Year
B
Second Sunday after the Epiphany
18
January 2015
Eucharistic Preface
Let
us lift up our hearts.
........We
lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our
God.
........It is right to
give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right to give
you our thanks and praise, O God,
for what we know of you is
overwhelming,
more wonderful than we can ever understand.
In
the hidden depths of time
you formed the newborn earth according
to your design,
and knit us together in our mothers’
wombs.
You led your people through Moses,
and corrected them
through prophets like Samuel,
whose every word went forth with
your power.
In these last days you have sent us your Son
—
Jesus, son of Mary, from Nazareth.
In word and deed he brought the
truth to light
and called us to follow
in the ways of
integrity and discipleship.
When the enemies of life put him to
death,
you raised him up by your power,
and likewise you raise
us up
and unite us with Christ
that we too may be an honoured
dwelling place
for your Holy Spirit.
Therefore with
.....
©2002 Nathan Nettleton
www.laughingbird.net
Short
Preface
(for insertion into Eucharistic prayers with
fixed prefaces)
We give you thanks for raising us up
and
uniting us with Christ,
so that we can follow him
in the ways
of integrity and discipleship,
and become an honoured dwelling
place
for your Holy Spirit.
©2002 Nathan
Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
General
Prayer of Thanksgiving
(Preface reformatted for use
apart from communion)
We give you all
thanks and praise, O God,
for what we know of you is
overwhelming,
more wonderful than we can ever understand.
In
the hidden depths of time
you formed the newborn earth according
to your design,
and knit us together in our mothers’
wombs.
You led your people through Moses,
and corrected them
through prophets like Samuel,
whose every word went forth with
your power.
In these last days you have sent us your Son
—
Jesus, son of Mary, from Nazareth.
In word and deed he brought the
truth to light
and called us to follow
in the ways of
integrity and discipleship.
When the enemies of life put him to
death,
you raised him up by your power,
and likewise you raise
us up
and unite us with Christ
that we too may be an honoured
dwelling place
for your Holy Spirit.
Therefore, with our
hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all
times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
©2002
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
Declaration
of Grace / Absolution
The God who searches us and
knows our inmost thoughts
has bought us at great price.
In
Jesus Christ we have been freed from sin
and heaven has been
opened to us.
Sisters and Brothers,
........your
sins are forgiven;
................be
at peace.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton
www.laughingbird.net
Commission
& Benediction
Go now. Listen for the
voice of the Lord
and follow wherever it leads.
Do not be
dominated by anything.
Allow no room within yourselves for
deceit,
but offer yourselves as a temple for the Holy Spirit.
And
may God be with you and speak through you;
May Christ Jesus be one
with you and raise you to life;
And may the Holy Spirit dwell
within you and make you holy.
We go in peace to love and serve
the Lord,
........In the name
of Christ. Amen.
©2002 Nathan
Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
Paraphrases of the
Scripture Lections
for
Epiphany 2 - Year B - 18 January 2015
Lections
from The Revised Common Lectionary.
Copyright 1992 by the
Consultation on Common Texts (CCT)
P. O. Box 340003, Room 381,
Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.
* 1 Samuel 3:1-10, (11-20)
........Samuel
grew up in the Temple at Shiloh, working as an apprentice to Eli the
priest, in the service of the LORD. In those
days, the people were right out of touch with God, and messages or
visions from the LORD were rare. The light of God
had not gone out, but Eli’s failing eyesight had left him
unable to see.
........One night, Eli
had gone to bed in his room, and Samuel was lying down in the Temple
of the LORD near the sacred Ark of God. The LORD
called out, “Samuel! Samuel!”
........“At
your service,” said Samuel, jumping up and running in to Eli’s
room. “You called me and here I am, at your
service.”
........But Eli said,
“I didn’t call you. Go back to bed.”
........So
Samuel went and lay down again, and the LORD
called out again, “Samuel!”
........Samuel
got up and went to Eli, saying “You called me and here I am, at
your service.”
........But Eli
said, “I didn’t call you, my son. Go back to
bed.”
........Now it was no
surprise that Samuel didn’t understand what was going on,
because he did not yet know the LORD, and his
mind had not yet been opened to what the LORD had
to say. The LORD called Samuel a third time, and
again he got up and went to Eli, saying “You called me and here
I am, at your service.”
........Finally
the lights went on for Eli and he realised that it was the LORD
who was calling the boy, so he said to Samuel, “Go and lie
down, and if you hear the call again, say, ‘Speak to me, LORD.
I’m at your service, and I’m all ears.’
”
........So Samuel went and
lay down again in the same place. The LORD came
and stood alongside him, calling out as before, “Samuel!
Samuel!”
........And Samuel
replied, “Speak to me. I’m at your service, and I’m
all ears.”
........The
LORD
said to Samuel, “Look, I am about to do something that will
make the hair stand up on the back of everyone’s necks when
they hear about it. On that day I will follow through on everything I
have ever said I would would do to Eli and his offspring. I have told
him that I am about to bring down a permanent punishment on his
family, because his sons have been dragging my name through the mud
and even though he knew about their corruption, he didn’t crack
down on them. So now I swear to Eli’s family that the charge of
corruption will stand against them forever, no matter how many
apologies, sacrifices or gifts they offer.”
........Samuel
had a restless night after that! When he got up in the morning to
open the doors of the house of the LORD,
he was afraid to say anything about the vision to Eli. But Eli wanted
to know, and called him, saying, “Samuel, my son.”
........“At
your service,” Samuel answered.
........“What
did the LORD
have to say to you?” Eli asked. “Don’t keep me in
the dark. May God punish you to the max, and then some, if you don’t
tell me every detail of what was said to you.”
........So
Samuel told him the whole lot, every last detail, and when he had
finished, Eli said, “The LORD
has spoken. I will have to cop whatever the LORD
sees fit to do.”
........As
Samuel grew to be a man, the LORD
kept a hand on his shoulder, and saw to it that when he spoke, not a
word was wasted. Before long, the whole land, from one end to the
other, knew that Samuel was the genuine article — a messenger
of the LORD
who could be trusted.
©2002 Nathan
Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
* Psalm
139: 1-6, 13-18
You have taken a good hard look at me,
LORD,
........and
you know exactly what makes me tick.
You know when I’ve
got my feet up and when I’m on the job;
........you
can read my mind like an open book.
You see where I am going
and where I stop,
........and you
know all about what I do and why.
You know exactly what I am
going to say, LORD,
........even
before I open my mouth.
You are in front of me, behind me,
beside me;
........your hand on my
shoulder at every turn.
All this is more than I can get my
head around;
........I pinch myself,
and struggle to take it in.
It was you who put me together,
every part of me;
........you knit me
together in my mother’s womb.
I sing your praises,
LORD,
........for
the the way you have made me fills me with awe.
Your creative
works blow my mind;
........too
wonderful for words.
You could see me clearly before I was
born;
........you watched me taking
shape in the secret depths
................and
laid out the intricacies of nerve and muscle.
You kept your
eye on me
........from conception to
birth.
My life lay before you like an open book
........before
I had even lived a day.
Your thoughts are way beyond my grasp,
God,
........and they add up to more
than I can count.
Deeper than the oceans,
........outnumbering
the grains of sand;
I give up trying
........but
you are with me just the same.
©2001 Nathan
Nettleton www.laughingbird.net
* 1
Corinthians 6: 12-20 - If
you find this paraphrase useful, how about
clicking
here and
helping our little church pay its author for the hours that went into
it!
You people say:
“There is nothing I am not allowed to do.”
Sure, but the fact that you are allowed to do something doesn’t mean it is a good idea to do it.
“There is nothing I am not allowed to do.”
Sure, but I am not about to let such things start taking over my
life.
You also hear people say:
“Food belongs in the stomach,
........and stomachs were made for food.”
Sure, but that’s not exactly the meaning of life! God could abolish both food and stomachs and leave untouched the things that really matter. Here’s a saying worth getting your teeth into:
“The human body deserves better than sleaze.
........The body belongs to the Lord,
................and the Lord belongs to the body.”
Indeed, God cares about bodies. God raised the Lord, body and all,
and will raise us, body and all, just as powerfully. You do know,
don’t you, that your bodies are now integral parts of Christ’s
body? So how could I take a part of Christ’s body and make it
part of a sleazy and degraded body? No way! For you do know, don’t
you, that when bodies are joined in sexual intimacy — no matter
how cheap and sleazy — they are united to one another forever.
As scripture says, “The two become one flesh.” But
because you are united to the Lord, you are one with the Lord. Steer
well clear of sleaze!
Some say:
“The sins people commit are ‘out there’
........and have no consequences in the body;”
while others say:
“If you get involved in sleazy sin
........you are only hurting yourself.”
You do know, don’t you, that your body
is a sacred dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, and your life is
therefore not your own to trash as you please? You have the Holy
Spirit within you, given to you by God. Your whole being, body and
soul, belongs to God, and it didn’t come cheap. So, see to it
that your bodily life always reflects well on God as its owner and
occupier.
©2002 Nathan Nettleton
www.laughingbird.net
* John 1:
43-51
........Jesus went
up to Galilee and there he came across a man named Philip who, like
Andrew and Peter, came from the city of Bethsaida. “Stick with
me,” said Jesus, and Philip did.
........Philip
later came across his mate Nathanael and said to him, “We have
found the one everyone has been waiting for; the one who was written
about in the law of Moses and in the prophets. It is Jesus, the son
of Joseph. He comes from Nazareth.”
........Nathanael
replied, “Nazareth! You’ve got to be kidding. How could
anything good come out of Nazareth?!”
........But
Philip just said, “Come and see for yourself.”
........Jesus
took one look at Nathanael and said, “Here we have a fair
dinkum Israelite. There’s no bullshit in this
bloke!”
........Nathanael asked
him, “Where did you get your information on me?”
........Jesus
replied, “I spotted you back there under the fig tree before
Philip called you.”
........Nathanael
said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the one who will
rule God’s people!”
........Jesus
answered, “Are you ready to put your trust in me just because I
told you that I knew what you were made of the minute I spotted you
under the fig tree. You will see things that make that pale into
insignificance!”
........And
turning to them all he continued, “I kid you not, you lot will
see the New Human become the bridge between heaven and earth, and the
messengers of God going back and forth between the two.”
©2002
Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net