Welcome to Worship at Home. I am Ruth Lewis, a Local Preacher with the Middlesbrough Methodist Churches. I hope you enjoyed that lovely Easter hymn.  Alleluia! Christ is Risen! 

Happy Easter to you. Today’s bible reading starts off with apparent failure, fear,  hiding behind looked doors so first let’s think of our own fears and failures.   

Often we keep our faults and failures to ourselves, hidden, locked away and so feel we have no need to confess. But God comes into our hearts when we least expect,  filling us with with forgiveness, with hope, with peace.

A prayer of confession.

Father God of empty tombs and unlocked doors when we hesitate to speak of your hope,
forgive us, and give us a voice.
Father,  God of all people,  when we find it difficult to love one another, love our neighbours,  forgive us, and give us fresh compassion.
When we admire the powerful, the  high and mighty, and want to stand with them
forgive us, and seat us next to the poor and oppressed.
When we cannot believe or trust your Word of new life,
forgive us,  fill us with your joy. Send us out to share your peace.
 

Christ comes into every shadowed corner of our lives with the light of Easter.

Christ comes into the locked rooms of our faults and gifts us with grace and hope.
Christ comes to fill us with peace, so we may tell the good news of mercy and forgiveness for all. Thanks be to God. Amen. 

Lord’s Prayer Our father.

Response to Reading:[From Vine at Home]

The disciples are hiding behind locked doors. They are afraid: afraid of the authorities, afraid of what might happen next, perhaps even afraid that everything they had believed in has come to nothing. Their world has been shaken. Hope feels fragile. So they gather together, not in triumph, but in uncertainty. And into that room, into that fear, Jesus appears. His first words are simple and profound:

“Peace be with you.” Not rebuke. Not disappointment. Not “Why did you doubt?” But peace.

Then he shows them his wounds. The marks of suffering are still there. Resurrection has

not erased them. Instead, they have become part of the story of healing. The risen Christ

carries the reality of pain, yet transforms it. And then comes Thomas.

Sometimes called unfairly, “Doubting Thomas,”  Thomas simply says what many of us feel: “Unless I see… unless I touch… I cannot believe.”

He refuses to pretend certainty when he doesn’t have it.

A week later, Jesus returns, and this time he speaks directly to Thomas. Again, he offers

peace. He invites Thomas to see, to touch, to bring his questions honestly into the light.

This moment reminds us that faith is not the absence of doubt. Faith grows through

questioning, through struggle, through seeking truth with sincerity.

For those of us walking a thoughtful and open-hearted path of faith, this story offers deep

reassurance. Doubt is not a failure. It can be a doorway. Honest questions can lead us

deeper into relationship with God. But this passage also invites us beyond the locked

room. Jesus says, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” The peace we receive is not meant to stay hidden behind closed doors. It is meant to move outward, to shape our lives, our communities, our work for justice and compassion.

So today, reflect on these questions:

- Where are the “locked doors” in your own life—places where fear or uncertainty are

holding you back?

- What doubts or questions are you carrying, and how might you bring them honestly

before God?

- How might Christ’s gift of peace empower you to step out into the world with

courage and compassion?

Jesus meets the disciples exactly where they are: fearful, uncertain, imperfect, and he meets us there too. And his first words are still the same: “Peace be with you.”

Prayers for Others

Lord, we remember those over the whole world who are sad today and grieving. Missing loved ones who have died…some in vicious wars, some in car accidents, some from old age, some from cruel illnesses.  

Be with them……uphold them  Give them your peace.

Lord, we think of those today who hear harsh words of unkindness, who are bullied  and persecuted because of their religion, or the colour of their skin, because they look different or because they’re strangers or because they’re poor,  or because old or young, they’re seen as weak.

Be with them……uphold them  Give them your peace.

Lord, we cry out to you for places of conflict in the world: Ukraine, the Middle East, Gaza, Iran .  Comfort those who have lost homes, lost loved ones, lost hope. Bless and strengthen the peacemakers. Hear their and our cries of WHY? When will it end?  

Lord, you know the secrets of  our hearts, our bad times, our low points….Opened fully to the experience of despair, may we know your Resurrection and say:
 

Christ has risen! Alleluia! Christ is risen indeed!

A Blessing before the last hymn

May Christ unlock the  joy of the resurrection hidden in your heart

May the spirit unlock the power of the risen Lord to protect you and send you out

And may  the peace of the Lord of Life give you wholeness this Easter and in the days to come.

Hymn The Day of Resurrection  from Chet Valleys