Dear All,

I suppose having so many weeks of Eastertide reminds us that Easter Sunday & the Resurrection are foundational to our faith.  By comparison, Lent is long but only six weeks, & Advent, just four.  And Eastertide seven!

This week two of the reflections are there to remind us of that great event that changed everything & continues to do so.  There is also something from Joyce Rupp on shepherds.  In this Sunday’s short gospel God as shepherd is full of meaning.

The blessing is a Celtic one from Margaret Rizza’s ‘Light in our Darkness’.

The guarding of the God of Life be on you.

 The guarding of the loving Christ be on you,

The guarding of the Holy Spirit be on you,

To aid & uphold you each day & night of your life.

The guarding of God, the guarding of Christ,

The guarding of the Holy Spirit, be upon you.

 

Our love & prayer for you all – have a good weekend & week ahead

 

The Meditation of Mary Magdalene

I was distraught,
eyes blinded by grief,
heart numb with sorrow,
for I honestly believed they’d taken away his body
and I’d never see Jesus again.
All right, he was dead,
so what does it matter, you say?
But it did to me,
for I wanted to pay my respects,
to gaze on that gentle face,
that lovely man,
just one more time.
I wanted to remember him at peace,
not groaning on a cross;
to see him laid to rest
and know his suffering was truly over.
And now, it seemed, I was to be denied even that,
his corpse stolen like some grisly trophy,
pursued to the last by his enemies.
It all but finished me,
and I broke down in tears,
conscious of nothing and no one but my grief.
Not even those strangers in the tomb could shake me from it –
my only thought being that someone had taken away my Lord,
and I’d no idea where they’d laid him.
No point looking, I thought –
he was gone,
lost to us for ever.
But I was wrong –
wonderfully, gloriously wrong –
for I’d no need to find him at all:
he found me!

 

Nick Fawcett.

 

 

An Eastertide Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ,

you appeared to different people

at different places, at different times –

to Mary in the garden,

to Cleopas & his companion

on the Emmaus road,

to the disciples in the upper room,

to your followers in Galilee.

Each had their own unique meeting with you,

and it was only when you met with them,

face to face,

that the truth dawned;

it was only then that they dared to believe

you were alive.

Lord Jesus Christ,

we cannot see you as they did

but we too can meet with you

and experience the reality of your living presence.

meet with me now, as I wait on you in hope.

 

 

 

Shepherd

I have been in that bleak valley

When the last bit of joyfulness

Was sucked out of my spirit

By the ripping winds of desolation.

In those times of extended anguish

The memory of green pastures

With you shepherding my way

Brought me strength to go on.

Shepherd, now, others in need

As they stumble on their dark road

 I unite my heart with those in gloomy valleys.

Joyce Rupp