The 2nd Sunday before Lent

We welcome you to our Sunday online written service this Second Sunday in Lent. Rev Jake Dejonge leads us in worship and we offer prayers, readings and music. Today we have woken to a white world – a blanket of snow has transformed our world. Keep warm, keep safe and enjoy our beautiful world.

Opening Collect

Almighty God,
you have created the heavens and the earth
and made us in your own image:
teach us to discern your hand in all your works
and your likeness in all your children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who with you and the Holy Spirit reigns supreme over all things,
now and for ever. Amen.

Readings

Old TestamentReading: Proverbs 8: 1, 22-31
New Testament Reading: Colossians 1: 15-20
Gospel Reading: John 1: 1-14

The Sermon

What day is it then on Sunday, that is what I wondered when I read through today’s readings in the past week in preparation for writing this reflection.

The gospel reading suggests it is Christmas Day, does not it; at the Christmas midnight service we would have read about the birth of Jesus in the stable, of the angels singing Gloria in Excelsis Deo and of the shepherds leaving their sheep in the fields and go to look for the new born lying in a manger.

And on Christmas morning St. John’s deeply theological words would sound: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … And the Word became flesh and lived among us ….

Now are the workings of a Church Lectionary and the divisions of a liturgical year not always easy to grasp. Today is Sunday 7 February; last Tuesday, 2nd February, was the feast day of The Presentation of Christ in the Temple, which we observed last Sunday. This feast day, 2nd February, is the liturgical conclusion of the Christmas season; 40 days of Christmas with babe in the manger, and angels and shepherds, wise men from the East and the presentation of the new born as a child under the law, the law of the covenant of God with his people.

40 days is often mentioned in the Bible (and other holy books) to indicate important periods: 40 years in the wilderness for the Israelites to reach the promised land; Jesus was in the desert being tempted by the devil for 40 days; after his resurrection Jesus walked on earth for 40 days, Easter Day to Ascension Day, etc. etc..

In the Church we have 40 days of Lent, 40 days of Christmas and 40 days of Easter.

And the 40 days of Lent start with Ash Wednesday, that is in 10 days’ time.

So, we are rather ‘in between’, so to speak, five days out of the Christmas season and 10 days before the start of a new season, the season of Lent.

We may be ’in between’, but where we do begin, then?

Well, “In the beginning”, of course, as John’s gospel does and with these words he takes us to the opening words of the whole Bible, Genesis 1, ‘In the beginning God …’ and the first thing we learn about God: that he is a creator.

For the first century readers of the gospel, their attention would have been drawn instinctively to the opening words, ‘In the beginning.’ These are also the first words of Genesis 1, which introduce us to the first thing we learn about God, as I said: that He is a creator. But John introduces an astounding development (for a Jew) to this traditional belief. God created with the help of ‘the Word’ (v.3). This Word was not only with God in the very beginning (v.1, 2) but was God’s own Self, (v.1) ‘very God, begotten not created’.

The ‘Word’ was a Greek philosophical concept, which generally referred to a rational principle, universal law, or Reason that governed or underpinned all of reality. But it was also a term used in the Old Testament for divine revelation, the ‘word of the Lord’. God desires to make Himself known, and therefore speaks to us. But John takes both these backgrounds and transcends them, infusing the concept of the ‘Word’ with something uniquely Christian. The Word became flesh and lived among us and people called him Jesus.

The reading from Proverbs 8 introduces us to another partner with God in creation, Wisdom. This is not an actual person but a personification of an attribute of God. A fundamental belief about God is His simplicity; whatever is in God is God. Another way of putting it is that God is His goodness, is His love, is his wisdom, etc. Therefore all of God’s creative acts are absolutely wise, reflecting his providential order (vv.27-29). St. Paul alludes to this wisdom tradition in today’s second reading, Colossians 1, where Jesus is referred to as ‘the firstborn of all creation’ (v.15).

We can pass over the even more extraordinary claim that John makes later in the introduction. That this divine Word, that was with God at the very beginning of creation, who was his partner and equal to him in every way, who sustains all things purely by his word; was born a human being and lived among us (John 1.14)!

Jesus is the living embodiment of God’s glory, the perfect expression of his wisdom, his love, his goodness (Col 1.15, 19), who, through his birth, creates a new and decisive moment in history.

That of itself would be miraculous enough, but the reason for Jesus becoming incarnate is even more glorious. Jesus became human in order to make all those who believed in him ‘children of God’ (v.12), ‘to reconcile all things in creation to Himself’ (Col 1.20). The incarnation of Jesus was God’s ultimate message (i.e. his ‘Word’) to us that not only does he love us; he desires to be reunited with us, to adopt us as his children and recreate us in the image of his Son.

God’s Word; And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

But this is not just a message spoken once in the past, but a message that still speaks today.

The same God whose creative Word became flesh and lived among us, and, as we shall celebrate at Easter, who raised that Word to life from death, that same God is still speaking today; how will we respond? God is speaking … are we listening? Are we allowing ourselves to be touched, to be surprised by that same God?

Let us try. Everyday again. And be surprised by the beauty and greatness of the God who wants to be close to us in love and life, also in difficult times of corona and loneliness.

God has spoken, from the beginning; God speaks every day and he wants to be heard.
Are you listening? And how will you respond?

AMEN.

Intercessions

Let us pray to Christ the Lord, the sun who enlightens all people, whose light will never fail us.

Lord of the sun and the stars, we thank you for the gift of a new day; looking forward to celebrate the day of resurrection.

Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer

Lead us by your Spirit to do your will, guide and protect us by your wisdom.

Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer

May your Church be a light to the world, a sign and a source of your power to unite all. Grant us your love, and your peace.

Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer

Help us to bring your compassion to the poor, the sick, the lonely and the unloved. Help us all to find you in the coming week.

Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer

Help us to be considerate and kind, grant that we may bring your joy to those we meet.
Dwell with us, and work with us this week.

Merciful Father
accept these prayers
for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.

The Anthem and Hymn

The anthem for Sunday is: Vox Christy – Philip Wilby

The hymn is: NEH 390 – Jesus where’er thy people meet

Let us Pray

Closing Prayer

Christ the Sun of Righteousness shine upon you, scatter the darkness from before your path, and make you ready to meet him when he comes in glory; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always.
Amen.

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
In the name of Christ. Amen.