Sunday Worship 27 April 2025
Today’s service is led by the Revd Dr Michael Hopkins
Welcome & Call to Worship
Whoever you are, wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here. Welcome to this service from the United Reformed Church. My name is Michael Hopkins, I serve as Moderator of the Wessex Synod, a family of churches across several counties in the south of England and the Channel Islands.
We come to worship the risen Christ: who brings peace into our fear;
who bring hope into our despair; who brings love into our world;
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Let us worship God.
Hymn Christ is Alive! Let Christians Sing
Brian Wren (1968, 1978) Hope Publishing Company OneLicence A-734713. Frodsham Methodist Church Cloud Choir. accompanied by Andrew Ellams and produced by Andrew Emison and used with their kind permission.
Christ is alive! Let Christians sing.
The cross stands empty to the sky.
Let streets & homes with praises ring.
Love, drowned in death, shall never die.
Christ is alive! No longer bound
to distant years in Palestine,
but saving, healing, here and now,
and touching every place and time.
In every insult, rift, and war,
where colour, scorn, or wealth divide,
Christ suffers still, yet loves the more,
and lives, where even hope has died.
Women and men, in age and youth,
can feel the Spirit, hear the call,
and find the way, the life, the truth,
revealed for Jesus, freed for all.
Christ is alive, and comes to bring
good news to this and every age,
till earth and sky and ocean ring
with joy, with justice, love, and praise.
Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
Risen Christ, you are conqueror of death,
we praise you for life, love and fellowship;
for friendships mended and relationships restored.
We praise you for the possibility of change,
for ways out of fear, darkness, and guilt.
We praise you for the gift of the Holy Spirit,
who works change, who gives confidence, who brings peace.
As we praise you, God,
we are aware of our own frailty and brokenness,
and the frailty and brokenness of the Church
and the world in which we share.
If we have locked ourselves away within walls of our own making,
we are sorry.
If we are afraid of what people will think if we say we believe,
we are sorry.
If we doubt your promises,
or ignore the signs that you give in our own lives,
we are sorry.
Breathe your freedom into us, Risen Christ.
Let your love unlock the door of our doubts,
as your grace, mercy, and love flow into us.
Silence
Wherever regret is real, God pronounces pardon,
and offers us freedom and a new start.
Thank you, God, for forgiving us.
We accept your love, as we pray together as Jesus taught us:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory
are yours now and forever. Amen.
Introduction
We live in a world of fake news, or claims of fake news, whether it’s the spurious stories about the cat eating immigrants in Springfield, or the deliberate fuelling of riots.
Are there really such things as ‘alternative facts’? What about different truths? Can ‘truth’ depend on your perspective or context? How can we check out or test competing claims? These are all things that we find ourselves having to consider every day.
Have you ever made a wrong statement or decision because you didn’t know all the facts, having otherwise been convinced you had ‘got it right’?
In a moment we’re going to hear a Bible reading from John’s gospel, telling the story of Thomas, whose quest for evidence led to the Church nicknaming him ‘doubting Thomas’. This is very unfortunate, because seeking, searching, and questioning are vital parts of faith. Before we hear the story of Thomas, we pray.
Prayer of Illumination
Living God, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the Scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today, in Jesus’s name. Amen.
Reading St John 20:19-31
When it was evening on that day, 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.
Hymn Christ Has Risen Whilst Earth Slumbers
John L. Bell & Graham Maule © 1988, 1996 WGRG, admin. GIA Publications, Inc., Chicago, IL. OneLicence A-734713. Sung by the Grosse Pointe Memorial Church (Michigan) Virtual Choir.
and used with their kind permission.
Christ has risen while earth slumbers, Christ has risen where hope died,
as he said and as he promised, as we doubted and denied.
Let the moon embrace the blessing; let the sun sustain the cheer;
let the world confirm the rumour: Christ is risen, God is here!
Christ has risen for the people whom he died to love and save;
Christ has risen for the women bringing flowers to grace his grave.
Christ has risen for disciples huddled in an upstairs room.
He whose word inspired creation can’t be silenced by the tomb.
Christ has risen to companion former friends who fear the night,
sensing loss and limitations where their faith had once burned bright
They bemoan what is no longer, they expect no hopeful sign
till Christ ends their conversation, breaking bread and sharing wine.
Christ has risen and forever lives to challenge and to change
all whose lives are messed or mangled all who find religion strange.
Christ is risen, Christ is present making us what he has been
evidence of transformation in which God is known and seen.
Sermon
Perhaps you know the old story of sending the apprentice out on their first day to ask in the shop for a tin of tartan paint, or a jar of elbow grease. Of course, we all encounter the impossible every day. How often have you found yourself saying things like, “I just can’t see that ever happening.” Or “I’ll never get through this.” Or “No way. Never.”
I’m sure most of us have found ourselves thinking that kind of thing sometimes. We’ve all found ourselves facing something impossible in our lives. We all live with our own version of what is and what isn’t possible in our lives. I think that most of the time, most of us work within the parameters of what is possible, but what if life is bigger than that? What if the impossible can be made real? What if the impossible really does happen? What if the impossible really is possible?
The story is told that apprentices in the Lamp Division at General Electric were asked to frost lightbulbs on the inside. One day, a newcomer named Marvin Pipkin not only found a way to frost lightbulbs on the inside but developed an etching acid that actually strengthened each bulb. No-one had told him that it was impossible, so he did it.
I suspect that many of us could tell stories of impossible things that were made real in our own lives.
What if everything impossible in our lives which actually happens is an experience of resurrection? What if each one is a time when Jesus stepped through the locked door of our life? That’s exactly what happened in today’s gospel reading.
In the gospel reading it’s evening on the first Easter Day. The disciples are gathered in a room. The doors are locked. It’s impossible for someone to get in. They’ve made sure of that. They’re scared. Then the impossible happened. Jesus arrived in the room. He wasn’t dead. He’s alive. That didn’t happen just once. It happened twice. Twice Jesus stepped into that room of frightened disciples hiding behind their locked doors of impossibility.
The possibility of the impossible isn’t just the story of Easter. It’s the story of Jesus. Jesus is always stepping through our locked doors of impossibility. That’s the Good News.
The Bible is full of stories of impossibilities that became real.
God became human in Jesus, or as John puts it, “The Word became flesh and lived among us” (John 1:14). That would be a good reason why John says, “Yet, the world did not know him…. His own people did not accept him” (John 1:10-11). It’s impossible. Who would believe that God would become one of us?
A virgin gives birth to a child. “How can this be” (Luke 1:34)? That’s not just Mary’s question, but also the question of anyone reading this. That kind of thing is impossible.
Water is turned into wine (John 2:1-11). Chance would be a fine thing!
Five thousand are fed with two fish and five loaves of bread (John 6:1:13). Until it happened Philip would never have thought it possible. “Six months wages would not buy enough bread for each to get a little,” he says (John 6:7).
Martha knows the impossibility of her brother, Lazarus, coming out of the tomb. “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days” (John 11:39). And then the dead man walks out, the door of death has been unlocked and opened. And then there’s Jesus’ own resurrection. The women’s good news of the empty tomb seemed to the men “an idle tale, and they did not believe them” (Luke 24:11). After all, dead men can’t live. It’s impossible. And the tomb could never be the means to new life, could it?
None of that was possible until it happened. I can’t tell you how any of it happened. I just don’t know. I don’t know how it has happened in my life. I don’t know how it has happened in your life. I have no explanation. But that doesn’t mean it cannot or did not happen. We know better. We are “witnesses to these things” (Luke 24:48).
Unexplainable and impossible are not the same thing, and that’s the paradox. The impossible becomes possible, but it doesn’t become understandable. We all have our personal locked doors of impossibility. I wonder what is being unlocked and opened for you and for me today?
We’ll never know what might be unlocked and made possible for us unless we consider the impossible possible. What if, instead of starting with what we consider possible, reasonable, or achievable, we began with the impossible. Let us not get trapped by what we think is possible, but instead go to the place of impossibility in our life. That is where we’re most likely to find Jesus. That is where he is breathing peace. That is where doors are being opened. That is where new life is beginning. And that’s where I want to be.
What if the impossible isn’t really impossible? What if what we see as impossible is really just us catching up with Jesus?
Hymn This Joyful Eastertide, What Need is There for Grieving
Fred Pratt Green © 1969 Hope Publishing OneLicence A-734713
Sung by Paul Coleman and used with his kind permission.
This joyful Eastertide, what need is there for grieving?
Cast all your cares aside and be not unbelieving:
Come, share our Easter joy that death could not imprison,
nor any power destroy our Christ, who is arisen!
No work for him is vain, no faith in him mistaken,
for Easter makes it plain His Kingdom is not Shaken:
Come, share our Easter joy that death could not imprison,
nor any power destroy our Christ, who is arisen!
Then put your trust in Christ, in waking and in sleeping,
His grace on earth sufficed; He’ll never quit his keeping:
Come, share our Easter joy that death could not imprison,
nor any power destroy our Christ, who is arisen!
Prayers
Living God, we live in a world where many doubt. We bring to you those who doubt because no one has ever shown them the love of Jesus. Risen Christ, breathe your Spirit of peace.
We bring to you those who doubt because the circumstances of their lives just don’t hold any sign of a God of love. Risen Christ, breathe your Spirit of peace.
We bring to you those who doubt because they have been hurt or let down by others, or have never learned to trust. Risen Christ, breathe your Spirit of peace.
We bring to you those who doubt because war or natural disaster has destroyed them or those they love, especially praying for people in Ukraine and Russia, the nations of the Middle East, Sudan, Myanmar, and all affected by war or natural disaster. Risen Christ, breathe your Spirit of peace.
We bring to you those who doubt because they are in pain of body, mind, or spirit. Risen Christ, breathe your Spirit of peace.
We bring to you all who doubt your love for whatever reason: shine your resurrection light in their lives. Risen Christ, breathe your Spirit of peace.
Living God, we bring you all our prayers, spoken and silent, through the power of Christ’s new life. Amen.
Prayer of Dedication
Risen Christ, every week we give you our money,
our time, our skills, and our energy.
As we try to serve you, walk with us through this week,
support us when we try to see the truth in things that puzzle us,
give us courage to search for answers,
and hold us in your unfailing and all-encompassing love,
each and every day. Amen.
Hymn The Head That Once was Crowned with Thorns
Thomas Kelly (1820) Public Domain played and Sung by Gareth Moore of the Isle of Man Methodist Church and used with his kind permission.
The head that once was crowned with thorns
is crowned with glory now;
a royal diadem adorns
the mighty victor’s brow.
The highest place that Heav’n affords
is his, is his by right,
the King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
and Heav’n’s eternal light.
The joy of all who dwell above,
the joy of all below,
to whom he manifests his love
and grants his name to know.
To them, the Cross, with all its shame,
with all its grace is giv’n;
their name an everlasting name,
their joy the joy of Heav’n.
They suffer with their Lord below,
they reign with him above;
their profit and their joy to know
the myst’ry of his love.
The cross he bore is life and health,
tho’ shame and death to him;
his people’s hope, his people’s wealth,
their everlasting theme.
Blessing
The service has ended.
Go in peace and joy, and the blessing of God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
is upon you, and all God’s people,
now and forever. Amen.