Welcome
Welcome to our service of worship for the 6th of February. As we continue our journey beyond Epiphany, and with Christmas time far behind us, our thoughts continue to reflect upon God’s call upon our lives, both as individuals and as a community.
Call to Worship (based on Psalm 138) We come before You with thanksgiving in our hearts We bow our knee before You to praise Your name We praise You for Your constant love and faithfulness You have never failed us O Lord You answer us when we call With Your strength You strengthen us You fulfil Your promises Your love is eternal.
HYMN 111 Holy, holy, holy! Lord God almighty
Prayer c/w Lord’s Prayer
Let us pray:
Holy God, we come to give You our praise.
Holy God, we come to declare Your love.
Holy God, we come to lift Your name on high
in the songs that we sing and the prayers that we bring.
We acknowledge You as our God,
we acknowledge that You have blessed us with life,
we acknowledge that You have shown Your love to each one of us,
we acknowledge that You are our strength,
we acknowledge that You know each of us perfectly.
We acknowledge that although You know us inside and out
You still love us eternally.
We thank You that You call each of us by name
and that with Christ’s disciples of old,
we too are called to serve You and Your people.
We confess that sometimes we know we are not ready to serve,
we are too caught up with ourselves and our own desires;
we seek Your forgiveness.
We confess that we have spoken words that we should not have,
and remained silent when we should have spoken out loud.
We seek your forgiveness.
We confess that we have acted when we should have been still,
and remained passive when we should have risen up in Your name.
We seek Your forgiveness.
Lord, we know that You are slow to anger and abounding in love,
so may we rest in that love knowing that we can have a fresh start,
that today is the beginning of a new journey with You.
Send Your Spirit upon us, encouraging us to hear Your calling;
enable us and teach us to fulfil our service to You.
empower and sustain us we journey.
Through Christ our Lord we pray,
saying together:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
now and for ever. Amen.
Scriptures
Isaiah 6:1-8
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph[b] touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’
Luke 5:1-11
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
HYMN 555 Amazing Grace
Reflection
O God of earth and altar,
bow down and hear our cry,
our earthly rulers falter,
our people drift and die;
the walls of gold entomb us,
the swords of scorn divide,
take not thy thunder from us,
but take away our pride.
These words, the opening ones of a hymn written by GK Chesterton, would have resonated with the various characters in today’s scripture readings. They describe not only the religious and political times in which both prophet and disciple lived, but also the condition of the individual human heart.
Our Gospel story today is one that appears in two different forms in Scripture, the other being in John’s Gospel where it is set in a post-resurrection context. In both tellings, though, you can imagine Peter’s pride taking something of a dent. He is a professional fisherman and had experienced a truly poor night of fishing. Then along comes Jesus, a carpenter or master builder, who then teaches him how and where to catch fish! His ego must have stung at least a little. This was not his first encounter with Jesus; in the previous chapter we read of his mother-in-law being healed by Jesus; so the two men were, at least, acquainted. Perhaps that is why Peter allowed Jesus to use his fishing boat as a floating pulpit. This telling of the fishing miracle is also unique, in that it contrasts sharply with the other versions of the call of Peter, where the encounter is a first one and is retold as sudden, abrupt.
This is a strange tale, too, in that we are told nothing of what Jesus preaches or teaches the crowd. That should catch our attention as the Gospel stories are usually packed with what Jesus says and taught. On this occasion it is not the words but the actions of Jesus that make the difference, that catch the attention of the bystanders and Peter himself. Perhaps there is a lesson there that it is often actions rather than words that speak most clearly about our intentions. With Peter the action of Jesus transforms him from prideful fisherman to repentant disciple.
Jesus’ engagement with Peter does not end with the fishing; look at the future disciple’s words to Jesus, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” In that moment a long night’s unsuccessful labouring is transformed into a moment of self-revelation. Peter has a miraculous awakening, seeing himself as he truly is, and is transformed. Pride is overcome.
At this point in our tale the literal act of fishing is spun into a metaphor for something more significant. Jesus begins by assuring Peter, “do not be afraid” he says. He goes further, stating to Peter, “I will make you a fisher of men”. Even here, things are not quite what they seem. It isn’t apparent in English translation, however the word translated as “catch” is an unusual one, and with a quite specific meaning; it means “to take alive”. When fish are caught professionally in a net, they are soon dead, but here people are to be caught that they might live! They are caught that they may see God, know God, and get caught up in the mission of God to all humanity. The impact on Peter, as well as both James and John, is so great that they leave fishing behind them to follow Jesus. They give up everything for the sake of taking up life eternal in the mission of God.
This narrative of transformed lives is meant to be one that should inspire us, encourage us, giving us hope. These fishermen were ordinary working people; they were not the ‘great and the good’. They are getting on with the daily grind when God, in Christ Jesus, breaks in and changes everything. They are called by God as they are, imperfect, sinners, and afraid. In Jesus all this is transformed. Throughout scripture we are shown that there is nothing that can be an obstacle to the call of God on a human life, not sin, not inadequacy, not failure. God calls the imperfect to do His perfect will. If you doubt this, then look at the call of Moses, the call of Isaiah that was also read to us today, and the call of Jeremiah that we heard last week. All of these were giants of the faith, yet all were deeply flawed. They, and we, are not perfect yet God still calls us to be His servants.
How often do we resist the call of Jesus upon our life? How often do we resist because we believe the call to be impractical or, for some reason, that we are not fit to carry it out? How often do we allow our own pride to prevent us, the same pride that calls us to stand alone and face the world? How often do we allow fear of how others will perceive us stand in the way of the call? Can we let go and, like Peter, allow ourselves to be drawn into deep waters? We must ask those questions of ourselves as these are exactly what Jesus demands of us. It is unlikely that you’ll be called to leave behind home, or family, or career. We will be called to reorientate our lives to serve the Gospel, witnessing to Christ Jesus in both our words and our deeds. It is what we were baptised into.
The mission of Jesus does not wait until we are ready; that is pride at work for it is our hearts and minds saying that we know better than God. Rather, we are called, right here and right now, despite of ourselves and our messy, complicated, and busy lives. As with Peter, the words of Jesus are for us too, “do not be afraid”. We are to go out into the deep waters to catch people for the kingdom of God just as we have been caught. We are to use a net that is formed from the grace and mercy of a loving God, the same love and mercy that we have experienced. We are to fish until the net is full and overflowing. Will you now answer the call of God to haul it in? Amen.
HYMN 533 Will you come and follow me
Prayer
Let us pray:
God of truth and justice You have called us to You.
We come with hearts for You and Your people.
We don’t come to judge,
we don’t come to distrust,
we don’t come to punish,
we don’t come to disregard,
we come to love as You first loved us.
We come to care and treat people as equal,
we come with Your love in our hearts,
as we offer to You the most vulnerable and fragile
in our communities and in our world.
Lord, in the midst of fear and isolation
we pray for assurance and company.
Lord, in the midst of confusion and pain
we pray for clarity and comfort.
Lord, in the midst of grief and darkness
we pray for peace and light.
Bring strength to the weak.
Bring rest to the weary.
Bring healing to the broken.
Bring aid to the needy.
Bring courage to the lost.
And set the prisoner free, we ask.
We pray for our friends,
and for our enemies.
we pray for our families,
and for the stranger in our midst.
We pray in silence for those
we hold most dear.
silence
Hear these our prayers for the world that You created.
Through Christ our Lord, our Saviour and our brother,
we pray.
Amen.
HYMN 251 I the Lord of sea and sky
Benediction
Go with the love of God Go with a heart for all people Go strengthened in God Go serve God's people And the blessing of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Spirit Holy, go with you now and always. Amen.
Sung Amen
Acknowledgements:
Bible Quotations taken from: New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition, copyright © 1989, 1995 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
English translations of The Lord’s Prayer, © 1998, English Language Liturgical Consultation (ELLC), and used by permission. www.englishtexts.org
Prayers based on Church of Scotland Weekly worship for this Sunday.