The Fourth Sunday after
Epiphany
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Prelude, Welcome, and Information Hymn
#715 Christ, Be
Our Light |
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The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you
all. And also with
you. Psalm: Psalm 71 In you,
O Lord, I take refuge; let me
never be put to shame. In your righteousness deliver me
and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save
me. Be to me a
rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me, for you are
my rock and my fortress. Rescue me, O my God, from the
hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and
cruel. For you, O
Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord,
from my youth. Upon you I have leaned from my
birth; it was you who took me from my
mother’s womb. My praise is continually of you. |
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The Lord be with you. And
also with you. Let us pray. Almighty and ever-living God, increase
in us the gifts of faith, hope, and love; and that we may obtain what you
promise, make us love what you command, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our
Savior and Lord. Amen. |
Reading:
Jeremiah 1:4-10
A reading from the prophet Jeremiah
Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Before I
formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah,
Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.” But
the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’; for you shall go
to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you, Do
not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says
the Lord.” Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my
mouth; and the Lord said to me, “Now I have put my words in your
mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck
up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
The Word of the Lord
Reading:
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
A reading from the first letter to the Corinthians
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love,
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers,
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as
to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away
all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not
have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or
arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable
or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the
truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures
all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for
tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we
know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete
comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a
child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult,
I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then
we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even
as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these
three; and the greatest of these is love.
The Word of the Lord.
Gospel
Verse:
Alleluia. You shall go to
all to whom I send you. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. Alleluia! (Jer. 1:7,8)
Gospel Reading: Luke 4:21-30
A reading from the Gospel of Luke
Then (Jesus) began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been
fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the
gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s
son?” He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb,
‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the
things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” And he said, “Truly I
tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. But the truth
is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was
shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the
land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath
in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet
Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they
heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove
him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town
was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed
through the midst of them and went on his way.
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise
to you, O Christ.
Sermon
(added at the end of the document)
Hymn
#836 Joyful,
Joyful We Adore Thee
Thanks and Offertory
Prayers of the Church:
Relying on the grace of God for all things and in
all things, we offer our prayers for the world, the church, and for all people
according to their needs.
[Short
pause]
Gracious
God, Lead us through anger and unbelief when the Gospel message confronts us
and our preconceptions. Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Gracious
God, watch over our families, loved ones and friends, and keep them well
and healthy. Let your presence be known in all things. Lord, in your
mercy, Hear our prayer.
Gracious
God, bless with the gift of health all who suffer around us from any physical,
mental, or spiritual problems. Strengthen those who make their health and care
their daily work. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Gracious
God, watch over all our sister congregations in Aylmer. Give their pastors the
gifts needed to continually proclaim the good news. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Gracious
God, grant peace to Ukraine and all the troubled spots in our world. Lord, in
your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Gracious
God, grant safe travels to all who must be away from home. Remember
especially those who farm and who plow snow. Lord, in your mercy, Hear
our prayer.
Gracious
God, look with favor on all who minister in the name of your Son. Bless Bishop
Susan Johnson and the National ELCIC Office & Support staff Lord, in your
mercy, Hear our prayer.
Gracious
God, we trust in your grace and mercy. Hear the prayers we keep in our hearts…
* … Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Into your gracious
hands we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in your promise of mercy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
{*Erma Reska, Rose Gotzmeister, Gail Mauer,
Bill Ungar}
Hymn#520 Dearest Jesus, at Your Word
The
Lord’s Prayer
Finally let
us pray for all things as our Lord would have us ask:
Our
Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done, on earth as it is in
heaven.
Give
us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against
us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For
thine is the kingdom, and the power,
and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.
Closing prayer & Benediction
Radiant God, with our eyes we have seen your salvation and heard with our
ears your Word of life. May that Word take flesh in us, that we may be your
holy people, revealing your glory made known to us in Jesus Christ, our Savior
and Lord. Amen.
Hymn
#359 Where
Charity and Love Prevail
Sending
May your holy
presence,
Father +,
Son, and the Holy Spirit
keep us, guide us, and bless us as we continue our journey with each
other and with you. Amen.
God is our
refuge and strength. Amen.
Christ is
light for our lives. Amen.
The Spirit of
Love is leading us. Amen.
Go in peace.
Walk humbly with God. Thanks be to
God.
Feb 27 Church
March 13 Saxonia Hall, 11:00am – followed by the Annual General Meeting
March 27 Church, 11:00am
April 10 Saxonia Hall (Palm
Sunday), 11:00am
April 15 Church (Good
Friday), 11:00am
April 17 Church (Easter
Sunday), 11:00am
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And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
·
This passage
from the first letter to the Corinthians is well known and often heard. I can’t
tell you how often this is read at weddings… which is really odd since the
passage has nothing to do with marriage in particular! Yes, married couples
should love one another at all times and they should be examples of love in the
world. Yet we know the reality of things. Once I heard about a married couple
who said something to the effect that their success as a couple was due to the
fact that they each never hated the other at the same time.
·
Paul was
addressing a church congregation torn by conflict. (See, it wasn’t just a
problem for congregations in our time.) There were a number of controversies
over marriage, morality, behavior during the service and, finally, the presence
and use of “Spiritual gifts” like leadership, prophecy, and speaking in
tongues. Using the analogy of body parts, that was the point of last week’s
gospel reading. Paul made his point about every part being necessary to the
body. Paul then goes on to say And I will show you a
still more excellent way.
·
We all know
what comes next in Paul’s talk about love as a collection of intentional
actions. Paul is not talking about platonic, romantic, or carnal love, but
another sort of love altogether. He is talking about the love that is a gift of
the Holy Spirit, a gift that is available to all believers and a gift that out-ranks
(if I can dare to use that term) all of the other spiritual gifts. After all,
he says But as for prophecies, they
will come to an end… And
now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is
love. With this in mind, the controversy over “gifts” is minimized
and possibly laid to rest.
·
If we can
take a cue from the first letter of John, namely Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; Whoever
does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:7, 8)
Maybe we should turn this whole thing around and look at Paul’s letter as a
revelation of the nature of God in Christ.
·
Why don’t we
exchange the word “love” for “God” in some of Paul’s writing today. Then we get
this:
(God) is patient; (God) is kind; (God) is not
envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. (God) does not insist on (God’s) own
way; (God) is not irritable or resentful; (God) does not rejoice in wrongdoing,
but rejoices in the truth. (God) bears all things, believes all things, hopes
all things, endures all things.
·
This gives us an
interesting view of God in Paul’s letter, doesn’t it? This view of things also
weaves Paul and John together in a way I for one never expected. We can be
certain that it is the love of God, the love that is God, is the source of our salvation and life.
·
The spiritual gifts that
Paul speaks of are great and they up-build the church in many ways. It is love,
however, that builds and maintains God’s church here and now. The love we are
called to is a reflection and an imitation of the love given to us by God. God
remains the active party here and the love we know flows from God. It is grace
that saves and we can take grace to essentially mean the love of God. In the
end, it is the one thing that “abides” for faith ends with knowing and hope
ends with fulfillment, but love continues and is the basis of everything that
exists.
·
This is most certainly
true.
And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
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