Clergy Notes — Second Sunday of Epiphany, January 15 2023
If you’ve spent any time with the Gospels, you may have observed that Jesus rarely answers questions directly. Yet in John 1:39, we encounter the opposite; rather than answering a question with another question, Jesus answers with an invitation, “come and see.”
What is most interesting to me in this passage is the question being asked by John’s disciples which prompted this response. Upon seeing Jesus walk by we might expect them to ask him, “Where are you going?” Instead, they ask him, “Where are you staying?”
I don’t know about you, but I would like to know where I’m going when I head off on a journey! And – let’s face it – God has a habit of leading us to sometimes peculiar places! However, perhaps the disciples’ question is teaching us that it is more important to seek Jesus’ presence than worry overmuch about destination.
If we are earnest about seeking God’s presence, one of the places we may count on finding it is in the liturgy. Whether that is the Daily Office or Mass; whether it is on a feast day or a regular day, we know that where two or three are gathered, there Christ is. Each time we open our hearts in prayer, we can trust that God is already there, waiting for us.
Are you curious about where God resides?
Jesus invites us all to “come and see.”
Mother Amanda
Download the service booklet here: Liturgy at Home Epiphany 2 January 15 2023