Morning Service for Epiphany 3 2024

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February 13, 2024

We use symbols to show things that we may not say; do the Christmas presents we have received and given recently say something – as a child I used to receive knitted woollen light grey socks each Christmas from my aunt who was well off – but did the socks say I like you, my only nephew, so much that I will spend hours knitting for you? For some people, who could not see beyond the physical, they would only be socks.

Morning Service for Epiphany 3 2024

HYMN – Lord the word abideth NEH 407 Ravenshaw

1 Lord, thy word abideth,

And our footsteps guideth;

Who its truth believeth,

Light and joy receiveth.

2 When our foes are near us,

Then thy word doth cheer us,

Word of consolation,

Message of salvation.

3 When the storms are o’er us,

And dark clouds before us,

Then its light directeth,

And our way protecteth.

4 Who can tell the pleasure,

Who recount the treasure

By thy word imparted

To the simple-hearted?

5 Word of mercy, giving

Succour to the living;

Word of life, supplying

Comfort to the dying.

6 O that we discerning

Its most holy learning,

Lord, may love and fear thee,

Evermore be near thee!

PRAYER OF PREPARATION
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

PRAYERS OF PENITENCE

Christ the light of the world has come to dispel the darkness of our hearts. In his light let us examine ourselves and confess our sins.
Lord of grace and truth, we confess our unworthiness
to stand in your presence as your children.
We have sinned:

Forgive and heal us.

The Virgin Mary accepted your call to be the mother of Jesus.
Forgive our disobedience to your will.
We have sinned:
Forgive and heal us.

The wise men followed the star to find Jesus the King.
Forgive our reluctance to seek you.
We have sinned:
Forgive and heal us.

Your Son our Saviour in humility accepted the baptism of John.
Forgive our pride and rejection of your ways.
We have sinned:
Forgive and heal us.

At a wedding in Cana Jesus changed water into wine.
Forgive our failure to let your transforming presence change us.
We have sinned:
Forgive and heal us.

May the God of love and power

forgive you and free you from your sins,

heal and strengthen you by his Spirit

and raise you to new life in Christ our Lord. Amen

THE COLLECT

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. Amen

FIRST READING – Revelation 19.6-10

Then I heard what sounded like the voice of a vast throng, like the roar of many waters and like loud crashes of thunder. They were shouting: “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the All-Powerful, reigns! Let us rejoice and exult and give him glory, because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. She was permitted to be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen” (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints).

Then the angel said to me, “Write the following: Blessed are those who are invited to the banquet at the wedding celebration of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These are the true words of God.” So I threw myself down at his feet to worship him, but he said, “Do not do this! I am only a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

HYMN Jesu the very thought of thee NEH 385 – St Botolph

1 Jesus, the very thought of thee

With sweetness fills my breast;

But sweeter far thy face to see,

And in thy presence rest.

2 Nor voice can sing, nor heart can frame,

Nor can the memory find,

A sweeter sound than thy blest name,

O Saviour of mankind!

3 O hope of every contrite heart,

O joy of all the meek,

To those who fall, how kind thou art!

How good to those who seek!

4 But what to those who find? Ah, this

Nor tongue nor pen can show;

The love of Jesus, what it is

None but his loved ones know.

5 Jesu, our only joy be thou,

As thou our prize wilt be;

Jesus, be thou our glory now,

And through eternity.

GOSPEL – John 2.1-11

Now on the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. Jesusʼ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran out, Jesusʼ mother said to him, “They have no wine left.” Jesus replied, “Woman, why are you saying this to me? My time has not yet come.” His mother told the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.”

Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washing, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, “Fill the water jars with water.” So they filled them up to the very top. Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the head steward,” and they did. When the head steward tasted the water that had been turned to wine, not knowing where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), he called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the cheaper wine when the guests are drunk. You have kept the good wine until now!” Jesus did this as the first of his miraculous signs, in Cana of Galilee. In this way he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

SERMON – Dr Keith Atton

“May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be now and always acceptable in Your sight, O Lord our Strength and our Redeemer.”

The prayer I have just used is not to be taken literally; yes, the words came out of my mouth but they and any meditations which follow do not come from the heart – once seen as the seat of the emotions – but from the brain. In daily life we paint word pictures. The one that springs to mind is “as cool as a cucumber”. A good idea, yet all cucumbers are not cool and humans are nothing like a cucumber.

In church we use symbols so frequently that they pass us by without giving it a second thought. However, they can always be taken literally which causes great confusion and disagreement. During Advent, our service included this prayer at “The Preparation of the Table”

As the grain once scattered in the fields, and the grapes once dispersed on the hillside are now reunited on this table in bread and wine …..

The original inspiration comes from The Didache, a handbook for the first Christians, (9.4) where the grain was once scattered over the mountains. According to the theologian O’Loughlin some experts, mainly French, have sought to find which mountains are being referred to. But, in fact, this is clearly a poetic description, corresponding to no actual mountains, which is fortunate for they have failed to find them!

Our gospel reading tells of extraordinary events. It is the first of seven miracles which are presented as signs as to who Jesus was in John’s gospel. But is it literally accurate? Possibly? To some extent? Does it have symbolic meanings? Yes – to give a few examples:

Jesus supplies our needs, just as He did the wine, Jesus transforms us, just as He did the wine, the six jars for the water of purification stand for the religion before Jesus; they are one short of perfection, seven as in seven days of the week, the wine after the miracle (the new dispensation of Jesus) is recognised as better than the wine served first ( the Old Testament religion before Jesus coming).

Our reading from Revelation is even more clearly full of symbols, one of which is explained in the text. The Bible is not like the manual for my car. it is like literature, especially poetry. If it could be proved that, in the book I am reading -Paul Theroux’s classic, “The Great Railway Bazaar” the characters he meet early on – Duffill and Moulsworth – never existed that would not cause me to throw the book away shouting “it’s a lie”. If it happened that archaeologists dug to find the site of the events in the Good Samaritan story and they concluded that the victim was not going from Jerusalem to Jericho, but from Jericho to Jerusalem that would not make the story of no value; if they could prove that there were more than three people mentioned on the road at that time, this would be irrelevant. Since we are still in the Epiphany season, the three gifts reported to have been brought to Jesus by the wise men are clearly symbols.

Over time the metaphors lose their original symbolic meaning, which presents a problem. Some wish to cling onto the old symbols, but that is dangerous because our faith can easily be seen as not relevant to the world of today, when I would want to argue it is just as relevant as it was two thousand years ago. In an age of space travel the idea of God in the highest heaven does not work well; it belongs to a different cosmology. The idea of incense rising to heaven makes no sense.

Our challenge is to find an acceptable way to translate metaphor and symbol into new words or new deeds that communicate to the world in which we are now and to use and explain symbols from an earlier age so that they speak to the world of today.

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH

Let us declare our faith in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Christ died for our sins
in accordance with the scriptures;
he was buried;
he was raised to life on the third day
in accordance with the scriptures;
afterwards he appeared to his followers,
and to all the apostles:
this we have received,
and this we believe. Amen.
1 Corinthians 15.3-7

HYMN From the eastern mountains NEH 50 – Evelyns

1 From the eastern mountains

Pressing on they come,

Wise men in their wisdom,

To his humble home;

Stirred in deep devotion,

Hasting from afar,

Ever journeying onward,

Guided by a star.

2 There their Lord and Saviour

As an infant lay,

Wondrous light that led them

Onward on their way,

Ever now to lighten

Nations from afar,

As they journey homeward

By that guiding star.

3 Thou who in a manger

Once hast lowly lain,

Who dost now in glory

O’er all kingdoms reign,

Gather in the peoples,

Who in lands afar

Ne’er have seen the brightness

Of thy guiding Star.

4 Gather in the outcasts,

All who’ve gone astray,

Throw thy radiance o’er them,

Guide them on their way;

Those who never knew thee,

Those who’ve wandered far,

Lead them by the brightness

Of thy guiding Star.

5 Onward through the darkness

Of the lonely night,

Shining still before them

With thy kindly light,

Guide them, Jew and Gentile,

Homeward from afar,

Young and old together,

By thy guiding Star.

6 Until every nation,

Whether bond or free,

‘Neath thy star-lit banner,

Jesu, follows thee,

O’er the distant mountains

To that heavenly home

Where nor sin nor sorrow

Evermore shall come.

INTERCESSIONS – Dr Keith Atton

O Lord, we pray for your church throughout the world especially in those areas where the Church is persecuted. We pray for the Church of England that it may be true to Jesus’ gospel of love and forgiveness. We pray for William and all members who belong to the congregations of our benefice.