Saint Leonard’s Service for POST - EASTER Welcome to our OpenCast church service - on-line. There are prayers, readings, hymns and music; just as you would have in church. As you read through this service you may care to say aloud the bold text. To hear the music and the readings, click on each title (red, underlined text) (and remember to adjust the volume on your speakers).

Welcome

“Come all the faithful, let us worship God, for through the Cross, joy has come to all the world. Ever blessing the Lord, we sing His Resurrection, for having endured the Cross for us, He has destroyed death by dying. ” - Oxford Prayer Book. Amen

Collect

God of glory, by the raising of your Son you have broken the chains of death and hell: fill your Church with faith and hope; for a new day has dawned and the way to life stands open in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Hymn

André Rieu - “Nearer my God to Thee”

Intercessions

Gratitude Gracious God, as we navigate the Sundays after Easter, our hearts overflow with gratitude for the triumph of resurrection. Thank You for the gift of renewed hope and the victory found in Your Son’s rising. May our lives reflect the joy of Easter, and may our gratitude be a continual offering to You. Reflection Heavenly Father, on these Sundays after Easter, we come before You in quiet devotion. As we reflect on the profound significance of the resurrection, may our spirits be attuned to the lessons learned in the empty tomb. In moments of stillness, reveal Your presence, and guide us in deepening our understanding of the eternal impact of Your Son’s victory over death. Grace Merciful God, as we bask in the grace of this post-Easter Sunday, we stand in awe of Your boundless love. May Your grace, which flowed through the resurrection, envelop us in its warmth. Grant us the wisdom to walk in the light of Your grace, forgiving as we have been forgiven, and sharing this unmerited favor with others. Resurrection Living God, on this Sunday after the Resurrection, we sense the echoes of Easter in our hearts. Your Son’s victory continues to reverberate, reminding us of the transformative power of love. As we pray, may the echoes of Easter resonate within us, prompting acts of kindness, compassion, and a steadfast commitment to living in the light of Your Son’s triumph. Blessings Lord of Resurrection, as we bask in the legacy of Easter on this Sunday, we seek Your blessings. May the power of Your Son’s victory be a constant source of strength, joy, and peace in our lives. Let Your blessings pour forth, guiding our steps and illuminating the path of discipleship in the radiant light of the empty tomb.

Reflection

A long day of writing is like a day of canoeing down a creek, twisty, some unexpected pleasures since I love writing whereas I hated canoeing. Other than that, they’re similar. I was paddling my canoe in Manhattan last Thursday and Jenny reminded me that we had a date to go hear the Met Orchestra play Bruckner and we should leave in half an hour. So I put on a jacket and took note paper and pens and took a train to Columbus Circle and walked to Carnegie Hall. I’m not high on Bruckner and she is because she’s a musician and Bruckner wrote some gorgeous delicate passages for strings in between the detonations of brass. But I am glad to give the man another chance. He was a humble organist trying to break into the world of Wagner, Brahms and Beethoven, and who am I to turn my back on him? Our seats were on the main floor, R1 and R3, and she reminded me that the Symphony No. 8 is 90 minutes long, no intermission. The Met Orchestra filled the stage, warming up vigorously, and they seemed happy to be out of the opera pit and up in public view, no singers to distract us from the music. The brass was honking some serious chords and I took out paper and wrote: Bruckner’s Symphony No. Eight Is all about man’s mortal fate. It’s louder than hell With a strong brimstone smell But winds up at heaven’s gate. And the orchestra got quiet and the oboe gave the A and then Yannick Nézet- Séguin strode to the podium, a Canadian phenom who, if you ever see him conduct, you’ll never forget, and I mean that in a good way. Principal conductor in Montreal, the Met, and Philadelphia, and Jenny pointed out, the man had no score in front of him, he had the score in his head. They launched into Bruckner and right away you can see the band is going to get a workout, no snoozing on the job, big stabbing chords and dramatic modulations into pianissississimos and I wrote: We sit in Carnegie Hall Enjoying the sound of man’s fall, And at the finale We’ll go home by golly, And get undressed, undies and all. For me, classical music has always been erotic and I only started listening to it in college when my appreciation of women became intense. I fell in love with a pianist listening to her play Schubert and married her. And eventually I met Jenny. My true love came to New York To play in a symphony orch- Estra, violin, And then lived in sin With a writer with no tuning fork. The man in the gray suit, baton in hand, his sweeping gestures, his cues to the brass, his shushing move, the upraised touchdown arms for forte and the heroic thrust skyward for fortissimo, the focused intensity of musicians, and the music! — a gift from the 19th century — so many literary lights from then have dimmed because the language has changed but this music — it’s open to all humanity. Anton Bruckner repeats a lot. Again and again, the same thought. Thanks to repetition And no intermission, It’s impressive (though Wagner it’s not.) To see a battalion of passionate perfectionists create a monumental work of art before our eyes is one good reason to be alive on a June night. Garrison Keillor American broadcaster, wit and raconteur

Worship Song

“Take my hand, precious Lord, and take me home.”

Prayer of St. Teresa of Avila

(1515-1582)

Christ has no body now but ours. No hands, no feet on earth but ours. Ours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on this world. Ours are the feet with which he walks about to do good. Ours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Ours are the hands, ours are the feet, ours are the eyes, We are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but ours.

Blessing

The tradition of a blessing or benediction as part of an act of worship has been a part of Jewish worship for generations, and we can trace it back to the book of Numbers where Aaron and his sons bless the Israelites with this blessing : “The Lord bless me and keep me; the Lord make his face shine on me and be gracious to me; the Lord turn his face toward me and give me peace. ” (Numbers 6:24-26) (Interestingly this is apparently the oldest known Biblical text that has been found.) (Interestingly this is apparently the oldest known Biblical text that has been found.)