30 Northumberland Square | North Shields | NE30 1PW Weekly Update #151 9th April 2023 – Easter Day
From the Minister Happy Easter!
I hope that you have a happy Easter, however you get to spend the time. Hopefully it won’t involve eating too much chocolate! I wonder, do you think if we exchanged presents at Easter (as well as or instead of chocolate eggs) it would become as popular as Christmas? Some years ago, in London, a friend of mine was a teacher in a secondary school. The local authority announced that all religions represented in the school should have one of their religious festivals acknowledged (seems fair to me). They consulted with teachers and students of other faiths to see which one they wanted to mark, but simply decreed that the Christians would mark Christmas. Then the Christians teachers in the school requested that if they only had one festival then they would prefer to mark Easter instead of Christmas. I didn’t hear how that crisis was resolved, but I doubt if Christmas was cancelled. Of course, there wouldn’t be an Easter if there was no Christmas, but Christmas requires Easter to tell the whole story of Jesus: born, lived, died and raised for us and for the world.
God our Father, through your only-begotten Son you have overcome death, and opened to us the gate of everlasting life; grant that we who have been redeemed by his passion may rejoice in his resurrection; through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
From The Gelasian Sacramentary
Worship – Sunday 9th April – Easter Day
8.15 a.m. Early Easter Communion – in the Lishman Hall (Followed by breakfast at 8.30 a.m. – open to all, whether they have been at the 8.15 communion or not)
10.30 a.m. Easter Celebration Communion Service at Church – led by the Revd Dr Trevor Jamison
6.30 p.m. Zoom communion service – led by the Revd Dr Trevor Jamison “On the Road to Emmaus”
To join on Zoom click here
Livestreamed Worship from Saint Columba’s
Each Sunday morning we livestream our services from Saint Columba’s. To watch the service live, catch up with it later in the week, or view previous services, click here.
Bible readings for this week
Acts 10:34-43 Peter preaches about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus
Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24 ‘The stone that the builders rejected …’
Colossians 3:1-4 ‘Seek the things that are above, where Christ is’
John 20:1-18 Mary Magdalene – first to meet the risen Lord
Matthew 28:1-10 The risen Jesus meets his disciples
Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.’ (John 20:17) Mary Magdalene was the first disciple to encounter Jesus after he had risen from the dead. At first she did not recognise him, whether because of the tears in her eyes (20:11), because it was unthinkable that the person standing before her could be the ‘teacher’ (29:16), or because he was somehow changed. She had been following and supporting Jesus from the early days of his ministry. (Luke 8:1-3) Having lost him now she had him back again, only to be told to let go of him. How hard that must have been for her. Jesus tells her that he still has unfinished business, so she has to let him go. Jesus died and has risen for each and every one of us, but none of us own him as our personal possession.
I hope that you have a happy Easter, however you get to spend the time. Hopefully it won’t involve eating too much chocolate! I wonder, do you think if we exchanged presents at Easter (as well as or instead of chocolate eggs) it would become as popular as Christmas? Some years ago, in London, a friend of mine was a teacher in a secondary school. The local authority announced that all religions represented in the school should have one of their religious festivals acknowledged (seems fair to me). They consulted with teachers and students of other faiths to see which one they wanted to mark, but simply decreed that the Christians would mark Christmas. Then the Christians teachers in the school requested that if they only had one festival then they would prefer to mark Easter instead of Christmas. I didn’t hear how that crisis was resolved, but I doubt if Christmas was cancelled. Of course, there wouldn’t be an Easter if there was no Christmas, but Christmas requires Easter to tell the whole story of Jesus: born, lived, died and raised for us and for the world.
8.15 a.m. Early Easter Communion – in the Lishman Hall
Each Sunday morning we livestream our services from Saint Columba’s. To watch the service live, catch up with it later in the week, or view previous services, click 
Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.’ (John 20:17) Mary Magdalene was the first disciple to encounter Jesus after he had risen from the dead. At first she did not recognise him, whether because of the tears in her eyes (20:11), because it was unthinkable that the person standing before her could be the ‘teacher’ (29:16), or because he was somehow changed. She had been following and supporting Jesus from the early days of his ministry. (Luke 8:1-3) Having lost him now she had him back again, only to be told to let go of him. How hard that must have been for her. Jesus tells her that he still has unfinished business, so she has to let him go. Jesus died and has risen for each and every one of us, but none of us own him as our personal possession.