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3rd Sunday between Epiphany and Lent – Year A

25 January 2026 All day

Below you will find the Bible readings set for this occasion in the Revised Common Lectionary, with our Australian idiomatic paraphrases of them, plus prayers and sermons based on them.

Bible Readings (paraphrased)

Lections from The Revised Common Lectionary. Copyright 1992 by the Consultation on Common Texts(CCT) P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville, TN 37203-0003, USA. Used with Permission.

The day is coming when those who were in agony will be free of all suffering. The territories of Zebulun and Naphtali have long been regarded with contempt, but in the future everyone will want to be there. The land from the Mediterranean to the other side of the Jordan will be the most sought after real estate. That will even be true of Galilee where the foreigners live.

The people who lived in a dark cloud of gloom
have seen a great light break through;
those in the blackest hell-holes
have seen their whole world light up.

LORD, you have built up the nation,
and given them every reason to celebrate.
The people revel in it all,
like farmers when a drought breaks;
like children opening presents.

Finally they are out from under the thumb
of those who oppressed them.
You have broken their chains
and run the slave drivers out of town,
just as you did in days long ago.

©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Your light leads me to safety, LORD;
I’ve got nothing to fear.
You shelter me like a fortress, LORD;
I’m afraid of no one!

Only one thing I ask of you, LORD,
the one thing that really matters:
let me live out the whole of my life
right here in your presence;
let me lose myself in your beauty,
and abandon myself to prayer.

Let me hide here in safety with you,
when trouble gets too much;
You are as secure as a bomb shelter,
a protected place to rest and recover.

You have lifted me beyond the reach
of those who wanted to tear me down,
so I am here to express my thanks,
to offer you whatever I can give;
to sing your praises till I raise the roof,
to put on a concert in your honour.

Don’t ever stop being generous, LORD;
hear me and answer me when I call for help!

My heart tells me to search for you.
Please don’t stay hidden from me.
My desire is to know you, face to face.

Don’t slam the door on me in anger;
Help me again and I’ll go on serving you.
Don’t give up on me now,
don’t turn your back on me;
You alone can save me, God!

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sisters and brothers, let me give this to you straight, on the authority of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. Get your act together and start working as a united team instead of breaking up into rival factions. Get your heads together and forge a common life around the shared vision and purpose. I’ve been hearing reports on the grapevine that you are all at each other’s throats! Chloe’s people have filled me in on the details about how you have been dividing up over your allegiance to various Christian leaders. Some of you make a big deal about being on side with me. Others jump up and down about belonging to Apollos. Others claim Peter. And still others try to trump you all by claiming they answer to no one but the Messiah himself. What is this?! Has the Messiah been carved up so that you can belong to just one bit or another? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were you baptised in my name? I didn’t baptise any of you except Crispus and Gaius, and the way you are carrying on, I thank God I didn’t. At least none of you can go claiming to have been baptised in my name! Come to think of it, I did baptise Stephanas and his tribe, didn’t I? But so far as I can remember I didn’t baptise anybody else. You see, the Messiah did not send me to rack up the baptism stats, but to broadcast his message. And he didn’t send me to turn his message into some highfalutin philosophy either. The Messiah’s cross is such a powerful statement; it certainly doesn’t need me or anybody else reducing it to a flaccid flow of fancy words. The message about the cross sounds like a lot of mindless cock-and-bull to those who have thrown their lot in with this present world order and are going down with the ship. But to those of us who are being saved from that, it is nothing less than the power of God!

©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

When Jesus heard that John the baptiser had been locked up, he shot through, back to Galilee. Rather than settle back in Nazareth where he had grown up, he made his home in Capernaum, a coastal town at the base of the Zebulun and Naphtali hills. This shed new light on what the prophet Isaiah had said:

Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the other side of the Jordan,
on the road to the sea;
Galilee where the foreigners live.

The people who lived in a dark cloud of gloom
have seen a great light break through.
Those in the blackest hell-hole
have seen their whole world light up.

From then on Jesus got stuck into preaching. This was the guts of his message:

“Turn your lives around!
The culture of heaven is close at hand.”

One day, as he was walking along the beach at Lake Galilee, he came across two brothers: Simon, who is known as Peter, and Andrew his brother. They were setting nets in the water, because they made their living from fishing. Jesus called to them and said, “Come with me, and I’ll have you bringing in people, not fish.”

Right then and there, they gave the fishing away and followed Jesus.

As he moved on, he came across another pair of brothers: James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were on board their boat with their father, repairing their fishing tackle. Jesus called them, and straight away they left the boat and their old man and set off with Jesus.

Jesus toured all around Galilee, making speeches in the synagogues and spreading the good news about God’s reign. He also healed people of every kind of sickness and chronic disorder.

©2002 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Prayers

Let us lift up our hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is indeed right to give you our thanks and praise, O God,
and to bring to you a joyful sacrifice,
an offering of prayer in your temple.

At the dawn of creation
you were the light that split open the darkness
and brought all things into being.
You called a people to live in your presence
and walk in the light of your law and prophets.

In Jesus the Christ you have proclaimed to us
the good news of the nearness of heaven
and called us to repent
and to follow him as disciples.
He was killed but you raised him to new life,
and although his cross is derided as foolishness,
to us who are being saved it is your power at work,
breaking the grip of our oppressors,
teaching us your truth,
healing our sicknesses,
increasing our joy
and leading us home to your house of prayer.

Therefore with .....

©2005 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

We thank you for the cross of your son, Jesus,
for to us who are being saved it is your power at work,
teaching us truth,
healing our sicknesses,
increasing our joy
and leading us home to your house of prayer.

©1999 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

(Preface reformatted for use apart from communion)

We give you all thanks and praise, O God,
and to bring to you a joyful sacrifice,
an offering of prayer in your temple.

At the dawn of creation
you were the light that split open the darkness
and brought all things into being.
You called a people to live in your presence
and walk in the light of your law and prophets.

In Jesus the Christ you have proclaimed to us
the good news of the nearness of heaven
and called us to repent
and to follow him as disciples.
He was killed but you raised him to new life,
and although his cross is derided as foolishness,
to us who are being saved it is your power at work,
breaking the grip of our oppressors,
teaching us your truth,
healing our sicknesses,
increasing our joy
and leading us home to your house of prayer.

Therefore, with our hearts lifted high,
we offer you thanks and praise at all times
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

©2005 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

The message of the cross is the power of God
to us who are being saved.
The Lord is our saving light,
there is nothing we need fear.

Sisters and Brothers,
  your sins are forgiven;
    be at peace.

©1999 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Go out in response to the voice of God who calls you.
Go out to proclaim the message of repentance,
for the Kingdom of heaven is near.
Go out united in purpose
and do not be afraid when your purpose is called foolishness.

And may God be a sheltering tent above you
    and a firm rock below;
May the foolishness of Christ Jesus be your wisdom;
And may the Holy Spirit be the light
    that overcomes your darkness and sets you free.

We go in peace to love and serve the Lord,
   In the name of Christ. Amen.

©2001 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sermons

Sermons will open in new tabs from our SYCBaps church website.

  1. Don’t get too clever about it
    A sermon on 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 by Nathan Nettleton
  2. The Way Less Taken
    A sermon on 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 by Garry Deverell
  3. This Foolishness is our only Hope
    A sermon on 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 & Matthew 4: 12-23 by Nathan Nettleton
  4. Anyone for Fishing?
    A sermon on Matthew 4:12-23; Isaiah 9:1-4 & 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 by Nathan Nettleton
  5. Repent! Change Everything!
    A sermon on Matthew 4: 12-23 by Nathan Nettleton