Audio file of 8:00am Holy Communion service, Third Sunday after Easter
Click here to listen to an audio recording of the 8:00am service of Holy Communion at Christ Church on the Third Sunday after Easter.
Day: April 26, 2026
Sermon for the Third Sunday after Easter
“Your sorrow shall be turned into joy … joy [that] no one taketh from you”
The Gospel readings for the next three Sundays encompass almost all of Chapter 16 of John’s Gospel. The central part of Jesus’s “farewell discourse” (Ch. 14-17) ends with his high priestly prayer in Chapter 17, which carried us into Good Friday and Easter. Look in your Prayer Books for a moment and note how Chapter 16 is read on these Sundays.
Today on The Third Sunday after Easter we read from verses 16 to 22 of that chapter. Next Sunday, The Fourth Sunday after Easter, we read from verses 5 to 15 and on The Fifth Sunday after Easter, Rogation Sunday, we read from verses 23 to 33, the very end of the Chapter. In brief, we go from the middle to the beginning and then to the end of the Chapter. The only verses not read on these Sundays are verses 1-4, though they will be read on The Sunday after Ascension Day. In a way, they signal the entire project of Eastertide and Ascensiontide. “These things have I told you,” Jesus says, “that, when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them” (vs. 4).
We begin today in media res, in the midst of things, at least the midst of Chapter 16. Jesus is preparing the disciples and us for the meaning of his going from us in terms of Death, Resurrection, and Ascension which are, paradoxically, the very conditions of his being with us. His words preceding that movement now serve to teach us what it means in terms of our abiding in him and he in us. His going to the Father is ultimately the homecoming of the Son and the exultation of our humanity. Such is the Ascension and our joy.
Month at a Glance, April – May 2026
Sunday, April 26th, Third Sunday after Easter
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
Thursday, April 30th, Eve of St. Philip & St. James
7:00pm Holy Communion
Sunday, May 3rd, Fourth Sunday after Easter
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
Sunday, May 10th, Fifth Sunday after Easter (Rogation Sunday)
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
Monday, May 11th, Rogation Monday
10:00am Holy Communion
Tuesday May 12th, Rogation Tuesday
10:00am Holy Communion
7:00pm Parish Council Meeting
Thursday, May 14th, Ascension Day
7:00pm Holy Communion
The Third Sunday after Easter
The collect for today, The Third Sunday After Easter, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
ALMIGHTY God, who showest to them that be in error the light of thy truth, to the intent that they may return into the way of righteousness: Grant unto all them that are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s religion, that they may forsake those things that are contrary to their profession, and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Epistle: 1 St Peter 2:11-17
The Gospel: St John 16:16-22
Artwork: Duccio di Buoninsegna, The Last Supper, 1308-11. Tempera on wood, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo, Siena.