麻豆社

This text will not be exactly as broadcast but generally reflects the service. It may contain errors and notes.

Continuity: On 麻豆社 Sounds and Radio 4 now it鈥檚 time for Sunday Worship for the second Sunday of Epiphany. The service begins with a verse from an anthem by Richard Lloyd 鈥� The Call

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CHOIR The Call (Lloyd) [Loft Music]

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LIZ: How did you decide what to do with your life? Or are you still deciding? No matter how old you are, the question of how to live is always worth considering. Part of the Christian journey is to travel through life endeavouring to live in a way that is pleasing to God. This is easy to say, yet much harder to do, especially when there isn鈥檛 one single way of living to aspire to. Christians often talk about trying to discern a calling or vocation. This morning we are going to explore this in our worship.听

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CHOIR (verse 2)

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LIZ: Good morning and welcome to St Olave鈥檚 Church in York. I am the Revd Canon Liz Hassall, Priest in Charge of the York City Centre Churches, a group of five Church of England churches working together to bring Christian worship and witness into the heart of this historic City. Today I have with me our parish choir of St Olave with musical director Keith Wright and organist Maximillian Elliott. I am also joined by my colleague the Revd Nicky Gladstone and members of our congregation. We meet here at St Olave鈥檚, just near the river towards the northern edge of the old city, every Sunday morning. Our worship is usually centred on the Eucharist. This morning we are sharing with you a Service of the Word.

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CHOIR (verse 3)

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LIZ: Almighty God, as we join together in prayer and song, guard and guide us through your Spirit. Draw us closer to your Son, Jesus Christ 鈥� the Way, the Truth and the Life 鈥� in whose name we pray. Amen.

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Hymn: Hail to the Lord鈥檚 Anointed (Cruger)

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Greeting -

LIZ: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you and also with you.

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NICKY: Lord Jesus, illuminate the darkness in our hearts:

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, open our eyes to your saving love:

Christ, have mercy.

Christ, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, unstop our ears to hear your living word:

Lord, have mercy.

Lord, have mercy.

LIZ: May God who loved the world so much that he sent his Son to be our Saviour forgive us our sins and make us holy to serve him in the world, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

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MUSIC - Gloria in Excelsis (The Wiltshire Service - Richard Shephard)

NICKY: The season of Epiphany is all about understanding more about who Jesus was as he walked on the earth and what that means now, 2000 years later. In our bible readings, we begin with a passage from the Book of Revelation, where the cosmic significance of Jesus is recognised. First, however, we pray the Collect for the 2nd Sunday of Epiphany

LIZ: Prays the Collect

READER: A reading from the book of Revelation Revelation 21: 1-10 For the gift of his holy word.

Thanks be to God.

NICKY: Every week in our worship at St Olave, the choir sings verses from one of the Psalms. This week, Psalm 139 reminds us of how deeply we are known by God

Music: Psalm 139.1-5, 12-18 鈥� sung by the choir (Chants: Turle, from Henry Purcell)

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Gospel Acclamation:

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

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Gospel:

Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.

Glory to you, O Lord.

John 1.43-51

This is the Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

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LIZ: Sermon -听

LIZ: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

About 10 years ago, I heard a group of 4 and 5 year olds being asked what they wanted to be when they grew up. I was quite excited to hear their answers, wondering what dreams they had.

It turned out that all the girls wanted to be princesses. Nearly all the boys wanted to be firefighters, except for one determined young man who was certain he wanted to be a fisherman, like his Dad. Even setting aside gender stereotypes, I remember being quite disappointed that so many of them chose the same 鈥� I鈥檇 been hoping for a few scientists or engineers or artists in the group. Think back to your childhood. What answer would you have given at age 4, or age 11, or indeed age 20? If I had gone along with my childhood dream, I鈥檇 be teaching maths to students, funnily enough, just like my Dad did. My calling turned out to be somewhat different

It is not always straightforward following a calling. 80 years ago, in January 1944, amidst the necessity of war, Florence Li Tim-Oi was ordained as the first female Anglican Priest. This caused huge controversy and, after the war, Florence was prevented from exercising her priestly ministry for some years until the Church caught up with the idea that God calls women too.

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In our Gospel reading today, we hear the calling of two of Jesus鈥� disciples. Jesus says 鈥淔ollow me鈥�. Philip seems easily persuaded and immediately goes in search of his friend Nathanael, enticing him with the invitation to 鈥渃ome and see鈥�. Before that day, I don鈥檛 think either Philip or Nathanael would have had any idea about what was going to change after their encounter with Jesus. It turned out that any previous ideas they had entertained about their futures were completely transformed by the invitation from Jesus to follow him. They chose to say yes, and became his disciples, two of the twelve closest followers of Jesus.

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Of course, in one way it was simple for them. They could see Jesus in flesh and blood and ask him directly exactly what he wanted them to be or to do. It is not so straightforward for those of us who don鈥檛 live during the time that Christ was walking on the earth.

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So what do we do about figuring out a calling in our lives, given that most people don鈥檛 hear the Holy Spirit speaking directly? I鈥檓 quite an enthusiast for calling being applicable to everyone and I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 just about how you spend your nine to five, or earn a liveable wage. But sometimes it is.

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The idea of searching for a fulfilling way to spend your waking hours must be quite a recent phenomenon. I wonder whether it was simpler in pre-industrial times, when your course in life was pretty much set by what your parents did. Was it simpler, or were people just more miserable? It is definitely a sign of privilege to be able to choose an occupation.

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Some occupations are regularly referred to as a calling or vocation. There鈥檚 priesthood of course, and many of the caring professions: medicine, nursing, but also听 teaching, writing, science and the arts. What鈥檚 the difference? Think about your acquaintances. You probably know people who tolerate their jobs and do what鈥檚 needed to get by. And then there will be some without jobs, denied the opportunity to work through disability, residence status or other lack of opportunity. But you may also know people whose faces light up when they talk about their jobs. They are passionate about what they do.

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I鈥檓 joined here now by Ben Pugh, one of our congregation members and I鈥檓 going to ask him a few questions about his working life and his faith life.

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Ben, how do you spend your days?

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What was your journey to get to this point?

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In what way could this be considered a calling?

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How does your Christian faith relate to that?

Ben is very modest about how his faith and his life work together. When I look at Ben, I see someone whose faith in Jesus Christ has had a big impact in how he lives his life and how he treats other people. And I think this helps us to get to the heart of what calling is in a Christian sense.

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It all comes down to the love of God: the same love that resulted in Jesus living, dying and rising again for the sake of everyone. God looks at all people with love and yearns for every person to flourish; not for them to become cookie-cutter replicas of a single perfect blueprint, but to flourish and grow into their own potential.

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In the Gospels, we hear so many stories of people meeting Jesus. Some, he calls out of their lives to follow him. Some he calls and they refuse. Some want to leave everything in their lives and follow him, but are told to stay put. Jesus recognised people as individuals and called them accordingly.

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You may be listening to this saying what relevance does this have to me? 鈥淚 don鈥檛 need a calling鈥�, or 鈥淚鈥檓 retired鈥�, or 鈥渕y passions in life are nothing to do with my work鈥�. You may be thinking that the circumstances of your life don鈥檛 leave room for a calling. Don鈥檛 write this idea off. I think the idea of calling has something to say to everyone.

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Calling doesn鈥檛 have to be a whole life thing. We can approach each day, or each week or each year by asking the question, what is God calling me to do or to be in these circumstances, or what does it mean to follow Jesus here and now? The main blocks of your day may be set in stone in terms of activities, but calling can be about attitude, or about the choices you make about fragments of time.

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Just like for Philip and Nathanael, the invitation is there for everyone to follow Jesus, but we can only do that effectively if we recognise who we are, what our gifts and talents are and how we can best put them into practice.

Anthem: Agnus Dei (Mass for four voices) William Byrd听

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We pray that Christ may be seen in the life of the Church.

You have called us into the family

of those who are the children of God.

May our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ be strengthened by your grace.

Jesus, Lord of the Church,

in your mercy hear us.

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You have called us to be a light to the world, so that those in darkness come to you.

May our lives shine as a witness

to the saving grace you have given for all.

Jesus, Lord of the Church,

in your mercy hear us.

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You have called us to be members of your body, so that when one suffers, all suffer together.

We ask for your comfort and healing power to bring hope to those in distress.

Jesus, Lord of the Church,

in your mercy hear us.

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At this time of war strife and suffering in different parts of the world, let us pray, with confidence, as our Saviour has taught us.

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Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name;

thy kingdom come;

thy will be done;

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation;

but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom,

the power and the glory,

for ever and ever. Amen.

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LIZ:

Our Saviour Christ is the Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end.

The peace of the Lord be always with you

听听听听听听听听听听听听听 and also with you.

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The peace

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Hymn: O Jesus, I have promised to serve thee to the end (Wolvercote);

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LIZ: Christ the Son of God perfect in you the image of his glory and gladden your hearts with the good news of his kingdom; and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always.

Amen.

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NICKY: Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord.

In the name of Christ, Amen.

Organ voluntary: Fanfare Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens

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