Opening Verse of Scripture Psalm 138
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with my whole heart; before the gods will I sing praise to you. will bow down towards your holy temple and praise your name, because of your love and faithfulness; for you have glorified your name and your word above all things.
Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray
O God, you know 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 your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
CW
Lord of the hosts of heaven, our salvation and our strength, without you we are lost: guard us from all that harms or hurts and raise us when we fall; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
CW
First Bible Reading Isaiah 6 Verse 1-8 (9-13)
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 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!’ And he said, ‘Go and say to this people:
“Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.” Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed.’ Then I said, ‘How long, O Lord?’ And he said: ‘Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate; until the LORD sends everyone far away, and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land. Even if a tenth part remains in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains standing when it is felled.’ The holy seed is its stump.
NRSV
Second Reading 1 Corinthians Chapter 15 Verses 1-11
I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you – unless you have come to believe in vain.
For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them – though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.
NRSV
Gospel Reading Luke 5 Verses 1-11
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 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 Jesus.
NRSV
Post Communion Prayer
Go before us, Lord, in all we do with your most gracious favour, and guide us with your continual help, that in all our works begun, continued and ended in you, we may glorify your holy name, and finally by your mercy receive everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. CW
Commentary
It would appear that there were social divisions in the church at Corinth with a small ‘elite’ group having disproportionate influence. Their attitude towards those who they perceived to be inferior to them seemingly having a significant influence on the issues Paul addresses in his letters to them. A few highly placed individuals were probably doing much to shape the church and its influence and engagement with wider society due to their education and social standing. Addressing issues of wealth and status are a common thread through Paul’s writings to the Corinthians. Perhaps more importantly, the leaders in the church in Corinth seem to pride themselves in their superior spirituality. This causes Paul to remark, ‘I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly, mere infants in Christ’, 1 Cor 3 v 1 and, in the verses just before today’s reading, ‘If anyone things they are a prophet or spiritually gifted, let them acknowledge that what I am writing to you is the Lord’s command…. …everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way’, 1 Cor 14 v 37, 40, a comment possibly addressed to a specific individual or small group with undue influence. The need for order highlighted as being critical as the opposite, disorder, is easily exploited by the strong and powerful, as we still see in our world today. It’s probably also why Paul then states that he is ‘the least of the Apostles’, if anything expressing a sense of inferiority, which would have been very counter cultural. Having established the ground rules as to how believers should behave and order themselves, including the appropriate use of spiritual gifts, Paul goes on to summarise and remind the Corinthians about the basis of their faith, that which they have received, and on which they now all stand firm.
But the first few verses of our reading are more than just reminder of what they believe, more than just a basic credal statement, although indeed that’s what they are. Paul makes two simple yet profound statements, on which hangs our faith. Both begin with the word, ‘that’. ‘That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures’, and, ‘that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures’.
He then He then backs these up with two supplementary statements to give them veracity, context and clarity, both also beginning with the word ‘that’. ‘That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures’, is immediately followed by the phrase, ‘and that he was buried’. The burial is an emphasis, even proof, of a real, tangible and physical death. Similarly, ‘and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures’ is immediately followed by, ‘and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.’ Just as burial is proof of a tangible and real death, the appearance of Christ is evidence and proof of a tangible and real resurrection.
Up to this point, Paul’s emphasis has predominantly been on the cross, but now, in these few verses, we have one of our earliest written examples of evidence of belief in the resurrection. Paul makes no reference to the empty tomb, or the women who were at the scene and witnessed the risen Christ, but the essence of our faith is laid bare in this early, simple, creedal statement. We believe that Christ died for our sins and, in resurrection on the third day, He rose from the dead. This is the essence of the Corinthian faith and our faith. And Paul goes on to say, it doesn’t matter who it’s heard from or even how we heard it, this resurrection centric message is the one which underpins our faith and the one to which we ‘hold firm’, whatever our background or learning, whatever our gifts - spiritual or otherwise, whatever our status or lack of it, whatever the circumstances or challenges.
Sometimes the writings of the Apostle Paul can be dense and complex as they adumbrate and explore different facets of our faith and doctrine. Since the 1970’s there has been a renewed focus and new perspectives on Paul’s understanding of major concepts such as justification by grace through faith, and how these relate to the seemingly more prescriptive Jewish law with which he was so familiar. This is another of the common threads running through Paul’s writings. Yet here in our reading from Corinthians, we have Paul at his simplest and clearest. ‘that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve….’ For many, that really is a new perspective and an opportunity for a fresh start as we move from that which we once knew to that which is now revealed in Christ. Sam Cappleman
Meditation
We very often look at the actions of Jesus and see the theological signs and interpret them in ways which help us to understand the deeper meanings. Occasionally it is also worthwhile considering them at face value as acts of great kindness.
- Jesus goes to a wedding and when they run out of wine he helps out and makes sure that the host is not embarrassed in front of the guests.
- He walks through a crowd and stops when he sees a little old lady who everybody ignores and he gives her some attention when probably nobody else has taken time to listen to her problems.
In today's reading Jesus sees men who have been fishing all night without a catch. On the rare occasions when I don’t catch any fish when I go out on a boat, I usually think that it isn’t a problem because we have enjoyed each others company on the lovely lake. Not so of course for Simon and his family, they paid good money for a licence to fish the lake and this was their livelihood. If there were no fish there was no money and subsequent economic hardship, eventually no food. Seeing their predicament Jesus takes them onto the lake and he helps them catch more fish than they could have wished for.
Jesus shows us examples of how we can be aware of the needs of others. Who can you be kind to today ? Sam Cappleman
Hymns
- Wild and lone the prophet's voice (Aberystwyth)
- You are the vine (as)
- O walk with Jesus, wouldn't thou know (Ombersley)
- My Lord, who in he desert fed (Melcombe)
- Son of God, eternal Saviour (Abbot's Leigh)
Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead