You are the Christ.’ Peter was very excited about this because he believed Jesus was very popular and powerful.

But Jesus warned them of the troubles that lay ahead. He told them the elders, the chief priests and scribes would reject him and that he would be killed. Jesus did not want to be killed but he knew if he did God’s work he would face opposition. He knew that evil is always against goodness. Peter would not believe that Jesus was about to be killed, He took Jesus aside and told him it could happen.

Peter was trying to persuade Jesus to run away or hide or go somewhere else. Peter did this because he loved Jesus. Jesus saw that Satan was using Peter’s love to tempt him. He spoke very strongly to his friend and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human. We have to be careful that our friends do not lead us astray from what God wants us to do. Sometimes they cannot understand that we need to be willing to give up all we have to follow our Lord.

Jesus did not promise that following him would be easy. He said there would be times when we would have to deny even our own desires. If we are following the crucified one, we too have to take up our cross, Jesus knew that some things are lost by being kept to ourselves.

We lose the ability to play the piano or to do well at sport if we do not practice. Practice means denying ourselves the time to go out whenever we feel like it. To follow Jesus means discipline. There can be no discipling without discipline.

Question time:

Do we understand that Jesus did not promise us safety, comfort or well being, but that he did promise us his presence at all times?

(Resource: Searchlights Common Worship Year B.)

Thank you to Revd Peta May for this week’s Sunday School lesson.

Sunday School

JESUS’ BAPTISM AND TEMPTATION

2021-02-202021-02-20 VandaLeave a comment

Mark 1: 9-15

Some distance from the towns where Jesus walked there was a river called the Jordan Jesus’ cousin John lived there. John gathered people around him so that he could teach them about being sorry for the bad things they had done and the sins they had committed. When they remembered what they had done, John took them into the river to wash all those bad things away from them so that they could start over again to be God’s people.

One day Jesus went to the Jordan River to see his Cousin John. When he got there, he asked John to baptise him in the river so that he could start a new part of his life.

Why have you come to me?’ John asked. ‘I am the one who needs to be made clean, not you.’ John did not want to baptise Jesus because he said that Jesus had never done anything wrong and was without sin. But Jesus wanted John to baptize him, all the same when Jesus came out of the water, a wonderful thing happen. The heavens suddenly opened up above Jesus, and the Spirit of God, in the form of a dove, came down and rested on Jesus. A voice from heaven said, ‘You are my Son, my Beloved. I am very pleased with you’.

After hearing God’s voice Jesus decided to go alone to the wilderness to pray. He was there for forty days and forty nights. He didn’t take anything with him. He slept out in the open air and used a stone for his pillow. Jesus became very hungry because he had no food.

When Jesus was weak with hunger, Satan God’s enemy began to test Jesus. He was trying to make Jesus disobey God, to spoil his work. Satan said to Jesus ‘You are hungry. Turn these stones into loaves of bread.’ But Jesus refused. God had given him special powers. But he was not to use them selfishly.

Then Satan said ‘Kneel down. Worship me and I will give you the wealth of the world.’

Again Jesus refused. ‘God says we must worship him and no one else,’ he answered.

Satan tried all his tricks. But he could not make Jesus disobey God. At the end of the forty days Jesus set out for home. He was ready, now, for God’s work that lay ahead.

This lesson shows us that temptation comes to everyone, even to Jesus. But sin is the act of doing what we are tempted to do. We can follow Jesus’ example and refuse to do what we are tempted to do. We must be strong and overcome temptation. When we refuse to sin and give into temptation we can live in a right relationship with God.

Thank you to Revd Peta May for this week’s Sunday School lesson.