Dear People of God
Grace and Peace to you all
Bishop Sonia has confirmed that Mthr Narelle Riley will be in the Locum during February to “see how she goes”. She did say that she had much enjoyed the Sunday recently where I did a swap with Morpeth for the weekend and she is looking forward to her time here.
Remember that Archdeacon Bower will be with us in February sometime and will lead the parish in a Visioning process.
School resumes on 1 February (loud cheers from certain quarters) My last Sunday amongst you will be on 28 January and if you have children or grandchildren starting or resuming school, or even pre-school, you are welcome to bring them along for a “Blessing of the Backpacks”. (I remember a comment from a mother of four who said that when her first child started school she was rather teary; when the fourth child started school she was rather teary again, but this time it was accompanied by cries of “Hooray! Hallelujah!”)
A brief one this week
The Lord be with you
Fr George
PROPERS for the Second Sunday after Epiphany
Sentence
We have found the Messiah: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the king of Israel! (John 1:41,49)
Collect
Eternal God, whose Son, Jesus Christ, is now exalted as Lord of all, and pours out his gifts upon the Church: grant it that unity which only your Spirit can give, keep us in the bond of peace, and bring all creation to worship before your throne; through Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
Readings
1 Samuel 3:1-10 The Call of Samuel
Psalm 139:1-5, 12-18 The inescapable God
1 Corinthians 6:12-20 Glorify God in body and spirit
John 1:43-51 Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael
Sermon (Fr George)
In the Name of God. Amen.
Samuel is the last and probably the greatest of the Judges of Israel who were the unifying force in the loose coalition of tribes that comprised the Hebrews. Just like John the Baptist, who was the fore-runner of Jesus the Christ, Samuel was a child born of promise to a hitherto barren mother. Hannah’s song (1Sam2:1-10) bears a striking resemblance to Mary’s song, which we know as the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) and is also echoed in Zechariah’s song at the naming of John the Baptist Luke 1:68-79). Co-incidental? I don’t think so. The Evangelists are keen to point out that in Jesus there is no break with the past but rather a confirmation of the promises of God “from generation to generation”. The boy Samuel is probably about 12 years old at this point and is the servant of the old priest, Eli. His job is to make sure that the lamp before the Ark of the Covenant is kept burning. Note that Jesus was a boy of twelve when he lingered behind in Jerusalem, causing Mary and Joseph great anguish only to be found in the Temple after a three-day search (not the three days) where he was, in effect, teaching the teachers. So many coded references throughout Scripture. Samuel the Judge is the one who anoints Saul and king over Israel and is later sent to anoint David which is to become king in succession to Saul.
Turning briefly to the reading from Corinthians. Corinth was a major port city and, like many port cities today, was known for the licentious behaviour particularly of the sailors and the “good time girls”. Paul is exhorting the Christian community to keep away from that sort of behaviour and to be exemplars of purity. I can image what he might have to say about some of the nightspots in our society!
St John tells us of the calling and response of Philip and Nathanael. Just as Andrew is the “missionary” who calls his brother Simon Peter, so Philip, who also appears later when some Greek-speakers ask him to introduce them to Jesus, is the missionary who leads Nathanael to Jesus. Nathanael (probably called Bartholomew in the Synoptic Gospels) makes the all-time great sneering comment “can anything good come out of Nazareth”? I think that I can identify with Nathanael because I know just what I think about certain places and certain people, but I’m not going into that here! Listen again to the exchange between Jesus and Nathanael: Jesus sees Philip leading him to Jesus and immediately says “See, and Israelite devoid of guile”. Nathanael is not going to pretend to a higher opinion of a Nazarene: just think of how many people who may be prominent in our society who fawn over someone but privately denigrate them!
Jesus is systematically assembling the band who will be closest to him in his ministry. He is obviously not going for the high and mighty, although some of those are drawn to him and will be significant at later points as the story unfolds: Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews who came to Jesus by night (Jn 3) and Joseph of Arimathea, who is also a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Council.
Here's the point. God does not see us through human senses. He calls whom he wills, and some of those at the most unlikely candidates. I can think of one person, an ex-bikie whose life was turned around by a most unlikely priest in a rural community (not in this diocese) and who came to Newcastle, to St Johns College, when it became clear that he was headed for ordination. He had the most extraordinary ministry when he returned to his own community: he worked to support himself, was knows as someone you could talk to and could mix it with bikies and bishops alike. I doubt that he’d make it past our Ordination Selection Process but his bishop saw something there and went ahead. I preached at his priestly ordination.
So, I don’t know whether Nathanael was a bikie or an ordinary knockabout bloke, but there is plenty of evidence if you look at the spread of the early Church, that Bartholomew/Nathanael was an Ambassador of the Gospel and Apostle indeed.
Who is God calling in our midst today? We are not all going to the stipendiary priests or bishops, or clergy in local mission, or indeed eloquent speakers, but we are all called, commissioned by our Baptism, changed from glory into glory, that the Gospel might be proclaimed by word and deed and that “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven”.
Amen
Intercessions
In our intercessions this week we will pray for:
Those who are being called to the sacred ministry: for grace for them to hear and to respond
Those responsible for the ministerial formation of the men and women being called
The grace and peace of this parish and all who minister within it in their various ways; for Stuart, who will be baptised in the coming days
The church in our diocese: the bishops, the schools and university chaplaincy and the parishes
The Church beyond this parish: The Province of Bangladesh, the Church of South India, the Diocese of Guadalcanal; and the Diocese of Bathurst
The community in which we live
The sick, those who have sought our prayers or for whom prayer has been sought, including Jenny, Indi, Barbara D, Val Frazer, Lynn, Betty, Les, Ann, Daphne, Bruce, Debbie M, Samuel, John J, Ryan, Nicole M, Jenny H, Didi, Peter McC, Susan, Elizabeth, Heidi, Wendy F, Peter, Vicki L, Jenny M, Val D, Ben, Keith, Sammy Jo and Noah, Stuart McInnes, Sue T, Derek, Zoe, Paul and Katrina, Levi, Arlo, Grace, Lisa, Sandy, Margaret and Holly, Luke S, Kathy, Sandy and those who care for them.
Remember before God those who have passed from this life especially William Bell, Robert Murdoch, and Janice Kingston; and those whom we have loved and see no more.
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