Easter 4

“Needed to See”

Worship for the 4th Sunday of Easter: May 4, 2025
IN-PERSON and ONLINE at 10:30 a.m.

The Rev. Matthew Emery, lead minister, preaching
Acts 9:36-43 and Revelation 7:9-17

Through the Season of Easter this year, we are hearing from scriptures that point us toward the question of “what happens next?”—as in, what comes after Easter. We’ll hear readings from the book of Acts, which chronicles what happened among the very first generation of disciples and Christ-followers in the first couple of decades after Jesus' resurrection. We’ll also hear from the book of Revelation, the book we find at the end of our Bible that speaks in an imaginative and visionary to what God has in store for the culmination of all creation.

This week, the reading from Revelation will take centre stage. When all the world’s a mess—as it was for the people by whom and for whom Revelation was written and, arguably, as it is (or at least feels) for many in the world today—no mere earthly vision will do. Only a vision of what God is up to, one that gives us a glimpse into a world beyond this world, will do. What does such a vision show us, and what hope springs from it?