Second Sunday of Epiphany (Year A)
Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017
Theme:
To the End of the Earth
Reflection: “Love is caught more than it is
taught. You cannot learn how to love through concepts, ideas, and commandments.
You need to see and feel a living, loving incarnation. “She is doing it. He
exemplifies it. It is therefore possible for me, too.” It is almost more a
taste, a smell, or a touch than an idea. Recent Christianity has relied far too
much on ideas instead of living models.”
– Richard Rohr, Center for Action and
Contemplation
What was the
last thing that impressed you so much you couldn’t stop talking about it?
Perhaps, like
me, it was a local restaurant. The food is delicious, the service so personal
and fast that I enjoy every meal there. And I can’t count the number of people
I’ve told about it.
My husband’s
passion is being a Lions Club member. He loves the work the Lions do, the
global work of this service organization. Whether he is talking with a family
member, a friend or a new acquaintance, the conversation often will turn to the
Lions. His enthusiasm for the organization is contagious.
Others I know
have raved on about their employer, a local non-profit organization, a fitness
center or a vitamin supplement. They are convinced they’ve found something
worth telling about, and they need to share it.
And then …
there are those co-workers, people at public events, people who come to your
door. The Bible thumpers, evangelicals, Jesus freaks.
Whoa.
When did it
become acceptable to be on fire about products, programs and places, but not
about the priority of one’s life? About restaurants and recreation, but not
about the Redeemer of the world? I can’t get the paradox out of my mind this
week.
I’ve invited several
people to my church. We have great worship, an amazing pastor, meaningful Bible
and book studies, outstanding fellowship. But I’m a little tongue-tied when it
comes to asking people, even family and close friends, if they have a
relationship with Jesus Christ.
John and
Andrew didn’t have that problem.
I love
reading texts like today’s lessons, about people so drawn to this Messiah that
they can’t help but talk about him. In fact, reading today’s Gospel, I’m a
little bit jealous of these disciples.
I want to be
so fired up about Jesus that I want to speak about him. “This Jesus, he’s the
real deal. You need to come and see for yourself.” It was that excitement that
spread the Good News to the ends of the empire within a generation, to the ends
of the known world within three centuries.
It wasn’t
just a church or a creed. It was Jesus.
I can’t count
the number of people I’ve told about a local restaurant, but I don’t know if
I’ve ever told anyone how sustaining it is to have a relationship with Jesus?
How on fire I am to study, write about, worship and spend time in the presence
of my Savior.
In my son’s
language … that’s messed up.
I keep
wondering if we’re doing it all wrong, keeping God in a church box, going to
worship for an hour a week instead of intentionally living our entire lives as
the worship God loves. Paying people to be Christ-bearers instead of bearing
Christ in our hearts, our hands, our words, in every waking moment. Quelling
the wild, audacious Spirit until she deserts us.
If the early
church had spread the Good News the way we do, the life-changing message of
Jesus Christ wouldn’t have made it out of town, much less to the end of the
earth.
Faith App:
Music is how God’s faithful people in all lands, throughout history,
have expressed God’s story. Music is a shared language. Increase your faith
vocabulary. Attend a different service or listen to a new music style, for
instance: hymns, classical, Gospel, contemporary, or music from different
cultures.
HYMN/SONG SUGGESTIONS
My Life Flows On in Endless Song, ELW 763
Listen, Listen God is Calling, ELW 513
Rise, Shine, You People, ELW 665
Heaven Is Singing for Joy, ELW 664
Go, Make Disciples, ELW 540
He Comes to Us as One Unknown, ELW 737
I Come with Joy, ELW 482
Sent Forth by God’s Blessing, ELW 547
How Can I Keep From Singing? Chris Tomlin
Lifesong, Casting Crowns
Come and See, Life Wide Open
I Could Sing of Your Love Forever, Delirious?
Sometimes by Step, Rich Mullins
Pass It On, Kurt Kaiser
We Are, Kari Jobe
Every secret, every shame
Every fear, every pain
Live inside the dark
But that's not who we are
We are children of the day.
So wake up sleeper
Lift your head
We were meant for more than
this
Fight the shadows, conquer
death
Make the most of time we have
left.
(refrain x2)
We are the light of the world
We are the city on the hill
We are the light of the world
We gotta, we gotta
We gotta let the light shine.
Let the light shine
Let the light shine.
We are called to spread the
news
Tell the world the simple truth
Jesus came to save
There's freedom in his name
So let it all break through.
(refrain x2)
We are the light, we are the
light
We are the light
To let your light shine
brighter.
We are the light, we are the
light
We are the light, Jesus.
You are the light, you are the
light
You are the light
We will lift you high and
Shine, shine, shine.
(refrain x2)
We gotta shine, we gotta shine
Let the light shine
Let the light shine.
LESSONS
Isaiah 49:1-7 The second Servant Song: You are my
servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
Psalm 40:1-11 The Lord
put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.
1
Corinthians 1-9 God
has strengthened the testimony of Christ among you.
John
1:29-42 John said I
have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.
Summary of
the Lessons: Once the
message captures your heart, occupies your thoughts and controls your actions,
you can’t keep it in. You must tell someone … and then someone else. And that’s
how the Way spread to the end of the earth in a few years. What happened?
OPENING LITANY based on Psalm 40:1-5
L: I leaned into the Lord
and waited –
C: Waited for something
to happen;
L: And God leaned back,
listening to my cries,
C: Lifted me up, out of
that stuck place I was in.
L: God composed a new
theme song for me
C: Upbeat and joyous,
filled with praise and thanks;
L: This relentless
refrain is stuck in my head –
C: I sing it everywhere,
teach it to everyone I know.
L: Content are those who
trust in the Lord,
C: Who don’t seek comfort
in ordinary things.
L: I’ve lost track of the
ways God blesses me,
C: I’d count forever and
never reach the end.
CONFESSION based on Psalm 40:6-11
L: Who is the God we are
seeking?
C: What is it our heart
hopes to find?
L: A vindictive God,
never satisfied,
C: Or a Savior, whose
mercy abounds?
L: Is our service a
payment required by God,
C: Or Love’s gift that we
can’t keep inside?
L: Do we resist holy laws
as a prison,
C: Or let God’s loving
limits set us free?
L: Do we truly believe
God forgives us,
C: Sees each person as a
beloved child?
L: Do we keep the good
news as a secret
C: Or this abundant joy
we must give away?
L: For our disbelief in
your love for us, Lord have mercy.
C: For our reluctance to
love others, Christ have mercy.
(Silent
reflection)
L: In our confession, we
pray together,
C: Most Merciful God …
when did your life among us become a secret we could reveal only to other
believers, rather than a relationship so profound that it transforms us and the
people around us? Fill us with wonder at a journey so life-changing we couldn’t
keep it inside if we tried.
Hear this
Good News: God is faithful, and
steadfast in love for us. God’s forgiveness is a gift, given freely to us.
Don’t hide it inside your heart, but instead let your voices and actions speak
volumes about God’s love for all people.
In the name
of…
Amen.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
L: We pray together,
C: Loving God, we give thanks, that you would
call us into the fellowship of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. We are seeking what
we’ve found in you. Yet we are so fearful of celebrating and proclaiming this
Good News outside this safe place, our family of faith. Take us outside our
comfort zones and help us to share your love as light for the world. Be patient
with us as we learn to be your disciples. Amen.
COMMUNION BLESSING
L: We pray together,
C: We give thanks, most gracious God, for
teaching us your new song through this meal, the melody of your steadfast love,
the harmony of your saving help for all people. Send us out, singing this
joyful tune every moment of our lives, until your song resounds to the end of
the earth. Amen.
SENDING
L: The service has ended,
C: But the worship never ends,
L: Freed by God’s grace and love,
C: Carrying it to the end of the earth.
L: Go now, as light to the world, to love and to
serve the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God!
First Reading Isaiah 49:1-7
(NRSV)
Setting
the Scene: Today’s
first lesson is the second of the four Servant Songs in Isaiah. The Israelites
have been defeated, their temple destroyed, and the people taken by force to
Babylon at the end of the 8th century B.C. Stay hopeful, the writer encourages.
One who will lead with justice is coming.
Listen to me, O coastlands,
pay attention, you
peoples from far away!
The LORD called me before I was born,
while I was in my
mother’s womb he named me.
He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
in the shadow of his
hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid
me away.
And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will
be glorified.”
But I said, “I have labored in vain,
I have spent my
strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with the LORD,
and my reward with my
God.”
And now the LORD says,
who formed me in the
womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might
be gathered to him,
for I am honored in the sight of the LORD,
and my God has become
my strength—
he says,
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes
of Jacob
and to restore the
survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may
reach to the end of the earth.”
Thus says the LORD,
the Redeemer of Israel
and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
the slave of rulers,
“Kings shall see and stand up,
princes, and they shall
prostrate themselves,
because of the LORD, who is faithful,
the Holy One of
Israel, who has chosen you.”
Second Reading 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 (NRSV)
Setting
the Scene: The
church at Corinth, which Paul founded, was forever a challenge. In a major
trade center, the people had a fair amount of wealth, as well as many
temptations. Paul, writing to them during his stay in Ephesus, reminds them who
provided their blessings and gifts.
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of
God, and our brother Sosthenes,
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who are
sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in
every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and
ours:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ.
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of
God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been
enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind— just as the testimony
of Christ has been strengthened among you— so that you are not lacking in any
spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will
also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our
Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship
of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Gospel John 1:29-42 (NRSV)
Setting
the Scene: John
the Baptist has just come from a discussion with Jerusalem’s leaders, in which
he pointed them to the one coming after him, Jesus. Again, this day, John would
testify to the Messiah and lead others to him.
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here
is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I
said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I
myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that
he might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I saw the Spirit
descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not
know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom
you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy
Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of
God.”
The next day John
again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by,
he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say
this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he
said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which
translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and
see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that
day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John
speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his
brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated
Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are
Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).
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