This Sunday we hear a part of the account of Moses’ vision of God on Mount Sinai. The vision of God is an important theme in both the Old and New Testaments. In the Old Testament, there is a tension between stories like this Sunday’s, in which it is clear that God cannot be directly looked on by a human being, and stories, some of which we have read together over the past year, in which God appears in shockingly direct ways, for example enjoying the hospitality of Abraham and wrestling with Jacob. For Christians this tension is resolved in the person of Jesus, the Word made Flesh; the connection of Jesus with the desire to see God is made explicit by a conversation between Philip and Jesus in John’s Gospel:
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father… Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
This Sunday we welcome Canon Brian Shenton, who is covering services whilst Fr Jeremy has a week off for half term. There will be no Evening Prayer this Sunday:
8am Holy Communion (BCP) (St Mary’s)
9.30am Sung Eucharist with Junior Church (St Mary’s)
11.15am Sung Holy Communion (BCP) (St Nicholas Remenham)
The pattern of weekday services is also reduced for the coming week:
Thursday 26th 10am Holy Eucharist (St Mary’s)
Morning Prayer will be said at 9am Tuesday to Friday at St Mary’s