Knowlton Circle Benefice

The Quiver                      Easter Day                             April 20, 2025

ALLELUIA CHIRIST IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED ALLELUIA!

All four Gospels agree on one vital detail about Easter morning. It is that in the early morning hours, when it was still dark, women went to Jesus’ tomb. As with the women’s vigil at the crucifixion, the tradition does not speculate about this further display of faithfulness by the women. It simply accepts it as an essential part of the story of the resurrection. And indeed it is. The conversation that takes place between Jesus and Mary at the tomb is one of the most poignant and artfully drawn scenes in all of scripture. We know what Mary does not know – that the man she assumes to be the gardener is really Jesus. It is only when the gardener speaks her name that Mary’s world is changed for ever. When we hear Jesus speaking to us, our lives are changed as well.

SERVICES TODAY

8.00am Holy Communion at Cranborne
9.30am Benefice Communion at Gussage All Saints 267 495 25 503

Give praise and thanks to God and pray for his help and healing:
For the Church: The Diocese of Salisbury and the Deanery of Wimborne
The Episcopal Church of Sudan (Diocese of Nzara & Deanery of Yabongo)
For the World: Nations and their leaders; justice, peace and development. Refugees and victims of war. the dispossessed, the hungry, the persecuted.
The Middle East

The housebound: Gerry & Pat Cope Geoff Phillips

Those in need : Hayley Loader Katherine Woodland Zachary Jackson Sylvia Gray Frank Russell Gill Lee Michael Goold Hilary & Guy Cherry Thick Jax Sharp Jim Bolton Clifford House Tereasa Harrison Sheila & Jerry Laker Gary Snelling Becky Gates Martin Instone Diana & Ian Mashford Donovan Docherty Fiona Armstrong Pearl Dickinson Jean & Alan Elliott Stuart Harding Rocco MacAndrew Declan Connolly Freddie Boughton

For those who have died Peter Pamment Tim Bastable

EASTER WEEK
Monday Pray for Resurrection Faith
Tuesday Pray for God’s Creation
Wednesday NB No Holy Communion at Woodlands
Pray that we may recognise the Risen Christ in the breaking of the bread
Thursday 7.30pm Choir Practice at Cranborne
Pray for The Hope & Light of Christ
Friday Pray for Prisoners & captives
Saturday Pray for Proclaiming the Risen Lord

SERVICE FOR NEXT SUNDAY – EASTER 2
9.00am Breakfast Church at Cranborne First School
9.30am Benefice Communion at Woodlands
11.00am Matins at Cranborne
11.00am Elevenses at Edmondsham
6.00pm United Service at Woodlands Methodist Church
Acts 5.27-32 Revelation 1.4-8 John 20.19-end

There is a basket available at the back of church for the Charity of the Month. During April & May this will be for Downright Perfect which supports children with Down’s Syndrome and their families in Dorset. It is possible to donate online; bit.ly/DQchofm. Choose the amount and add Gift Aid. Donations by 31/5, Thank you. The December ~ February collection for the Salisbury Sudan Medical Link raised £188.

Thank you to everyone who has helped to decorate our churches for Easter.

The Soup ‘n’ Cheese Lunches during Lent raised £1,037 for Embrace the Middle East. Thank you to everyone who made soup, donated bread and cheese, hosted, washed-up or simply supported these events.

Annual Parochial Church Meetings Edmondsham May 20th, 11am; Gussages April 29, 7pm; Wimborne St Giles May 25, 11.15am; Woodlands May 4, 10.30am; Benefice, May 27. 5.30pm (at St Giles’)

COLLECT
Lord of all life and power,
who through the mighty resurrection of your Son
overcame the old order of sin and death to make all things new in him:
grant that we, being dead to sin
and alive to you in Jesus Christ,
may reign with him in glory;
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be praise and honour, glory and might,

now and in all eternity.

FIRST READING Psalm 118. 1-2, 14-24
O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his steadfast love endures forever!
Let Israel say,
“His steadfast love endures forever.”
The LORD is my strength and my might;
he has become my salvation.
There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the LORD does valiantly;
the right hand of the LORD is exalted;
the right hand of the LORD does valiantly.”
I shall not die, but I shall live
and recount the deeds of the LORD.
The LORD has punished me severely,
but he did not give me over to death.
Open to me the gates of righteousness,
that I may enter through them
and give thanks to the LORD.
This is the gate of the LORD;
the righteous shall enter through it.
I thank you that you have answered me
and have become my salvation.
The stone that the builders rejected
has become the chief cornerstone.
This is the LORD’s doing;
it is marvellous in our eyes.
This is the day that the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

SECOND READING Acts 10.34-43
Peter began to speak to those assembled in the house of Cornelius: "I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ - he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

GOSPEL John 20.1-18
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Madalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes.
But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

POST COMMUNION
God of Life,
who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son
to the death of the cross,
and by his glorious resurrection have delivered us from the power of our enemy:
grant us so to die daily to sin,
that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his risen life;