During the season of Epiphany, the readings chosen from the Bible, day by day, have told the story of how Jesus was revealed as Lord and Saviour. On the day of Epiphany, we heard how the wise men came from the East to bring presents to Jesus, to hail him as Lord, King and Saviour. At his circumcision, Jesus was recognised by the prophets Anna and Simeon as the Saviour, the truest child of Abraham, the greatest of God's chosen people; while at his baptism, Jesus was affirmed as one who is blessed by the Spirit of God. Those of us who came to the Wednesday Eucharist last week heard how St Peter responded when Jesus asked, "Who do you say that I am?" Peter, inspired by God, replied, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the Most High God." On this coming Wednesday we will celebrate another occasion when Christ was revealed. The occasion is the Conversion of St Paul. We read in the book of Acts how Paul was travelling to Damascus, breathing threats and murder against the Christians, with authority to arrest them and lock them up. On the road he received a blinding flash of insight that this Jesus, who he was persecuting, was none other than the Messiah for whom the Jewish people had been waiting.
These stories are what Epiphany is all about, the revelation of Christ to the people of the world. What is more, the stories of Epiphany also tell us what effect that meeting with Christ had on the people to whom he was revealed. The wise men, Anna and Simeon, John the Baptist, St Paul - all these responded with faith when Christ was revealed to them.
Today we hear more stories of the revelation of Christ to the world, and the response of people to God's revelation of Himself. From the book of the prophet Jonah we hear how the whole city of Nineveh, from the king down to the animal in the fields, changed their lives when they heard the message of God from Jonah. Jonah went into the middle of what was the greatest city in the world and proclaimed the word of the Lord. Jonah stood revealed as God's faithful messenger, and the people, seeing God revealed in their midst, believed in God stopped what they were doing and changed their lives.
In the Gospel reading we hear how Jesus was revealed to a fishing community on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. The Saviour burst in upon the lives of those people, and Simon and his brother Andrew, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John immediately dropped what they were doing, and followed Jesus.
In Paul's letter to the Corinthians we hear St Paul urging the people to respond to the revelation of Christ in their midst. Paul knew what he was talking about, his vision on the road to Damascus made him stop what he was doing and his whole life changed direction, from persecutor of Christ to a great evangelist and revealer of Christ to the nations. He urges the Corinthians to turn away from all the distractions of their lives and to concentrate on serving Christ. The revelation of Christ is to turn their lives upside down.
Now, if these are the sorts of things that happen to the people of Nineveh, the fisher-folk of Galilee and the church in Corinth, should we not see these things happening here as well?
Let's consider for a moment. We meet on Sundays to experience the revelation of Christ. We expect to meet him in the silence and beauty of the church before the service begins; we expect to meet him in the spirituality and joy of our celebration together; we expect to meet him in the words of Scripture, the reflection of the sermon, the intensity of prayer and the mystery of the Eucharist. We expect to find some evidence of Christ's presence among us even in the sun streaming in through the windows, the smoke of the incense and the actions of the ministers around the altar. For us, we who rejoice in mystery and symbol, our worship is a vital part of our encounter with God. Jonah's message converted the people of Nineveh - it is our worship which converts us.
At St Luke's our worship is not a performance which we sit and watch and enjoy; it is not a teaching session where we learn about Christ; instead it is a work in which we all take part - every one of us. The very word liturgy means "people's work" and in the liturgy we are working to make Christ known to ourselves and to those around us, especially our visitors. After all, if we want someone to be part of St Luke's we might say, "I will tell you how to accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour." But we are much more likely to say, "Come to Church." When Jesus called the fisher-folk he did not enrol them in an evangelism course, he said, "Follow me, I've got work for you, fishing for people."
What is more, we try to take Paul's advice to the Corinthians. In our worship, our liturgy, we try to put aside the things that worry and concern us - big things like life and death, as well as the little details of our lives we so often treat as important. Yes, we do need to deal with the concerns of our lives. It is right to bring our griefs and our pain and our sin and worries to God. God knows that, but part of the process of healing and forgiveness is to see God revealed in our lives. In our worship it is God who is supremely important and our work together is to reveal Christ to the world. God provides plenty of times outside this brief worship to share fellowship and hospitality and to deal with our issues. There's the fellowship in the hall after church, the Friendship Group , the Op Shop, pastoral care groups, the youth group, the Thai community, meetings with family and friends. Now is the time to do God's work of worship and to share the presence of Christ with those who are with us today so that we may see Christ revealed and our lives may be changed.