Saint Leonard’s Service for 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

Good and gracious God, Our most glorious Creator, As we greet the signs in nature around us: Of Spring once again regaling us in bloom, In the songs of returning birds and fields soon to be planted, We give you praise for an even greater sign of new life: the resurrection of your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, that we especially celebrate at this time. The sadness and despair of His death have given way to the bright promise of immortality. For the Resurrection is our guarantee that justice will triumph over treason, Light will overcome darkness, and love will conquer death. Amen.

Hymn

“JESUS CHRIST IS RISEN TODAY”

Intercessions

Heavenly Father, on this joyous Easter day, we come together as a family to give thanks and praise for the incredible gift of your Son, Jesus Christ. As we celebrate His resurrection, we are reminded of the triumph of light over darkness, hope over despair, and life over death. Lord, we thank You for the love You have poured out on us through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. May His resurrection be a source of inspiration and renewal for us all. Help us to grasp the depth of your love and the power of redemption. As a family, we lift our hearts in gratitude for the blessings you have bestowed upon us. We thank you for the gift of life, for the love of family and friends, and for the opportunity to gather together in your name. On this Easter day, we also remember those facing challenges or hardships. May your love and grace be a comforting presence in their lives. Grant us the compassion and empathy to reach out to those in need, just as you reached out to us with the ultimate expression of love through Jesus. Lord, as we partake in the Easter festivities, may our hearts be filled with joy and our spirits be lifted, may the message of Easter inspire us to live with faith, hope, and love each and every day. Help us to reflect the light of Christ in our actions, words, and interactions with others.

Reflection

I took a cab over to the East Side to see my surgeon Thursday, always an interesting experience to chat with a man who took a sharp blade and made a hole in me and messed around with internal things. I was unconscious at the time and it was only my shoulder, he wasn’t inside my skull where language is stored and the neurology that enables you to walk and be mannerly and remember the jokes and also the Beatitudes, but still. My primary doc chose him because his doctor friends told him that Sam is the best shoulder man in New York and my primary man is very well connected. You don’t want to be looking through the Yellow Pages or googling, you want to get the inside scoop, and doctors gossip about each other and know who’s who. You don’t recommend a surgeon just because he’s a golf partner. This is one difference between medicine and politics: competence is expected. If Sam had been like the guys masterminding the war on Iran, he would’ve replaced my shoulder with my right ankle. He is a friendly guy, he asked me how I’m doing, I said, “I’m able to put on my pants while standing up, I don’t need to sit on the bed.” He said, “That’s good.” He said, “Lay down on the table.” I liked that. You don’t “lay” on the table, you “lie” on the table. This tells me he wasn’t an English major, which is to his credit. I was one because I wanted to be a writer, which is like majoring in chemistry because you want to be a bartender. But I don’t want my surgeon to come to medicine by way of Shakespeare or James Joyce. I don’t want a surgeon who is self-conscious and who thinks of me as a metaphor. He flexed my arm and shoulder, testing range of motion, showed me a couple of simple stretching exercises to do twice daily, and said he’d see me again in two months. I think you can tell a lot about a doctor by his tactile style, you don’t want to sense hesitance, you want to sense confidence, but you can feel that the doc is aware that you’re a living human being, not a plaster model. It isn’t important to me that Sam went to Harvard. I don’t hold his Harvardity against him either. If I knew he had voted for Trump in 2024, I’d be off the table and out the door, goodbye, have a nice life. I’m okay with the fact he’s a serious skier, it means he probably has some orthopedic problems of his own. If his hobby were stand-up comedy, I’d be, like, Uhhh, let me think about this. Comedy is self-deprecating and I don’t look for that in a doctor. A dancer? Okay. A flamenco guitarist? Great. A poet? I’m outta here. I’ve read a lot about crises in American health care and I don’t disagree with any of it, but medicine has been awfully good to me. Open-heart surgery came along in 1952, and fifty years later, when I needed it, it was almost routine, and it has given me thirty extra years (and counting) beyond what relatives had who were born with the same congenital heart defect. The valve problem was detected by my cousin Dan, who’s a doctor and who listened to my radio show and heard shortness of breath and sent me to Mayo where they sent me up to surgery. It changes your point of view, to be given the gift of life. I was brought up by evangelicals so I am no good at cursing, I just don’t have the language for it. I’ve heard third-graders use obscenities with authority that, coming from me, would be ridiculous. I once played Scrabble with my wife and noticed, on my letter rack, a four-letter obscenity that I could’ve played for 47 points and I did not. She is a kind loving woman but she is also a driver in Manhattan and in that role, she employs an amazing range of profanity. I love to sit next to her and listen. For me, “Oh for heaven’s sake” is about my limit. But when you’ve had your heart repaired several times, and a pacemaker installed in your chest, and a man has replaced your busted shoulder, and you partake of daily pills that ward off seizures and other mishaps, you welcome the day with gratitude. Thanks for reading. God bless us .. everyone.” Garrison Keillor American broadcaster, wit and raconteur

Worship Song

Come, Jesus, Come.

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.)