The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
February 2, 2003
St. John's of Mt. Laurel
Fr. J. Scott Houser, Rector (980-9202)
Clay Moffett, Senior Warden (979-0050)
Mark Taylor, Junior Warden (408-7071)
Sunday School 9:30am
Holy Communion 10:45am
**Church Supper to follow Holy Communion this Sunday. We wish to make every effort to invite friends and the un-churched to services this Sunday.**
Epiphany means "manifestation" or "appearance," and the feast of this name is in origin and in essence a festival celebrating the manifestation of Jesus as Savior and Redeemer. If Christmas rejoices in God become man, Epiphany is the breaking forth of the saving power of God in man, the man Jesus Christ. There is a progressive manifestation of Jesus' divine nature, he who is both God and man is strong to save.
First Sunday: Jesus at age twelve in the Temple manifesting the wisdom of God
Second Sunday: Jesus is baptized and the heavens are opened unto him
Third Sunday: Jesus' first miracle at the wedding feast at Cana
Fourth Sunday: Jesus' healing of the leper and the centurian's servant
Fifth Sunday: Jesus' saving power: the calming of the seas ... "What manner of man is this?
Sixth Sunday: The Feast of Transfiguration: the glory of Jesus who was God in the beginning.
Old Testament: Deuteronomy 4:5-13, 32-40
Psalter: Psalm 18:1-20
Epistle: Romans 13:1-7
Gospel: St. Matthew 8:1-13 The Epiphany of Divine Mercy
We see in Epiphany the unfolding revelation of Jesus' person and work. He is the manifestation of the divine glory on earth, Jesus being both God and man (1st Sunday; Jesus is conscious of his divine mission from the earliest days of his youth (2nd); Jesus enters the common life of men to transform and restore that life to God with his first miracle at Cana (3rd); Jesus now manifests the great work He has come to show forth: the mercy of God to man.
The OT readings set the backdrop for this Sunday's Gospel. They recall the giving of the Law on the mountain of God (Deuteronomy) which was accompanied by the many frightening manifestations of God's power and authority (Psalm). In the Gospel reading the setting for Jesus' healing of the leper is Jesus' sermon on the Mount, and recalls the first giving of the law in the OT. Jesus takes the law of God and presses its holy demands to the very heart of man, to show that the law had come, according to St. Paul, to make sin exceedingly sinful. "You have heard that it was said: 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in her heart.'" Jesus reiterates and extends the law and He drives home its holy demands leaving us to ask, "who then can be saved? Who can ascend the hill of the Lord?" All our efforts to live up to the law by our own strength become futile. If God's justice is so exacting, so demanding how can any man be saved? God saves us not according to the works of the law, but according to mercy.
Don't you see? Jesus did not come to condemn but to save. Jesus the Christ did in St. Matthew 8 what God in the OT never did: He came down from the mountain ... to show forth the mercy of God. The OT giving of the law was accompanied by so many terrifying signs that the people were afraid to approach the holy mountain, and Moses himself was full of fear and trembling (Hebrews 12). Who then can ascend to the holy hill of the Lord (Psalm 24)? If man cannot go up to God, God must, if man is to be saved, come down. Jesus, He who has clean hands and a pure heart, having proclaimed the law anew, now descends ... to what purpose? To manifest in Himself, to show forth to the world, that God is merciful to us in His Christ. And to whom is mercy first shown? To a leper, consumed with leprosy, whose very disease, much like that of sin, has kept him from the holy presence of God ( the Temple) and is even now destroying him. "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean!" "I will; be thou clean." Jesus has come down to us as the mercy of God, and in Jesus God the Father is ever willing to be merciful to us. Behold Jesus, the Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world. Every Sunday we are summoned to Mt. Zion to worship the living God. It is in hope and assurance that we, who are not of ourselves worthy to come into the holy presence of God, may know that in Christ God is merciful to us and in Christ we may ascend to the throne of God.
Lord, have mercy upon us, Christ have mercy upon us, Lord have mercy upon us.
Collect for the Fourth Sunday After Epiphany
O God, who knowest us to be set in the midst of so many and great dangers, that by reason of the frailty of our nature we cannot always stand upright; Grant to us such strength and protection, as may support us in all dangers, and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Please stop for just a moment and pray that God will bless the ministry of St. John's of Mt. Laurel with an increase of grace and an effective witness of Jesus Christ.
Everliving God, whose will it is that all should come to Thee through thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord; Inspire our witness to Him, that many may come to know the power of His forgiveness and the hope of His resurrection; who lives and reigns with Thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
St. John's of Mt. Laurel Episcopal Church is an orthodox and traditional Episcopal parish, committed to the proclamation and expansion of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of our historic Anglican faith. Our witness of the knowledge and love of our Lord Jesus Christ begins with the nurture of our own parishioners and continues beyond our parish to Mt. Laurel, North Shelby County, the Diocese of Mid-America and as far as Christ leads us.
We invite you to come and join us in worship, either this Sunday or at one of our other regularly scheduled services.
Celebrating the Saints
The Feast of St. Anskar, Archbishop of Hamburg,
Missionary to Denmark and Sweden
February 3
Anskar (Latinized as Ansgarius) was one of those valiant Christians of whom it might be said, "These shall plant the seed, but others shall reap the harvest." As Archbishop of Hamburg, he was sent for missionary work among the Scandinavians. The immediate result of his devoted and perilous work was slight: two churches established on the border of Denmark and one priest settled in Sweden. He also participated in the consecration of Gotbert, first bishop of Sweden.
Anskar was born in Corbie, France, in 801, and educated in the outstanding monastic school there. His teaching skill led him to be chosen master of a new monastery school, sent out by Corbie, in Saxon, Germany. His strongest call, however, was to be a missionary.
He was stirred, his biographer Rimbert says, by a prolonged vision, in which a voice said, "Go and return to me crowned with martyrdom." When King Harald of Denmark sought missionaries for that country in 826, Anskar was one of those selected. Rimbert notes that Anskar's missionary purpose caused astonishment. Why should he wish to leave his brothers to deal with "unknown and barbarous folk?" Some of the brethren tried to deter him.
Steadfast in his resolve, Anskar established a school and mission in Denmark, working conscientiously but unsuccessfully to convert and evangelize. He was not totally discouraged. Another vision appeared, with a voice saying, "Go and declare the work of God to the nations." Shortly afterward (about 829), he was called to Sweden and eagerly accepted. Meager aid both from the monastery and the emperor frustrated his efforts.
While still a young man, Anskar was consecrated Archbishop of Hamburg, 831, and continued his work among the Scandanavians until 848, when he retired to the See of Bremen. The seeds of his efforts were not to bear fruit until over one hundred years later, when Viking devastation, weakness in the Frankish Church, and the lowest ebb of missionary enthusiasm, came to an end. The rich harvest of conversion was three generations away. Nevertheless, Anskar is looked upon by Scandinavians as their apostle.
Collect: Almighty and everlasting God, who didst send thy servant Anskar as an apostle to the people of Scandinaia, and didst enable him to lay a firm foundation for their conversion, though he did not see the results of his labors: Keep thy Church from discouragement in the day of small things, knowing that when thou hast begun a good work thou wilt bring it to a fruitful conclusion; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Psalm: 96:1-7
Acts 1:1-9
St. Luke 6:7-13