Worship Archive – April 27th 2025

Sunday Service from Hillside Circuit for April 27th 2025:

Lectionary Theme: Peace be with you

Occasion: 2nd Sunday of Easter

Lectionary readings:
Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-29
Acts 5: 27-32
Revelation 1: 4-8
John 20: 19-31

[Click or tap on a Bible reference above to jump down the page to the Bible reading to read it for yourself (and/or to listen to it) and then click or tap on Back to top to come back here.]

Songs:

Here are the songs for Sunday morning service. Click or tap on a song to open it in YouTube.

Blessed assurance.
Breathe on me.
Lord of all good.
How sweet the name.
Lord of all hopefulness.
My peace.

Prayers:

You can listen and join in with prayers from the English Methodist Service Book. They can be found at the Prayers for worship webpage.

Children’s Address:

Audio Children’s Address for Hillside Circuit on April 27th 2025 with Rev Margaret James.

Sermon:

Audio message for Hillside Circuit on April 27th 2025 with Rev Gladman Chauya.

Bible readings:

Psalm 118

1 Tell the LORD how thankful you are,
because he is kind and always merciful.

2 Let Israel shout, “God is always merciful!”

14 My power and my strength come from the LORD,
and he has saved me.

15 From the tents of God’s people come shouts of victory:
“The LORD is powerful!
16 With his mighty arm the LORD wins victories!
The LORD is powerful!”

17 And so my life is safe,
and I will live to tell what the LORD has done.
18 He punished me terribly,
but he did not let death lay its hands on me.

19 Open the gates of justice!
I will enter and tell the LORD how thankful I am.

20 Here is the gate of the LORD!
Everyone who does right may enter this gate.

21 I praise the LORD
for answering my prayers and saving me.
22 The stone that the builders tossed aside
has now become the most important stone.

23 The LORD has done this, and it is amazing to us.
24 This day belongs to the LORD!
Let’s celebrate and be glad today.
25 We’ll ask the LORD to save us!
We’ll sincerely ask the LORD to let us win.

26 God bless the one who comes in the name of the LORD!
We praise you from here in the house of the LORD.

27 The LORD is our God, and he has given us light!
Start the celebration!
March with palm branches all the way to the altar.

28 The LORD is my God!
I will praise him and tell him how thankful I am.

29 Tell the LORD how thankful you are,
because he is kind and always merciful.

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Acts 5

27 When the apostles were brought before the council, the high priest said to them, 28 “We told you plainly not to teach in the name of Jesus. But look what you have done! You have been teaching all over Jerusalem, and you are trying to blame us for his death.”
29 Peter and the apostles replied:
We don’t obey people. We obey God. 30 You killed Jesus by nailing him to a cross. But the God our ancestors worshipped raised him to life 31 and made him our Leader and Saviour. Then God gave him a place at his right side, so that the people of Israel would turn back to him and be forgiven. 32 We are here to tell you about all this, and so is the Holy Spirit, who is God’s gift to everyone who obeys God.

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Revelation 1

4 From John to the seven churches in Asia.
I pray that you will be blessed with kindness and peace
from God, who is and was and is coming.
May you receive kindness and peace
from the seven spirits before the throne of God.
5 May kindness and peace be yours
from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness.

Jesus was the first to conquer death,
and he is the ruler of all earthly kings.
Christ loves us, and by his blood
he set us free from our sins.
6 He lets us rule as kings
and serve God his Father as priests.
To him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.
7 Look! He is coming with the clouds.
Everyone will see him,
even the ones who stuck a sword through him.
All people on earth will weep because of him.
Yes, it will happen! Amen.

8 The Lord God says, “I am Alpha and Omega, the one who is and was and is coming. I am God All-Powerful!”

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John 20

19 The disciples were afraid of the Jewish leaders, and on the evening of that same Sunday they locked themselves in a room. Suddenly, Jesus appeared in the middle of the group. He greeted them 20 and showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they became very happy.
21 After Jesus had greeted them again, he said, “I am sending you, just as the Father has sent me.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, they will be forgiven. But if you don’t forgive their sins, they will not be forgiven.”

24 Although Thomas the Twin was one of the twelve disciples, he wasn’t with the others when Jesus appeared to them. 25 So they told him, “We have seen the Lord!”
But Thomas said, “First, I must see the nail scars in his hands and touch them with my finger. I must put my hand where the spear went into his side. I won’t believe unless I do this!”
26 A week later the disciples were together again. This time, Thomas was with them. Jesus came in while the doors were still locked and stood in the middle of the group. He greeted his disciples 27 and said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands! Put your hand into my side. Stop doubting and have faith!”
28 Thomas replied, “You are my Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus said, “Thomas, do you have faith because you have seen me? The people who have faith in me without seeing me are the ones who are really blessed!”

30 Jesus worked many other miracles for his disciples, and not all of them are written in this book. 31 But these are written so that you will put your faith in Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. If you have faith in him, you will have true life.

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[Did you miss last week’s Sunday Services? They can now be found at Worship Archive – April 20th 2025.]