Welcome to this week’s Windmill United Benefice online service of Holy Communion for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, led and celebrated by the Revd Nicholas Calver with a talk by the Revd Charles Sargent. The music was all recorded at previous services in the benefice.
If you would like to follow the service, click on the bar below. The words can be found as you scroll down:
The hymn ‘Love is his word’ is sung
Love is his word, love is his way,
Feasting with all, fasting alone,
Living and dying, rising again,
Love, only love, is his way.
Richer than gold is the love of my Lord:
Better than splendour and wealth.
Love is his way, love is his mark,
Sharing his last Passover feast,
Christ at the table, host to the twelve,
Love, only love, is his mark.
Richer than gold is the love of my Lord:
Better than splendour and wealth.
Love is his mark, love is his sign,
Bread for our strength, wine for our joy,
‘This is my body, this is my blood.’
Love, only love is his sign.
Richer than gold is the love of my Lord:
Better than splendour and wealth.
Love is his sign, love is his news,
‘Do this,’ he said, ‘lest you forget
all my deep sorrow, all my dear blood.’
Love, only love is his news.
Richer than gold is the love of my Lord:
Better than splendour and wealth.
Love is his news, love is his name,
We are his own, chosen and called,
Family, brethren, cousins and kin.
Love, only love is his name.
Richer than gold is the love of my Lord:
Better than splendour and wealth.
Love is his name, love is his law,
Hear his command, all who are his,
‘Love one another, I have loved you.’
Love, only love, is his law.
Richer than gold is the love of my Lord:
Better than splendour and wealth.
The Greeting, Confession and Gloria
Alleluia! Christ is risen.
He is risen indeed, Alleluia!
Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed for us.
Let us therefore rejoice by putting away all malice and evil
and confessing our sins with a sincere and true heart.
Most merciful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
we confess that we have sinned
in thought, word and deed.
We have not loved you with our whole heart.
We have not loved our neighbours as ourselves.
In your mercy forgive what we have been,
help us to amend what we are, and direct what we shall be;
that we may do justly, love mercy,
and walk humbly with you, our God.
Amen.
Almighty God, who forgives all who truly repent, have mercy upon us, pardon and deliver us from all our sins, confirm and strengthen us in all goodness, and keep us in life eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Gloria is sung
Glory in the highest to the God of heaven!
Peace to all your people through the earth be given:
Mighty God and Father, thanks and praise we bring,
Singing alleluia to our heavenly king.
Jesus Christ is risen, God the Father’s Son:
Seated now and reigning from your Father’s throne,
Lamb of God the Saviour, all our sin to bear,
Show us now your mercy, now receive our prayer.
Christ the world’s true Saviour, high and holy One,
With the Holy Spirit, you are Lord alone!
Lord and God, we praise you; Highest heaven adores:
In the Father’s glory, all the praise be yours!
The Collect and readings
Let us pray
Collect for the fifth Sunday of Easter
Almighty God,
who through your only-begotten Son Jesus Christ
have overcome death and opened to us the gate of everlasting life:
grant that, as by your grace going before us
you put into our minds good desires,
so by your continual help
we may bring them to good effect;
through Jesus Christ our risen Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen
A reading from Acts 8: 26 to the end
by Paul Pitts
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
Glory to you, O Lord.
The Gospel reading from John 15: 1-8
by Louise Wates
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Talk
by the Rev Charles Sargent
The Creed, intercessions and peace
Let us declare our faith in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures;
he was buried;
he was raised to life on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures;
afterwards he appeared to his followers,
and to all the apostles:
this we have received, this we believe.
Amen.
Let us pray for the Church and for the world and for all people according to their needs.
The Intercessions
led by Helen Longhurst
The responses to the intercessions are:
Lord, in your mercy:
Hear our prayer
and
Merciful Father,
accept these prayers for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Peace
The risen Christ came and stood among his disciples and said:
Peace be with you.
Then they were glad when they saw the Lord.
The Peace of the Lord be always with you
And also with you.
The Eucharistic Prayer begins
The Lord is here.
His Spirit is with us.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give thanks and praise.
The priest continues the Eucharistic Prayer, until:
Therefore with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we proclaim your great and glorious name, for ever praising you and singing:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord,
holy is the Lord God almighty.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord,
holy is the Lord God almighty.
Who was, and is, and is to come.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.
The Eucharistic Prayer continues until:
Great is the mystery of faith:
Christ has died:
Christ is risen:
Christ will come again.
The Eucharistic Prayer concludes:
As our Saviour taught us, so we pray:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come; thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
We break this bread to share in the body of Christ.
Though we are many, we are one body,
because we all share in one bread.
All sing:
Let us break bread together on our knees,
Let us break bread together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees
With my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me.
Alleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us
Therefore let us keep the feast, Alleluia!
After Nicholas receives Communion, he invites you to make your spiritual communion by using the following prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ,
since I cannot now receive you sacramentally
I ask you to come spiritually into my heart.
O most merciful redeemer, friend and brother,
may I know you more clearly,
love you more dearly,
and follow you more nearly, day by day.
Amen
The anthem is ‘From the rising of the Sun
(Words from Malachi 1: 11; music by FAG Ouseley, 1825-89)
Sung by the choirs of the Windmill United Benefice at St Mary the Virgin, Horne on 3 December 2017
Closing prayers and blessing
Let us pray.
Eternal God,
whose Son Jesus Christ is the way,
the truth, and the life:
grant us to walk in his way,
to rejoice in his truth,
and to share his risen life;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
Amen
Lord Jesus, give us your light in our eyes,
your word on our lips,
and your love in our hearts.
Send us out in the power of your Spirit
to live and work to your praise and glory.
Amen.
God the Father, by whose glory Christ was raised from the dead, strengthen you to walk with him in his risen life; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always.
Amen.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
In the name of Christ.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
The hymn ‘I the Lord of sea and sky’ is sung
I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin
my hand will save.
I who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?
Here I am, Lord.
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.
I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my people’s pain.
I have wept for love of them.
They turn away.
I will break their hearts of stone,
Give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my word to them.
Whom shall I send?
Here I am, Lord.
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.
I, the Lord of wind and flame,
I will tend the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them.
My hand will save.
Finest bread I will provide
Till their hearts be satisfied.
I will give my life to them.
Whom shall I send?
Here I am, Lord.
Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.
Organist: Peter Nye
Hymn words reproduced under CCLI: 845257
Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England (2000), material from which is included in this service, is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2000.