The Third Sunday after Epiphany
24 January 2021
The seventh Sunday after Trinity
26 July 2020
Which choice should we make?
Our decision to try to find somewhere to live in Kent led us to Charing, not so many miles from places where we had lived some years ago. What we did not know was how amazingly varied the walks are here. The lockdown with its permitted daily exercise provided such an opportunity to explore.
With our trusty Ordnance survey map we have been able to explore the local footpaths, going a little further each week. Which way shall we go today, we would ask ourselves. We have climbed up to the top of the North Downs along the path through the barley crop and found our way back down either via the Chalk Pits or by the Windmill. We have walked along the Pilgrim’s Way to Westwell and up around the Gliding Field and back down through the ancient wooded track near the quarry. We have walked to Warren Street of an evening and on one occasion seen an owl flit silently under the trees before returning to Charing along the Pilgrim’s Way. We have even walked to Stalisfield Green and to Stalisfield church. Over these months we have walked through the woods, through carpets of, firstly, wood anemones, then bluebells and now bracken and brambles as we wait to find out where the best blackberries are to be found.
It may be that, by the time you read this, lockdown will have been eased further. Most of us will be faced with an ever-widening array of choices, although some of us may still be unable to venture far. Our choices may relate to work, to the worrying situation of whether our job will still be there after furloughing ceases, and whether we can afford to continue to live in the same place as before. The choice may relate to health, to family, to travel or to when it is possible to get together again for whatever reason. Which choice should we make?
The closure of our churches has been a great sadness for many of us. Wondering whether to watch a service of worship on the television, on Youtube, locally through Zoom or simply reading our bible alone has been a dilemma.
Jesus says, “Follow me!”. But which way? How do we know if it is God’s way or our own way? A challenge for our prayers is to have an honest conversation with God to explore our own deepest longings and needs and to discover God’s desires for us as well. A little while ago, I found a wonderful book by John Ortberg, entitled “All the places to go; how will you know?” He describes how God frequently opens doors and invites us to walk through into the unknown. We may hesitate, we may make excuses but so often we find that, even over a long period of waiting, we still sense an overwhelming urge to follow the way that God is calling us. Few people have ever regretted going through a door which God has opened for them.
Revd. Marian Bond
The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
20 September 2020
Readings for July Sundays
5th July Trinity 4
Genesis 24. 34 – 38, 42 – 49, 58 - end Romans 7. 15 – 25a Matt. 11. 16 – 19, 25 - end
12th July Trinity 5
Genesis 25. 19 – end Romans 8. 1 - 11 Matt. 13. 1 – 9, 18 - 23
19th July Trinity 6
Genesis 28. 10 – 19a Romans 8. 12 - 25 Matt. 13. 24 – 30, 36 - 43
26th July Trinity 7
Genesis 29. 15 - 28 Romans 8. 26 – end Matt. 13. 31 – 33, 44 - 52
'Loving God, Serving Christ,
Growing the Church'
Archive of Services
The Third Sunday after Epiphany
24 January 2021
Almighty God,
whose Son revealed in signs and miracles
the wonder of your saving presence:
renew your people with your heavenly grace,
and in all our weakness
sustain us by your mighty power;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
(or)
God of all mercy,
your Son proclaimed good news to the poor,
release to the captives,
and freedom to the oppressed:
anoint us with your Holy Spirit
and set all your people free
to praise you in Christ our Lord.
Readings
Psalm 128
A Song of Ascents.
Happy is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways.
You shall eat the fruit of the labour of your hands;
you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
around your table.
Thus shall the man be blessed
who fears the Lord.
The Lord bless you from Zion.
May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
May you see your children’s children.
Peace be upon Israel!
Genesis 14: 7-20
Then they turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and subdued all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar. Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out, and they joined battle in the Valley of Siddim with King Chedorlaomer of Elam, King Tidal of Goiim, King Amraphel of Shinar, and King Arioch of Ellasar, four kings against five. Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits; and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some fell into them, and the rest fled to the hill country. So the enemy took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their provisions, and went their way; they also took Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, who lived in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.
Then one who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol and of Aner; these were allies of Abram. When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and routed them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. Then he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his nephew Lot with his goods, and the women and the people.
After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. He blessed him and said,
‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
maker of heaven and earth;
and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand!’
And Abram gave him one-tenth of everything.
Revelation 19: 6-10
Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunder-peals, crying out,
‘Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready;
to her it has been granted to be clothed
with fine linen, bright and pure’—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he said to me, ‘These are true words of God.’ Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, ‘You must not do that! I am a fellow-servant with you and your comrades who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’
John 2: 1-11
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.
The wedding at Cana
an analogy[1].
The story of the wedding in Cana is unique to John's Gospel, and is the first miracle of his book. There are key phrases that link it to the final miracle of Jesus' story, the resurrection. For example "on the third day"[2] and "my hour". This beginning and end frame the narrative of the gospel.
Weddings and faithfulness in marriage are regular ways of expressing the faithfulness of God towards his people, and the bond that holds them together[3]. This gospel writer uses similar language in chapter 3 when John the Baptist describes himself as a friend of the bridegroom, building on the idea that the messiah comes like a bride groom. Weddings signified a new identity for the bride and groom. Less obvious to us in a liberal modern world, marriages were often arranged to strengthen family bonds or even dynasties or kingdoms. This way they might avoid war and promote peace, trust, trade and prosperity. We are not given the identity of the couple getting married. We can sense that it is a big party and locally perhaps there is a lot invested in this match.
However, the family of one of them faces embarrassment and ostracism. The wine is running out. Bad planning, or is one of the partners responsible for providing the wine in some way impoverished, one wonders? Wine at a wedding feast symbolises joy, hospitality and good will. Terrible if these attributes are about to run out too.
In saving the occasion, Jesus asks for the water jars to be refilled "to the brim". These are the jars of water that had been used by the guests to wash according to religious as well as hygienic convention before engaging in the celebrations. In a way this acknowledges the Jewish acts of purification that was both a standard part of communal life, and the baptism led by John in the run up to the story. This implies that the old message of repentance still stands, encoded in the water for purification. But now something new and totally unexpected happens as the steward draws off the best wine. Gallons of it.
The gospel writer is prefiguring the unexpected, undeserved, exuberant joy that the reader will finally encounter in the resurrection of the Lord at the end of the gospel. The fundamental desire of a holy people is to be presented as pure before God. Our desire to be pure is fully acknowledged and not down-graded. The old ritual still stands as the jars are "filled to the brim". However we all too aware that human desire and intention are fragile and on their own will fail. Again and again we will stop, wash and wonder at our inadequacy. Shame and correction might seem inevitable.
The miracle, or "sign" as the gospel has it, ends very differently. Flowing from those ancient concerns with ritual and a desire for purity an unexpected joyous revelation bursts out. We are "free to worship him without fear" as we recite in Morning Prayer each day. Enabled by none other than the Messiah himself.
[1] Analogy does not prevent a story from being historically factual, but opens levels of interpretation that take us nearer to the mind of the author.
[2] Bethany and the lower Jordan are about 100 miles from Cana in the north of Galilee. Realistically not a journey of three days!
[3] See Jeremiah 33:10-11, 31-32, Isaiah 61: 10-11, Hosea 2: 16-19 and more.
Reflection
We might like to put ourselves into the story, or see in it others we know.
The un-named mother of Jesus clearly has a 6th sense for people who are vulnerable to ostracism. Why might that be? She is the first to spot the impending catastrophe. Has nobody else noticed! Are we attuned to the potential embarrassment or denigration of others? Individually or as a community or a church would you say we are sensitive to the disquiet of others or insensitive?
The party goers and certainly the chief steward seems blissfully unaware of the source of the unexpected best wine. Only the servants are in on the miracle. Are we able to witness to the source of the exuberant joy of life because we too are servants?
To whom do we turn when we become aware of life's inclusion, abundance and joy?
Mark Taylor. Reader, Calehill and Westwell