St Helen’s Church

14^th April 2024. 3^rd Sunday of Easter.

Prayer for today:

Almighty Father, who in your great mercy gladdened the disciples with the sight of the risen Lord: give us such knowledge of his presence with us, that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life and serve you continually in righteousness and truth; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.

Among those who are sick we pray for  Maureen Stevens, Prue Critchley, Ned Ryan, Daniel Bosman, Suzie Dent, Nick Cook, Christina Baldwin, Lorraine Dodd, Kathleen Lee, Carol McKendrick, Stuart Bell, Maggie Bennett, Hayley Gennery, Elizabeth Sambell, Katherine Patterson, Heather Loughead, Carol Allen, John and Gwyneth Wilde.

Among those who have died we remember Pascale Handisyde and Daphne Harding, and also Ruby Rose Charman,  John  Nixon, Melvyn Hull, Emily Rutherford Pearce, whose year’s mind is about this time.

The funeral of Daphne Harding will be here in Church on April 30^th at 11.30 a.m.

The Annual meeting of St. Helen’s Church takes place on Wednesday 17^th April at 7.30 p.m. in the Parish hall.

Readings:

Acts 3: 12-19

After Peter had healed a man at the gate of the temple, the people  ran and gathered where he was and he said to them, ‘People of Israel, why are you amazed, why do you stare as though in our own power we had given this man the strength to walk?  The God of our Fathers Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, even though he had decided to release him. But you rejected the Holy and righteous one and asked that a murderer be released to you; and so you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, this man you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in your sight.

Friends, I know you acted in ignorance, as did your rulers. In this way God fulfilled what he foretold though the prophets, that Messiah must suffer. Repent therefore, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out.’

Psalm 4

¹ Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness:
thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress;
have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
² O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame?
how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah.
³ But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself:
the Lord will hear when I call unto him.
⁴ Stand in awe, and sin not:
commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
⁵ Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
and put your trust in the Lord.
⁶ There be many that say, Who will shew us any good?
Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
⁷ Thou hast put gladness in my heart,
more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
⁸ I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep:
for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.

Luke 24: 36-48

As the eleven and their companions were talking about what they had heard, Jesus stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’

They were startled and terrified; they thought they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, ’Why are you afraid? Why is there doubt in your hearts? Look at my hands and feet; see: it is I. Touch me: a ghost does not have flesh and bones like this. ‘He showed them his hands and his feet. In their joy they were yet unbelieving and wondering and he said, ‘Have you something to eat?’ They gave him a piece of baked fish and some honeycomb, and he ate.

He said to them, ‘These are my words which I spoke to you while I was with you – that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their  minds to understand the scriptures and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written that the Messiah must suffer, and rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things.’

Thoughts on today’s readings:

How good are we at listening? How well, how accurately do we remember what we have heard?  As a new chaplain at the RVI we received some very good education and one of the things I remember being taught is that when someone has been given bad news, they will on average remember 25% of what they have been told. The point there was to try to ensure that person has someone else with them to help them remember and make sense of what they have been told but it’s also about the impact that what is going on in our heads has on what we are hearing and seeing.

‘ I will say this only once’ was one of the catchphrases of the popular sitcom ‘Allo, allo’, but it’s not a necessarily a great strategy for being understood.

In the course of a telephone conversation yesterday  the person I was speaking to picked up on something they thought they had heard me say at a meeting we had attended earlier in the week. They had clearly slightly misheard me and misunderstood what I had said: their interpretation of what they thought they had heard revealed a lot more about their own preoccupations than about what I was trying to communicate.

The gospels frequently make it clear that Jesus was misunderstood by the people to whom he came , and by his disciples too.

In our first reading the account makes clear that Peter was determined that there should be no such misunderstandings:

Seeing that there was a danger the people might think he had healed the man because he was a particular virtuous or wonderful person, Peter emphasised that this sign had been done in the name of Jesus and on his authority alone. The sign showed that Jesus, who had been crucified and died , had indeed been raised from the dead, and was active through his name and at work through his followers.

Peter faced his hearers with a hard truth: among them were people who had shouted vociferously for the disgraceful death of the holy and righteous one of God, and demanded mercy and freedom for a murderer.

As a Jew speaking to Jews Peter made an appeal to an authority they could not ignore: the Bible. ‘Read it in the Bible, ‘ he said, ‘it’s all there, in Moses and the prophets.’

Peter spoke to the people not to condemn them, for they had acted in ignorance, he said, but to invite them into a new relationship with God; to repent sincerely , but to believe and trust that their reconciliation to God had come not through the sacrifices of the temple, but through Jesus the Messiah.

For this is the truth which Jesus revealed to his disciples after the resurrection when it is written in St. Luke’s gospel ,’He opened their minds to understand the scriptures.’

These words speak to me: as a young person in my teens I had learnt that I should read from the bible every day and that this would help me to understand the faith I professed. And so, alone, I read from the bible but I have to confess it was a dry and joyless experience.

It was only later, when I began to study the bible to with others, and to hear the insights of those who had read the same words before me, that those words came to life, and began to have a real impact on my life and on who I am.

This is not necessarily about listening to or reading the words of famous bible scholars. At that same meeting that I referred to earlier  we read a passage from the first epistle of Peter chapter 2, and were asked for our thoughts. The four lay people present all shared their insights in ways that for me shed fresh light on those well-known words.  For me one of the great riches and joys of the Bible study group during Lent, put together by Chris and hosted by Barbara, was those moments when the penny dropped, and the light shone – surely this is the Spirit of Jesus Christ at work.

For when the appeared to the disciples, the physical appearance of Jesus initially caused consternation and even when he had proved he was not a ghost, their doubts and questions remained. Why was he there? What had been the point of the dreadful journey to the cross.

He had to open their minds, and when the penny dropped they understood that this had been the purpose of God from the beginning, that through  his suffering Christ had opened the way of forgiveness and reconciliation to those who came to him in repentance, and that his was the name to whom God’s authority had been given, not only in Jerusalem , but in all the world where his Gospel would be preached.

7^th April 2024. 2nd Sunday of Easter.

Prayer for today:

Almighty Father, you have given your only Son to die for our sins and to rise again for our justification: grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness that we may always serve you in pureness of living and truth; through the merits of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Among those who are sick we pray for  Maureen Stevens, Prue Critchley, Ned Ryan, Daniel Bosman, Suzie Dent, Nick Cook, Christina Baldwin, Lorraine Dodd, Kathleen Lee, Carol McKendrick, Stuart Bell, Maggie Bennett, Hayley Gennery, Elizabeth Sambell, Katherine Patterson, Heather Loughead, Carol Allen, John and Gwyneth Wilde.

Among those who have recently died we remember Daphne Harding, and also Margaret Pigg, William Moralee, Bill Patterson, Fowler Anderson and Bob Tweddle, whose year’s mind is about this time.

The Church Annual Meeting takes place on Wednesday at 7.30 p.m. in the Parish Hall. All are welcome.

Readings

Acts 4: 32-35

³² All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. ³³ With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all ³⁴ that there was no needy person among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales ³⁵ and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

Psalm 133

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
for brethren to dwell together in unity!
² It is like the precious ointment upon the head,
that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard:
that went down to the skirts of his garments;
³ as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion:
for there the Lord commanded the blessing,
even life for evermore.

John 20: 19-31

¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

²¹ Again Jesus said, ‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ ²² And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.’

²⁴ Now Thomas (also known as Didymus^[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’

But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’

²⁶ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’

²⁸ Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’

²⁹ Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’

³⁰ Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹ But these are written that you may believe^[b] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Thoughts on today’s readings:

This account from St. John’s gospel gives a clear picture of the lives of the disciples following the crucifixion of Jesus. They were frightened and demoralised. The journey they had made with Jesus had not led to the establishment of a new kingdom or a new order where they might have exercised power, but to rejection by the authorities who spoke for the Lord God of Israel, to the humiliation and disgrace of death on a cross. Their hope was gone. Jesus was dead; they never entertained the thought or hope that they might see him again this side of the grave. They had no wish to share his fate. Eventually they might return to the lives they had known before. For now they were hoping for peace, and peace for them meant hiding away from the world behind a locked door, avoiding drawing attention to themselves; this was what peace meant to those who were afraid and saw themselves as powerless.

On that evening of the first day of the week Jesus came and stood among them. He was very much alive, and his body bore the wounds of what he had endured on the cross: this was not someone else, and it was not a ghost. His greeting sounds conventional: Shalom, Salaam is the standard greeting in the Middle East: Peace be with you. But this was not so much a greeting as a commission: this was not about Jesus making them safe: not that sort of peace. He breathed his spirit upon them and said, ‘As my Father sent me, so I am sending you,’ out into the hostile and dangerous world, to fulfil God’s mission, as Jesus had done. He gave them his authority: the authority to forgive sins. This is the peace Jesus was talking about: that through forgiveness and reconciliation people might have peace with one another and with their neighbour, that they might be at peace withing themselves, and that they might be at peace and reconciled to God. As Jesus said on the night before he died, ‘My peace I leave with you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not be anxious; do not be afraid.’ The little passage from Acts paints a vivid picture of the fruits of the outpouring of that Spirit: the believers were at peace with God: their testimony to the resurrection carried conviction and power. Their trust in God for all things was real and tangible: they did not retain their property in order to try to guarantee their own security but shared all that they had, so that none were in need.. It is an image of a community liberated from anxiety and filled with the joy of the presence of the living Jesus Christ.

Every Easter the Church proclaims God’s good news afresh and the light of the Gospel highlights the scandal of our world, where the children of God are starved, where warfare and killings continue, where people’s actions are driven by fear and perceived self-interest. May our eyes of faith be opened to the wounded Christ who stands among us. May we desire his peace above all things, and may we and all God’s people show its meaning in our lives, in our actions as well as in our words.

Here is  a quote from the Christian writer Luigi Gioia:

What if our hearts are closed, and fear prevents us from opening the doors? The good news is that Christ, now risen, can come through closed doors to deliver us. Closed doors are not a barrier to him: although the doors were shut Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ This takes us into the real meaning of  resurrection. Resurrection is not about going through wooden doors or walls: this would be magic. Resurrection is this new capacity that Jesus has acquired wherever we might be lost or imprisoned.          ‘Risen, I am with you always,’ runs a wonderful Latin  Gregorian antiphon for Easter. The most insistent promise and assurance God utters in the Old Testament is this, ‘I will be with you, I am with you.’ Jesus is the fulfilment of this promise. His name is Emmanuel, that is, God with us, but only with the resurrection is this promise realised. Only then can Jesus be everywhere at all times in the power of his Spirit so that neither distance nor darkness, nor even our wish to flee away from hm, can escape the reach of his love and presence anymore.

Easter Sunday 2024. 31^st March

Prayer for today:

Lord of all life and power, who through the mighty resurrection of your Son overcame the old order of sin and death, to make all tings mew in  him; grant that we, being dead to sin, and alive to you in Jesus Christ, may reign with him in glory, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be praise and honour, glory and might, now and in all eternity. Amen.

Among those who are sick we pray for Daphne Harding, Maureen Stevens, Prue Critchley, Ned Ryan, Daniel Bosman, Suzie Dent, Nick Cook, Christina Baldwin, Lorraine Dodd, Kathleen Lee, Carol McKendrick, Stuart Bell, Maggie Bennett, Hayley Gennery, Elizabeth Sambell, Katherine Patterson, Heather Loughead, Carol Allen, John and Gwyneth Wilde.

Among those who have recently died we remember Mike McKendrick, and also Vesta Annie Overton, Winnie Golightly, Margaret Shackleton, Marjorie Howdon and Alan Hocking Newby, whose year’s mind is about this time.

Readings:

Acts 10: 34-43

Speaking in the house of Cornelius, Peter said, ‘In truth I understand that God has no favourites, but that in every nation whoever fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in galilee after the baptism announced by John: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses of all he did in Judea and in Jerusalem.  They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to al the people, but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify  that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him received forgiveness of sins through his name.

Mark 16: 1-6

The Sabbath was over and Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices so that they might go and anoint him. It was very early on the first day of the day, when the sun was risen, when they went to the tomb. They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ But when they looked they saw that the stone, which was very large, had already been rolled back. As they entered the tomb they saw a young man dressed in white, sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed. But he said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. See where they laid him. But go, tell is disciples and Peter that he has gone ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.’ So they went out and fled from the tomb, filled with terror and amazement. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Thoughts on today’s readings

The account of the resurrection in St. Mark’s gospel is first of all the  witness of the women who followed Jesus. Unlike the male disciples, they did not run away. They stood and watched as he suffered and died. They loved him and would have given all that they had for him. Among them was the woman who had poured almost a year’s wages worth of perfume over his head: Jesus had said she was preparing his body for its burial.

For them there was no irony in the sign nailed over his head on the cross: ‘this is Jesus Christ the King of the Jews’ – he was their Lord.

The had watched as his body was taken down and laid in the grave of Joseph of Arimathea. Now the days and nights of the Passover, with its restrictions, was over, and they could go and do what they felt they had to do. They could, for one last time, wash and care for his poor body and treat him with honour, and make sure he received a decent burial.

I am reminded of the mothers of the Disappeared in Argentina: those women who for 40 years have been demonstrating every week, demanding the return of the bodies of their children, murdered on the orders of the military government around 1980. Tirelessly they keep the names alive of the children they loved and had taken from them, and with great courage they demand justice.

The women who came to the grave on that first Easter morning were worried in case they could not roll the heavy stone away: they were quite unprepared for what they found.

The grave was open, the grave was empty, instead there was this strange messenger in white telling them he was not there; he was alive and gone to Galilee. They must tell Peter and the others.

It was too much for the women: they ran away in terror and, the account says, they told no one.

Yet the fact that we have read their account today means that they did in fact tell their story.

And the fact that we tell their story this Easter morning is because it was the truth, and Jesus is alive, and he appeared to Peter and the others and ate and drank with them.

Peter had  returned to his old life, fishing, when Jesus found him.

When Peter had last looked on Jesus he had three times said to those near him that he had no idea who this man was.

Now, three times, Jesus faced him with his denials, and three times confirmed to Peter that the relationship was restored, that he must go and tend the Lord’s flock, and feed his sheep.

And this is exactly what we read Peter doing in our first passage this morning, from the Acts of the Apostles.

Here is Peter, preaching and teaching the good news of Jesus Christ to feed the hearts and souls of those to whom Christ has sent him; not preaching to his fellow-countrymen but to the household of a Roman soldier, Cornelius, upon whom the Holy Spirit has just come down in power. Peter, no longer ashamed to be associated with Jesus, but ready and joyful to serve his Lord to the end.

And today the witness of the women who loved Jesus is part of the Good News of the Gospel. Of the woman who poured costly perfume over his head: Jesus said, ‘Wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, this will be told in memory of her.’

We hear the witness of the women who did not run away, who stayed in the place of suffering even though they could not remove the nails from Christ’s hands.

We give thanks with them that the spices and ointments were not needed, and that sorrow and loss have turned to joy.

This morning we give thanks that Jesus Christ lives: his life fills the Church, fills the lives of those he has called, and reaches out into all the world. Today that life lives in those who embody, who live and who bear witness to God’s Good News as those sorrowing women did on that first Easter Sunday.

Sunday 17^th March 2024                  The Fifth Sunday in Lent                             Passion Sunday

 The service today is led by the Revd Canon Chris Simmons

Hymn 325       The church of God a kingdom is

Collect

Most merciful God, who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ delivered and saved the world: grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross we may triumph in the power of his victory; 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.

A reading from the prophecy of Jeremiah, chapter 31, verses 31-34

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.

Canticle: A Song of Ezekiel

 I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries.

I will sprinkle clean water upon you,

and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses.

A new heart I will give you, and put a new spirit within you.

And I will remove from your body the heart of stone,

and give you a heart of flesh.

You shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Glory to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;

As it was in the beginning is now, and shall be for ever. Amen.

A reading from the Gospel according to John chapter 12, verses 20-33

 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”  Philip went and told Andrew, then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.  Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.  Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies it bears much fruit.  Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.  Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honour. “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say: ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.  Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”  The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”  Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.  Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people^[a] to myself.”  He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

 

 

 

Reflection

 As is so often the case with a gospel reading from St John, there is far more in it than can possibly be extracted in one short sermon. And today’s reading is no exception. We could really have done with at least an afternoon’s seminar on those verses in preparation for hearing them in the course of our worship.

Let me remind you. Some Greeks – that’s to say, non-Jews who were God-fearers, attracted by the integrity of Jewish theology, morality and ritual – approach Philip, the disciple they think will be most likely to respond favourably, with this simple request: “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Or was it, “we wish to see Jesus”?

However the question was framed, whichever word bore the emphasis, by the time the request filters through to Jesus, it has taken on a significance which was scarcely intended, and which we may well be inclined to overlook. Jesus does not say to Philip and Andrew, “bring them round to meet me.”

His response is frankly – well, in the context of the incident – bizarre. (In the Greek text it runs to no less than 108 words.) “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain…” I do hope you were attending to the Gospel this morning, because I’m not going to read it all to you again, but if nothing else, ponder those words as the answer to a few inquirers wanting to arrange a meeting.

If you know St John’s Gospel well, you will recall other times when simple questions receive surprising answers. When his disciples ask, on one occasion, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” the answer turns out to be “I am the bread of life.” You may also recall the various occasions when something doesn’t happen “because Jesus’ hour had not yet come.” St John’s Gospel is sometimes described as a book of signs, and it seems almost as though Jesus himself interprets this request from the world beyond the boundary of the “people of God” as a sign he himself has been waiting for.

And St John goes on to highlight the mysterious significance of the moment with the sound of thunder which is a more than natural phenomenon – the voice from heaven coming, as it did at his baptism and his transfiguration, as confirmation that Jesus is acting in accordance with his Father’s will. The grain of wheat will fall to the earth and die – paradoxically by being lifted up from the earth as a man with arms outstretched on the cross.

The hour to which Jesus has come, the hour of God’s glory which leaves no room for the tawdry, sham, so-called glory of worldly estimation, is to be the hour of suffering and sacrifice. And to the throne of true glory – for that is how St John understands the cross – all people will be drawn. “Sir, we would see Jesus.” See him you will, but it will make your head spin when you do, because it will be a bloody victim on a splintered gibbet: for even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

We never discover whether, or how, those anonymous Greek God-fearers, God-seekers actually saw him. The reason St John includes this little incident with its curious dialogue, their role, you might say, is to be symbolic of any and all who have found themselves drawn to Jesus – you and me included.

Seeing and knowing and understanding are of course very closely related activities. Passiontide, which in the ancient calendar of the church begins today, challenges our knowing and understanding in a very demanding way, because in seeing Jesus the willing victim we are taken beyond any thought of him being just a friend in our daily living, or a good influence when we are tempted to go astray, or a subject for a Bible study. Jesus, crucified victim, lifted to glory.

This is where we who live lives with our eyes fixed on Jesus take leave of everything the world wants us to accept. Jesus, crucified victim, lifted to glory is the Father’s agent of completely gratuitous love, right outside the calculations, rewards and punishments of human relationships, outside the complicated negotiations for living space that dominate the ordinary human world with its assumption that we all live at each other’s expense – victims and victimizers passing on or returning the wounds we have received in a never-ending cycle of reactive violence. Resurrection begins when the victim is buried like a grain of wheat that falls into the earth. Jesus, you see.

The Prayers of Intercession

We pray for the sick, and for their healing according to God’s will, among them  Maureen Stevens, Prue Critchley, Ned Ryan, Daniel Bosman, Suzie Dent, Nick Cook, Christina Baldwin, Lorraine Dodd, Kathleen Lee, Carol McKendrick, Stuart Bell, Maggie Bennett, Hayley Gennery, Elizabeth Sambell, Katherine Patterson, Heather Loughead, Carol Allen, John and Gwyneth Wilde

We remember those who have died recently, and those whose year’s mind is about this time, among them William Robson, Florence Newby, Isabella Little, Edward Backhouse, Harold Simmons

 Hymn 108       Glory be to Jesus

Post-Communion Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ, you have taught us that what we do for the least of our brothers and sisters we do also for you: give us the will to be the servant of others as you were the servant of all, and gave up your life and died for us, but are alive and reign, now and for ever.

Hymn 109       It is a thing most wonderful

 

“Take it from Mark”

The Lent group meets at 2.30 p.m. on Thursday

at Barbara Parker’s house

 Next Sunday is Palm Sunday

The Bible readings:

Philippians 2:5-11 A song of Christ’s glory

Mark 11:1-11 Jesus enters Jerusalem

Sunday 10^th March 2024                The Fourth Sunday in Lent                       Mothering Sunday

The service today is led by the Revd Canon Chris Simmons. The service will end with the traditional “clipping the church.”

Hymn 510      Lord of the home, your only Son received a mother’s tender  love                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 The Collect

God of compassion, whose son Jesus Christ, the child of Mary, shared the life of a home in Nazareth, and on the cross drew the whole human family to himself: strengthen us in our daily living that in joy and in sorrow we may know the power of your presence to bind together and to heal; 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.

A reading from the letter of Paul to the Colossians, chapter 3, verses 12-17

 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

A Song of the Lady Julian of Norwich

 God chose to be our mother in all things, and so made the foundation of his work,

most humble and most pure, in the Virgin’s womb.

God, the perfect wisdom of all, arrayed himself in this humble place.

Christ came in our poor flesh to share a mother’s care.

Our mothers bear us for pain and for death;

our true mother, Jesus, bears us for joy and endless life.

Christ carried us within him in love and travail, until the full time of his passion.

And when all was completed and he had carried us so for joy,

still all this could not satisfy the power of his wonderful love.

All that we owe is redeemed in truly loving God, for the love of Christ works in us;

Christ is the one whom we love.

A reading from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 7, verses 24-30

Jesus set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ But she answered him, ‘Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ Then he said to her, ‘For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.’ So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Reflection

Mothering Sunday. Well, if my mother were here, she might well be saying to me, “Christopher John Simmons, just what on earth are you playing at?” And I knew I was in for a ticking-off. I know, of course, that she loved me very much.

But you might gently ask the same question: “Chris, what are you playing at?” Because officially, on Mothering Sunday the gospel reading is meant to be about Mary: either St Luke telling us about Mary and Joseph presenting the infant Jesus in the temple, or St John telling us about Mary and the disciple John standing at the foot of the cross. No other options are provided, and I have preached, and you have probably heard sermons about both of them, more than a few times.

In this current year, many of our gospel readings are taken from St Mark, but if you read through his gospel from start to finish, as some of us are doing through Lent, you will find just one mention by name of Mary the mother of Jesus, when some amazed members of the synagogue congregation say to one another, “Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary?” (6:3) Earlier, when, after people have started to say that Jesus is mad, St Mark tells us that “his mother and his brothers came and, standing outside, they called him “. (3:31) It tells us, I suppose, that she was worried about him. But that’s it. Everything else we are told about Mary comes from the other three gospels.

So I thought I would investigate any other mothers mentioned by St Mark. There’s really only one, and you’ve just heard me read about her: the Gentile woman with a sick daughter who asks for Jesus’ help, and won’t take “no” for an answer. I think we can definitely say that she was a pretty feisty character. Well, good for her. And, by the way, she has given us some words to remember her by every week before we receive the sacrament: “crumbs under the table.”

Anyway, putting that aside, what to make of this incident? And can I be excused and forgiven for letting her into our service today? I would obviously say “yes” if only because it has made me think before I speak – no bad thing!

But I don’t think we need spend too much time worrying about what kind of unclean spirit afflicting the little girl. Her mother knew something was wrong with her, and that was enough to make her seek help. Possibly more interesting is that Jesus had travelled out of Galilee, out of his geographical comfort zone – the familiar villages around the lake, and found hospitality in a house up the coast, somewhere near the port city of Tyre. Whose house? Don’t know. Why? Don’t know – except for the hint that Jesus wanted a bit of peace and quiet. Did the disciples go with him? St Mark doesn’t say – though a comparison with the way St Matthew tells the story is interesting. (Matthew 15:21-28) Well then, how did this woman know about Jesus and his healing power? Don’t know! It’s a mystery – but she did.

Most interesting, most puzzling, and perhaps most troubling of all is the conversation that St Mark records. Putting it in a nutshell, it goes a bit like this:

Woman: I need help.

Jesus: Not my problem. Go away.

Woman: But I’m human too.

Jesus: Well, since you ask, alright then. Sorted.

And, according to St Mark, he doesn’t even lift a finger! But it is alright, sorted, nonetheless. Undoubtedly, in this unprecedented encounter, St Mark shows us Jesus being taken out of his cultural comfort zone. Maybe he’s never met a Jewish momma like this fiery foreigner.

Questions spring readily to mind. Do women – mothers and others – still have to fight – by which I suppose I’m implying, fight harder than men – to get what is due to them? I said earlier that a comparison with St Matthew’s version is interesting. The way Matthew tells it, the disciples are there, and they beg Jesus to get rid of the woman, because she’s making their lives a misery by following them around and shouting at them. It’s not that they are getting in the way of what she should rightfully have – oh no! That, I suppose you might say, is a cultural question that has not yet been completely answered in our own society, to say nothing of Afghan women under the Taliban.

Then what might be called a spiritual question. Can it be right to argue with Jesus or, to put it more broadly, to question the seeming injustice or capriciousness of God’s will? Famously, of course, Abraham did it, arguing the toss over the fate of Sodom.  (Genesis 18:22-33) And it’s worth bearing in mind that Jacob was given the new name, Israel, which means “God struggles” – which more or less encapsulates the whole up and down history of the Jewish nation. Of course, God desires us to say “yes” to him in our lives, as Mary did when the angel visited her – but I think that’s a bit different from being what one might call “yes-men” who never engage the brain in their dealings with God.

Then there’s the tricky theological question about Jesus’ self-understanding. His message was that the kingdom of Giod was near. If in some way he understood himself to be the active embodiment of that kingdom, did he need to learn that the signs of the kingdom – such as healing and forgiveness – must find admission to whoever was near him – and not just in Galilee? Just as well for us, if he did!

Let us take it that Jesus knew he had the power to heal, and that it was a central part of the Father’s work in him. The remaining question is therefore addressed to us, as agents of the kingdom. If someone as desperate for help as was the Gentile mother in Tyre comes to us, and we know we have the ability to help if we choose, what do we say?

This isn’t about performing miraculous healings. For instance, even within the ordinary day-to-day business of the church, there are people who carry responsibilities that have become burdens. Do they, should they have to shout, and go on shouting before someone lifts a finger?

I make no apology for repeating a few words from my sermon here on Mothering Sunday last year: Three things that mothers do: love, care, feed. Three things that Jesus did: love, care, feed. Mothers carry out the ministry of Jesus every day.

We may well find ourselves inspired by the determination of the woman, and sometimes even find reason to imitate her. But it is Jesus we need to imitate. To quote from this morning’s canticle of the Lady Julian:

Our mothers bear us for pain and for death;

our true mother, Jesus, bears us for joy and endless life.

When we can, let us be the bearers of joy to the desperate.

May it be so. Amen

 The Prayers of Intercession

We pray for the sick, and for their healing according to God’s will, among them Maureen Stevens, Prue Critchley, Ned Ryan, Daniel Bosman, Suzie Dent, Nick Cook, Christina Baldwin, Lorraine Dodd, Kathleen Lee, Carol McKendrick, Stuart Bell, Maggie Bennett, Hayley Gennery, Elizabeth Sambell, Katherine Patterson, Heather Loughead, Carol Allen, John and Gwyneth Wilde

We remember those who have died recently, and those whose year’s mind is about this time, among them Jack Reed, Anthony Charlton Graham, Robert Mason Pyle, Elizabeth Hart

Hymn 535      O God in heaven, whose loving plan ordained for us our parents’ care

The Post-Communion Prayer

Loving God, as a mother feeds her children at the breast you feed us in this sacrament with the food and drink of eternal life: help us who have tasted your goodness to grow in grace within the household of faith; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Hymn 598      There’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea

Clipping the Church

 Give me joy in my heart, keep me praising

Give me love in my heart, keep me serving

Give me trust in my heart, keep me faithful

 “Take it from Mark”

The Lent group meets at 2.30 p.m. on Thursday

at Barbara Parker’s house

 

Next Sunday is the Fifth Sunday in Lent

 The Bible readings:

 Jeremiah 31:31-34 God promises a new covenant with his people

John 12:20-33: Some Greeks ask to see Jesus

The hymns:

 325 The church of God a kingdom is

108 Glory be to Jesus

109 It is a thing most wonderful

 Worrying about children

 Lord, we give into your care our children who are causing us so much worry.

The days are gone when we could correct them and tell what to do.

Now that they are grown up we have to stand by and watch them making mistakes

and doing what is foolish and wrong.

Thank you that you have gone on loving and forgiving us, your wayward children, over many years.

Help us to be loving and forgiving to our own children.

Help us never to stop praying for them.

We earnestly ask you to bring them back to yourself and to us.

Ease our torment and distress and give us peace in trusting you,

especially in the dark hours of the night.

You are our heavenly Father who loves our children more than we do,

and we bring them to you now, in Jesus’ name.

 

Written by Mary Batchelor

Taken from “Women of Prayer” compiled by Dorothy M. Stewart

Published by Lion Books 1993

 

3^rd March 2024. 3^rd Sunday in Lent

Prayer for today:

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy, but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your son our Lord. Amen.

Among those who are sick we pray for Maureen Stevens, Prue Critchley, Ned Ryan, Daniel Bosman, Suzie Dent, Nick Cook, Christina Baldwin, Lorraine Dodd, Kathleen Lee, Carol ’McKendrick, Stuart Bell, Maggie Bennett, Hayley Gennery, Elizabeth Sambell, Katherine Patterson, Heather Loughead, Carol Allen, John and Gwyneth Wilde.

We remember Roy Walker, who died recently. His family have organised a private funeral on Wednesday 13^th March, to be followed at 3 p.m. by tea and a gathering at the Parish Hall to give thanks for Roy’s life. All are welcome.

Please remember also George Philips, Thomas Hector Rutherford, Malcolm Caisley, Bill Flatman and Frank Casson, whose year’s mind is about this time.

We will be away on holiday from this Friday March 8^th until Wednesday 20^th March. I am grateful to Revd. Chris Simmons, who will be leading worship on Sunday 10^th and 17^th and, of course, Lent studies on Thursday 14^th.

Please contact our churchwarden Jenny Stirling for all Church matters.

Readings:

1 Corinthians 1: 18-25

¹⁸ For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written:

‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.’

²⁰ Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²² Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Psalm 19

The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
² Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
³ There is no speech nor language,
where their voice is not heard.
⁴ Their line is gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
⁵ which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
⁶ His going forth is from the end of the heaven,
and his circuit unto the ends of it:
and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.

⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul:
the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
⁸ The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart:
the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
⁹ The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever:
the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold:
sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

¹¹ Moreover by them is thy servant warned:
and in keeping of them there is great reward.
¹² Who can understand his errors?
cleanse thou me from secret faults.
¹³ Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright,
and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.

¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart,
be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord,
my strength, and my redeemer.

John 2: 13-22

¹³ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵ So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ To those who sold doves he said, ‘Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!’ ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it is written: ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’

¹⁸ The Jews then responded to him, ‘What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?’

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.’

²⁰ They replied, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?’ ²¹ But the temple he had spoken of was his body. ²² After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

 Thoughts on today’s readings

Human beings have always had enquiring minds. We are determined to understand, to make sense of the world and of life, perhaps even to try to achieve a measure of control over our existence. The laws of science, in their beauty and elegance, are an aspect of that attempt to explain, yet we are discovering that they are only part of the answer. The people in Jesus’s time had laws, systems and understandings of great sophistication. The writings of the philosophers of Greek civilisation, the accumulated wisdom and thought of generations, filled the world’s greatest library in Alexandria. The daily life of pious Jews was governed by a comprehensive code of laws and customs, not only in the so-called 5 books of Moses, but in the Talmud, the collected teachings of rabbis and legal experts.

To those who found life’s answers in these systems, Jesus made no sense at all. Deuteronomy 21 states ,’He that is hanged is accursed by God. To those who rejected him, the cross was final proof that Jesus was not the Messiah.  For a Greek philosopher it was clear that God  by  definition must be far above and beyond the limits of mortality. The idea that when we look at the dying man on the cross we see God present was totally ridiculous. Therefore, as Paul writes, the cross is foolishness to the gentiles, and a stumbling block for Jews. And yet, he goes on, to those who were called, to those who believe, it is the power of God and the wisdom of God.               When Jesus came to the temple, the pride and joy of his people, 46 years in the building, in the days before Passover, he found a place which seemed devoted to the pursuit of commerce. Here were the money-changers, for Roman currency could  not be used inside the temple precincts, and there were the sellers of approved animals which were required to carry out the sacrifices demanded by God. When he drove the traders out for desecrating his Father’s house the response of the people was predictable.  ‘Jews demand signs, ‘wrote Paul to the Corinthians, and that is exactly what they asked Jesus. ‘Prove who you are by a mighty sign,’ they said. They expected Messiah to be able to divide the sea or the river, to call down fire from heaven or to throw down the city walls. Believing that they understood who God is, they rejected Christ who stood before the, who did not conform to their expectations.

However the reality is not that, the more we know, the more we are able to explain everything, but rather that, the more we discover, the more we realise there is so much we do not know, so much more to explore. The discovery of a huge new world trillions of light years away, observed by seeing light that was emitted billions of years ago, speaks of a world whose grandeur we cannot fathom.  Pope Francis wrote this: If one has the answers to all the questions – that is the proof God is not with him. It means he is a false prophet using religion for himself.’  Jesus made it clear; the most comprehensive religious code is no guarantee that we know the mind of God. God is not contained or defined even in a temple of the finest dressed stone, and human activity can reduce what should be an expression of faith and trust in God into an all too human system dedicated to its own survival and prosperity. The kingdom of God, he taught, would not be reached by the wise but to those who come like little children. Genesis teaches us that we were made in the image of God: it does not follow that God is  our image or can be comprehended by us.

We live in a world whose grandeur, beauty, order and complexity are awesome, in spite of our misuse of our environment, and God is present in our world, source of all that is.  In this season we are invited to look at Christ the living Word. To look again at how he lived the life we share with him, to look at the cross and consider what he did with the death with which we all live daily and to be joyful for the love we cannot measure which calls us to enter into that life which is beyond our knowledge or imagination.

25^th February 2024. 2^nd Sunday in Lent.

Prayer for today:

Almighty God, you show to those in error the light of your truth, that they may return to the way of righteousness: grant to all who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s religion, that they may reject 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.

Among those who are sick we pray for Maureen Stevens, Prue Critchley, Ned Ryan, Daniel Bosman, Suzie Dent, Nick Cook, Christina Baldwin, Lorraine Dodd, Kathleen Lee, Carol McKendrick, Stuart Bell, Maggie Bennett, Hayley Gennery, Elizabeth Sambell, Katherine Patterson, Heather Loughead, Carol Allen, John and Gwyneth Wilde.

Among those who have died we remember Roy Walker, and also Hilda Walker, Nigel Gibson, John Martin, Margaret Isobella Clark and Stuart White, whose year’s mind is about this time.

Our Lent Study group meets on Thursday at the home of Barbara Parker from 2.30 to 3.30 p.m.

Readings:

Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. ² Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.’

³ Abram fell face down, and God said to him, ⁴ ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: you will be the father of many nations. ⁵ No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶ I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. ⁷ I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

¹⁵ God also said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶ I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.’

Verses from Psalm 22

Ye that fear the Lord, praise him;
all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him;
and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel.
²⁴ For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
neither hath he hid his face from him;
but when he cried unto him, he heard.
²⁵ My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation:
I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
²⁶ The meek shall eat and be satisfied:
they shall praise the Lord that seek him:
your heart shall live for ever.
²⁷ All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord:
and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
²⁸ For the kingdom is the Lord’s:
and he is the governor among the nations.
²⁹ All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship:
all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him:
and none can keep alive his own soul.
³⁰ A seed shall serve him;
it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation.
³¹ They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness
unto a people that shall be born,
that he hath done this.

Mark 8: 31-18

³¹ He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. ³² He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

³³ But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ he said. ‘You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.’

³⁴ Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save their life^[a] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.³⁶ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? ³⁷ Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? ³⁸ If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels.’

Thoughts on today’s readings.

Until the present day it has been usual for a man or a woman entering into the religious life in response to a vocation to be a monk or a nun to take a new name when they are professed, typically the name of a saint. To an outsider this can at times seem a little curious: I remember meeting an Irish nun called Sister Anselm. But along with a radically new way of life, this is a powerful symbol for accepting obedience to Christ. It is not that this person has ceased to be who they always were; rather it is an acceptance that following Christ means no looking back, but only looking forward. Today’s verses from Genesis tell us how God called Abraham, our ancestor in faith, and that he left everything behind of his old life and security. God saw his faith and gave to him and to Sarah his wife new names, for even in their old age they would found a great nation. His name would no longer mean ‘exalted father’, but ‘father of a multitude’; Sarah’s name means ‘Mistress’ or ‘Princess’. Moreover the story of Abraham tells how Lot his nephew was rescued with his family from Sodom by an angel who ordered them not to look back. Again, Jesus in St. Luke’s gospel says, ‘Anyone who starts to plough and keeps looking back is of no use to the kingdom of God.’ The only way to plough a straight furrow is to look ahead. The helmsman taking the wheel of the ship does not look back at the wake. His eyes should be fixed in one direction only, apart from the compass, and that is on the bow, and on its movement in the seaway. In the verses before this passage from St. Mark’s gospel Jesus has asked the disciples who they believe he is. Peter replies, ‘The Messiah.’ and in this account Jesus tells them to tell no-one. Perhaps this is because the title ‘Messiah’ was loaded with political and cultural meanings, and of expectations of kingship which would obscure their vision of Jesus. It is though not surprising that Peter cannot accept Jesus’ revelation of how his ministry will be fulfilled. In St. Mark’s gospel Jesus speaks of himself as the ’Son of Man’. Apart from emphasising his humanity, what does this mean? One would expect the clue to lie in the Jewish Bible, to which Jesus refers constantly. In Daniel 7 the writer describes a vision of one like a son of man, coming in the clouds, to whom all authority and power is given, and whose kingdom will last for ever. Before this, in the prophecy of Ezekiel, the Lord addresses the prophet over and over again as ‘Son of man’, as he reveals to him his calling: He must be filled with the Spirit of God, be a watchman for Israel, eat the word of God and deliver it to the people. He must live amongst those who neither see nor understand, proclaim disaster and judgement. He must accept suffering and privations, but is called to announce the coming of the good shepherd, the cleansing by the Spirit when all is fulfilled, and the resurrection of the dead. All this is contained in the meaning of this title Jesus uses, but also his essential humanity as he fulfils the will of his Father, for note this: that to speak of his Father is to understand that he is Son of Man and Son of God.  Years ago when Christ found me I encountered the love of God and the grace of God and it changed my life. However it was only when this gospel message about denying myself and taking up my cross entered into my heart that I understood I was being called to let go of all that I had assumed my life would consist of and follow the Lord. In other words, I began to understand that the Lord was not asking for an hour of my time on a Sunday, nor for the polite expressions of my faith, but for the whole of my life. It was hard to see then of what possible use I could be, and I am still working it out day by day, and yet I know I have been given so much more than I could ever had imagined, much less deserved.  Each one of us has our vocation; each one of us was called by our name. Each one of us in prayer calls upon Our Father. And so, as children of God, and children of Man, may we in our lives be signs of God’s kingdom, embrace our calling as a sign of the Father’s love for us, and look towards  our good shepherd who leads us on.

 

18^th February 2024. 1^st Sunday in Lent.

Prayer for today:

Almighty God, whose Son Jesus Christ fasted 40 days in the wilderness, and was tempted as we are, yet without sin: grant us grace to discipline ourselves in obedience to your spirit; and, as you know our weakness, so may we know your power to save; through Jesus Christ your son our Lord. Amen.

Among those who are sick we pray for Maureen Stevens, Prue Critchley, Ned Ryan, Daniel Bosman, Suzie Dent, Nick Cook, Christina Baldwin, Lorraine Dodd, Kathleen Lee, Carol McKendrick, Roy Walker, Stuart Bell, Maggie Bennett, Hayley Gennery, Elizabeth Sambell, Katherine Patterson, Heather Loughead, Carol Allen, John and Gwyneth Wilde.

Among those whose year’s mind is about this time we remember Nancy Robson, Emily Herold, Alistair Robson, Sheila Robson, Marjorie Roddam and Derek White.

Lent studies continue on Thursday at the home of Barbara Parker, from 2.30 to 3.30 p.m.. All are welcome. The material to accompany the course is being emailed along with these notes.

Readings:

Genesis 9: 8-17

God said to Noah and his sons, ‘I am establishing a covenant with you and your descendants, and with every living creature that is with you, as many as came out of the ark: never again will all flesh be cut off by the flood waters, never again will a flood destroy the earth.’

And God said, ‘This is the sign of the covenant I make with you and with all living creatures, for all generations to come; I have set my bow in the clouds, a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds I will remember my covenant, and waters will never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.’ And God said to Noah,  ‘This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all flesh on earth.’

Verses from Psalm 25

Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
² O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed,
let not mine enemies triumph over me.
³ Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed:
let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.
⁴ Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach me thy paths.
⁵ Lead me in thy truth, and teach me:
for thou art the God of my salvation;
on thee do I wait all the day.
⁶ Remember, O Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses;
for they have been ever of old.
⁷ Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions:
according to thy mercy remember thou me
for thy goodness’ sake, O Lord.

⁸ Good and upright is the Lord:
therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
⁹ The meek will he guide in judgment:
and the meek will he teach his way.
¹⁰ All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth
unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

Mark 1: 9-15

Jesus came from Nazareth and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

As he came out of the water he saw the heavens torn open and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove. A voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.’

And immediately the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness. He was there 40 days, tempted; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited upon him.

After John was arrested Jesus came to Galilee, and proclaimed the good news of God, saying, ‘The time has come, the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe the good news.’

Thoughts on today’s readings

A few days ago a mother stopped me outside the school. Her daughter had a question and she was looking to me for an answer: ‘Why do we say that God is in our hearts? Why do we say that God is everywhere?’

I spoke of how we believe God made all things; therefore God is involved in all of creation: all things speak to us of God.

But we also think of the heart as the place where love is. Think about your Mum: you love her, and so she is in your heart, she is with you. You love her and you think of her, and so she is always with you. She loves you: she holds you in her heart; you are always with her. And so we are in the heart of God, who made us, who loves us, and if we love God, then God is in our hearts too.

In our readings this morning we have water and a dove, and God who is very present.

The window above the door of our Church speaks to us about our first reading. Here is the water of the flood, which God sent to destroy a disobedient world, but above it in vibrant colours is a bow. The bow which in ancient times was a weapon, a symbol of warfare and death, has been transformed into a sign of God’s promise of peace: never again will God send such destruction. And in our gospel reading it is through water that the Son of God makes his entrance to his ministry: the water through which his sisters and brothers passed as a sign of cleansing and change, of their desire to turn to God, water not of death but of new life.

And over the water a dove, a sign of the Spirit of God. A dove which brought to Noah a sign of life in a branch from a tree, and the promise of peace, the dove which hovered over  creation in the beginning, creating peace and order where there was chaos, the dove which was a sign of what manner of spirit is was that rested upon Jesus.

In our first reading we are told that God spoke to Noah and his sons to establish the covenant of peace of which the bow is a sign.

At the river God speaks to affirm that this is his beloved Son, and now immediately Jesus is sent out for 40 days into the wilderness, as were Moses before him, going to Sinai to receive God’s covenant with Israel, and Elijah going to Mount Horeb, to meet the Lord in person and receive his orders.

Last week in our Gospel reading we herd how Elijah and Moses appeared with Jesus on the mountain where he was transfigured, and here is what these stories are pointing us to: Moses and Elijah looked for the coming of the Kingdom of God, and were glad, for the kingdom of God has come in the person of Jesus, Son of God, son of Mary, son of Man.

The repentance Jesus preached of  can be a sign of sorrow, but it is an expression of hope, and that hope is grounded in love.

The ground of that hope is our faith that God, who is love, made us and that his will is for peace and for life. Because there is love there can be reconciliation, even though sin has brought death and separation, and Jesus Christ is our way through the flood to new life, the beautiful bow of God’s promise, the cross no longer an instrument of terror but the sign of God’s compassion and mercy towards us, God who holds us in his heart and does not turn away from his beloved children.

11^th February 2024. Sunday before Lent.

Prayer for today:

Almighty Father, whose son was revealed in majesty before he suffered death upon the cross: give us grace to perceive his glory, that we may be strengthened to suffer with him and be changed into his likeness, from glory to glory; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Among those who are sick we pray for Maureen Stevens, Prue Critchley, Ned Ryan, Daniel Bosman, Suzie Dent, Nick Cook, Christina Baldwin, Lorraine Dodd, Kathleen Lee, Carol McKendrick, Roy Walker, Stuart Bell, Maggie Bennett, Hayley Gennery, Elizabeth Sambell, Katherine Patterson, Heather Loughead, Carol Allen, John and Gwyneth Wilde.

Among those whose year’s mind is about this time we remember John Johnson, Edward Burn, Roy Pierce, Doris Smith, Calum Stobbs, Nancy Robson and Emily Herold.

 

There will be a service in Church at 9.15 on Tuesday to mark Shrove Tuesday and the beginning of Lent.

Lent studies begin on Thursday afternoon at 2.30 at the home of Barbara Parker. We will be following the Gospel according to

St. Mark, using the course prepared by Revd. Chris Simmons.

All are welcome.

 

Readings:

2 Kings 2: 1-12

The Lord was going to take Elijah into heaven as he and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here: the Lord has sent me to Bethel, ‘  but Elisha replied, ‘As the Lord lives, I will not leave you.’ They came to Bethel and prophets came to Elisha and said, ‘Do you know that today the Lord will take your master from you?’ He answered, ‘Yes, I know; be silent.’

Elijah said to him, ’Stay here; the Lord has sent me Jericho,’ but again Elisha would not leave him. They came to Jericho and prophets came to Elisha and said, ‘Do you know that today the Lord will take your master from you,’ and again Elisha replied, ‘Yes I know; be silent.’

Elijah said to him, ‘Stay here; the Lord has sent me to the Jordan,’  but Elisha would not leave him.  They went on until they stood beside the Jordan, and 50 prophets stood at a distance from them.

Elijah rolled up his cloak and struck the water; it parted and they crossed over on dry ground. Elijah said, ‘Tell me what I must do for you, before I am taken from you.’ Elisha replied, ‘Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.’ He replied, ‘You have asked for a hard thing. If you see me when I being taken from you, it will be granted to you; if not, then not.’ As they continued walking and talking, they were separated by a chariot of fire and horses of fire; Elijah ascended into heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha kept watching, crying, ’My Father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!’

And when he could see him no longer he took his clothes and tore them in two.

 

Verses from Psalm 50

The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken,
and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
² Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
³ Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence:
a fire shall devour before him,
and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
⁴ He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth,
that he may judge his people.
⁵ Gather my saints together unto me;
those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
⁶ And the heavens shall declare his righteousness:
for God is judge himself.

 

 

Mark 2: 2-9

Jesus went up a high mountain, taking only Peter, James and John.

He was transfigured before them: his clothes became dazzling white. Moses and Elijah appeared before them, talking with Jesus.

Peter said to Jesus, ’Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’

He did not know what to say: they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud came a voice, saying, ’This is my Son, the beloved. Listen to him.’ Suddenly, as they looked round, there was no-one with them, but only Jesus. As they came down the mountain he ordered them to tell no-one what they had seen, until after the son of man had risen from the dead.

Thoughts on today’s readings:

In the Summer of 1988 I was ordained deacon in Newcastle Cathedral. I found it difficult at the time to take in and fully appreciate what was happening, but it was a beautiful day; my family came up, and we went out to the coast afterwards. In the afternoon there was a small party in the flat I had recently moved into on Croydon Road, not far from St. Augustine’s Church on Brighton Grove. As the afternoon wore on my family and my friends left me, and I was by myself in my flat.  As yet I knew hardly anyone in the parish, and I had a sudden sense of being alone. After the highs of the day, there was a sense of flatness. Of course this did not last, and before long I felt very much at home in that parish.

On Friday evening I preached at a special eucharist to mark the retirement of my best man Glyn Evans, at Christ Church North Shields, where he has been vicar for 7 years. We were ordained together, and it seems difficult to accept that his time as a parish priest is now past. It was a fantastic service, reflecting his fantastic ministry: about 300 people were in Church, from all the different periods of his ministry: in parishes, in prison, as a chaplain to the deaf, to businesses and to the police. I didn’t see anyone from Newcastle United though! They were an amazingly diverse congregation, of all ages and backgrounds, and his parish did him proud in celebrating his ministry.

He is a big personality and tomorrow he and Judy his wife jet off to the sun. But I did spare a thought for his team at North Shields: how will they be after the party is over?

There is something overwhelming in the account of the Transfiguration, our gospel reading for today. It is so completely outside daily experience: no wonder Peter did not know what to say!

We are not told how they knew it was Elijah and Moses; presumably no-one was wearing name badges. Was the face of Moses shining, or was he carrying tablets of stone and with those horns coming from his head as depicted by Michaelangelo? Was Elijah wearing a cloak? And why those two?

Is it because Moses made Israel’s first covenant with God on Sinai, as enshrined in the Law, and led the people to the Promised Land?

Is it because Elijah was a mighty prophet, is it because he kept the widow and her son fed through the famine, and restored her son to life when he had died. Is it because he did not see death but instead was taken up to heaven? We are not told. Yet in Peter’s talk of making shelters there is a sense that he thought the glory of that experience would go on, yet suddenly, we are told, it was over.

Jesus alone was with them, and they had to come down the mountain, and follow Jesus to Jerusalem, where a cross awaited.

Likewise there is for me something heart -rending in the account of Elijah being taken up to heaven in the stubborn refusal of Elisha to let go of his beloved master. He knows what the Lord will do yet he will  not let go of Elijah and , to be fair, Elijah does not reject him or drive him away. There is grief in that cry, ‘Father! My Father!’ and anger in the verses that follow, as Elisha cries, ‘Where is the God of Elijah?’

Nevertheless the account tells us that when Elijah was taken up to heaven his cloak fell from him, and was taken up  by Elisha, who struck the river Jordan with it, so that the waters again parted.

From now on he was no longer the apprentice: he was the prophet of Israel; is master had to leave him so that he might receive that double share of his spirit.

That all too short moment in the presence of the glory of  God did not protect Peter from the sense of failure in the face of the cross.

It was all over: he went back to fishing. And yet this was just the start: without the cross and Passion there could be no resurrection, no sending of the Holy Spirit. Far from being abandoned, he was renewed, empowered a leader in that body of Christ whose impact would far outshine the mission of the Son of Man.

In time Peter would follow his Master in glorifying God in his ministry and in  his martyrdom.

Like Peter and his companions, we too cannot see into the future, and  cannot always make sense of what is happening in the present.

Sometimes it is only when we look back that we  can see where we were led, and how God’s grace sustained us.

Last year in Trinidad, in St. Faith’s Church in Rio Claro I saw how people I knew as children have become people of faith, leaders in their Church.   My parents planted seeds during 7 wonderful years, but it was only when they had gone that those seeds could grow up, develop and blossom in new ways, as the Spirit of God has directed.

This morning I am sure there will be sadness at Christ Church as people gather at the Lord’s table without Glyn, but the Lord is there, he is never gone away. He will call those he has chosen and they will grow and their ministry will develop, and the Lord will continue to  lead his people .

4^th February 2024. 2^nd Sunday before Lent (Sexagesima Sunday)

Prayer for today:

Almighty God, you have created the heavens and the earth and made us in your image: each us to discern your hand in all your works and your likeness in ally our children; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.

Among those who are sick we pray for Maureen Stevens, Prue Critchley, Ned Ryan, Daniel Bosman, Suzie Dent, Nick Cook, Christina Baldwin, Lorraine Dodd, Kathleen Lee, Carol McKendrick, Roy Walker, Stuart Bell, Maggie Bennett, Hayley Gennery, Elizabeth Sambell, Katherine Patterson, Heather Loughead, Carol Allen, John and Gwyneth Wilde.

Among those whose year’s mind is about this time we remember Mary Caird, Elizabeth Dixon, Cyril Sparke, Gillian Nixon and Margaret Ridley Huddleston.

St. Helen’s PCC meets on Wednesday at 7.30 at Fox Cottage by kind invitation of Ms. Ruth Marlee.

Lent studies begin on Thursday 15^th February at 2.30 p.m. at High Juniper by kind invitation of Mrs. Barbara Parker. Please speak to me or to Chris Simmons if you wish to take part or to follow the course.

Readings:

Colossians 1: 15-20

Christ is the image of God who is invisible; he is the first born of all creation. In him everything in heaven and on earth was created, both visible and invisible, all thrones and dominions, rulers or powers – all was created through him and for him. He is before all things; in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the Church.

He is the beginning; he is the firstborn from the dead, that he might have the first place in all things. For in him the fullness of  God was pleased to dwell; through him God was pleased to reconcile all things to himself, on earth and in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Verses from Psalm 104

O Lord, how manifold are thy works!
in wisdom hast thou made them all:
the earth is full of thy riches.
²⁵ So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable,
both small and great beasts.
²⁶ There go the ships:
there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.
²⁷ These wait all upon thee;
that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.
²⁸ That thou givest them they gather:
thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.
²⁹ Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled:
thou takest away their breath, they die,
and return to their dust.
³⁰ Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created:
and thou renewest the face of the earth.

³¹ The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever:
the Lord shall rejoice in his works.
³² He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth:
he toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
³³ I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live:
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
³⁴ My meditation of him shall be sweet:
I will be glad in the Lord.
³⁵ Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth,
and let the wicked be no more.

Bless thou the Lord, O my soul.
Praise ye the Lord.

John 1: 1-14

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² The same was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In him was life; and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. ⁸ He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. ⁹ That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. ¹¹ He came unto his own, and his own received him not. ¹² But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: ¹³ which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Thoughts for today

On a night quite a few years ago I gathered with friends and colleagues from the hospital at a popular Hexham restaurant, Vercelli’s. We were there to say good-bye to a much-loved doctor who was about to emigrate to New Zealand. She is still missed and perhaps there might have been an element of sadness at this parting, but we knew then what we know now: the life she and her family have enjoyed in New Zealand would have been completely impossible in this country. Moreover she still returns often to this country, and her son, my godson, is currently a student in Glasgow.

But something else happened, which lightened up that night. Among the friends who had gathered was a nurse, who had endured years of serious illness and operations.  But on that night she passed round her phone, carrying the image of the scan of her unborn baby. For us who had accompanied her in hard times this was little short of miraculous , a triumph for hope and courage, life and love.  The little life we began to celebrate that night is now a girl entering into adolescence, with an enthusiasm for amateur dramatics and a love of the stage, who began her Christian journey here at her baptism at Whitley Chapel.

As I read these two bible passages set for today, this was the story which came to me. For me these are passages about birth, and about the miracle of every new life: the wonder of creation where every new life is unique yet has its origins in the original act of creation, when the first living creature came into being.  This is an act endlessly repeated, and each life has its own potential and opportunities, and in each life God is present. For here life is not presented to us as an accident or as an automatic process but as an act of love and of will, an expression of the love and the will of God. This is a story whose beginning we cannot see, and about whose beginning which we can only theorise, but it is our story, the journey we make each day, and it will continue long after our chapter here on earth is ended. These passages do not speak of life as a sort of value-neutral accident but as God’s eternal purpose. The hymn quoted  Paul in Colossians speaks of the visible life we know through sense and also of the life outside human sense, with its powers and dominions, which is beyond our experience, imagination and understanding. And through it all is God, invisible, yet who has reached out to us and revealed his image to us in our own mortal flesh in Christ the first -born of a new creation.  For our purpose is not merely to participate in the cycle of life but to be part of the life and purpose of God as part of the body, born in this world yet called to new birth and new life in the body, born not of the will of the flesh but of God. And the purpose of this calling is to be nothing less than part of God’s work, which is here described as reconciling all things to himself, making peace even through the blood of the cross.  It is the work of love, it is the work of healing, it is the work of Christ. We are called to work as we are, where we are and with what we have been given, yet never alone.

Years ago our friend knew she had been called by God to serve as a doctor (and as a mother, and as a wife and much else besides). She has brought healing and compassion to so many and continues to do so. The young girl whose annunciation brought us so  much joy that night brings light and joy to all who love her, and in time she too will continue on that journey with Christ into which we welcomed here as her baptism – her journey and ours.

 

2

2 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ² Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ ⁴ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ ⁵ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ ⁶ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷ Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. ⁹ When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ ¹¹ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

 Thoughts on today’s readings

Already this month I have met with two of the seven couples who plan to marry at Whitley Chapel this year. One question I often ask is, ‘Why have you decided to get married?  What difference do you think it is going to make?’  Some couples will say that it’s about commitment, that it’s about being a family with children, or else that it’s an expression of where they have come as a couple.  I remember asking one woman in the supermarket car park, some days after her wedding, whether she felt any different: she and her husband had been together for over 20 years.  Their marriage had been a very simple service attended by 20 people, followed  by a barbecue in their garden where we all brought something. She thought , and said, ‘I feel as though I belong.’  I thought it was a very profound statement: surely we need to feel that we belong, that we are special to someone, and precious.

St. John’s Gospel begins its account of the ministry of Jesus at a wedding. It is quite a short account, yet it is brim-full of symbolism and of mystery, of statements which can be interpreted in many different ways. Where was Cana? We’re not sure; the same Gospel tells us that the disciple Nathanael came from there. Is it the case that Jesus and his disciples arrived towards the end of the wedding, that their arrival spoilt the calculations of the host and so the wine ran out?  Certainly the empty water pots suggest the feast had not just started. Jesus’ response to his mother, whom he addresses as ‘Woman’, is ,’My hour has not yet come.’ It is not an enthusiastic response. However, this story does powerfully describe the transformation which the presence of Jesus makes at this wedding. When I was at theological college this story was the means of much teasing of those who saw alcoholic drinks as incompatible with Christianity. How then to make sense of the Son of God turning perhaps 150 gallons of water into wine?  But in the Bible of Jesus, our Old Testament, abundance of wine is one of the signs that accompanies the new age of God, promised by the prophets, when God will wipe away his people’s tears, and bring them salvation. It’s there in Isaiah 25: 6-9, in Amos 9: 13 and in Joel 3: 18, as well as in Psalm 104. Wine is an essential and powerful sign of the fruitfulness God brings from the earth, something which does not rot away like fresh fruit, but endures, which accompanies times of joy and celebration. When the disciples saw the sign that Jesus did, they recognised in this a sign of this promised new age: they saw his glory and believed in him.

And why at a wedding? Because, as the reading from Revelation makes clear, here is where a new age dawns, here is where those committed to each other celebrate their union. Jesus the Lamb of God has given his very life for his beloved. His bride is clothed in fine linen which is the righteous deeds of the saints, those whose faithfulness has been tested and has endured.  When his hour was indeed come, Jesus the Son of God, and son of Mary, sealed the covenant with his people on the cross, with his life and his blood. He gave himself, for better, for worse. Blessed are we, for this covenant, this unconditional gift, is to us. His disciples believed in him: not in theories or ideas or a set of rules, but in him. We are invited to believe in him, to trust in that great love.

The couples who marry here this year will face the person they believe in: they place their whole person in their hands, and believe they are loved for who they are. They are freely given, and they freely receive the gift of the person who stands beside  them, for better, for worse, and their joy is ours, is mine.

Blessed are we, who have been invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb. His love was there before time was, and every morning is new. May we believe in him, and see that he is here, to save and to renew, this year, this day.