Preparation: Inspired by your
Spirit, Lord, we gather in your temple to
welcome your Son. Enlighten our minds and
lay bare our inmost thoughts. Purify your
people, and make us obedient to the demands of
your law, so that we may mature in wisdom and
grow to full stature in your grace. We ask
this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of
the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever.
First
Reading: Isaiah 40, 21-end. If
you think you’ve understood God, whatever it
is you’ve understood isn’t God. Isaiah helps
us to realise that God is beyond our
understanding – but in reach of our trust and
love.
Psalm 147, 1-12.
Response: Sing praise to the Lord, O
Jerusalem.
Second
Reading: 1 Corinthians 9, 16-23.
Paul talks about the way in which he has
sacrificed his own identity – someone of good
standing in both Jewish and Greek society – so
that through his Jesus might become known.
HOLY GOSPEL: Mark 1, 29-39. This
is one of the first episodes of Jesus’
ministry in Mark’s gospel, and it sets the
tone: healings, deliverance, preaching – and
that sense of urgency, always moving on. The
kingdom is coming!