2nd Sunday before Lent

Readings: Proverbs 8v1&22-31; Psalm 104v26-end; Colossians 1v15-20; John 1v1-14.

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 readings in Proverbs tells us about God’s son, God’s first creation. Proverbs tells us that God’s first creation was with God from the beginning and was there before the creation of earth. This is the son who saw everything, that was created in heaven and on earth, being created. The son who was alongside God rejoicing at creation and delighting in the human race.

The psalm is a song of praise to the creator of all things on earth. It is a prayer of thanks to God: for making the land and the earth; for making creatures large and small and beyond all number; and for giving life, food and good things to all creation. It is a song and prayer that reminds us that: it is by the spirit of God that we are given life, and that when God recalls his spirit, we die and return to dust.

The Gospel reading from John tells us about the promised Messiah’s entry into earth. John tells us that this is the one who was with God in the beginning, who was there at the time of creation, who is the Word who gives life and light to all people and who has the power to make, all those who receive and believe him, into the children of God. For God the Father’s only son, the word who became flesh and lived here on earth; is the Messiah, the one named Jesus who is full of grace and truth and who has shown us his father’s glory.

The letter to the Colossians tells us that Jesus is the Christ. The one who shows us the image of God, because He is the first born of all creation; the one through whom all things were made, the one for whom all things were created; and the one in whom all things are held together. For Christ is the one in whom the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. The one through whom God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things on earth and in heaven, through the power of the cross on which Jesus died. The one, who as the first born from the dead, brings peace between humankind and God. The one who is the head of the body here on earth, the body we call the Church.

In combination, these readings tell us that the promised Messiah is the Christ, the Son of God, the one with his father from the beginning, the one who came into the world to die for us, the one and only Saviour of the world.

Let us pray: Almighty God, creator of all things, teach us to see you in all that you have made, and to recognise you in all your children. We thank you for the gift of life, we thank you for your gift of salvation, we thank you for your body - the Church. Guide us this day, so that we can be transformed by our Saviour’s cross and made into new creations as the children of God. So that when the day comes for our spirits to be called back, be can be welcomed to enjoy the delights of heaven. Amen

Thank you for joining us.