Monday 21 April 2025 - Fear and great joy

Monday 21 April 2025

A very warm welcome to the season of Eastertide. We pray that it will be joyful and refreshing for you and your prayer life! Every day this week, there will be a short announcement at the end of each prayer session. This is important information for those who use our app to listen to Pray As You Go. But for now, we’re so glad you’re here to pray, and we hope you encounter God afresh today. Today is Monday the 21st of April, in the 1st week of Eastertide. The Cape Town Camerata sings Wana Baraka: ‘Those who pray Jesus himself said so. Alleluia! They have peace, those who pray Jesus himself said so. Alleluia! They have joy, those who pray Jesus himself said so. Alleluia!’ Halleluyah, halleluyah Yesu mwenyewe alisema Wana baraka wale waombao Yesu mwenyewe alisema Halleluyah, halleluyah Yesu mwenyewe alisema Wana amani wale waombao Yesu mwenyewe alisema Halleluyah, halleluyah Yesu mwenyewe alisema Wana furaha wale waombao Yesu mwenyewe alisema Halleluyah, halleluyah Yesu mwenyewe alisema Wana uzima wale waombao Yesu mwenyewe alisema Halleluyah, halleluyah Yesu mwenyewe alisema Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 28:8-15 So [Mary Magdalene and the other Mary] left [Jesus’] tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’ While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. After the priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, ‘You must say, “His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.” If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.’ So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day. This is an extraordinary story. What is most staying with you from it? Perhaps a word or phrase…an image or a feeling? We hear that the two Marys left the tomb with “fear and great joy”. What a combination! Have you ever felt something close to this? What do you think this moment of mixed feelings would have been like? We hear that the guards “told the Chief Priests everything that had happened”. Did these guards believe in the Resurrection? Take a moment to put yourself in the place of one of the guards… What would you say to the Chief Priests if you were in their position? Now listen as the story is read once more. Is there anything that really strikes you this time? Matthew 28:8-15 So [Mary Magdalene and the other Mary] left [Jesus’] tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshipped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’ While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests everything that had happened. After the priests had assembled with the elders, they devised a plan to give a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, ‘You must say, “His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.” If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.’ So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story is still told among the Jews to this day. Speak to God about your experience with this passage… What would you most like to say as this prayer time draws to a close? Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be World without end Amen Thank you for waiting around for this short announcement. We have been listening to our community for the last few years and are now making changes to our app. We will be simplifying your daily prayer journey and hope that these changes will allow for a better service and an even smoother time of prayer. From the 28th April, we will begin to phase in our new app experience over the coming weeks. This should happen automatically, so you don’t need to download a different app. We believe that prayer should be between you and God, therefore we have strong privacy policies in place. However, this unfortunately means that we won’t be able to carry forward any journal entries, favourited prayers or downloads into our new app, as we do not store any data, and therefore can’t migrate it. We are sorry for this and understand it will be difficult. However, we invite those who would like to save any journal entries to do so by copying and pasting the days they would like to move over to a personal digital notebook on their own device. Also, you can note down any favourite prayer days and re-favourite any of them on the new app. You can also get in touch with us through our website or by emailing feedback@pray-as-you-go.org and we can assist you. Although this is a new change, we hope that the app will bring about a fresh season and a steady home for your prayer life, and we have plenty of new content arriving for everyone too. Thank you for your support, and to everyone who has given financially towards this project. If you would like to support us in this new stage, please head over to prayasyougo.org/donate to take a look at our new website and to help grow prayer journeys for a global community. Thank you, and every blessing for Eastertide.