EASTER 3 YEAR B       Sunday 14 April 2024

FIRST READING Acts 3.12–19

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

Peter addressed the people,

‘You Israelites, why do you wonder at this,

or why do you stare at us,

as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,

the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus,

whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate,

though he had decided to release him.

But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One

and asked to have a murderer given to you,

and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.

To this we are witnesses.

And by faith in his name,

his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health

in the presence of all of you.

And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance,

as did also your rulers.

In this way God fulfilled

what he had foretold through all the prophets,

that his Messiah would suffer.

Repent therefore, and turn to God

so that your sins may be wiped out.’

PSALM Psalm 4

R Lift up the light of your countenance

upon us, O Lord.

1 Answer me when I call, O God, defender of my cause;

you set me free when I am hard-pressed;

have mercy on me and hear my prayer.

2 ‘You mortals, how long will you dishonour my glory;

how long will you worship dumb idols

and run after false gods?’ R

3 Know that the Lord does wonders for the faithful;

when I call upon the Lord, he will hear me.

4 Tremble, then, and do not sin;

speak to your heart in silence upon your bed. R

5 Offer the appointed sacrifices

and put your trust in the Lord.

6 Many are saying,

‘O that we might see better times!’

Lift up the light of your countenance upon us, O Lord. R

7 You have put gladness in my heart,

more than when grain and wine and oil increase.

8 I lie down in peace; at once I fall asleep;

for only you, Lord, make me dwell in safety. R

SECOND READING 1 John 3.1–7

A reading from the first letter of John.

See what love the Father has given us,

that we should be called children of God;

and that is what we are.

The reason the world does not know us

is that it did not know him.

Beloved, we are God’s children now;

what we will be has not yet been revealed.

What we do know is this:

when he is revealed, we will be like him,

for we will see him as he is.

And all who have this hope in him purify themselves,

just as he is pure.

Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness;

sin is lawlessness.

You know that he was revealed to take away sins,

and in him there is no sin.

No one who abides in him sins;

no one who sins has either seen him or known him.

Little children, let no one deceive you.

Everyone who does what is right is righteous,

just as he is righteous.

GOSPEL Luke 24.36–48

Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke.

While the eleven and their companions were talking about what they had heard,

Jesus himself stood among them and said to them,

‘Peace be with you.’

They were startled and terrified,

and thought that they were seeing a ghost.

He said to them,

‘Why are you frightened,

and why do doubts arise in your hearts?

Look at my hands and my feet;

see that it is I myself.

Touch me and see;

for a ghost does not have flesh and bones

as you see that I have.’

And when he had said this,

he showed them his hands and his feet.

While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering,

he said to them,

‘Have you anything here to eat?’

They gave him a piece of broiled fish,

and he took it and ate in their presence.

Then he said to them,

‘These are my words that I spoke to you

while I was still with you –

that everything written about me in the law of Moses,

the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’

Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,

and he said to them,

‘Thus it is written,

that the Messiah is to suffer

and to rise from the dead on the third day,

and that repentance and forgiveness of sins

is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations,

beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things.’

EASTER 4 YEAR B                     SUNDAY 21^st April

FIRST READING Acts 4.5–12

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

The Jewish rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem,

with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander,

and all who were of the high-priestly family.

When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired,

‘By what power or by what name did you do this?’

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them,

‘Rulers of the people and elders,

if we are questioned today

because of a good deed done to someone who was sick

and are asked how this man has been healed,

let it be known to all of you,

and to all the people of Israel,

that this man is standing before you in good health

by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,

whom you crucified,

whom God raised from the dead.

This Jesus is “the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;

it has become the cornerstone.”

There is salvation in no one else,

for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals

by which we must be saved.’

PSALM Psalm 23

R The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not be in want.

1 The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not be in want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures

and leads me beside still waters. R

3 He revives my soul

and guides me along right pathways for his name’s sake.

4 Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I shall fear no evil;

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff, they comfort me. R

5 You spread a table before me

in the presence of those who trouble me;

you have anointed my head with oil,

and my cup is running over.

6 Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. R

SECOND READING 1 John 3.16–24

A reading from the first letter of John.

We know love by this, that the Son of God laid down his life for us –

and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.

How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods

and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

Little children, let us love,

not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

And by this we will know that we are from the truth

and will reassure our hearts before him

whenever our hearts condemn us;

for God is greater than our hearts,

and he knows everything.

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,

we have boldness before God;

and we receive from him whatever we ask,

because we obey his commandments and do what pleases God.

And this is his commandment,

that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ

and love one another, just as he has commanded us.

All who obey his commandments abide in him,

and he abides in them.

And by this we know that he abides in us,

by the Spirit that he has given us.

GOSPEL John 10.11–18

Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.

Jesus said to the Pharisees:

‘I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

The hired hand, who is not the shepherd

and does not own the sheep,

sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away –

and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.

13 The hired hand runs away

because a hired hand does not care for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd.

I know my own and my own know me,

just as the Father knows me and I know the Father.

And I lay down my life for the sheep.

I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold.

I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.

So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

For this reason the Father loves me,

because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.

No one takes it from me,

but I lay it down of my own accord.

I have power to lay it down,

and I have power to take it up again.

I have received this command from my Father.’

EASTER 5 YEAR B                   Sunday 28^th April

FIRST READING Acts 8.26–40

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

An angel of the Lord said to Philip,

‘Get up and go toward the south

to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’

(This is a wilderness road.)

So he got up and went.

Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch,

a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians,

in charge of her entire treasury.

He had come to Jerusalem to worship

and was returning home;

seated in his chariot,

he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

Then the Spirit said to Philip,

‘Go over to this chariot and join it.’

So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah.

He asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’

He replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’

And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.

Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,

and like a lamb silent before its shearer,

so he does not open his mouth.

In his humiliation justice was denied him.

Who can describe his generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth.’

The eunuch asked Philip,

‘About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this,

about himself or about someone else?’

Then Philip began to speak,

and starting with this scripture,

he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.

As they were going along the road,

they came to some water;

and the eunuch said,

‘Look, here is water!

What is to prevent me from being baptized?’

He commanded the chariot to stop,

and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water,

and Philip baptized him.

When they came up out of the water,

the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away;

the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

But Philip found himself at Azotus,

and as he was passing through the region,

he proclaimed the good news to all the towns

until he came to Caesarea.

PSALM Psalm 22.24–30

R All the ends of the earth shall turn to you, O Lord.

24 My praise is of him in the great assembly,

I will perform my vows

in the presence of those who worship him.

25 The poor shall eat and be satisfied,

and those who seek the Lord shall praise him:

‘May your heart live for ever!’ R

26 All the ends of the earth

shall remember and turn to the Lord,

and all the families of the nations

shall bow before him.

27 For kingship belongs to the Lord;

he rules over the nations. R

28 To him alone all who sleep in the earth

bow down in worship;

all who go down to the dust fall before him.

29 My soul shall live for him;

my descendants shall serve him;

they shall be known as the Lord’s for ever.

30 They shall come and make known to a people yet unborn

the saving deeds that he has done. R

SECOND READING 1 John 4.7–21

A reading from the first letter of John.

Beloved,

let us love one another,

because love is from God;

everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

Whoever does not love does not know God,

for God is love.

God’s love was revealed among us in this way:

God sent his only Son into the world

so that we might live through him.

In this is love,

not that we loved God

but that he loved us

and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Beloved, since God loved us so much,

we also ought to love one another.

No one has ever seen God;

if we love one another, God lives in us,

and his love is perfected in us.

By this we know that we abide in him and he in us,

because he has given us of his Spirit.

And we have seen and do testify

that the Father has sent his Son as the Saviour of the world.

God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God,

and they abide in God.

So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love,

and those who abide in love abide in God,

and God abides in them.

Love has been perfected among us in this:

that we may have boldness on the day of judgement,

because as he is, so are we in this world.

There is no fear in love,

but perfect love casts out fear;

for fear has to do with punishment,

and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.

We love because he first loved us.

Those who say, ‘I love God,’

and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars;

for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen,

cannot love God whom they have not seen.

The commandment we have from him is this:

those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also

.

GOSPEL John 15.1–8

Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower.

He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit.

Every branch that bears fruit

he prunes to make it bear more fruit.

You have already been cleansed

by the word that I have spoken to you.

Abide in me as I abide in you.

Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself

unless it abides in the vine,

neither can you unless you abide in me.

I am the vine, you are the branches.

Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit,

because apart from me you can do nothing.

Whoever does not abide in me

is thrown away like a branch and withers;

such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

If you abide in me, and my words abide in you,

ask for whatever you wish,

and it will be done for you.

My Father is glorified by this,

that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.’