Epiphany 3 St Andrew’s Milngavie 2026
Today we celebrated 3rd Sunday of Epiphany
This Week
Tuesday 10am – Prayer Group in the Garden Room
Thursday 10am – Said Holy Communion followed by coffee in Friendship House.
Saturday 8am – Milngavie Churches Prayer Breakfast – Breakfast in FH followed by Prayer in church
Readings for next Sunday – Candlemas Presentation of Christ in the Temple – Malachi 3:1-5 Hebrews 2:14-end Luke 2:22-40
Today’s readings – Isaiah 9:1-4, 1 Corinthians 1:10-18, Matthew 4:12-23
There was once a great theologian who visited a friend. This friend was not a regular church goer. They were chatting away together as usual when the theologist stressed the importance of the church. His friend objected that he could be just as good a Christian without the church. Without a word the theologian stood up and walked over to the fireplace. He picked up the tongs and took a blazing coal from the fire. Then he simply stood there, holding the tongs and watching the coal. His companion also watched. In silence the two of them watched the coal smoulder and go out… I see” said the friend.
Today’s NT lessons are all about the church and vocation.
Firstly, Matthew’s account shows Jesus gathering the very first members of the Christian church – his twelve disciples around him. There is a sense of excitement, a sense of spontaneity and solidarity as without hesitations Peter, Andrew, James and John leave what they are doing to follow in faith.
And we wonder what it would be like to be called by Jesus and be one of the first disciples? Some of them had been disciples of John the Baptist, others were fisherman at work on the lake, some had regular jobs – like Levi the tax collector, others were political activists – like Simon the Zealot. And into their lives, from nowhere comes Jesus. They seem to be drawn to him. It’s as if they can’t help themselves. There’s something about him that causes them to drop what they’re doing and follow him. The descriptions almost give us a sense of urgency, of impulsiveness, a sense of excitement and expectation quite unlike how we would be today, most likely spending hours and possibly years analysing our thoughts and sense of vocation.
Last week we talked about the calling of Peter in John’s gospel. Today we have our first sighting of Peter in Matthew’s. The apostle who would go on to be one of the most captivating characters of the bible.
Looking at Peter, we might ask ourselves, why does he capture our imaginations so? Well for a start he is eminently fallible. We know his story well unlike some of the apostles who we know very little about Peter – the most loquacious of the twelve, he often pipes up with the foolish question only to receive a put down from Jesus.
And then just when the Lord needs him most, at the Passion, Peter experiences a disastrous total crisis of faith when he is too ashamed and frightened to admit to knowing Christ and denies him three times. Yet many people believe that it was towards this imperfect, this very human man that Jesus felt the most affection, it was Peter whom Jesus call the rock upon which he would build his church. Peter, he instructed to tend his sheep.
“Simon son of John, do you love me?” Jesus asks three times “you know that I love you.” Peter replies
Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” John 21:17
Today is also the feast of the conversion of Paul, another major player in the birth of Christianity. In the book of Acts we can read we can read the story of his conversion, one of the most inspiring and dramatic stories in the whole bible. Paul’s dramatic calling and conversion had a profound effect on the entire early church and the spread of Christianity.
But it was not all plain sailing in the early church. The divisions in the church at Corinth which we hear about in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, were mainly personality clashes and divided loyalties towards different teachers.
Over the years and centuries there have continued to be many divisions in our churches, sometimes these have been small at other times more significant. In some ways it’s been inevitable although we talk of the church as a body of people, it is also a collection of individuals, individuals who all have opinions with different ideas and traditions.
Individually we bring our personal joys and triumphs to church, we also bring our sorrows and concerns. It is in church we lay our souls before God as we confess our sins.
But we gather as a body of people, to stand firm upon the rock of Peter, to support and encourage each other as we share the eucharist and experience a deepening spiritual engagement singing and praying together in the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Today’s reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah tells us that the people, plural, who walked in darkness have seen a great light. We might walk in darkness, sometimes, or lose the spark
But together we may glimpse God’s great light