Reflection:  Transfiguration; the Christian Hannukah
-   Matthew 17:1-8

provided this week by Andrew Corish

Today we are considering the Transfiguration story.

It is an important story. It appears in all 3 synoptic gospels in much the same form and place.

The story is that Jesus took his executive group of Peter, James and John, up a high mountain. There he is “transfigured”, and his face shone like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white.  Then the two great “pillars” of the Jewish scripture; Moses the lawgiver and Elijah the leader of the prophets, appear in person and speak to Jesus.  Peter then pipes up and offers to build three “dwellings”, one for each of them, in tribute.  These dwellings were the “booths” or ”sukkot”; being simple lean-to structures, which the Jews built during their Harvest festival called Sukkoth, to remind them of the time they worshipped God in temporary shelters in the desert during the Exodus.  It seems to be a suggestion by Peter, that by offering to build the three sukkot, Jesus was one and equal with Moses and Elijah.  But God speaks from the cloud as he did to Moses and to Jesus at his baptism and uses the same words from the baptism, namely, ”this is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”  This seems an endorsement by God that here with Jesus, you have something even greater than Moses and Elijah. 

So what to make of the Transfiguration story? 

The first thing is that it seems a retelling of the Moses’ story in Exodus 34 when Moses comes down from Mt Sinai with the 10 Commandments and his face and clothes shone, because he had been talking with God, so much so, he had to wear a veil.  It also brings to mind the important little book of the prophet Zechariah who was clothed in rags but is clothed by God in splendour. 

Secondly, progressive theologians have suggested it is intricately linked to the Jewish Dedication or “Hannukah” festival.  In 175BC the Syrian ruler of Israel, Antiochus Epiphanes was trying to stamp out Judaism.  In a final act, he desecrated the Temple in Jerusalem by having a pig’s head put on the judgement seat in the Holy of Holies room at the centre of the Temple. That was too much for the Jews to bear and they rose in rebellion, led by Judas Maccabeus, (Maccabeus being the Hebrew word for “hammer) He led a successful guerrilla campaign and eventually drove out the Syrians in 164AD.  The Temple was restored and an 8-day festival of Dedication instituted in the middle of December each year, when the Jews celebrated the “light of God”, the “shekinah” returning to the Temple.  This festival was called Hanukkah and was very popular thereafter and has been celebrated to this day.

Then go forward to 66AD. This was when another Jewish revolt began. This time led by the Zealots in Galilee to overthrow the Romans as the Maccabees had done before them.  However, the guerrilla campaign this time proved a terrible failure.  Rome responded viciously, initially crushing the Galilean rebellion and then turning the armies on Jerusalem. They destroyed the city and the Temple and obliterated the country of Israel from the map in 70AD.

Interestingly Mark wrote his Gospel, probably in Caesarea Philippi in Northern Galilee in about 70AD. It was a time of terrible tension. Judaism hung by a thread. 

It is suggested by Progressive Theologians that Mark structured his gospel to provide Jesus stories and materials, to coincide and be read in the Synagogues, according to the Jewish liturgical calendar. That is, he provided Jesus stories for each of the major Jewish festivals.  Their festivals were Passover at Easter, Shavuot or Pentecost in May, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur the day of atonement, Sukkoth, the Harvest Festival in October and Hannukah in December.  His gospel wasn’t meant to be a biography or memoire of Jesus at all. It was Jewish stories and festivals reinterpreted to incorporate Jesus stories into them.

So in Mark 9 it is suggested that Mark wrote the Transfiguration story to be read in winter and coincide with Hannukah celebration in the synagogue.  In it, Mark provided a wonderful vision to the remaining people of Israel.  God has not abandoned his people. Rather he has given them a new vision and vocation. The Temple was gone with its animal sacrifices. Instead, Jesus had become the new sacrifice, once and for all. The “shekinah”, the light of God now shone on Jesus, as it had formerly shone on Moses.  The Jews had a new purpose and vocation.  That in their suffering and humiliation, through this new great prophet Jesus who had arisen, they could now bring the love of God to the whole world.

But things did not go well from there.  In the period of 12 to15 years prior to Matthew producing the second gospel, relationships deteriorated between the Jews and Christians.   In his gospel, Matthew incorporated 90 per cent of Mark, including the Transfiguration story. He adopted the same structure and purpose as Mark. Except Mark had written material for the synagogue from the Rosh Hashanah Harvest festival in October to Passover in Easter. Matthew front loaded his gospel to provide additional material for the period from Easter to October, including the Sermon on the mount where Jesus reinterpreted the 10 Commandments, to coincide with the Shavuot -Pentecost ceremony which celebrate Moses providing the 10 Commandments.

Unfortunately, the Jewish leaders did not accept the generous offer of Mark to provide a way forward for Judaism following the destruction of Israel and the Temple.  It was a difficult time for them. The fundamentalists increasingly took control and began excluding “people of the Way”, the Jesus movement, from the synagogues. In response, the concept of the “Betrayal”, Jesus betrayed by one of his own and the Jewish people , increasingly took control.

But did Judas do that? That was part of the deterioration of relations.  Judas is another translation of Judah or the Jewish people.  Paul knew nothing about Judas or didn’t say so. All he said was “on the night he was betrayed” which could also be translated as “handed over”. 

So Christians were excluded and excommunicated from the Synagogue in 88AD which caused terrible pain and suffering. In return, Jews were excluded from the church and reviled and blamed.  We lost the wonderful Jewish insight, wisdom and spiritualism from the church.  Greek and Roman literalism and fundamentalism and antisemitism took control.  The church has never recovered.  So many of the problems of the worldwide church stem from this fundamentalism and literalism and we have suffered from the lack of Jewish wisdom and insight. Is it too late to get back together?

So, you may not like this and are quite entitled to reject it as rubbish. But hopefully in the Uniting Church we are open to consider different ideas. 

I have to say, I was really struck when I did my last sermon on Romans.  This was Paul’s gospel. He was writing in the 50s.  He said he had checked it out with the church leaders in Jerusalem and his ideas had been endorsed.  His gospel was nothing like the story of Jesus in the 4 official gospels. 

And so with Mark, writing at this time of terrible crisis in Israel.  Mark provides Jesus stories to be read in the synagogues as Jesus’ responses to the great Jewish festivals.  To show Jesus is the way forward, the new great prophet and Messiah.  His pattern is copied by Matthew and Luke.  It does seem it is not so much that Jesus’ ministry took place over a period of 12 months. That was the length of the Jewish Liturgical year.  Then John’s gospel was the writings of a Jewish mystic but also was never intended to be taken as literally true.
So what do I get from this passage of the Transfiguration.

I think perhaps I feel we should pay more attention and respect to the Jewish writings in the Old Testament and their festivals.  I think it helps to try to read the gospels with Jewish eyes in the first century, to the extent we can manage that.

I think we need to accept that the Gospel is always changing and we need to be ready and willing to change with it.  Bishop Spong wrote great books titled “Biblical Literalism, a Gentile Heresy” and “Liberating the Gospels, reading the gospels with Jewish eyes” and suggested that most of the Gospels are wonderful, symbolic, full of truth and wisdom, but perhaps not literally true. 

I love the message in the Transfiguration. That the light of God that used to shine in the Temple, is now shining in Jesus. It can shine in us as well, in our hearts. That is the real test of being a Christian. That in everything we believe and say and do, that the light of God shines in us, for all to see. 

Amen.

Andrew Corish

This week Rick is on holidays and I have been asked to write the reflection. I am going to look at the Gospel reading from the Lectionary Matthew 5:21-37.

At times we all get annoyed at other people around us, it could be a husband or wife or even a total stranger who somehow seems to have done the wrong thing. If things get really bad it can become an all-consuming hate. Hate erodes us and our pride can at times get the better of us. But Jesus has given us a set of instructions to put things right in our lives.

The Gospel reading at first glance seems very harsh and stern, not the sort of thing we usually expect in Jesus’ teachings, it even gets a bit gory if you read it literally. Obviously it was not addressed to a modern-day audience although its message is still as relevant today as it was two thousand years ago. It was an address to Jews in a traditional Middle Eastern style using hyperbole, and culturally appropriate images. 

In the first part of the reading Jesus talks about being ready to accept God, to forgive others and set our life right. It is similar to the line in the Lord’s Prayer that we will be forgiven by God as we forgive those who sin against us. This is not some sort of deal we are striking with God. This is teaching to help us accept the grace of God and find a deep joy in faith. 

Jesus gave us two basic commandments, love your God with all your might, and love your neighbour as yourself. This reading from Matthew shows us that these two are linked, that to love God you need to live your faith and respect those around you. Jesus tells us that to be right within ourselves and with God, we need to be right with others.

The second part of the reading tells of the seriousness of sin and highlights this with the gouging of eyes and cutting off, of hands. All gruesome stuff and seems at first glance to conflict with the idea of forgiveness of sin. This is a literary device often used in ancient literature, which exaggerates the idea to emphasize its importance. I doubt if anyone in their right mind would actually do such things, and I wonder how, if taken literally does it fit with the Gospel message of a loving and compassionate God? 

Jesus then goes on to instruct the Jews to observe Jewish Law and talks of divorce which seems to be at odds with modern thinking, but this was at a time of Roman rule when Jewish law was threatened. I assume that Jesus was encouraging them to lead upstanding moral lives, which might have been very difficult with the prevailing morals of the Roman Empire.   

Some may ask “Why would you even bother; this only makes life more difficult”. Many think if you can get away with it and not get caught, then why not? Well we could easily think of a judgmental God who has the power to condemn but this view of the judgmental God and the ensuing guilt trip really belongs to the medieval age and not the Gospel message. Jesus tells us God will forgive our sins but that we must have faith, we must live our lives before God and follow his word. There is no room for a double life, we can’t wilfully sin and then say “Oh, that’s OK, my sins are forgiven”.

Yes in some ways it can make life a little more difficult but the rewards are great, no I am not talking of Heaven and Hell, but the richness and joy that faith can give. Although all major religions aim for a rich spiritual life and moral behaviour, the power of Christianity is the Gospel message of a deep and meaningful relationship with God through our faith in Christ.
 
Peace be with you…Warwick

​Salt and light are pretty ordinary things to us today, but you might look on them differently if you lived a few thousand years ago in Israel.
No refrigeration meant that their meat had to be salted to keep it for more than a day or two.
And once the sun went down, you only had dull candles and oil lamps by which to see.
 
Jesus says to his followers:
“You are the salt of the earth!
You are the light of the world!”
 
I’m sure he wasn’t talking about white granular crystals falling out of the disciples’ clothes as they walked around, or physical light, like a torch, beaming from their faces, but it was more about their presence flavouring the environment in which they lived and a personal light; the light of faith, hope and love.
The very light of God within us and radiating from us. 
 
But wait a minute, did he say that we are the salt and light of the world?
That’s a pretty big call to make, because surely we can’t be that important, can we?
 
As we read in Paul’s words to the Corinthian church, gifts such as these come from God, not man, and are bestowed on us through the spirit.
“Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good deeds, and give glory to God in heaven.”
Well, does the light shine through us?   
Do we add flavour to the lives of others and do our lives give glory to God?
 
I’m not trying to verbally box anyone about the ears with accusations about their failure to be the light of the world.
I’m not trying to kick start anyone into freely doing more Christian things.
(that is: “Christ-ian”, of the family of Christ, or Christ-like).
 
I’m pretty sure that you, like me, have plenty of room for improvement.
But I’m not seeking to take any of us on a guilt trip.
There’s a much healthier and more faithful direction for us to go when reading this message.
 
What Jesus actually said to his followers was: “You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.”  
You are - you are now.
Not - you could be or should be.
Not - tidy up your act, stiffen your backbones and commence trying. 
Not - maybe in ten years’ time, or if you work very hard, perhaps by the end of the year.
 
What our Lord said was more immediate, more of a gob-smacking surprise.
“By trusting the unexpected, un-earnable, grace of God, as it flows to you through my words and deeds, you are, right now – the salt and light of the world.”
Though it’s not really our salt and light, but his, and it’s not by any of our strenuous efforts, but by the pure grace of God.
 
Jesus must have been like pepper up the noses of the religious authorities in ancient Israel.
They taught: If you keep all the laws and regulations of the Old Testament and observe the additional 613 by-laws that our rabbis have added - for your own good, of course. If you ritually wash and purify yourself each day, if you make the requisite sacrifices at the temple, and avoid any contact or fellowship with the despicable non-Jews, then.... just maybe, you may begin to be a little light in the darkness of the world.
 
Not so with Jesus, whose only requirement was for us to accept the free gift of love that God offers.
Simply to come as we are and just open your windows to the light, allowing it to touch even the dusty corners of our hearts and souls. 
Then, without any question, we will show that we are the light of the world.
 
The salt and light of God are gifts to be lovingly accepted and cherished - then freely shared with others.
 
We might doubt that we’re capable of achieving this, but I can attest that we ARE all able to do whatever God asks of us.
 
Friends, take courage.
This is not a silly claim of mine that I’m repeating here.
It’s the claim of Jesus, of whom it was said: “He knew what was in the heart of men.”
As long as our lives remain open to his Spirit, we shall be, in spite of our confounded defects, the salt and light of the world.
 
The tiny bits of faith, hope and love that the grace of God has sown in our mind and heart, qualify us to be the bearers of the word of Christ Jesus – the Gospel.
 
For God’s sake, and for the sake of those around you, have more faith in the gift.
Don’t fall into the temptation of despising yourself and giving up.
After all, it’s God’s salt and God’s light, not your failings, that count.
 
Never yield to despair.
Christ is always greater than your darkness.
Christians like Peter, John, and Paul, Mary and Martha; and many other notable disciples, all had their failures on a grand scale, yet they were indeed beacons in a dark world.
 
There’s only one thing that can prevent the light of Christ from shining through us and that’s if we choose to hide it.
 
To be a secret Christian is not a valid option - we need to share it or lose it.
God won’t withdraw the light, but because he gave us free will, we can choose to cover it up.
 
Should we choose to do this, maybe like putting a bucket over a candle, then the light, starved of oxygen, will decline to a flicker, then degenerate to acrid smoke, smoulder a while and then grow cold.
We have to choose - do we want to put out God’s light?
 
The grace of God comes to us, undiluted and free.
But, like that forsaken man hanging on the cross, grace is not impervious to human rejection.
 
So would you rather be a strong, salty taste, or an insipid tasteless being? 
A bright light, shining for God, or a tiny candle, tucked safely under a bucket, who’s about to be snuffed out when the oxygen runs out.
 
Keep your saltiness pure and beam your light into the world.
Get out there and tell others about the gospel of Jesus and then you truly will be the salt and light of God.
 
Vaya con Dios………….Pastor Rick

The message we find in today’s reading of Matthew’s gospel is often called “The Sermon on the Mount” and it starts with something called “The Beatitudes”.
I like to call them the Be-attitudes, because Jesus is showing us how we should “be”.
 
Jesus starts his sermon with “Blessed are the poor, the sad, the meek, the thirsty, the merciful, the sincere, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for their faith in Christ.”
Near the end of the sermon, (read Matthew Ch 6), Jesus speaks with engaging, poetic words about the carefree birds of the air and the wildflowers in the field, followed by the admonition: “Your heavenly Father knows your needs before you ask him. Therefore, don’t be anxious. Don’t worry.”
This is a call for complete trust in the graciousness of God.
Jesus concludes this sermon of the highest ethical values - with an affirmation of the graciousness of God.
 
Every sentence in the Beatitudes has echoes from Old Testament passages.
Jesus, giving us these “new” Scriptures, was obviously well schooled in the “old” Scriptures.
 
Matthew wants us to recall the story of Moses, who went up the mountain and came back to the gathered people with the commandments of God; the laws by which the people of Israel were to live.
Jesus, on noticing the crowds that had gathered, went a little way up a mountain, to deliver his own manifesto - he was like the new Moses.
 
Much of what follows through the subsequent verses and chapters is ethical teaching.
It’s about how to live, loving God and loving one’s neighbour, but it goes much deeper than Moses.
Jesus goes from the external (i.e. obedience to the law), to the matters of feeling and thinking.
From outward observance - to motives and intentions.
 
“You shall not kill” is extended to “You shall not harbour anger and resentment.”
“You shall not commit adultery” is elevated to “You shall not harbour lust.”
“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” is surpassed by “Turn the other cheek, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
Jesus raised the religious and ethical bar to a new height.
 
So much so, that if this were all there was to the “Sermon on the Mount”, then Jesus would have been thought of as just an extremist law giver, who made the burden of goodness even greater for us to carry.
In fact, this extreme teaching had the potential to make the devout person even more anxious and desperate about their ability to please God.
But that’s not the whole truth about Jesus - there’s something new here.
A deeper and more hopeful message is present in his sermon.
 
There are Old Testament echoes everywhere in what Jesus had to say.
But they’re all with a new twist and a new message.
 
Jesus pronounces God’s blessing on certain groups of people. “Blessed are........”
That word “blessed” in the Greek text is makarios.
For Greeks, it was originally used for the happiness of the gods.
In the New Testament it refers to a God-given happiness.
 
It’s hard to find a contemporary, English word to bring out the full impact of this blessing.
 
Maybe it could be translated, “The meek have struck it rich!” or “How lucky are the meek, for they’ve hit the jackpot!” 
This would be okay as long as we see this kind of luck, not as chance, but as coming from God’s overflowing generosity. 
 
Whatever word we employ, the key point is that it describes the boundless joy which comes to those who follow Christ and completely trust in the kingdom of heaven.
 
Have you noticed that the blessedness which Jesus affirms, is like a bonus?
This blessedness is a free gift of God, and the recipients don’t have to do anything to earn this blessedness.
Therefore, the Beatitudes are about God’s grace. You don’t have to do anything to earn this happiness. In truth, it can’t be earned, only received as a gift from God.      It’s a pure gift - grace.
 
This is in sharp contrast to the blessings of the Old Testament, where the happiness was conditional and people were urged to act or pray in a certain way, for only then would they receive blessedness.
 
Psalm 15 offers readers a happiness which is totally dependent upon conditions.
It depends on living blamelessly, speaking the truth, never gossiping, not seeking revenge, shunning reprobates, honouring God-fearers, never taking a bribe and keeping promises even though such integrity proves costly - conditional blessedness.
 
However, the beatitudes of Jesus aren’t like that.
There are no conditions to be met before someone can be called blessed.
 
And why is it offered to these people? I mean, think about it, the people Jesus names as blessed, most certainly are not the people society considers blessed, which, come to think of it, is partly why Jesus chooses them.
Because in this sermon, he’s not offering a recipe for success, or the keys to happiness, or a roadmap to having your best life now.
Rather, he’s demonstrating once again that God regularly and relentlessly shows up just where we least expect him to be, in order to give to us freely what we can neither earn nor achieve: blessedness.
 
I think that Jesus chooses these states, or conditions, to lift us up, because it’s precisely in our moments of disappointment, or despair, that we’re likely to finally abandon cultural stereotypes about blessing (understood as happiness, wealth, fame, or power) and be open to the presence of God that gives without asking in return and blesses us that we might be a blessing to others.
 
There’s abounding grace for those who are poor, thirsty, sincere, merciful, and humble enough to simply receive it.
Accept the gift of divine happiness, for that’s where things commence for the Christian -  with God’s free, unconditional love.
 
Now what are we going to do with this gift from God?
 
We could just store it away and feel good – safe in the knowledge that we’re blessed by God.
But I don’t think that’s why God gave you the gift, is it?
 
Instead, he wants us to do something with it - to be a blessing to others in the actions we take.
In prayer, ask God what it is that you can do for others in the Kingdom and then go out and bless others.
​
Pastor Rick

As I’m sure you’re aware, we’ll celebrate Australia Day next Thursday and I’m guessing that it’ll mean different things to different people.
Officially it marks the anniversary of the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet of British ships at Port Jackson, New South Wales, and the raising of the flag of Great Britain at Sydney Cove by Governor Arthur Phillip.
To some, that meaning has gotten a bit lost and to some, it’s just a good excuse for another public holiday.
To our aboriginal brothers and sisters, it has a much darker significance, but we don’t have the time to fully delve into that today, other than to recognise the pain that it causes them.
 
So, what have we, as a nation, learned in the last 235 years?
Have we learned how to stand on our own feet and not be reliant on the nation that sent those convicts, soldiers and sailors to our shores so many years ago?
We still have a tenuous link to Great Britain and the US is a great ally, but, essentially, we are self-governing and we follow the laws and statutes set down by our own politicians.
So that raises a question for me - who should we follow?

Should we follow everything that Canberra dictates?
Do we follow the state of NSW?
Prior to 1788, the aboriginal people were the only custodians of the land, but since then, Australians have come to this land from a variety of backgrounds, cultures and religions.
Today we are a mixture of all these peoples, ancient and modern and we must all learn to accept each other’s differences and embrace them.
 
The Apostle Paul, in his first letter to the fledgling church in Corinth, urged the people not to get distracted by following any one particular cult leader, but, instead, to focus on the gospel message - that Christ died for us.
I would hope that, as Christians today, we can see that our primary role is also to follow Christ – and all that he teaches us through the bible.

However, as we find in this week’s readings, it isn’t as straightforward as it seems.
Sometimes people can be distracted by one religious denomination or another, professing that it has the “right” message.
It can even happen within congregation, when one person, or group, seek the be the owners of “the way” to do things.

Often, like in Corinth, these groups are seeking to sway people to their brand of Christianity and are forgetting the main message of the cross – that Jesus Christ is the one we follow – and no-one else.
Reconciliation with God must surely mean reconciliation with others. Paul lived his life from the logic of that gospel.
It left room for disagreement and for diversity, but certainly not for factionalism.
Paul saw no place for loyalty towards himself, or anyone else, because it just got in the road of true faith.
In one sense it was a problem of idolatry.

The Corinthians were putting certain leaders into a place that really belonged only to God.
In that sense they were becoming 'cult figures'.


In today’s gospel reading, we encounter Jesus saying to Andrew, Peter, James and John, by the Sea of Galilea, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”
This simple, yet profound, command began a remarkable transformation in the Western World.
Like cells dividing, Jesus, the one human form of God, became the four fishermen and then the 12 apostles.
The 12 became 500 disciples, the 500 became thousands, and thousands became millions of Christians – all over the world.
Serving as a Jesus-kind of fisherman is called evangelism.
That is, sharing the Good News about Jesus by helping others find and live by the power of God’s love.
It’s helping them learn how to share, with more people, what it is that they’ve found in our joyous and meaningful faith.

But just how DO we fish for people?

Like fish, people exist as many varieties.
To become successful fishers of people, we can do well by copying good fishing techniques.
Firstly, we need to develop a plan that will attract them - because we want to share the same love that we have come to know in the Lord.

We need to recognize, and take into account, individual differences, perspectives and cultures.
We also need to remember that those of varying ages and generations were formed in distinctive historical eras and, consequently, they will often respond differently and have separate characteristic needs. Those we seek must be approached with the kind of respect and care that honours both their dignity and their differences.
We share with others the value of what we have found in following Christ, becoming conscious of where the needs of others lie, using appropriate methods, taking care about proper timing, and seeking repeatedly to learn how other people think and communicate.
Just as a fisherman cannot force a fish to be caught, we must also try to draw others into the Christian circle, not by coercion, but by loving attraction.

We must constantly study, practice and experiment, as we strive to present the gospel in such a way that it becomes clear, understandable and meaningful to them.

We need to find the best method to feed them spiritually, so they can grow within the faith.
Then, in their own ways, they can continue the process that Jesus began with Peter and Andrew and James and John - as the newest in the spiritual chain of cell division, reaching out to others and expanding the great body of Christian disciples.

Maybe for us, the best example of fishing comes from the “catch and release method,” following the principle that a fish is more valuable in the water, than on the angler’s dinner table.

Let’s imagine ourselves as Christians engaging others in the faith, helping them stay alive in the faith, caring for them and teaching them to know the Divine One who loves us all.
Then, imagine yourself respecting them, regardless of how they choose to respond to our help, in bringing them to a deeper knowledge of God, regardless of how they live out the faith we now share.

Does it seem to be what Jesus means for us to do?
Is it what he intended for Peter and Andrew and James and John?
Certainly, he didn’t want his disciples to take advantage of anyone they “caught”, but to embrace and serve them.

The church’s task – as fishers of people – is to find the best ways to invite others to Christ, offering them what we have and letting them prosper if they choose to remain in our environment.

We can follow Jesus’ call by meeting them where they are and fostering ministries and activities that are suitable for their needs. Eventually, we can offer them the opportunity to serve God and others as they deem best.
 
We do this because we understand that Jesus calls us into the most precious ministry there is: fulfilling the mission of the church, which we say is “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.”
As fishermen for Christ, we can gain strength in this task by remembering first the needs of others and praying always the words of this prayer:
“Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Saviour Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation. That we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvellous works. This we pray in the name of the one who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.”     Amen.                   

Pastor Rick