This week’s Prayers and Readings for the 5th Sunday after Epiphany.
The Collect for the 5th Sunday after Epiphany.
Almighty God, by whose grace alone we are accepted and called to your service: strengthen us by your Holy Spirit and make us worthy of our calling; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. . Amen
The Post Communion Prayer for this Sunday
God of truth, we have seen with our eyes and touched with our hands the bread of life: strengthen our faith that we may grow in love for you and for each other; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
The Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 138
I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise; 2 I bow down towards your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness; for you have exalted your name and your word above everything. 3 On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul. 4 All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth. 5 They shall sing of the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. 6 For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly; but the haughty he perceives from far away. 7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies; you stretch out your hand, and your right hand delivers me. 8 The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now and shall be forever. Amen
The Old Testament Lesson for this Sunday is taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah, Chapter 6, verses 1 to 8
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.’
4 The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’ 6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 The seraph[b] touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The New Testament reading for this Sunday is taken from the First Letter of St Paul to the Corinthians, Chapter 15, verses 1 to 11
Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, 2 through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.
3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4 and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to someone untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.
This is the Word of the Lord Thanks be to God
The Gospel reading for this Sunday is taken from the Gospel according to St Luke, Chapter 5, verses 1 to 11
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, 2 he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ 5 Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ 6 When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. 7 So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ 9 For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ 11 When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
This is the Gospel of the Lord Praise to You, o Christ !
The sermon this Sunday is delivered by Pam Bateman
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord our Redeemer.
Over the past two weeks we have listened and considered words from really gifted speakers. Bishop Matthew looked at the writings of Nehemiah from about 500BC where Ezra publicly read the Law. He identified how the people listened to the words in such a way that they learnt from them, they consciously tried to understand them and loved them. Then, having repented of the way that they had fallen from obedience of God's Law they were told to go, feast and have joy.
Laura looked at Simeon and Anna, who were patiently looking for God's promised messenger and Saviour in the Temple. They saw the answer to their prayers fulfilled. They saw, recognised what God had and was doing. Laura asked us what were we looking forward to seeing; what were we looking forward to. How were we looking forward? How committed are we to looking forward to see what God is planning to do, here or elsewhere? She asked if we are seeing what we want to see or trust God to do with our whole being or only if it is convenient?
This week we have that beautiful passage from Isaiah chapter 6. 'In the year that KingUzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and lifted up and His train filled the temple'. Isaiah was cleansed and his guilt departed and his sin blotted out. 'Then I (Isaiah) heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said “Here am I; send me!' We read today how Jesus wanted to teach the crowds and then called the disciples who had been fishing and were now washing the nets. They were working. They had been fishing and caught nothing and were tired, but even so, they washed their nets. They did the necessary work to be able to do their job properly. Then Jesus asked them to carry Him out in their boats so that the crowds could hear better and be taught. They did so and afterwards told them to let their nets down and fish again. Well you can imagine their thoughts! 'What! Get the nets all dirty again when we got nothing allnight! I should coco!' But they obeyed Him and they got more than they could handle without help. And what did Peter do and say? ' He fell down or knelt saying 'Go away from me, Lord for I am sinful!' So Jesus said to him 'Don't be afraid for from now on you will catch people!'
I think both Bishop Matthew and Laura were directing us towards our role today, in this world, and asking us what are we going to do. Are we going to continue as we are? What are we looking to God for when He asks 'Who will go?' and we respond 'Send me', what do we mean? Is it as long as it is convenient, or after I have finished doing the shopping? How much respect do we give to the Bible? How much do we know or have learnt or read on a daily basis? How often do we kneel in prayer? How often do we cry over the state of our nation and even our church? How difficult do we find sharing the gospel because we do not want 'to offend'.
Recently I started to read 'Stories behind women of Extraordinary Faith' by Ace Collins. She wrote about women such as Laurie Page, an actress, Juliette “Daisy” Gordon who introduced Girl Guides to America. However the one that reached out to me was the story of Catherine Booth. Why? Well she was shy, had a strong faith but had to hide it for many years. Why? Well in 1860 women didn't speak in church or in public, Only men did. Catherine Booth shocked people and broke those barriers and began to speak of the needs of the poor in England and she and her husband started the Salvation Army, which still reaches out today with the gospel in practical ways. They were condemned, even seen as traitors for many years until the rightness of their work was understood.
Today we (I) struggle with witnessing to God's faithfulness. I struggle to stand up to the wrongness, the injustice, the inhumanity all around us. It weighs me down. We seem to have lost our focus on God, our commitment to prayer, our love of the Bible, our Joy in the Faithfulness, the Mercy, the Hope, the Grace of our God, who forgives us and redeems us through the blood and Resurrection of Jesus, our Saviour and Lord. Why aren't we acting as though we are longing to see God's hand moving in this our Land, longing enough to act upon it? We have so much, materially and Spiritually, why aren't we sharing? I read of the church abroad growing and maturing and spreading. Why isn't it happening here? Bishop Matthew and Laura both affirmed the need for listening to God and His word, for commitment to obeying God's word and putting it above our other matters and then we may rejoice and feast. It is almost as if we are feasting without having put in the work first.
We have all heard that call, perhaps many times. But the verses that break my heart are those that that followed the wonderful words of Isaiah chapter 6 verses 1-8, the verses 9-11.
'And He (God) said “Go and say to this people; 'Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand; ' Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so they may not look with their eyes and listen with their ears and comprehend with their minds and turn and be healed.” Then I said 'How long, O Lord?' And He said, “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate;'
In the New Testament there were seven churches in Revelation chapter2. None of the churches were perfect. They all had reason to repent for their failures but the one that fills me with fear is Laodicea, which was neither hot nor cold! They thought they were rich and needed nothing, but they needed to repent. Are we like that? Do we think we need nothing and are OK? They needed to change. They were believers but it was to this church that the words were spoken 'Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.' Are we feasting before we have even listened, loved and learned?
J. John tells the story of the old missionary returning home to Scotland and sharing the needs of the tribe that they couldn't reach at a poorly attended service. He went away discouraged because only one person had responded to his challenge, Up in the organ belfry assisting the organist with the bellows was a young boy who stood up and shouted out 'I will go, I will go!' Later the boy grew up and became a medical missionary. He went to the tribes that the other missionary had served. Still the one tribe failed to respond to the gospel and threatened to kill the missionary. That night the tribe were to come he prayed God protect us. Don't let us be killed. No-one came! Two years later the chief of that tribe came to know Jesus and his tribe as well came to know the Lord as their Saviour. After a while the missionary asked the chief why they hadn't come to kill the missionary. He replied, 'We did, but there were 39 great giants surrounding your encampment. We couldn't defeat them.' A number of years later the missionary returned to his church back home and shared this story. At the end of the service the church warden drew him to one side and asked him the date of the original meeting and then went and looked at the attendence register. There were 39 people there praying that night. Are we like those faithful people, knowing God's faithfulness, loving God's word and obeying the things that God tells us to do; even when they frighten us, or get in the way of doing other things? Each one of us, old and tired as so many of us are, we have a role to play and it will involve recognising that we need to repent and become fearless, and committed to serving, loving and obeying God and His word, regardless of the cost.
I believe that we are called to recognise that we need to repent and ask forgiveness for our lack of commitment to listening, to understand and learning God's word, to love it and commit ourselves to to become the people that God created us to be. I recognise that we have served the Lord in many ways, and good ways, but we have lost the vision of our need to be close to God, committed to God and getting back to studying His Word, to be changed by His word. Only then we can rightfully join in with the joy and the feast.