Prepared by Rev David Jebb – 25th May 2025

 CALL TO WORSHIP

In the beginning, the voice that whispered us into being still whispers, saying…
Let there be light!
In the wilderness, the voice that fed us from the heavens still feeds us. saying…
Let there be light!
In the story we share with this God of mystery and amazing love, the voice calls to us each and every morning, saying…
Let there be light!

Opening Prayer

Empowering Spirit,
God of our mothers and fathers,
Creator and Redeemer of all life,
We pray to you for your love-grounded peace.

We ask you to open our minds, free our hearts, bless our bodies,
and grace all our relationships.
We ask this of you because you have promised to help us,
just as you illumine in Revelation’s prophetic vision.
You come to make a good world, a new creation-place where we can enjoy health, decency, safety, and even joy.
We pray to you, O God, to inspire us into this daringly just world.
We pray for new creation where love is greater than jewels
and more luminous than the sun or moon.

Let that love be shared around the tree of life.
Bless us again in your image and free our frightened souls.

So, shall we gather at the river?
Shall we soak in the river of many healings?
Shall we make every place where nature communes with humanity a temple for your creation?
Yes, O God, we shall gather at your river and your tree of life.
We shall bless the tree and the river and all living things.
We pray in the name of Jesus, in the way of love-grounded peace.
Amen

GOSPEL: John 14:23-29  New International Version

23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.

25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.

PRAYERS OF INTERECESSION

We have been enjoying some beautiful sunshine and colours of Spring / Summer, so let us thank God for Creation…

Creator God, we worship you. In the beginning you said, “Let there be light”; and the light shone, piercing the darkness.

You have made the vast universe and amidst its movements and glories, your Spirit is at work.

Scattering the stars and moulding the hills, you have made a world full of beauty.

You have made humankind in your own image, stewards of the earth, partners in Creation.

We are here because of you: that we exist is your doing. You are our God, our Parent giving us life, lavishing gifts upon your children. The distances of space praise you. The depths of our being acknowledge Your creating power. Creator God, we praise you.

Lord in your Mercy; Hear our prayer.

Let us now bring before God those who are in need — those who are unwell in body, mind, or spirit — and ask for His healing presence to surround them. We also remember with love those who have died, and we hold in prayer those who grieve.

Jesus Christ is the Light of the World — a light no darkness can extinguish.

We light a candle in remembrance of those who have died, as a symbol of the eternal light of Christ which brings comfort and hope.

We name before you… [pause to name the departed]

As it is written:
“The sun will no longer be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.”

Merciful Father,
Accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

We remember ……….

The sun will no more be their light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on them, for the Lord will be their everlasting light and their God will be their glory.

Merciful Father,

Accept these prayers for the sake of your son, our Saviour Jesus Christ Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER…  Our Father, who art in heaven,

STF 395  ‘Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me’

Spirit of the Living God, Fall afresh on me,
Spirit of the Living God, Fall afresh on me.
Break me, melt me, mould me, fill me.
Spirit of the Living God, Fall afresh on me.

MESSAGE:  “Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.”

We find ourselves drawing near the close of this radiant season of Eastertide — fifty days of resurrection light, of celebrating life breaking forth from the grave, of joy that refuses to be extinguished.

And today, we find Jesus speaking tenderly to his disciples — preparing them, not just for his departure, but for what comes next. He’s not abandoning them. No, far from it. He is making room. Room for something deeper. Room for someone greater. Room for the Spirit.

The Ascension is not the end of the story — it is the widening of it. What was once known in the presence of one man, in one place, at one time, is now being shared through many, through all. Jesus is preparing his disciples — and us — to become what we have received: the Body of Christ in the world.

And in this week’s Gospel, he offers them — he offers us — a gift. A treasure. A promise. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” But then he adds something vital: “Not as the world gives do I give to you.”

You see, Jesus isn’t handing out the kind of peace the world deals in — the kind that depends on keeping the right people in and the wrong people out, the kind that rests on fragile agreements, temporary truces, and uneasy silences. The world’s peace is often a peace maintained by fear, by control, by pushing the “other” aside.

But Jesus — oh, Jesus — offers a different peace. Resurrection peace.
This is not peace that avoids the cross, but peace that comes through it.
This is peace that refuses to return violence for violence, hate for hate.
This is peace that doesn’t flinch at wounds but dares to touch them, to heal them, to transform them.

And it takes Easter eyes to see this. Eyes that have seen the empty tomb. Eyes that no longer mistake death for the end of the story. Eyes that see possibility where others see only loss.

What do Easter eyes behold?
A peace that does not come through domination, but through mercy.
A peace not won by crushing our enemies, but by forgiving them.
A peace that does not settle for stillness, but flows like a river into our lives, into our relationships, into the world.

So hear the words again — let them reach you now as both comfort and commission:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.”

This is more than reassurance. This is a call. This is Jesus saying:
“Let my peace shape your path. Let my peace form your witness.
Let my peace shine through you — in your homes, in your communities,
in your reaching out, in your standing with the broken, in your loving of even the unlovable.”

For peace is not the prize at the end of the journey.
Peace is the journey.
And it begins with the risen Christ among us —
in the breaking of the bread,
in the sharing of stories,
in the wounds that are no longer shameful, but sacred.

This is the kind of peace that passes all understanding.
This is resurrection life.
This is the Spirit’s gift.
And it is yours.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

STF 712   Put peace into each other’s hands (StF 712)

Put peace into each other’s hands and like a treasure hold it;

protect it like a candle flame, with tenderness enfold it.

Put peace into each other’s hands with loving expectation;

be gentle in your words and ways, in touch with God’s creation.

Put peace into each other’s hands, like bread we break for sharing;

look people warmly in the eye: our life is meant for caring.

As at communion, shape your hands into a waiting cradle;

the gift of Christ receive, revere, united round the table.

Put Christ into each other’s hands, he is love’s deepest measure;

in love make peace, give peace a chance and share it like a treasure.

BENEDICTION

Peace…peace I leave with you.
Peace…peace I offer you.
Peace…as we walk into the world to be the presence of the Holy to all we meet.
Peace…peace…peace…peace.