Bulletin – Sunday, January 29, 2023 – Fourth Sunday of Epiphany

Sunday, January 29, 2023
Fourth Sunday of Epiphany

Approach

Lighting the Christ Candle

Gracious and all loving God, as we light this candle today we hear you call to us across deep waters and dark places. Yours is the light which guides us and the voice which we follow. We pray that you would reveal yourself to us as we worship you. May those without hope be encouraged, those who are sad, cheered; those who are seeking, find you; and may all things be according to your will. As we light this candle we come together in the name of your beloved son, the bringer of light to the world, to worship you.

Call to Worship

One:   Let us start this service well, by reminding ourselves: that it is not who chose Christ,
All:      but Christ who chose us,

One:   that we are not here because of our goodness
All:      but because of Christ’s grace,

One:   that we are not here to enlighten ourselves,
All:      but to allow Christ to enlighten us,

One:   that we have not come to be entertained
All:      but to worship God with heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Hymn – “Spirit, Open My Heart”

Spirit, open my heart to the joy and pain of living.
As you love may I love, in receiving and in giving, Spirit, open my heart.

God, replace my stony heart with a heart that’s kind and tender.
All my coldness and fear to your grace I now surrender.

Spirit, open my heart to the joy and pain of living.
As you love may I love, in receiving and in giving, Spirit, open my heart.

Write your love upon my heart as my law, my goal, my story.
In each thought, word, and deed, may my living bring you glory.

Spirit, open my heart to the joy and pain of living.
As you love may I love, in receiving and in giving, Spirit, open my heart.

May I weep with those who weep, share the joy of sister, brother.
In the welcome of Christ, may we welcome one another.

Spirit, open my heart to the joy and pain of living.
As you love may I love, in receiving and in giving, Spirit, open my heart.

Prayer of Approach and Confession

God of life and of truth, your Son invites us to see the world through your eyes and we find ourselves disoriented: you bless the poor, you bless the meek, you bless the pure in heart. You turn our world and its values upside down.

We have signed on to follow your Son but this is strange territory. It doesn’t look anything like the life we have been taught to yearn for, to work for, too believe will bring us happiness. Yet, you know that because we don’t truly follow you know the despair the besets not only ourselves, but so many of our young people who fear that their future had been mortgaged by our greed and carelessness. You bear the cries of those who have traded their souls for power and money and now have emptiness as a friend. You see those who are caught in lives that lead only to weariness and anxiety.

Set us at Jesus’ feet so we can learn to judge our lives differently. Awaken in us that hunger and thirst for you which will lead us to your will and your peace. Open our eyes to see you unexpected blessings. Open our hearts to welcome you when you come to us in strange ways. Then make us into a community of blessedness that beckons this neighbourhood into your joy. We ask these things in the name of Jesus who blessed us with your living presence and fills our lives with your life-changing truth. Amen.

Words of Assurance

Time for All Ages

Hymn – “Blessed are the Poor in Spirit”

Blessed are the poor in spirit, all God’s realm is surely theirs.
Those in mourning will find comfort as an answer to their prayers.
Meek ones whom this world despises will inherit everything.
God, your kingdom still surprises; may we seek the reign you bring.

Blessed, too, are those who hunger and who thirst for what is right.
They will not be prone to wander, for your will is their delight.
Those who show God’s care and mercy will receive that mercy too.
God, in Christ you show us clearly of the joy we have in you.

Those who share the peace God gives them will find blessings as God’s own.
Those oppressed for faithful living will call heaven’s kingdom Home.
When the world’s ways seem distressing and we feel life’s painful sting,
God, remind us of the blessings of the wondrous life you bring.

The Word

Scripture Reading:           Micah 6:1-8

¹ Hear what the LORD says: Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. ² Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel. ³ O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me! ⁴ For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. ⁵ O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised, what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the LORD.” ⁶ With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? ⁷ Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” ⁸ He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Scripture Reading:           Matthew 5:1-12

¹ When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. ²Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying: ³ “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. ⁵ “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. ⁶ “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. ⁷ “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. ⁸ “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. ⁹ “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. ¹⁰ “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹ “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Thanks be to God!

Meditation – “The Power of Words”

Anthem – “Jesus, Teach Me”

Offering / Response

Your work, O God, needs many hands to help you everywhere,
And some there are who cannot serve unless our gifts we share.
Because we love you and your work, our offering now we make;
Be pleased to use it as your own, we ask for Jesus’ sake.

The Response

Prayers of the People

One:   Gracious and Loving, God, we are not altogether convinced that darkness is a thing of the past. Many people in this world of ours feel their world is one of darkness and gloom. Pressures crowd in upon us and get us down.

One:   The causes are varied: bereavement, illness, money, worries about family, trouble at work or not having work, drugs, drink, boredom, doubt, weariness, futility.

One:   Then there are the world issues: war, poverty, climate change, disease, unfair trade and so on. It does not help when we feel as Christians we should be doing so much better than we are. Gracious and loving God, we rejoice that you are with us in our troubles, you know us and you love us—always.

One:   Even though we have made a mess of things personally and collectively you remain faithful. We rejoice that your Son came not to a perfect world, but to a broken world, our world. To bring light to the darkness, our darkness.

One:   We pray for our dark and dreary world, a world in need-in need not just of a technical fix, but in need of love and grace, forgiveness and new life, hope, please, and fellowship, in need of renewal, in need of YOU.

One:   We pray that you would come alongside us and all those for whom we pray…that you would show us Jesus, the light of the world, the one who came (and who comes) to rid us of sin, to give us life and health and peace, peace that passes all understanding—no a temporary respite from trouble but the strength to overcome it and ultimately to receive life eternal.

One:   You don’t wave a magic wand for everything to be sorted instantly—you require us to exercise our faith and to respond to your call to share the good news of your love and to seek to live that love out in all that we do, to look to your for the strength that we need to share your love and grace. Help us to share the good news in word and action—the same good news that you spoke of on that mountainside all those years ago, that we are blessed, that we are beloved, that you hear us, you know us, and that you love us, as we are called to love others.

One:   We have been set free. Enable us to use our freedom to share in bringing in the kingdom. In the light of this we have something to celebrate, something to shout about—for even in our trouble and pain, even in our loss, we know that Jesus is with us.

One:   Hear us as in a moment of silence we pray for those in darkness (of whatever kind)—let us pray that they may see and know the light of Christ.

One:   God of light, love, and salvation; hear our prayers, spoken and unspoken and answer them in your love. Amen.

Hymn – “From This Holy Time”

From this holy time, from this sacred space,
We go now to serve our own day and place,
Committed to follow the way Jesus trod:
Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God.

He lives in our midst, though gone from our sight,
Baptized in his name, we walk in his light;
We treasure his presence, example and word:
Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God.

Let this be our life, till Christ comes again—
To love as he loves and work for God’s reign,
This song in our hearts and this sign on our road:
Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God.

Benediction

They are right, those who doubt what we do. It is purely the product of over-active imaginations.

Who but the foolish would look at barren ground and image food for all, see past desolation and believe it will become an oasis, would not be stopped by war, but live for the day it will be peace, and reach deep into the world’s fear in the prayer it would bring life. So if faith is the terrain of the deluded then may you leave here with the faith of the fools who have loved the world since its beginning and will live for its redemption until its end.

So let us go out into the world this week, with the faith, that some call foolish, changing the world one interaction at a time, knowing that God goes with us each and every step of the way. Amen.

Response

Loving mercy, we will follow Jesus,
Loving mercy, follow faithfully.
Loving mercy, we will follow Jesus.
Everywhere he goes, we will follow.

Loving justice, we will follow Jesus,
Loving justice, follow faithfully.
Loving justice, we will follow Jesus,
Everywhere he goes, we will follow.

Loving kindness, we will follow Jesus,
Loving kindness, follow faithfully.
Loving kindness, we will follow Jesus.
Everywhere he goes, we will follow.