3rd Sunday of Epiphany

Readings: Genesis 14v17-20; Psalm 128; Revelation 19v6-10; John 2v1-11.

Let us pray: May the words of my mouth, and the thoughts and meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.

A Word: The gospel of John tells us many things about Jesus. It tells us that: even though Jesus did not think that the time to reveal his glory had come, his Mother had other ideas. It tells us that Jesus turned water into wine and that this miracle is counted as the first sign that Jesus is someone like no other.

In Revelation, we hear of a thunderous prayer of praise and thanksgiving being raised to God by a great multitude who know they are saved by the Lamb of God. This lamb is Jesus who lived and died to save us. The same lamb that the angel says invites to the marriage supper of the Lamb in heaven. All those who are invited are described by the angel as blessed because they worship God and hold onto the testimony of Jesus. For worship, being a people of prayer is important and for inspiration we can find all sorts of prayers in the Bible. For example, in Genesis we hear a prayer of blessing being made over Abram (who was later renamed Abraham, the Father of the Israelites). A blessing prayed over Abram by Melchizidek, a King and priest. Then in the psalm, we hear a prayer of blessing for all people who devote themselves to the Lord and faithfully walk in his ways.

From these readings we learn that if we want to be invited into heaven by the Lamb of God, we need to worship God, devote ourselves to the Lord, faithfully walk in God’s ways and get to know Jesus. A journey we make by learning about the content and meaning of the scriptures (The Bible), by saying our prayers, by gathering in worship whenever we can and by amending our lives so we walk more faithfully in God’s ways. This is a lifelong task, a journey we make as brothers and sisters, a journey that is God’s desire, the Church’s mission and ministry.

This is our calling, for as individuals we are loved by God and , as the Church - the people of God and Body of Christ, we are a company of servants sent out to serve the whole world through ministry, mission and service. For we are a people reaching out with the Lamb’s invitation, a people sent to gather in all who will come to him.

Let us pray: God of glory, Father of Jesus our Saviour, we give you thanks for sending your son, the light of the world to shine your light into our lives. Help us to read your word and to learn from scripture, so we can shine your light into the world and call others to worship and obey you, so we can all be renewed by the testimony of Jesus and invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Amen

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