4 January 2009

Welcome to St Alban’s Anglican Church

Today's Scripture (HC) : Jeremiah 31:7-14    Ephesians 1:3-14    S. John 1:1-18

Today: 9.00 a.m. BCP Matins;   9.30a.m. Holy Communion;   6.00 p.m. Evening Prayer.

Tues (THE EPIPHANY): Holy Communion 12.30 p.m.,    Wed to Fri: Midday Prayer 12.30p.m.

Next Sunday: 8.35 a.m. BCP Matins;    9.00 a.m. Church School/Scripture Study     9.30a.m. Holy Communion.

 

Christmas 2: Collect of The Circumcision of Christ

Almighty God, who madest thy blessed Son to be circumcised, and obedient to the law for man; Grant us the true Circumcision of the Spirit; that, our hearts, and all our members, being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, we may in all things obey thy blessed will; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

WORD OF GOD

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

(John 1:9)

THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS come to an end on January 6th, and the season of the Epiphany begins. But Epiphany not only ends Christmas, it also fulfils it by celebrating the revelation of the Christ to the whole world. The coming of incarnate God to all people, especially to those of us who are Gentiles, is the bridge from birth into life, the event that makes Easter possible for most of us. The light of the Epiphany illuminates the Church’s year as it illuminates the human race from whom the kings came. (Phyllis A Tickle)

 

WE ARE LIKE THE THREE WISE MEN who journeyed to Jesus. Now, like those Wise Men, we return to the world from which we came, to the everyday life where we will witness to what we have seen.

Epiphany compels us to start out afresh on a new stage of the journey on which we become proclaimers and heralds. ... The Wise Men were in a sense the first missionaries. Their encounter with Christ did not keep them in Bethlehem, but made them set out anew on the paths of the world.

We need to "set out anew from Christ", with the zeal of Pentecost, with renewed enthusiasm. To set out from him above all in a daily commitment to holiness, with an attitude of prayer and of listening to his word. To set out from him in order to testify to his love by living a Christian life marked by communion, charity, and witness before the world. (Pope John Paul II)

WORD FOR TODAY

The closing of the Christmas festivities leaves us with one amazing fact: the God who is responsible for the whole of creation took our human flesh and remains for ever within our world in the person of his Son Jesus Christ. Under which star will we find him this week?

 

SOMETHING TO PRAY ABOUT ...

We can join Pope Benedict in his prayer intentions for the month of January:

General intentions:

That the family may become more and more a place of training in charity, personal growth and transmission of the faith.

Mission intentions:

That the different Christian confessions, aware of the need for a new evangelisation in this period of profound transformation, may be committed to announcing the Good News and moving towards the full unity of all Christians in order to offer a more credible testimony of the Gospel.

 

THIS WEEK’S BIBLE READINGS

Mon: Isa 62, John 2:13-end, John 4:7-26

Tues (THE EPIPHANY): Isa 60: 1-6, Ephesians 3:1-12, S. Matthew 2:1-12

Wed: Isa 63:7-end, 1 John 3, Matt 20:1-16

Thurs: Isa 64, 1 John 4: 7-end, Matt 20:17-28

Fri : Isa 65:1-16, 1 John 5:1-12, Matt 20:29-end

Sat: Isa 65:17-end, 1 John 5: 13-end, Matt 23:1-12

NEXT SUNDAY (THE BAPTISM OF CHRIST): Genesis 1: 1-5, Acts 19:1-7, S. Mark 1: 4-11