Feast of the Presentation also known as Candlemas Readings: Malachi 3.1-5, Psalm 24.1-10, Hebrews 2.14-18, Luke 2.22-40 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. Amen A word: Forty days ago, we celebrated the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today the season of Christmas is drawn to its close on this Feast Day on which we recall the day that Jesus was presented in the Temple. At that time, the presentation of first-born sons and purification of the mothers was a deep-rooted custom. On this particular day, when this special child was brought to the temple to be presented, an old man was called by God to come and meet his Lord and saviour. A short while later, an old woman also came and gave witness that this was the one that God’s people were waiting for. Today, we present ourselves to God, just as Jesus was presented. Today we come forward for purification just as Mary was purified. Today we recognise Jesus is Lord and sing of his glory, just like Simeon and Anna did. Today, as we celebrate the joy of Jesus coming and look back to the day of his birth, we also look forward to the time of his passion and death, to save us all. Today, on the Feast of Candlemas, we change our attention and focus from the crib of the nativity and turn towards the cross of our salvation, by putting away our advent candles and Christmas decorations then preparing ourselves for the forthcoming season of Lent. Let us pray: Lord Jesus Christ, light of the nations and glory of Israel: make your home among us and present us pure and holy to your heavenly Father, your God, and ours. Amen
3rd Sunday of EpiphanyReadings: 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. AmenThank you for joining us.
2nd Sunday of Epiphany Readings: 1 Samuel 3v1-20; Psalm 139v1-5 & 12-18; Revelation 5v1-10; John 1v43-end. 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: I was away on holiday last Sunday and found myself thankful that the local Church faithfully holds worship at the same time week-by-week. I worshipped alongside a tiny congregation, served by a part-time priest who is soon to retire who work together to serve people unable to get to Church. I thought about the plight of this little Congregation and prayed they will be strengthened to fulfil God’s will. I had this prayer in mind as I read the appointed scriptures and realised how easy it is for those of us who are supposed to be God’s servants to fall short of what God wants from us. Take for example the reading from the Book of Samuel. In this we hear that even though the child Samuel was learning how to minister to the Lord in the temple under the direction of Eli, that Eli had not explained the scriptures to Samuel nor told him that God really does speak to people. I always feel rather surprised and perplexed by this because I thought that from the beginning that we were supposed to tell of God’s deeds and how God has helped his people. However, whilst Eli had fallen short, God had an important message for him, so God called Samuel and after Eli was woken up three times, Eli realised that the voice that Samuel heard was the voice of God and told Samuel to invite God to speak to him using the words: “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening”. I always think that as a child that Samuel did much better than his teacher Eli, for when God returned he had a message for Eli, that his family would be punished for blaspheming against God because Eli knew about the blaspheming and had not tried to stop them. Samuel went on to not only share this message from God with Eli but also to become respected by all Israel as a trustworthy prophet of the Lord. In the gospel we hear about two other people, one who seemed to get it right first time and one who initially got it all wrong. For in John, we hear that Philip believed that Jesus was the one foretold about in Moses and the prophets. Philip was so convinced that he not only followed Jesus when invited to do so but also went and told Nathanael about Jesus. However, when told about Jesus, Nathanael was not convinced but, in spite of his reservations, trusted Philip enough to go and see for himself. It was in this going to see for himself, that Nathanael found himself in the presence of someone who not only evaporated his scepticism but also inspired him to declare that Jesus was the King of Israel and Son of God. In our time, like the little congregation I worshipped with, it is our turn to try and serve God without making too many mistakes by learning from the scriptures and teaching others about God’s ways. For as we hear in the psalm, God knows us better than we know ourselves and God cares for and wants the best for us. And, as we hear in Revelation, a time is coming when scrolls will be opened in heaven, a time when the only one worthy to open the scrolls will be the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, the slaughtered Lamb of God, the one who ransomed saints from every tribe, people, language and nation; and made them into a kingdom of priests serving God. I pray that all people in all congregations will do our best to be God’s servants in this world. For we are loved by God and God gave his only Son for us, so that we could be rescued, transformed and renewed as a Kingdom of Priests in God’s kingdom. Let us pray: God of glory, the living Word and Bread of Life, fill us with your Holy Spirit and by your grace transform and renew our lives, so that we shine as light in the worlds and make known your heavenly glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen. Thank you for joining us.
We are a small Church with a big heart lead by 4 part-time women and a strong Parochial Church Council (PCC). For those of you who do not yet know us: Lucy is our priest in charge; Carmen and Michelle are our Readers; supported by Martin, a pastoral carer (amongst many other roles he fulfils). During 2023, after her husband died, our SSM priest Margaret moved to Portsmouth and is now nearer family. Barbara, our SSM Curate, successfully completed her curacy and was not only serving our Parish but also supporting Holy Trinity, Birchfield.
