Christians across the world are now keeping the season of Lent. For many people, Lent is six weeks of trying to give up alcohol or chocolate. In recent years, the Church has also suggested that people do something new as well as give something up, perhaps finding time to read the Bible more regularly or to join a Bible-study group, maybe making an effort to walk more instead of using the car, or giving generously to charity, and so on.

But, if we are to keep Lent seriously, it has to be about more than giving something up or taking something on. Lent is about a time of penance and preparation for the great celebration of Easter. It’s a time of self-discipline and of recognising our total dependence on God.

If we are going to take something on or give something up, it is important that we ask ourselves why we are doing it. By abstaining from things we enjoy, we are, in the words of Timothy Radcliffe, “brought back to our deepest desires, for peace and justice, for the fullness of life and ultimately for God”.

Lent is not mainly about denying oneself but about growing in faith and devotion to God. By allowing other things in life to take a less important role for a period, we are able to concentrate more on allowing God to take first place in our lives. Many Christians see Lent as a time of trying to live more simply so that our dependence on God can be seen more clearly. There are few things that we cannot live without, but often the clutter of our daily lives leads us to investing in things the worth which is due to God.

The word “Lent” comes from Anglo-Saxon, meaning Spring. Through observing Lent, we can bring Spring to our lives, for when we lay aside the inessentials, we can allow the breath of God to sweep through us and rejuvenate us. The seasons of the Church’s year help us to recognise where the true source of our life comes from, and to gain an abundance of life that we otherwise fail to see.

I wish you all a life-filled Lent.
Sarah

Deuteronomy 26.1-11; Romans 10.8b-13; Luke 4.1-13

At first sight, the temptations of Jesus might not seem to have much to do with us. Not many of us are really tempted to turn stones into bread, or to worship the devil or throw ourselves from the top of a tall building.

If we look at Jesus’s response to the three temptations placed in front of him, we can get more of an idea about how they might affect us.

If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.

Jesus responds “One does not live by bread alone.” He is quoting from the book of Deuteronomy, about the time when Israel spent 40 years wandering around the wilderness.
In those times, they Israelites made the wrong decisions; underlying this story is the theological point that where they got it wrong, Jesus is getting it right.

First, the Israelites, having left Egypt, moaned that they had nothing to eat, that they would rather have died in Egypt than escape. So God sent manna and quails for them, and provided for their needs. They were to gather only what they needs; anything left over became wormy and was of no use.

They moaned about the manna, but God had supplied their needs. Life was not to be ordered by their preferences, but by God.

The Israelites had become fixated on what they wanted and had failed to realise that God had already provided for them.

I think in our day and age this temptation of desire is a very real one. What people see as essentials in life has become equated with what they want. Possessions and belongings have taken on a greater significance than is necessary. People become fixated by the things they think they need - the latest wide-screen TV; computer technology; children have to have the latest toys - often expensive ones; and we seem unable to be happy with what we have.

What we need and what we want have become as one. I have found it interesting that in the past fortnight or so, politicians have finally begun speaking out and saying that money is not the be-all-and-end-all of life. Of course, a certain level of income is important so that children and others have enough to eat and drink and a home in which to live, but much of what we are depriving them of is our time, our example and our care.

It’s always humbling for me when I see or hear people who live in truly poor conditions who are happy and able to be thankful to God for what they have, rather than constantly hankering after more, which sadly so many of us do.

As we search for greater wealth, we lose sight of the fact that all that we have comes ultimately from God. We make ourselves the creators of our well-being, and we fail to acknowledge our dependence on God.

If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.

Jesus responds “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.” Jesus’s response comes from a passage talking about other gods.

If you remember, the Israelites became fed up when Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the law from God. They decided to make another god for themselves, since they decided that Moses had disappeared. So they built the golden calf.

God had rescued them from Egypt but their quality of life hadn’t, in their view, improved much since they’d had their freedom - so much for the old God, let’s try a new one.

The devil was offering Jesus worldly power and glory. How tempting that is! How tempting it is to want others to think well of us, to want others to honour us! The cult of celebrity does just that - it gives worldly honour and glory to people; it makes gods of things other than God.

It’s not always easy to live against the expectations of others. I know that very well from my ministry in the Church. Other people have many expectations of what their clergy should be doing, of how we should be on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Because of the expectations of others, many clergy and ministers end up suffering burn-out. Don’t misunderstand me - I’m not putting all the blame on parishioners; we ministers are responsible for our own well-being - but it’s not always easy to stand out against the pressures.

And it’s not only clergy. Many of you will have faced work or home situations where the expectations of others dominate how you live and react, whether those expectations are from a boss, from your children, from a parent, a neighbour, a fellow Christian or so on.

It’s very easy to want to be accepted by others and thought well of. But out true identity comes from the knowledge that we are children of God, and not from pleasing others. The important thing, Jesus says, is to make God the focus of your life, and not some ephemeral thing.

Jesus turned down the worldly power and glory.

If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.

Jesus said: “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” Jesus’s response links back to the story of the Israelites testing God at Massah in the wilderness. The people of Israeli had reached a place called Rephidim. It was a dry and thirsty land; they needed water. They quarrelled and moaned, and were ready to stone Moses for killing them of thirst. They were testing God, and God’s reliability.

The devil was tempting Jesus to be reckless, to test out whether God’s promises would hold. It is the opposite of trusting God to keep his word.

The Israelites were tempted to give up on life and on God. Jesus was being tempted to throw away all that he had for the sake of trying out God.

I wonder how we succumb to this temptation, to be reckless, to live our lives as if we don’t trust the promises of God. It’s tempting to say when things are tough, either that we want to give up on life and God - and I’ve been there, that rock-bottom place where death seems the preferable option - or to forget God and do it anyway, the things we know we shouldn’t, but do because we can’t see that life can get better so what does it matter.

So often we are tempted to test out God, to try and solve things our way, to turn towards a quick fix.
We challenge God by our behaviour and attitudes. We often want to follow paths of our own making and not those led by God. And our seeking a quick fix can often have an adverse effect on others.

Where the Israelites failed to follow God’s path, Jesus succeeded. John Pridmore, in last Friday’s Church Times, points out that in fact all three temptations could be seen as one for Jesus, as a temptation to take the easy path and not the path of the cross.

The key to Jesus’s response to being tempted was, I think, two things. First he was in a good relationship with his Father. He spent time with God, in prayer and reflection. He gave God the greatest priority in his life and would not allow that to be deflected by anything else. In all that he did, he sought the will of God.

And Jesus was deeply rooted in Scripture. Each of his responses was Scriptural. He responded using the Word of God. Christians today have, in general, a shameful lack of knowledge of our Scriptures. Many, many people who call themselves Christian and worship regularly rarely read the Bible outside the context of church services.

To become fully immersed in Scripture as Jesus was, which will help us to avoid temptation, we need to pay attention to our Bible. We need to become familiar with it. It’s one of the amazing characteristics of the Bible that there is always more to learn. But I am saddened by the lack of attention paid to it by so many people.

Jesus counteracted temptation through his rootedness in God and his knowledge of the Scripture. The way out is the same for us.

I’m going to end with words of St Paul from the first letter to the Corinthians: “So, if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.”

Sunday 25th February - Lent 1
9.00 Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion and Junior Church, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 26th February
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdelene, Barkway
2.30 p.m. Benefice Lent Study Group, The Rectory
7.45 p.m. Barkway VCC, Vision for Action meeting, Townsend House

Tuesday 27th February
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdelene, Barkway

Wednesday 28th February
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Group Lent Course, Rushden Village Hall

Thursday 1st March
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer St Mary’s, Reed
10.45 p.m. Holy Communion, Wheatsheaf Meadow House, Barkway

Friday 2nd March
 
Saturday 3rd March
9.00 a.m Morning Prayer St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Sunday 4th March - Lent 2
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion with Junior Church, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

THE COMING MONTH
(Morning Prayer usually takes place each day: Monday and Tuesday in Barkway; Wednesday and Saturday in Barley and Thursday in Reed)

Monday 5th March
2.30 p.m. Benefice Lent Study Group, The Rectory

Wednesday 7th March
10.30 a.m. Holy Communion, Margaret House, Barley
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Group Lent Course

Thursday 8th March
1.15 p.m. Reed First School visit to St Mary’s, Reed
7.30 p.m. Barley Church Times study group, The Manor, Barley

Sunday 11th March - Lent 3
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Sung Eucharist, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Monday 12th March
2.30 p.m. Benefice Lent Study Group, The Rectory

Wednesday 14th March
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Group Lent Course

Sunday 18th March - Mothering Sunday
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. Mothering Sunday Family Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Mothering Sunday service, St Mary’s, Reed

Monday 19th March
2.30 p.m. Benefice Lent Study Group, The Rectory
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Group Prayer Group, Westfields, Barley

Tuesday 20th March
8.00 p.m. Deanery Synod, Therfield Village Hall

Wednesday 21st March
10.30 a.m. Holy Communion, Margaret House, Barley
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Group Lent Course

Isaiah 58.1-12; 2 Corinthians 5.20-6.10; John 8.1-11

In the past few years, I’ve often not managed to have a pancake on Shrove Tuesday. This year certainly made up for those years of paucity. With the Barkway and Barley pancake dos, I had more than enough.

So, it is perhaps appropriate that today is a day of fasting, after the surfeit of riches yesterday. And, of course, that is where the idea of the pancakes came from. It was the way of using up all the rich food stuffs before the season of Lent came with its requirement for abstinence.

The Church has varied in its approach to Lent over the years. Giving something up was certainly what I remember as the important thing about the Lents of my childhood.
Then more recently it became fashionable to take something on for Lent, perhaps a Lent book or attending mid-week as well as Sunday worship, and so on.

And, I think, both ideas can be important, if we know why we are doing them. The introduction to this service reminded us that Lent is a time of self-examination and repentance; of prayer, fasting and self-denial; and of reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.

Jesus’s time in the wilderness while he was being tempted was a period in which he was preparing for his future ministry. It was a time for him of fasting and praying. I’ve no doubt that it was also a period of self-examination; 40 days on one’s own is bound to lead to some thought about one’s life. And certainly, if his response to Satan’s trickery is anything to go by, he spent time meditating on the Scriptures.

So we have a good example to follow.

The word Lent comes from the word for Springtime. Spring is a time of new potential, a time of growth and new life coming out of the dark ground. I hope for us that Lent this year can be a time in which we too grow and develop in our journey towards Easter.

Self-examination and repentance is about becoming aware of our shortcomings and seeking forgiveness. Jesus’s response to the woman taken in adultery was “go and sin no more”. But he did not condemn her. Instead he pointed out to those who sought judgement against her that they were as guilty as she was.

We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Our self-examination during Lent brings us face-to-face with our shortcomings, but when we do that we are able to open ourselves to God’s forgiveness, which can free us from the sins that drag us down, and enable us to move on.

Prayer, fasting and self-denial emulate the example of Jesus in the wilderness, but also free us from the things around us. It’s so easy to see as essentials things we don’t really need. Fasting can be about food, but Isaiah is clear that it can also be about much more than that. “Is this not the fast I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the things of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free?”

If we take these words seriously, then our fasting can be a whole lot more than giving up chocolate or alcohol. We need perhaps to ask how our behaviour leads to the oppression of others or of creation.

And reading and meditating on God’s Word, something that is sadly neglected by so many Christians. Perhaps Lent is a good time to remind us that God’s Word too is a source of life, a well from which we can drink deeply. But that will only happen if we open our Bibles and begin reflecting and meditating on what we read within.

May God’s Holy Spirit help us to make this Lent God’s little springtime, a time of growth and bringing light out of the darkness. Amen.

Exodus 34.29-35; 2 Corinthians 3.12-4.2; Luke 9.28b-36

There’s a story about Jack, a Canadian duck-hunting man, who had a new dog. Jack wanted to try his dog out so he took him on a trial hunt. After a while Jack managed to shoot a duck and it fell in the lake. The dog walked over the water, picked up the duck, and brought it to his master.

Jack was stunned, and didn’t know what to think.  He shot another duck. Again, it fell into the lake, and again the dog walked over the water and brought it back to his master.

Hardly daring to believe his eyes, and not wanting to be thought a total fool, he told no-one about it. But the next day Jack invited his neighbour, Bill, to come shooting with him. As on the previous day he shot a duck and it fell into the lake. The dog walked over the water and got it.

Bill didn’t say a word. They shot several more ducks that day, and each time the dog walked over the water to retrieve them. Each time Bill said nothing; neither did Jack.

Finally unable to contain himself any longer Jack asked Bill, “Do you notice anything strange about my new dog?”

“Yes,” said Bill, rubbing his chin and thinking a bit, “come to think of it I do. Your dog
doesn’t know how to swim.”

Jack and Bill had realised that something was odd about the dog, but they’d managed to miss the most obvious thing - that dogs don’t walk on water.

Somehow, on the midst of the dog’s strange behaviour, they’d missed the point.

It’s a bit like Peter’s missing the point in our Gospel story this morning. He, and the other two disciples with him, had seen Jesus transformed; they had glimpsed God’s glory; they’d had a vision of Moses and Elijah. Impetuous Peter, wanting to do something, suggests building dwellings for the three figures before them.

Luke tells us that Peter didn’t know what he’d said. I’ve certainly had that feeling where I’ve either been too nervous or too overawed to say anything sensible and have spouted out something wildly stupid, only later realising what I’d done and then feeling quite embarrassed about it.

Peter’s immediate thought was, one supposes, let’s hold on to this moment. Let’s make a shelter. Let’s try and make this moment more permanent.  Let’s keep Moses and Elijah here. And that’s the thought that many authors have put into Peter’s mind. I’ve read numerous books saying the same thing.

But I think too that there might be a deeper layer of meaning here as well. Sometimes our first thoughts, silly as they might seem on the surface, hold deep within them some truth as well.

What is translated “dwelling” in our reading this morning is the word used for tent or tabernacle. It recalls the tabernacle in the wilderness - God’s home during those 40 years of wandering in the desert. Sadly, reading from an English translation, we often miss the symbolism of the words as found in the original Hebrew and Greek. 

The Jewish people still celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkoth, when they build temporary dwellings or tabernacles in their gardens, decorated with the fruits of the earth, to remind them of how God provided for them in the wilderness during the Exodus. The Exodus was a time of freedom, a time of liberation from the slavery of the Israelites in Egypt.

Certainly Moses and Elijah and Jesus were talking about a time of new Exodus. The word for departure is the word used for exodus. Jesus’s departure can be seen in a number of ways. It can refer to a going away. Jesus is going away. It can refer to his death - sometimes people talk about death as the time when they’re not going to be here any more.

Or it could mean more than that. It could point to a new Exodus, a new time of freedom; a time like that first great Exodus from Egypt, bringing liberation for God’s people. As the Israelites were led out of slavery from Egypt into freedom, so Jesus’s exodus brings freedom for God’s people, newly defined.

In the new Exodus, Jesus leads God’s people into freedom from slavery to sin and death and to their promised homeland, the new creation when the whole world will be redeemed.

Paul talks about what this freedom means in his Second Letter to the Corinthians from which we read this morning. This freedom gives us hope, a hope that leads not to us becoming weak and cowering people, but to bold ones.

Let’s think about what freedom means for a moment. It’s not about just doing what you want. Often human nature and our selfish desires are directly opposed to the things of God, so it can’t mean that. And freedom doesn’t mean that we can ride roughshod over anybody or anything that get sin the way of what we want.

The opposite of freedom is bondage, losing one’s liberty, being bound by others, being imprisoned, living in fear. The freedom the Spirit brings must be contrasted with what Paul has talked about before: the old covenant, the law given to Moses.

The freedom that we find in the Spirit is true freedom. Though the law was given to Moses in glory, it became a bondage. The freedom the Spirit brings is to liberate from that.

It’s a freedom that knows we can do nothing to earn God’s love. It’s a freedom that relies on God’s grace and not on keeping rules and regulations. It’s a freedom that perceives how the first covenant given to Moses foreshadows a more glorious covenant brought about in Christ.

This freedom allows us to speak boldly and freely, to act freely to do the will of God.

It’s a freedom that liberates people from the fear of God’s wrath, for through God’s grace we receive mercy.

And it’s a permanent freedom brought about through the Spirit, a freedom that allows us to live in the knowledge of eternal life for those who believe in Christ.

And, once we know that we have that freedom, we can live in the confidence that the things of God are so much more than the things of this world. We can be sure that pain and suffering will pass, and that, though we might not see it now, in the fullness of time all things will come together for good. It’s a freedom to live in the knowledge that this is not all there is.

It’s a freedom that recognises that we are children of God, and that nothing can change that. We can’t unbecome God’s children; God doesn’t stop loving us whatever we do, but longs for us to return, like the Prodigal Son.

As such, it can give us a greater confidence as we live out our Christian lives.

It can sometimes be hard living once we know we have freedom. I have just read Simon Schama’s Rough Crossings, the story of the emancipation of slaves and the ending of the slave trade. Many of the freed slaves, while being thankful for their freedom, found it hard to adjust. Their fate wasn’t helped by the poor land they had been given and the constraints that others placed upon them. But they had to learn how to live in freedom. It was usually a trial and error process.

For us, though, the answer is to be open to the work of the Holy Spirit within us. How do we learn to live as free people in Christ? We do it through the Spirit. The Spirit that transforms us. All we have to do is open ourselves to its work. Freedom means that we can make decisions for ourselves and are not reliant on decision made by others for us.

Peter, James and John were transformed by the glimpses they had of God’s glory. Paul says that, in a similar way, we can be transformed when we view Christ face-to-face.

There was an ancient belief that looking at the gods made one like a god. As we view Christ, we can become more Christ-like through the power of the Spirit.

Our challenge is to keep our eyes so firmly fixed on God’s glory that that transformation may take place in us too.

The word Lent comes from the word for Spring. I hope that our Lent this year can be a time of blossoming and transformation as the Spirit helps us to be transformed and grow in faith and love.

Sunday 18th February - Next before Lent
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. CW Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Monday 19th February
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdelene, Barkway
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Prayer Group, High Bank, Reed

Tuesday 20th February - Shrove Tuesday
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdelene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. Pancake Coffee Morning, Manor Farm, Barkway

Wednesday 21st February - Ash Wednesday
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
8.00 p.m. Holy Communion with imposition of ashes, St Mary’s, Reed

Thursday 22nd February
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer St Mary’s, Reed

Friday 23rd February
 
Saturday 24th February
9.00 a.m Morning Prayer St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
11.oo a.m. Vision for Action Celebration, St Albans Cathedral

Sunday 25th February - Lent 1
9.00 Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion and Junior Church, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

THE COMING MONTH
(Morning Prayer usually takes place each day: Monday and Tuesday in Barkway; Wednesday and Saturday in Barley and Thursday in Reed)

Monday 26th February
2.30 p.m. Benefice Lent Study Group, The Rectory

Wednesday 28th February
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Group Lent Course

Thursday 1st March
10.45 p.m. Holy Communion, Wheatsheaf Meadow House, Barkway

Sunday 4th March - Lent 2
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion with Junior Church, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 5th March
2.30 p.m. Benefice Lent Study Group, The Rectory

Wednesday 7th March
10.30 a.m. Holy Communion, Margaret House, Barley
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Group Lent Course

Thursday 8th March
1.15 p.m. Reed First School visit to St Mary’s, Reed
7.30 p.m. Barley Church Times study group, The Manor, Barley

Sunday 11th March - Lent 3
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Sung Eucharist, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Monday 12th March
2.30 p.m. Benefice Lent Study Group, The Rectory

Wednesday 14th March
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Group Lent Course

Genesis 2.4b-9, 15-end; Revelation 4; Luke 8.22-25

Contrast our first two readings.

In the passage from Genesis two, we see a very intimate process going on as God creates human beings. God takes dust from the ground and fashions a man, and then, in that most intimate of actions, breathes life into him through his nostrils.

Anyone who has given birth will know the wonder of the life that has been created. And others too can share in this sense of amazement at the beauty and wonder of what has been made.

I’ve not had a child of my own, but my oldest cat Sophie had a poor start in life. She was born to another of my cats, and at first was ignored by her mother. She arrived limp and not breathing and the mother cat did not administer her care as is normal. So I became involved.

Fortunately I had a book which told me what to do. I took the poor, limp kitten, not yet breathing, and rubbed her in my hands. I placed her in warm water, still rubbing and dried her carefully afterwards. Somehow through my ministrations, this tiny kitten came to life. And from that moment on, she became very special to me.

When it came to the point of finding new homes for my kittens, Sophie was the one I couldn’t let go of. And now, ten years later, she still has a special place in my heart.

Something about the process of helping to bring life to Sophie made her very special in my eyes.

And as I reflect on that, it suggests to me, that there is something in that of what God might feel at the creation of human beings, you and me, and all who have lived and all who are to come. How special we are because of the work of creation that went into our coming into being.

And once God had made the man, he desired to provide for all his needs - giving him food and water, a fruitful land and a partner.

Then we move to our reading from Revelation. Here, we see God in all God’s glory. The sense of intimacy has gone. What we now see is a powerful king, seated on a throne, surrounded by a rainbow and 24 other thrones, all containing elders with robes and crowns.

We don’t see that sense of gentleness that appeared in our first story of God breathing life into Adam’s nostrils, but a God surrounded by the power of thunder and lightning, living creatures and ceaseless singing. We see the 24 elders bowing down before God and offering worship and honour.

Two very different pictures and yet both represent God.

But, both pictures of God remind us that God is creator, as do the words of this morning’s Psalm (65).

If we didn’t know better, we might be tempted to think that these two stories were about two totally different Gods.

In Jesus we see both aspects reflected. Our Gospel reading starts with a human Jesus in a boat with his friends, crossing the lake to the other side. And Jesus falls asleep - a very human thing to do, if one is tired.

But something one is only likely to do if one feels at ease with the situation in which ones finds oneself. Fear certainly is not conducive to sleep.

And, we also see in Jesus the powerful God. Only a creator can rebuke wind and waves and expect a response. 

It left the disciples wondering - Who is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?

They had spent time with the human Jesus; only occasionally did they come face to face with the powerful God.

In days gone past, the Church was very aware of the judgmental and powerful God who will decide our future fate - eternal life or not. Fire and brimstone were preached across the land and the fear of God was instilled in many people.

Nowadays, we tend to focus much more on the human Jesus, the man who can relate to what it means to have human needs and emotions, the Jesus who will bring comfort and hope.

But, if we are to have a true image of God, we need to hold both images together. This gospel story provides us with an epiphany - a revelation. And, Jesus provided a revelation for the disciples as well.

On one side of the lake, they thought they knew who he was. By the time they reach the other side, they have had to readjust their ideas - who is this?

We generally think of epiphany as only connected with the coming of the wise men. But the word itself means a “to reveal”. The wise men revealed Jesus to the world as king. An epiphany is when the veil is drawn and we get glimpses of who God really is.

The disciples “Who is this?” is an epiphany moment because they suddenly feel that they didn’t really know Jesus before, a whole new light has been cast upon this travelling teacher and miracle-worker whom they have been following. They have gained a whole new picture of who Jesus is.

And this new insight came about because they had been in a place of fear and risk. The storm must have been pretty bad, since among the disciples were experienced fishermen used to the storms of Galilee.

When they turned to Jesus in the midst of their fear, though he was obviously a last resort in their minds, they received that precious gift of new insight into who Jesus was. They didn’t fully understand but they did have a glimpse of God’s power.

And they started asking questions about what they had experienced.
What do we do when faced with a sense that we are experiencing God in a new way? And who do we rely on when we’re really facing fear and in a risky situations?

The disciples at this point only experienced Jesus in this new way because in their fear they became reliant on him. I wonder where we put our faith and trust.

It strikes me that our society and culture puts trust in anything that is not God and then perhaps wonders why God seems so absent. Things that are not long-lasting are given high value. I’m struck by the V&A putting on an exhibition about Kylie Minogue. I’ve nothing against Kylie as such but there is a suggestion that what she stands for is worth celebrating and giving honour to.

A far cry from the Psalm which is a hymn of praise to God for his provision.

The disciples only glimpsed God’s power once they had reached out to Jesus in their storm. It’s hard to reach out for something we cannot see; they at least had Jesus with them in the boat; but it’s a risk worth taking.

May God give us the faith to trust in his power and might. Amen.

Sunday 11th February - 2 before Lent
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Sung Eucharist, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 12th February
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdelene, Barkway

Tuesday 13th February
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
11.00 a.m. Interment of ashes, Kathleen Quinlan, Reed churchyard

Wednesday 14th February
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Thursday 15th February
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer St Mary’s, Reed
1.15 p.m. Funeral of Betty Hall, Harwood Park Crematorium, Stevenage

Friday 16th February
 
Saturday 17th February
9.00 a.m Morning Prayer St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Sunday 18th February - Next before Lent
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. CW Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
THE COMING MONTH
(Morning Prayer usually takes place each day: Monday and Tuesday in Barkway; Wednesday and Saturday in Barley and Thursday in Reed)

Monday 19th February
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Prayer Group, High Bank, Reed

Tuesday 20th February - Shrove Tuesday
10.30 a.m. Pancake Coffee Morning, Manor Farm, Barkway

Wednesday 21st February - Ash Wednesday
8.00 p.m. Holy Communion with imposition of ashes, St Mary’s, Reed

Saturday 24th February
11.oo a.m. Vision for Action Celebration, St Albans Cathedral

Sunday 25th February - Lent 1
9.00 Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion and Junior Church, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 26th February
2.30 p.m. Benefice Lent Study Group, The Rectory

Wednesday 28th February
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Group Lent Course

Thursday 1st March
10.45 p.m. Holy Communion, Wheatsheaf Meadow House, Barkway

Sunday 4th March
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion with Junior Church, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 5th March
2.30 p.m. Benefice Lent Study Group, The Rectory

Wednesday 7th March
10.30 a.m. Holy Communion, Margaret House, Barley
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Group Lent Course

Thursday 8th March
1.15 p.m. Reed First School visit to St Mary’s, Reed
7.30 p.m. Barley Church Times study group, The Manor, Barley

Isaiah 6.1-8; 1 Corinthians 15.1-11; Luke 5.1-11

Our readings today reveal three encounters with the living God.

Let’s think for a minute about what we’ve heard.

First, there was that wonderful story of Isaiah’s calling from God. It’s a story that has been important for me personally as I explored my vocation to ordained ministry - those words of Isaiah’s “Here am I; send me,” are ones I come back to time and again.

They signify an openness and willingness to do God’s will. They suggest a submission to God and his ways. They are words I hope to echo each day as I perform my ministry.

They are words that I do not always live up to. I have, as I’m sure we all do, days where I really wonder what on earth I’m doing here and feel bogged down by the challenges of the Church and the work within it and beyond its walls that I have been called to do. But they are words which call me back and remind me of that initial “Yes,” of what is at the heart of who I am and what I do.

In his vision, Isaiah has an encounter with the holiness of God. And his encounter with the power and goodness of God elicits a response. “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips.” An encounter with goodness makes Isaiah feel inadequate and aware of his own shortcomings.

It’s a bit like those adverts for washing powder. A white shirt looks clean until it is placed alongside the one washed in new Sparkle or Sunlight or whatever they call washing powders these days.When set against something that is truly clean, the original shirt starts to look a little less clean, a bit grubby round the cuffs and collars and so on.

I think we can be a bit like that. If we look at our lives, we can’t see anything greatly wrong with them. We’re probably aware of the times when we specifically give in to temptation, but day-to-day most people do not live with an awareness of their sinfulness. In fact, many people, in church and outside, are strangely confused about what we mean by sin.

When I visit a couple who wish to have a child baptised, we look together at the baptism service and at the promises the parents are required to make. Time and again the response I receive is that they haven’t committed any sins. For them, sin is something great and terrible - murder or rape, perhaps, theft or burglary. Something that someone does that is patently wrong.

But, in my view, sin is much more than that. If it were only the large things, which most of us don’t do, then Christ’s coming has no meaning for most of us, since it would mean we were not tainted by sin.

Another idea that people sometimes have of sin is the seven deadly sins: pride, envy, anger, avarice, sloth, gluttony and lust. These are often the root causes of things we think of as sins. They are the roots that might make us then act out something or in the case of sloth, perhaps not do something we should have done. The seven deadly sins in past times became a helpful guide for people - first so they could know what sins were and avoid them - and this is a pretty all-encompassing list - and second so that they would know what to confess when they hadn’t avoided them.

But I think sin is about much more than lists of things to do and not to do. More than anything, sin is what divides us from God; it’s anything that harms our relationship with God. It’s what gets in the way, the block.

The Jewish people had evolved a whole system of laws to help people know what sins were so that they could avoid them. But the Jewish law was so complex that no one could keep it perfectly. Everyone sinned, because it was impossible to keep. The Jewish law was not able to save people from judgement because it couldn’t be kept in its entirety. If you want to explore more about this, just try reading Galatians and discover Paul’s view of the Law.

Isaiah’s encounter with God made him realise that he was a sinner. But the story didn’t stop there. The encounter with God led to a recognition of his sin for Isaiah and then to a cleansing from it. “Your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” And, afterwards, he was sent to fulfil a specific ministry for God.

Paul, too, had an encounter with God. I hope you remember the story of how on the Damascus road Saul, as he then was, was struck down by a bright light and blinded. He heard the voice of Jesus: “Saul, Saul. Why do you persecute me?” It was a turning-point. Until now, Saul had persecuted Christians zealously. After his encounter with Christ, he turned from his former ways - and was commissioned to God’s work.

And, Simon Peter, who must have known of Jesus before his encounter with him, if we adopt Luke’s chronology, since his mother-in-law had been healed by Jesus.

Jesus’s first act is a very practical one. He has hordes of people gathering around and needs to find a way of speaking to them all. So he borrows a boat and pushes himself back from shore a little so that all can see and hear him - something that the geography of the area makes possible.

Did Simon stop and listen or carry on cleaning his nets? We don’t know. But at the end, Jesus turns to Simon with that astounding request to let down their nets. I wonder what went through Simon’s head initially. Here was a carpenter telling a fisherman how to fish. A fisherman who was tired after a night at sea when he and his mates had caught nothing, not one fish.

But a direct encounter with Jesus was too much to avoid. He responds and ends up with a marvellous catch of fish. He sees the power and holiness of God and he too is reminded of his own sinfulness.

Let’s think about what is similar between all these stories.

o All three men have encounters with the living God.
o All three men become aware of their own sinfulness.
o All three men receive forgiveness from God, and
o all three men are given a ministry to fulfil.

Each one of these men accepted the task that God was calling him too. They knew they had nothing to offer - Isaiah - I am a man of unclean lips; Paul - unfit to be an apostle; Simon - a sinful man. What they also recognised was that God’s calling does not depend on our worthiness.

God takes the unworthy and transforms it. All three men played an important part in the mission of God. All they had to do was to accept their calling.

Their recognition of their sinfulness was something that God accepted and then freed them from guilt.

I’m often struck (and have felt this at times myself) by the number of Christians who allow their own unworthiness to get in the way of fulfilling a call by God. If we waited till we were perfect, no Christian work would ever happen.

If we don’t allow God to use us while we are sinful, hurting, broken, wounded people, we will never respond.

At the heart of the Gospel is God’s forgiveness, God’s generosity, God’s belief that sinful humanity can be redeemed. The stories of Isaiah, Paul and Simon can give us hope for our part in God’s mission. They can remind us that even people we think of as God’s greats began their work as sinful people. They can remind us how life-changing an encounter with God can be if we respond to the holy. They can remind us that we are called to be part of God’s work.

Once they had become aware of their sinfulness and been released from it, it wasn’t God that had a problem with it. God sees the potential of people and longs for us to use it in sharing the work of the Gospel.

Thanks be to God. Amen.
 

Sunday 4th February - 3 before Lent
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion (said) St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion and Junior Church, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
6.00 p.m. BCP Evensong, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 5th February
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer, St Mary Magdelene, Barkway
11.00 a.m. Interment of ashes, Pearl Wall, Barley churchyard

Tuesday 6th February
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Wednesday 7th February
8.15 a.m Morning Prayer St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Holy Communion, Margaret House, Barley
7.30 p.m. Meeting of churchwardens and Reader, The Rectory

Thursday 8th February
8.15 a.m. Morning Prayer St Mary’s, Reed
10.45 a.m. Holy Communion, Wheatsheaf Meadow House, Barkway
1.15 p.m. Reed First School visit to St Mary’s, Reed
7.00 p.m. Barley Church Times study group

Friday 9th February
 
Saturday 10th February
9.00 a.m Morning Prayer St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Sunday 11th February - 2 before Lent
10.30 a.m. United Benefice Sung Eucharist, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

THIS MONTH
(Morning Prayer usually takes place each day: Monday and Tuesday in Barkway; Wednesday and Saturday in Barley and Thursday in Reed)

Tuesday 13th February
11.00 a.m. Interment of ashes, Kathleen Quinlan, Reed churchyard

Sunday 18th February - Next before Lent
9.00 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion, St Mary’s, Reed
10.30 a.m. CW Morning Prayer, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley

Monday 19th February
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Prayer Group, High Bank, Reed

Tuesday 20th February - Shrove Tuesday
10.30 a.m. Pancake Coffee Morning, Manor Farm, Barkway

Wednesday 21st February - Ash Wednesday
8.00 p.m. Holy Communion with imposition of ashes, St Mary’s, Reed

Saturday 24th February
11.oo a.m. Vision for Action Celebration, St Albans Cathedral

Sunday 25th February - Lent 1
9.00 Parish Communion, St Margaret of Antioch, Barley
10.30 a.m. Parish Communion and Junior Church, St Mary Magdalene, Barkway

Monday 26th February
2.30 p.m. Benefice Lent Study Group, The Rectory

Wednesday 28th February
8.00 p.m. North Buntingford Group Lent Course