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The Friday Email THE FRIDAY EMAIL Friday 1st January 2021 The Friday Thought from our Vicar, Fr Simon Well, for the majority of us, 2020 has been a dreadful year which, no doubt, we’ll have been happy to see disappear last night in the rear-view mirror of time. But it’s perhaps worth remembering that, for a select group, 2020 was memorable for very different reasons. Liverpool Football Club, for example, lifted the UEFA Super Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup and the Premier League. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton, by winning his seventh world championship, has not only become the most successful Formula 1 driver of all time but, through his campaigning, has raised the profile of the Black Lives Matter movement and set up a foundation to encourage diversity in the multi-billion dollar global motorsport industry. That was all before he was announced as the 2020 BBC Sports Personality of the Year and his knighthood was announced in the New Year’s Honours. And then there are the scientists who, along with so many other key workers, have been working so hard this past year to find a vaccine for the Covid-19 virus. And, it seems, against the clock, they’ve been incredibly successful. The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was rolled out in the UK at the beginning of December and now the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine has been given the go-ahead, being described this Christmas by the scientists who developed it as Oxford’s ‘gift to the world’. After all, this is the season of gifts and present-giving because we’re celebrating Jesus’ birthday. And so I hope, in due course, when I receive the vaccine, I shall be just as happy with it as I am with the box of chocolates and bottle of prosecco I received on Christmas Day! Of course, we only need to turn to scripture to read all about the birthday gifts the baby Jesus’ visitors brought him in that little town of Bethlehem, although next time you’re short of ideas for somebody’s birthday or Christmas present, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend 1 being inspired by their choices. After all, there are few of us who would be pleased to receive a live lamb on our special day! And then, this Sunday – Epiphany Sunday - we read about the wise men or magi who travel from the east, led by a star, to visit Jesus, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And, in that moment, the Messiah, lying in a lowly manger, is revealed to them. Indeed, the word ‘epiphany’ means ‘revelation’. These revered astronomers and astrologists (no kings here by the way, despite what it says in many of our school nativity scripts) are not only Jesus’ first international visitors but gentiles to boot. The revelation to them – and to us – is not that Jesus is for the Jewish community alone but for all of us, to the very ends of the earth and throughout all time. And so, on this Feast of the Epiphany, we celebrate the catholicity of God’s Church. The word ‘catholic’ means ‘universal’; please don’t think the word ‘catholic’ automatically refers to our friends in the Roman Catholic Church. So, as we recall the story of the magi recognising the universal importance of Jesus - to them as much as to Jesus’ fellow Jews - we too are reminded that Jesus is not just for us and not just for those we feel comfortable sharing him with. Jesus is for everyone, in all places and for all times, beyond being boxed up and kept to ourselves. So we as a church should be always seeking to model that - and, indeed, our extended opening hours over the Christmas period, allowing people to pop in to see the Christmas crib and to place a decoration, prayer or thought on the community Christmas tree, has been, within the current pandemic restrictions, a great way of reaching out beyond our immediate congregation. After all, is it too much to assume that after the wise men had returned home, they told other people about what they’d seen and heard? It would surely have been pointless to go all that way and then to have kept it to themselves? So too with us. After all, the opposite of ‘catholic’ is ‘exclusive’, and the Church of England and our church in Sawbridgeworth should never be exclusive. It should be all embracing and catholic, embracing anyone of any race, colour, gender, or sexuality who wants to know more about Jesus Christ, the God who became one of us. So we all, through our baptism, have a calling - a vocation - to let others know what a difference believing in Jesus actually makes for us; how, even in the darkness of 2020, Jesus has kept the candle of hope burning in our hearts. As well as for everybody’s health and safety, my hope and prayer for 2021 is that, as the pandemic restrictions begin to ease, we’ll be able to begin sharing that candle of hope even more effectively with others in our town and district. In the meantime, I wish you all a very happy, healthy, and holy new year. Yours in Christ, Fr Simon 2 Sunday’s readings The book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 60 verses 1 to 6: Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice, because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you. A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord. St Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 2, verses 1-12: In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’ When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.”’ Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’ When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. 3 The Collect for Epiphany O God, who by the leading of a star manifested your only Son to the peoples of the earth: mercifully grant that we, who know you now by faith, may at last behold your glory face to face; 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. Amen. Details of Sunday’s 9.30am service, also streamed on our website and Facebook page President & Preacher: Fr Simon (Vicar) Mass setting: Mass of St Thomas (music: David Thorne) Processional hymn: We three kings of Orient are (tune: John Hopkins) Gradual hymn: Brightest and best of the sons of the morning (tune: Epiphany) Offertory hymn: As with gladness men of old (tune: Dix) Communion hymn: Earth has many a noble city (tune: Stuttgart) Motet: Who is he, in yonder stall (tune: Resonet in Laudibus) Recessional hymn: O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness (tune: Was Lebet) Intercessions for this week For the world-wide Church Bishop Alan, Bishop of St Albans The Venerable Janet Mackenzie, Archdeacon of Hertford Archbishop Justin, Archbishop of Canterbury In the Anglican Cycle of Prayer: for the Episcopal/Anglican Province of Alexandria In the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: for Bishop Michael, Suffragan Bishop of Hertford, and for his PA, Tanya Willington In the Deanery Cycle of Prayer: for the Parish of St James, Thorley and their new Rector, the Revd Gaz Tracey For the congregation and community of Great St Mary’s For the world For those who have died or are suffering in body, mind or spirit For those who are working to relieve suffering; for key-workers, scientists and leaders For just and peaceful governance throughout the world For those worried about their livelihood For those who are being persecuted for their faith For those who are abused in body, mind or spirit For those who have nowhere to call home 4 For the community of Sawbridgeworth For carers and NHS workers – particularly the staff at the Princess Alexandra in Harlow and those at our Central Surgery For local businesses and commerce in these uncertain times For the teachers and staff of our local schools preparing to return for a new term For the people of Sunday: The Four Acres, Ash Groves & Meadow Way Monday: Crofters, Crofters End & Highfields Tuesday: Hatfield Heath Road & Hyde Hall Wednesday: Sheering Lower Road & Hatfield Heath Road Thursday: Bullfields, Walnut Tree Crescent & The Mews Friday: Harlow Road, Beech Drive & Oak Drive Saturday: Rushfield & Beechfield For the sick and bereaved including Linda Bowler, Una Bard, Pam Brown, Frieda Elfick, Pete Emery, Elsie Harman, Rosemary Jones, Peter White, June Willis For the recently departed Iris Chuchla For those we remember at the anniversary of their death Tony Chancellor Wendy De La Mothe Notices Services Like so many churches, Great St Mary’s treats the risks of the Covid- 19 pandemic seriously and responsibly.
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