A reflection for Sunday 31st January 2021 from the Diocese of Bath and Wells, which this week is introduced by the Palace Pastor Rev Rosey Lunn, and features a reflection by Hon Assistant Bishop Trevor Willmott.Click here to view the video message
Click here for Astrid's video messageJohn 2:1-11 Revelation 19:6-10Third Sunday of EpiphanyI hope you all like a party; because that’s what features in today’s message! And although we haven’t been able to have our regular parties and celebrations for some time, we all have our memories of parties we’ve been to or organised. One of my memories is of a birthday party for my son. He was still at primary school and of an age when I thought his party should have some more activity in it. Hence the idea of a treasure hunt. I set out to prepare, to identify the clues, and to make the trail as interesting as possible for their age group. I really enjoyed that part! Thankfully, it was a success, the boys all found the clues – in case you wonder: they were in small groups, accompanied by older helpers in case they’d get lost – and reached the final stage with cake and lemonade and anything else that they liked. At the end of May, the weather was pretty good too, so we all had a good time.In order for a party or any celebration to work, the ‘ingredients’ need to be well prepared and in their proper place. It takes some organisation! So I’m sure we can all empathise with the wedding couple in today’s reading from John’s Gospel when they are threatened with a shortage of wine. It is an interesting story: Jesus and his disciples are there, as is his mother. In those days in rural areas, the whole town would be invited to a wedding and it would have been quite a social disgrace to be the wedding couple ‘who ran out of wine at their wedding’; they wouldn’t be able to live it down! It’s understandable that Mary turns to her son to voice her concern over the matter. Jesus’ reply seems a bit odd, ‘What concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ Mary interprets it in the short term, and tells the servants to do whatever he tells them. But Jesus’ words ‘my hour has not yet come’, more probably refer to the future event of his dying on the cross which is the moment, the hour, when heaven and earth meet as his glory is revealed. Nevertheless, for the immediate relief of human need, Jesus does come to the rescue and performs his first miracle at this wedding, as John writes: ‘on the third day’.John’s Gospel is written like a treasure hunt. The signs he mentions are the clues to Jesus’ mission and identity. The further we get into the story, the closer we get to the truth. But that’s not all. It’s not ‘just’ a treasure hunt for our entertainment; it’s rather about transformation. The Word become flesh is the creative Word, which changes the fallen human race into the children and people of God, like water into wine. As Jesus says in John chapter 10, he has come ‘that they (you, we) may have life, and have it abundantly.’ Talk about abundance:The water that Jesus changes into wine is not just a few bottles: it’s a huge quantity: about thirty gallons of it! It’s such a generous amount that it’s probably too much! And of the best quality too, according to the steward who tastes it first.It’s ironic, isn’t it? The wedding couple who were almost labelled with disgrace, are now to be called those who had a ‘stream of wine’. Talk about being blessed!It’s a bit like our lives too, once we are touched by Jesus. The effect of Jesus on a person’s life is like this. It’s all transformed: from water to wine, from disgrace to blessing, from emptiness to fulfilment, from death to life. And it won’t even stop there, for we also have an invitation to the ultimate wedding banquet of the Lamb: Revelation 19 is our invitation. It’s got our names on it. We may have to wait for it still, but it’s a party that’s definitely going to happen. So let us rejoice in God’s abundant grace and accept his invitation to his party. Amen.
Click here for Astrid's video messageJohn 1:43-end 1 Samuel 3:1-10Second Sunday of EpiphanyTime, place, space. Time is a mystery. And when time and place connect in God’s plan, they become a space of meaning. What’s all that about?You will remember the story of Jacob and Esau. Basically, the story of Jacob, as he is the founder of the people of Israel. We can follow the events of his life in Genesis 25 to 28. After Jacob has tricked his older twin Esau out of his birth right, he finds himself on the run from his brother’s wrath and having a dream. In this dream, he sees a ladder with its foot on the ground and the top reaching into heaven, and angels going up and down on it. The Lord himself speaks to him, and says that he will come back to his land in peace and prosperity.In the reading from John’s Gospel today, we hear this story echoed in Jesus’ words to Nathanael, when Jesus says to him and the others that they will see ‘heaven opened and God’s angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man’. Now that may sound a bit cryptic, mightn’t it? What kind of image is Jesus giving his disciples, about his mission, his ministry, and himself?Jacob, before he became known as Israel, was a deceiver. Nathanael, the one whom Jesus is calling in this particular part of John chapter one, is recommended by Jesus as ‘a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit’. It amazes Nathanael, who is struck by these words as well as the notion that Jesus seemed to know him before he met him, and who responds with an acclamation, that Jesus must be the Son of God and the King of Israel. It seems to amuse Jesus, as we can make out from what he says following.What we know about the story of Jacob is that the whole point of what we call ‘Jacob’s ladder’ was that it showed that God was with him. Not just as a vague sense of his presence along the way, but right there, at that particular place. God was revealed and identified in that moment, and he would be there with Jacob later on too. God was real, and he was with Jacob, and he was there. Jacob called the place ‘Bethel’, God’s house.When Jesus calls his disciples, he lifts part of the veil on his identity to them, and confirms the fact that he is the new ‘ladder’ between heaven and earth; the Messiah, who fulfils the prophecy of the Son of Man, who is the One who makes God known. When Jesus calls, therefore, he is the Christ. He brings heaven to earth, becoming the source of divine purpose for humanity. When Jesus calls us, he makes time and place become the space of true peace. He becomes the new Temple, God’s true house. Jesus, being the Word made flesh, is to connect human life to God through him, like a ladder between earth and heaven that we can climb. All of his mission and ministry is to reveal that purpose that God himself has ordained and that gives us a destiny and a hope of fulfilment and joy.We may not always have heard God speak to us directly; young Samuel did not at first understand it was the Lord speaking to him. But once we do know, and once our ears are tuned to God’s voice, we also can learn to reply: ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening’. That’s when we see time and place become a space of divine purpose and peace. When we see the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. Amen.
Click here for Astrid's video messageMark 1:4-11 Acts 19:1-7The Baptism of ChristThe baptism of Jesus by John, in the river Jordan, seems so unnecessary: after all, Jesus is the Son of God, so why would he need to be baptised? Wasn’t baptism to do with repentance and sins washed away? Surely, Jesus didn’t need that! The Gospel writer Mark doesn’t explain, but Matthew is more elaborate, and quotes the exchange between Jesus and John, John protesting: ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’. But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness.’ There are at least a few reasons why this was important.As the story of Jesus unfolds, in his mission he proclaims the Kingdom of God, not just for an elite group of people but everybody. He touches the untouchables, the unclean and the poor. He heals the sick, raises the dead, and comforts those in need. He associates himself with those on the periphery of society and isn’t ashamed to be seen at the table of an ‘unworthy’ person. The Kingdom of God is about righteousness for all who believe in Jesus. The point of his baptism is not only to identify with the fallen human race, but also to show to the world that there is hope. As he was coming up out of the water, the heavens were seen to open and the Spirit descended like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven: ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’This voice affirmed Jesus as God’s Son and also confirmed him to be the Messiah, the Anointed One. For this anointing with the Holy Spirit set him apart precisely as the One who had been proclaimed by the prophets long ago. He identifies with human beings but also with the Divinity, who is his Father and our Father through him. In short, Jesus is the Messiah, and the Messiah represents his people.Many may have grown up without a loving father, who never said to them: ‘You are my dear child and I am pleased with you.’ Yet it’s what every child, even those who are grown up, longs to hear from a loving parent. And here’s the miracle of the Christian Gospel: that each time God looks at us, at every baptized and believing Christian, he says the same thing to us that he said to Jesus: ‘You are my very dear child; and I am delighted and pleased with you.’ If you have not heard that said to you before, try and say it with your own name at the beginning of the sentence, and hear God saying it to you, as he said it at your own baptism, and ever since.The beauty is also that through Jesus heaven has been opened to us too. It may be difficult to picture heaven from our place on earth; but it may help to see it as God’s space, in a dimension that we cannot yet reach but that is quite close, like the other side of the mirror and reality as we know it. At Jesus’ baptism, it’s as if an invisible curtain has been drawn back – as at his death, the curtain in the Temple was torn, indicating that a new reality had begun to dawn. It may take the whole story of Jesus, until after his resurrection, to explain, and it may take a life time for us to understand.It doesn’t matter. What matters most is that through Jesus we have a new perspective of life; a view of victory over sin and death, in the love of God in his Son Jesus Christ. God our Father is saying to us, over and over again:‘You are my child and I love you.’The Christian life is lived primarily by faith, not by sight. We may not understand it all, but we may put our trust in Jesus, as we continue on our walk on earth, so that we may also walk in heaven. Or, rather, run, and jump for joy, to our heart’s content! Amen.
