SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY
SUNDAY 15TH JANUARY 2023
OPENING SENTENCE OF SCRIPTURE
“I love to do your will.”
HYMN
GREETING
Grace and peace to you from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
COLLECT FOR PURITY
Almighty God,
to whom all hearts are open,
all desires known,
and from whom no secrets are hidden:
cleanse the thoughts of our hearts
by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit,
that we may perfectly love you,
and worthily magnify your holy name;
through Christ our Lord. Amen.
SUMMARY OF THE LAW
Our Lord Jesus Christ said: The first commandment is this:
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the only Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength.”
The second is this: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” There is no other commandment greater than these. Amen. Lord, have mercy.
CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION
God is love and we are God’s children. There is no room for fear in love. We love because God loved us first.
Let us confess our sins in penitence and faith.
SILENCE
God our Father,
we confess to you
and to our fellow members in the Body of Christ
that we have sinned in thought, word and deed,
and in what we have failed to do.
We are truly sorry.
Forgive us our sins,
and deliver us from the power of evil,
for the sake of your Son who died for us, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
ABSOLUTION
God, who is both power and love,
forgive you and free you from your sins,
heal and strengthen you by the Holy Spirit,
and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen.
GLORIA sung by Sue St Joseph
COLLECT
Almighty and eternal God,
ruler of heaven and earth;
mercifully hear the prayers of your people,
and grant your peace to our times;
through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end. Amen
PROCLAIMING & RECEIVING GOD’S WORD
FIRST READING: ISAIAH 49:1-7 read by Margaret Morton
The Servant’s Mission
Listen to me, O coastlands;
pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The Lord called me before I was born;
while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.
He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”
But I said, “I have laboured in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with the Lord
and my reward with my God.”
And now the Lord says,
who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honoured in the sight of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength—
he says,
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Thus says the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
the slave of rulers,
“Kings shall see and stand up;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
SILENCE
SECOND READING 1 CORINTHIANS 1, 1-9 read by Peter Boreham
I Corinthians 1:1-9
Salutation
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the partnership of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
GRADUAL HYMN
GOSPEL READING John 1:29-50 read by Rev Ann Wren
Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St John chapter 1 beginning at verse 29
Glory to Christ our Saviour
The Lamb of God
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Chosen One.”
The First Disciples of Jesus
The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.”
Give thanks to the Lord for his glorious Gospel
Praise to Christ our Lord.
SERMON
Have you ever watched the TV programme the Apprentice. It is about a group of aspiring businessmen and women competing for the chance to win a fantastic career opportunity to work as an apprentice for Alan Sugar, a business magnate. Each week tasks are given and performances assessed, resulting each week in one person being fired until the end is reached and the winner is hired.
Today in our Gospel reading Jesus is looking for apprentices. He longs for apprentices or disciples to be involved in building his kingdom and he goes out in search of them. He encounters, first of all, Andrew and his companion. As he is passing them by, when John the Baptist points out to them: “Look the Lamb of God.” John is certainly suggesting that Jesus is no ordinary individual. He has a specific ministry and mission to perform. Consequently, John has further piqued Andrew and his friend’s curiosity and so they decided to follow Jesus and see what they can see for themselves. Jesus is conscious of their pursuit and turns and asks them – what do you want from me or as some other versions say: what are you looking for?
It’s an excellent question- what are you looking for? As you can imagine, that question stops them in their tracks. They are not sure how to answer it. How would you answer that question? What are you looking for in life – health, money, popularity, status, power, a partner to share your life with, a better job, a sense of meaning. What are you looking for? It is a critical question to answer and to keep answering at every stage of our journey through life. What are you looking for? If our answer to that question involves things like: a connection with God, a deeper relationship with that holy mystery that gives life meaning; if it involves a search for the truth, then what must we do? Andrew and his disciple help us in this regard.
They have the right idea in mind when Jesus poses the question but their response is not explicit. Instead of responding to the question, Andrew and the other disciple’s ask Jesus a question. Where are you staying? At first glance this seems a strange question, but when you consider it more, you realise that what they are saying is something like this: “Can I hang out with you, live with you, watch you and learn from you?” They are trying to ascertain what makes Jesus tick and if they should follow him. They spend the day with Jesus and they are left in no doubt at the end of their stay that Jesus is the Messiah, and Andrew immediately seeks out his brother Peter to break this astounding news to him.
To discover Jesus as the Messiah, we need to spend quality time with him. We need to come and see. What are you looking for this year? Jesus is looking for disciples/ apprentices who are committed to him and are willing to grow deeper in their faith and share that faith with others. Jesus’ search continues today for apprentices or disciples. In the second part of our gospel reading, we see Jesus looking for disciples on his way to Galilee. He has his eyes fixed on a man called Philip from the fishing community of Bethsaida. Jesus choses Philip. To be chosen is special. Let me give you an illustration that highlights this.
A man worked for his company for many years. He was a diligent worker who arrived on time, was careful about his work, and pit in that extra effort when needed. He wasn’t showy and did not draw attention to himself; he just worked hard. One day the president of the company called him into his office. Everybody dreaded being called into his office because it usually meant you did something wrong. The worker couldn’t figure out what he had done wrong. We are beginning a new project, the president said and I want you to be in charge of it for me? I mean I’m really flattered, the worker answered but why me? I have been watching you for some time and you are the person we need. You commit yourself to a job and make sure it is done right. I’d like you to begin next month. Yes, I am honoured but then the man was having second thoughts- am I really able to handle a project this big? Will I be able to do enough to make this happen? Then a little later he thought to himself-if the boss believes I can do this, then I probably can. He’s the boss- he’s a smart man. He’s the one who has lots of experience and makes good decisions, why should I think that he wouldn’t make a good decision about me? The boss’s confidence convinced the worker he was capable of the job and the boss was right –he did a very effective job! God has chosen us; like that worker we can trust God who knows a lot more about these things than we do, to choose the right person. We are encouraged to trust God’s decision about us. We are chosen and entrusted with his work.
We are called by God. Sometimes God believes in us more than we believe in ourselves. God has chosen us. God has called us to work with him to strengthen God’s kingdom. God believes in us and calls on us to help in God’s mission in the world. Think of it; the creator of the universe, the one who made everything from the tiniest atom to the most distant star wants your help. The Lord of Life has chosen you as a co-worker. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit…” It’s not so much that we select God as God selects us. We have been chosen by God.
God chose Philip and he chose you and me. Once he chooses us, he calls us to be part of his team and he has some plan and purpose for us. To Philip he says: follow me. Philip does. I suspect this was not the first encounter Philip had with Jesus, but rather he had met him before and from previous encounters, Philip was attracted to Jesus and so he became a member of Jesus’ team.
Philip immediately plays his part in the team- no hesitation there-no holding back- commitment shines through. He goes and finds Nathanael and tells him we have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nazareth! There is a contagious enthusiasm in Philip- he has discovered something so precious and significant he can’t keep it to himself. It is for sharing. He is totally committed.
Nathanael is quite sceptical. He cannot believe anything good could come out of Nazareth. We see here tribal town rivalry. People prejudiced against the neighbouring town. No amount of arguments of theological, social or political are going to change Nathanael’s mind and here we see the wisdom of Philip-he does not engage in debate but simply says: “come and see.” Sometimes what folks need to hear from us is not huge arguments and debates but simply an invitation to come to our worship service- come and see! They say that many would love to come to church but few are invited and fewer still are accompanied to church.
It was said that Billy Graham was invited to drive a truck of people to a gospel meeting. Initially he refused to go but agreed to drive. It was because of this invitation that Billy Graham became a follower of Christ and had the same commitment and contagious enthusiasm for Jesus as Philip had.
Philip manages to get Nathanael to come. Jesus says: here is a true Israelite in whom there is nothing false. Curiosity is raised in Nathanael: How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” The truth in this statement and the fact that Jesus sees raw potential in Nathaniel leads Nathanael to a great confession of faith-Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel.” Jesus then tells Nathanael that this is just the commencement of great things and the adventure has just begun- more is to come. You shall see greater things than that.” He then added, “I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Nathanael changes and becomes a follower of Jesus.
So today we are reminded that we are chosen and called by God as his disciples and we are urged to share our contagious enthusiasm for Christ and our commitment to him with others. We are to arouse in others a curiosity about Jesus that leads us to say come and see. Who this week will, you and I invite to come and see Jesus in our homes, work places and church? God has chosen you for this task- why because he knows your heart and you have the gifting! Amen
THE CREED
We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one substance with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father.
With the Father and the Son,
he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
PRAYERS
Living God,
we praise you for all that is good
and precious in human life,
the value,
the potential,
and uniqueness of every individual.
Lord in your mercy
Reach out in love.
Compassionate God,
we pray for all whose humanity is abused and exploited
remembering especially victims of violence, torture and rape.
We ask for help for all who suffer from addiction
that they might find the support and courage to break free.
We turn our thoughts to those
who live under corrupt and oppressive regimes,
and ask that they might know freedom and justice.
Lord in your mercy
Reach out in love.
God of love,
we pray for those
whose humanity is diminished by prejudice and discrimination,
and are subjected to insults, intimidation, hatred and suspicion.
We ask that as we are all made in your image,
and are precious in your sight,
that all are treated with due dignity and respect.
Lord in your mercy
Reach out in love.
God of all wisdom,
we pray for those denied the chance to fulfil their potential,
whether through lack of education,
insufficient resources,
limited opportunities,
or a denial of their human rights.
Open doors and create new horizons for them.
Lord in your mercy
Reach out in love.
God of peace, we pray today
for those whose lives are blighted by war and hostilities.
We think especially of the people of Ukraine
and pray fervently for an end to war.
Bring comfort to all who mourn.
Watch over the orphans,
and help them find new homes.
Bless the Ukrainian president
and give him courage in these days.
Help us to support the people of Ukraine
in whatever ways we can,
remembering that little in your hands
is multiplied and becomes much.
Lord in your mercy
Reach out in love.
God of all healing,
we give thanks for answered prayer
and for those who have received your healing touch.
We pray for those who are battling against sickness and disease,
unable to live life to the full
and fearful of what the future may hold.
Draw near and give them the healing
and strength they need.
Lord in your mercy
Reach out in love.
God of new life, we pray for those
who mourn the death of a loved one,
and suddenly find life stripped of meaning and joy.
Comfort and uphold them in these days
and may they know your peace.
Lord in your mercy
Reach out in love.
God of all wisdom, teach us your ways,
Help us to lean and trust in you
with all our being and with all that we have,
that as we journey with you this year,
we might be filled with zeal for your name and glory. Amen
Merciful Father accept these prayers for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those+
who sin against us.
Do not bring us
to the time of trial+
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power
and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.
BLESSING
Christ the Son of God gladden your hearts with the good news of his kingdom; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen.
HYMN
DISMISSAL
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord
In the name of Christ. Amen
