April 19, 2026

4th Sunday in Eastertide – Ascension Week

St. Stephen’s UCC                                                           April 19, 2026

Third Sunday of Eastertide

Friends in Christ, hear this good news:
Jesus comes to ask us, in love and with deep knowing,

“Do you love Me?”

If in your heart you can say—even with trembling—

“Yes, Lord, You know that I love You,”

then hear His next words as yours to own:

“Feed My lambs. Tend My sheep. Feed My sheep. Follow Me.”

In Jesus, love replaces fear.
In Jesus, a call replaces shame.
And in Jesus, even our deepest failures become the soil where His grace bears fruit.

When morning broke upon the Galilee,
The waves recalled the tears of Peter’s fall;
Yet through the mist, Love’s patient eyes did see
A heart still called though broken by recall.

Three times the question burned—“Do you love Me?”—
Three times the trembling answer met the flame;
Each word of grace “un-spoke” his misery,
Till silence bowed beneath redemption’s name.

Now by that fire our hearts are kindled too,
Restored to serve the Lamb whose mercies bloom;
His voice still asks, “If love is truly true,
Then feed My flock and banish death’s dark gloom.”
Love’s three-fold light will never cease to shine—
Our loss transformed by His forgiving line.

Ned Holderby 3^rd Sunday in Eastertide April 19, 2026