Signs of the Kingdom

The appointed Gospel reading for today comes from the Gospel according to John where we read how Jesus went about establishing the Kingdom of God:

Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, ‘Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.’ The official said to him, ‘Sir, come down before my little boy dies.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your son will live.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, ‘Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.’ The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, ‘Your son will live.’ So he himself believed, along with his whole household. Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee. (Jn. 4:46-54)

One of the signs of that the Kingdom of God was at hand was that the dead would be brought back to life.  Other signs included the healing of the sick.  Underlying these signs in John’s Gospel was the idea that God was putting the world back together as he intended it to be.  That he was eradicating the “old order” of sin and death and reconciling and restoring us, and even creation itself, to life in God through Jesus.  I know that I need to be reminded of this reality especially when it seems that the old order of sin and death seems to be winning.  I need to be reminded that God already has the victory in Jesus Christ, and that the God’s world will be finally restored to wholeness in the fullness of time. 

Let us pray:  O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

CALENDAR REMIDNERS

The 165^th Diocesan Council in Galveston on the 7^th & 8^th of February.  Michelle Allen will carry our banner in the processional of the Celebration of the Eucharist on Friday evening.  Tammie Taylor will be our lay delegate. If you are able to, please sign up to volunteer.

Bishop Fisher will be at St. Augustine on Sunday, the 9^th of February, at 12:30 p.m.  There will be no 9 a.m. service.  It will be at 12: 30 p.m. with a pot luck lunch to follow.

The Seaside Seniors will meet on the third Thursday of February, the 20^th, the celebrate St. Valentine’s Day.

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Karen and Pat.

Your servant in Christ,

Fr. Chester J. Makowski+

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church
Galveston, Texas 77550