Sunday Worship on the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany
Welcome to our Worship on the third Sunday after Epiphany. At present both churches in Leesfield Parish are closed for Public Worship, but you're most welcome to join us for worship at home. You'll find everything you need to do that here on this page.
We'll also be sharing recorded services from the Church of England, and St Barnabas & Holy Trinity on our facebook page - Leesfield Parish
Our first hymn today is "New Every Morning Is The Love"
Today's Gospel -
Mark 1:14-20
After John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.
Reflection -
Writing a reflection is often a welcome break from the other distractions of life, particularly work. It’s a time to put on some relaxing background music and think more deeply about the significance of the scripture that is set in the Church’s calendar. It does of course also involve reading related material but usually after a couple of hours or so thoughts start to coalesce into something that makes sense, (well to myself at least). Some weeks are harder than others especially when the readings are fairly short – there doesn’t seem much to get your teeth into. This week I feel quite fortunate, because as soon as I read this familiar Gospel passage ideas immediately jumped in to my mind.
The main reason being because I’ve spent quite a lot of time this week looking at recruitment. I was asked by a colleague to use my expertise to help him recruit some new staff. My starting point was to work with him to start drawing up a job description. What exactly does the role entail? What skills, knowledge, capability and experience do you want? Are there any professional qualifications needed?
What about other attributes, stakeholder management, communications and leadership skills? Then there will be the background and probity checks to think about. All this before you then pass it to Human Resources to approve that you’ve followed all the employment rules. That’s before we’ve even started to review any CVs and start the interview process which will inevitably have to be done by Zoom.
This seems so important, not just so that we recruit the best person for the job but also so that people who want to apply can assess whether the role is the right one for them. Will they enjoy the job? Will they be able to do it and will it give them the next challenge to look forward to?
Yet, here is Jesus, right the beginning of his ministry recruiting his disciples; the key people who will be responsible for continuing to spread the word of God, to pick up where heknows he will leave off and preach the message of Good News and the need to repent.
Jesus hasn’t prepared a job description and had it signed off by the HR department. Rather he moves along shore of Galilee, amongst dozens of fishermen, and picks Simon, James, Andrew and John. There is no evidence that he knew them already, they were just ordinary hard-working fishermen. If they had prepared a CV it would simply have read; “I live here and fish with my friends and family”.
Jesus picked ordinary people like you and me. Not wealthy, super intelligent or in positions of power. Moreover, like you and me they were not perfect. They sometimes hesitated to follow, questioned and misunderstood him and one even betrayed him. Probably not the best candidate, you could argue.
Similar to our reading last week, like Philip and Nathaniel, they didn’t hesitate to follow Jesus without so much as a second thought. They left their family and livelihoods for an uncertain future with no idea what they were letting themselves in for. We don’t know if they had heard him at the synagogue, but it is obvious that the call to Peter, Andrew, James and John is clearly an absolutely compelling invitation into a relationship with Jesus. “Follow me”: be with me, get to know me, enjoy my friendship. But also, share my mission. “I will make you fish for people”: you will teach and preach, heal and serve, as I do.
That is the same call that Jesus makes to each and every one of us. To be a Christian - someone who has a personal relationship with Jesus. He calls us all to be disciple sirrespective of our background, ability or imperfections. He asks each of us to use our talents to support his Church and love those around us.
What an honour and a privilege! Lord, may I answer your call to support your ongoing mission to spread the Good News, and accept the responsibility to do more for Christ’s kingdom?
Our Prayers -
Lord, you call the disciples to follow you and share in your mission.
May nothing hinder me from generously responding to your daily call to follow you.
Gracious Christ,
you came to the fishermen when the prophet John was taken away.
Come to us now, as we fear losses of our own.
Grant us courage to cast aside the nets that bind us,
to follow you into true freedom and newness of life.
Help us to be faithful disciples,
that we might inspire others to follow in your ways.
Amen
Our final hymn for today is "Will You Come And Follow Me If I But Call Your Name"
