Now is the Time.

This sermon can be listened to here
 Gate Pa – Year B -Epiphany 3 2021
Readings:
Psalm                          62:5-12                                                
First Reading:               Jonah 3:1-5, 10 
Second Reading:        1 Cor 7:29-31  
Gospel:                          Mark 1:14-20 
 
What I want to say and what I want to happen:
As we start this new year, this opportunity to grow and live in new ways, to explore how Mark’s call story offers us the themes of now is the time; repentance; and trust
What I want to happen:
People to share stories of call, and to reflect on how they are called now.
People to reflect on what those themes might mean for us as a community this year.

The Sermon

1.     Introduction – Happy New Year:

Happy new year
Calendar year
How are you feeling about this new year?
-         Some ways nothing has changed.
-         Some ways feels like there is potential for a lot to change for better or for worse
Spent Friday doing some praying and thinking about this year
Letting go of some hopes last year
Holding on to some
Finding some new hopes – myself and for parish
Putting a whole lot of dates into the dairy
Struck by sense of opportunity in this new year
To start again in some way
And to grow and live in some new ways.
 

       2.     Call

In light of that found interesting that for last two weeks at least
Gospel readings have been about call
-         John’s story of the call of Philip and Nathanael.
-         This week Mark’s story of the call of Andrew and Peter, James and John.
Last week Joyce told us some of her experience of being called
I have in past talked about my own experience of call
-         Priest
-         Franciscan
-         Youth
-         Out of youth
-         Priest in this parish
Not about Joyce and me
We are all called
-         Part of baptism – reaffirm every Easter
-         Part confirmation
-         Part of our experience of being followers of Christ
I wonder
-         What are some of your call stories?
ð Conversation
ð Plenary?
 

    
   3.     Mark’s story

Not all call stories are same
This week is different from last week
Many suggest that what heard today plays important role in how Mark tells his story.
In essence verse 15 lays out the central themes,
ð that he uses the rest of the gospel to explore in more details
NRSV –Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news[a] of God,[b] 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near;[c] repent, and believe in the good news.”
CEB -After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee announcing God’s good news, 15 saying, “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!”
 

       4.     Themes – Repent

Three important themes in all this
The time is fulfilled / Now is the time
Repent / Change your hearts and lives,
Believe in / Trust this good news
Start with repent - Change your hearts and lives
Over recent times talked a lot about what repent might mean for us
Not just turning around from sin
Adopting a whole new outlook on our world and our place in it
This understanding partly behind CEB translation “Change your hearts and lives”
This happens when see everything differently.
What enlarged or new outlook, new or bigger way of seeing God’s world might we be invited into in this new year?
 

       5.     Theme - Trust

Second theme is belief or trust.
Word commonly translated “belief” not about what we believe about something
Really about trusting in that thing
As translated by CEB.
What are we to trust when trust this good news, this bigger world view?
 

       6.     Theme - Now is the time

“The time is fulfilled
CEB - “Now is the time”
has an urgency about it
More than “now seems like a good time,”
More a response to John’s arrest.
As one commentator put it Jesus is saying
“enough is enough. It’s time to get on with it all, time to act, to live out reign or kingdom of God.”
So what does “now is the time” mean for us today
-         Midst covid pandemic
-         World creaking under human made climate change
-         World seem more fragile than ever.
What mean for us in traditional main line church
Like nearly all such churches
Struggling with aging congregations and uncertainty/fear about future of our church.
What do Jesus words of “Now is the time! Here comes God’s kingdom! Change your hearts and lives, and trust this good news!”
-         What does all this offer you and your sense of call as we start this new calendar year?
-         As we start a new year – what or who are we called to this year?
ð Conversation
ð Plenary?

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