26 March 2023
10:00 | 
Posted by
Dr Platts |
This Sunday was Passion Sunday, our 10 am service was Matins. Father Chris was unwell, so Janet and Chris our Churchwardens took the service. Joanna sang the versicles and we all sang the responses. The Benedicite and the Jubelate Deo were sung. The former in the setting by Lloyd and the latter in the setting by CV Stanford.
There was no sermon so we finished a little early.
Meanwhile the Sunday School children had been following the path from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, and made some crosses to remind themselves of the events during the week.
Next Sunday, Palm Sunday, if the weather is kind we shall start in the Church Hall and process up the lane to the church with palms. If it is wet, we will meet in the Parish rooms instead.
Services for Easter are in the diary do try to come and join us.
8am Holy Communion
Ezekiel 37:1-14
A reading from the book of the prophet Ezekiel.
The hand of the Lord came upon me,
and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord
and set me down in the middle of a valley;
it was full of bones.
He led me all round them;
there were very many lying in the valley,
and they were very dry.
He said to me, ‘Mortal, can these bones live?’
I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’
Then he said to me,
‘Prophesy to these bones, and say to them:
O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
Thus says the Lord God to these bones:
I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.
I will lay sinews on you,
and will cause flesh to come upon you,
and cover you with skin,
and put breath in you, and you shall live;
and you shall know that I am the Lord.’
So I prophesied as I had been commanded;
and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise,
a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
I looked, and there were sinews on them,
and flesh had come upon them,
and skin had covered them;
but there was no breath in them.
Then he said to me,
‘Prophesy to the breath,
prophesy, mortal,
and say to the breath:
Thus says the Lord God:
Come from the four winds, O breath,
and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.’
I prophesied as he commanded me,
and the breath came into them,
and they lived,
and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.
Then he said to me,
‘Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel.
They say, “Our bones are dried up,
and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.”
Therefore prophesy, and say to them,
Thus says the Lord God:
I am going to open your graves,
and bring you up from your graves, O my people;
and I will bring you back to the land of Israel.
And you shall know that I am the Lord,
when I open your graves,
and bring you up from your graves, O my people.
I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live,
and I will place you on your own soil;
then you shall know
that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act,
says the Lord.’
Romans 8:6-11
A reading fromthe letter of Paul to the Romans.
To set the mind on the flesh is death,
but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God;
it does not submit to God’s law—
indeed it cannot,
and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh;
you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit
of God dwells in you.
Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ
does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you,
though the body is dead because of sin,
the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
he who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also
through his Spirit that dwells in you.
John 11:1-45
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
A certain man was ill,
Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume
and wiped his feet with her hair;
her brother Lazarus was ill.
So the sisters sent a message to Jesus,
‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’
But when Jesus heard it, he said,
‘This illness does not lead to death;
rather it is for God’s glory, s
o that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’
Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,
after having heard that Lazarus was ill,
he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to the disciples,
‘Let us go to Judea again.’
The disciples said to him,
‘Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you,
and are you going there again?’
Jesus answered,
‘Are there not twelve hours of daylight?
Those who walk during the day do not stumble,
because they see the light of this world.
But those who walk at night stumble,
because the light is not in them.’
After saying this, he told them,
‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,
but I am going there to awaken him.’
The disciples said to him,
‘Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.’
Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death,
but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep.
Then Jesus told them plainly,
‘Lazarus is dead.
For your sake I am glad I was not there,
so that you may believe.
But let us go to him.’
Thomas, who was called the Twin,
said to his fellow-disciples,
‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’
When Jesus arrived,
he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem,
some two miles away,
and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to console them about their brother.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him,
while Mary stayed at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’
Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’
Martha said to him,
‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’
Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.
Those who believe in me,
even though they die, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?’
She said to him,
‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,
the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’
When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary,
and told her privately,
‘The Teacher is here and is calling for you.’
And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him.
Now Jesus had not yet come to the village,
but was still at the place where Martha had met him.
The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her,
saw Mary get up quickly and go out.
They followed her because they thought
that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him,
she knelt at his feet and said to him,
‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’
When Jesus saw her weeping,
and the Jews who came with her also weeping,
he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.
He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’
They said to him, ‘Lord, come and see.’
Jesus began to weep.
So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’
But some of them said,
‘Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man
have kept this man from dying?’
Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb.
It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’
Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him,
‘Lord, already there is a stench
because he has been dead for four days.’
Jesus said to her,
‘Did I not tell you that if you believed,
you would see the glory of God?’
So they took away the stone.
And Jesus looked upwards and said,
‘Father, I thank you for having heard me.
I knew that you always hear me, but
I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here,
so that they may believe that you sent me.’
When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice,
‘Lazarus, come out!’
The dead man came out,
his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth,
and his face wrapped in a cloth.
Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’
Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary
and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.
10am Matins
Ezekiel 37:1-14
1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones,
2 And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
3 And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest.
4 Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live:
6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.
8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.
12 Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves,
14 And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.
Romans 8:6-11
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
John 11:1-45
1 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)
3 Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
4 When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.
5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
6 When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was.
7 Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again.
8 His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again?
9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.
11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
12 Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep.
14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.
15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.
16 Then said Thomas, which is called Didymus, unto his fellowdisciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him.
17 Then when Jesus came, he found that he had lain in the grave four days already.
18 Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:
19 And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
20 Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house.
21 Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
22 But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.
29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.
30 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.
31 The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.
32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!
37 And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?
38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.
39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.
19 March 2023
The fourth Sunday in Lent has many names! Known as refreshment Sunday, a break from the fast Lent, traditionally servants were allowed to return home to the church of their baptism (mother church) and they picked flowers along the way to give to their mothers. So It is known as Mothering Sunday. Father Chris pointed out that 'Mothering' is a verb, the act of caring and loving, and isn't confined to those who give birth! So the children distributed posies of flowers to everyone in the congregation as we can all take part in mothering!
At the end of the service Amelia, our longest standing junior chorister, was awarded her light blue ribbon. There was coffee after the service.
Exodus 2:1-10
A reading from the book of Exodus.
Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman.
The woman conceived and bore a son;
and when she saw that he was a fine baby,
she hid him for three months.
When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him,
and plastered it with bitumen and pitch;
she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river.
His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.
The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river,
while her attendants walked beside the river.
She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it.
When she opened it, she saw the child.
He was crying, and she took pity on him.
‘This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,’ she said.
Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter,
‘Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women
to nurse the child for you?’
Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’
So the girl went and called the child’s mother.
Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child and nurse it for me,
and I will give you your wages.’
So the woman took the child and nursed it.
When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter,
and she took him as her son.
She named him Moses,
‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’
Colossians 3:12-17
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Colossians.
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,
clothe yourselves with compassion,
kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.
Bear with one another and,
if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other;
just as the Lord has forgiven you,
so you also must forgive.
Above all, clothe yourselves with love,
which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
to which indeed you were called in the one body.
And be thankful.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly;
teach and admonish one another in all wisdom;
and with gratitude in your hearts
sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.
And whatever you do, in word or deed,
do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.
John 19:25-27
Hear the gospl of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.
Standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother,
and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary Magdalene.
When Jesus saw his mother
and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her,
he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’
Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’
And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
12 March 2023
The third Sunday in Lent this week and we met at 10 am for a Eucharist celebrated by Father Chris. The story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman was the the theme of the sermon, and the Children also studied this story in Sunday School. The children joined us for the distribution of the Host, and at the end of the service showed us the model wells they had been making using coffee cups and chocolate papers!
We still have a lot of people recovering from covid, and the choir sang a communion hymn rather than an Anthem.
After the service there was coffee and the confirmation candidates met in the vicarage to continue their discussions.
Next Sunday is Mothering Sunday and we will have a Family Eucharist, Our monthy Matins service will be on the following Sunday the 26th, Passion Sunday.
A reading from the book of Exodus.
From the wilderness of Sin
the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages,
as the Lord commanded.
They camped at Rephidim,
but there was no water for the people to drink.
The people quarrelled with Moses,
and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’
Moses said to them, ‘Why do you quarrel with me?
Why do you test the Lord?’
But the people thirsted there for water;
and the people complained against Moses and said,
‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt,
to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?’
So Moses cried out to the Lord,
‘What shall I do with this people?
They are almost ready to stone me.’
The Lord said to Moses,
‘Go on ahead of the people,
and take some of the elders of Israel with you;
take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb.
Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, s
o that the people may drink.’
Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
He called the place Massah and Meribah,
because the Israelites quarrelled and tested the Lord,
saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’
Romans 5:1-11
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans.
Since we are justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand;
and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings,
knowing that suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character,
and character produces hope,
and hope does not disappoint us,
because God’s love has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
For while we were still weak,
at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—
though perhaps for a good person
someone might actually dare to die.
But God proves his love for us
in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.
Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood,
will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.
For if while we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son,
much more surely, having been reconciled,
will we be saved by his life.
But more than that,
we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have now received reconciliation.
John 4:5-42
Hear the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ accordng to John.
Jesus came to a Samaritan city called Sychar,
near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob’s well was there,
and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well.
It was about noon.
A Samaritan woman came to draw water,
and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’.
(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.)
The Samaritan woman said to him,
‘How is it that you, a Jew,
ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’
(Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered her,
‘If you knew the gift of God,
and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”,
you would have asked him,
and he would have given you living water.’
The woman said to him,
‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep.
Where do you get that living water?
Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well,
and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’
Jesus said to her,
‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,
but those who drink of the water that I will give them
will never be thirsty.
The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water
gushing up to eternal life.’
The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water,
so that I may never be thirsty
or have to keep coming here to draw water.’
Jesus said to her, ‘Go, call your husband, and come back.’
The woman answered him, ‘I have no husband.’
Jesus said to her, ‘You are right in saying, “I have no husband”;
for you have had five husbands,
and the one you have now is not your husband.
What you have said is true!’
The woman said to him, ‘Sir, I see that you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain,
but you say that the place where people must worship
is in Jerusalem.’
Jesus said to her,
‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You worship what you do not know;
we worship what we know,
for salvation is from the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and is now here,
when the true worshippers will worship the Father
in spirit and truth,
for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.
God is spirit,
and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’
The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’
(who is called Christ).
‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’
Jesus said to her, ‘I am he,
the one who is speaking to you.’
Just then his disciples came.
They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman,
but no one said, ‘What do you want?’
or, ‘Why are you speaking with her?’
Then the woman left her water-jar and went back to the city.
She said to the people,
‘Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done!
He cannot be the Messiah, can he?’
They left the city and were on their way to him.
Meanwhile the disciples were urging him,
‘Rabbi, eat something.’
But he said to them,
‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’
So the disciples said to one another,
‘Surely no one has brought him something to eat?’
Jesus said to them,
‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me
and to complete his work.
Do you not say, “Four months more, then comes the harvest”?
But I tell you, look around you,
and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting.
The reaper is already receiving wages
and is gathering fruit for eternal life,
so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.”
I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour.
Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.’
Many Samaritans from that city believed in Jesus
because of the woman’s testimony,
‘He told me everything I have ever done.’
So when the Samaritans came to him,
they asked him to stay with them;
and he stayed there for two days.
And many more believed because of his word.
They said to the woman,
‘It is no longer because of what you said that we believe,
for we have heard for ourselves,
and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.’
05 March 2023
The second Sunday in Lent, and also the first Sunday in March, so we had a family Eucharist, but rather an unusual one. Joanna our Director of Music, was ill and so we has a said service, but between the choir and the congregation and some well known hymns we managed to sing! Dr Platts played the tune for us on the electric piano and we continued unaccompanied with some gusto!
Father Chris talked to us about the 4 greek words for love and how they offered different aspects of this all encompassing experience. Agape is the Greek word for the love that we show when we do good things through our will, even if they don't come easily. A useful idea for our Lenten activities!
Confirmation classes were in the rooms, and so we didnt have tea and coffee this week. There is some covid around so we are trying to keep a distance between us.
A reading from the book of Genesis.
Now the Lord said to Abram,
‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house
to the land that I will show you.
I will make of you a great nation,
and I will bless you, and make your name great,
so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
and the one who curses you I will curse;
and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him;
and Lot went with him.
Romans 4 1-5, 13-17 (8am only)
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans.
What are we to say was gained by Abraham,
ancestor according to the flesh?
For if Abraham was justified by works,
he has something to boast about, but not before God.
For what does the scripture say?
‘Abraham believed God,
and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.’
Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift
but as something due.
But to one who without works
trusts him who justifies the ungodly,
such faith is reckoned as righteousness.
For the promise that he would inherit the world
did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law
but through the righteousness of faith.
If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs,
faith is null and the promise is void.
For the law brings wrath;
but where there is no law,
neither is there violation.
For this reason it depends on faith,
in order that the promise may rest on grace
and be guaranteed to all his descendants,
not only to the adherents of the law
but also to those who share the faith of Abraham
(for he is the father of all of us,
as it is written,
‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—
Abraham believed in the presence of the God,
who gives life to the dead
and calls into existence the things that do not exist.
John 3:1-17
Hear the gospel of out Lord Jesus Christ accordng to John.
There was a Pharisee named Nicodemus,
a leader of the Jews.
He came to Jesus by night
and said to him,
‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God;
for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’
Jesus answered him,
‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God
without being born from above.’
Nicodemus said to him,
‘How can anyone be born after having grown old?
Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?’
Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you,
no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.
What is born of the flesh is flesh,
and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not be astonished that I said to you,
“You must be born from above.”
The wind blows where it chooses,
and you hear the sound of it,
but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’
Nicodemus said to him,
‘How can these things be?’
Jesus answered him,
‘Are you a teacher of Israel,
and yet you do not understand these things?
‘Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know
and testify to what we have seen;
yet you do not receive our testimony.
If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe,
how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
No one has ascended into heaven
except the one who descended from heaven,
the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
‘For God so loved the world
that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not perish
but may have eternal life.
‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world
to condemn the world,
but in order that the world might be saved through him.
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