Epiphany
We know the word: a moment of piercing awareness, the sudden jolt of understanding. This is the season of Epiphany, a season celebrating the revelation of the Savior, the light of the world. Throughout the season we focus on the ministry of Jesus: the calling of the disciples, the teachings of Christ, his miracles, and finally his transfiguration. The epiphany of Epiphany is that this is no mere teacher or prophet— this is the Son of God, the Messiah. Epiphany calls us to live God’s mission, announcing the good news of Christ’s arrival to every culture and to those who live across the street. We, the church, are sent out as the manifestation of Jesus to a watching world (from Seeking God’s Face by Philip Reinders).
- Calling -
O Lord, open our lips.
And our mouth shall proclaim Your praise.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Amen. Alleluia!
The Lord has manifested his glory:
O come, let us adore him.
- Constitution -
Read/Listen, Meditate, Pray, and Contemplate on God’s Word, remembering that God is with you and ready to speak to you because he loves you.
Praying the Psalms
Psalm 78
A Maskil of Asaph.
[1] Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
[2] I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
[3] things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
[4] We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
[5] He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
[6] that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
[7] so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
[8] and that they should not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.
[9] The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,
turned back on the day of battle.
[10] They did not keep God’s covenant,
but refused to walk according to his law.
[11] They forgot his works
and the wonders that he had shown them.
[12] In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders
in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
[13] He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
and made the waters stand like a heap.
[14] In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
[15] He split rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
[16] He made streams come out of the rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
[17] Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
[18] They tested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
[19] They spoke against God, saying,
“Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
[20] He struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?”
[21] Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath;
a fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
[22] because they did not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
[23] Yet he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven,
[24] and he rained down on them manna to eat
and gave them the grain of heaven.
[25] Man ate of the bread of the angels;
he sent them food in abundance.
[26] He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
[27] he rained meat on them like dust,
winged birds like the sand of the seas;
[28] he let them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.
[29] And they ate and were well filled,
for he gave them what they craved.
[30] But before they had satisfied their craving,
while the food was still in their mouths,
[31] the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed the strongest of them
and laid low the young men of Israel.
[32] In spite of all this, they still sinned;
despite his wonders, they did not believe.
[33] So he made their days vanish like a breath,
and their years in terror.
[34] When he killed them, they sought him;
they repented and sought God earnestly.
[35] They remembered that God was their rock,
the Most High God their redeemer.
[36] But they flattered him with their mouths;
they lied to him with their tongues.
[37] Their heart was not steadfast toward him;
they were not faithful to his covenant.
[38] Yet he, being compassionate,
atoned for their iniquity
and did not destroy them;
he restrained his anger often
and did not stir up all his wrath.
[39] He remembered that they were but flesh,
a wind that passes and comes not again.
[40] How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
and grieved him in the desert!
[41] They tested God again and again
and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
[42] They did not remember his power
or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
[43] when he performed his signs in Egypt
and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.
[44] He turned their rivers to blood,
so that they could not drink of their streams.
[45] He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,
and frogs, which destroyed them.
[46] He gave their crops to the destroying locust
and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
[47] He destroyed their vines with hail
and their sycamores with frost.
[48] He gave over their cattle to the hail
and their flocks to thunderbolts.
[49] He let loose on them his burning anger,
wrath, indignation, and distress,
a company of destroying angels.
[50] He made a path for his anger;
he did not spare them from death,
but gave their lives over to the plague.
[51] He struck down every firstborn in Egypt,
the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
[52] Then he led out his people like sheep
and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
[53] He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid,
but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
[54] And he brought them to his holy land,
to the mountain which his right hand had won.
[55] He drove out nations before them;
he apportioned them for a possession
and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
[56] Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God
and did not keep his testimonies,
[57] but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
they twisted like a deceitful bow.
[58] For they provoked him to anger with their high places;
they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
[59] When God heard, he was full of wrath,
and he utterly rejected Israel.
[60] He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh,
the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
[61] and delivered his power to captivity,
his glory to the hand of the foe.
[62] He gave his people over to the sword
and vented his wrath on his heritage.
[63] Fire devoured their young men,
and their young women had no marriage song.
[64] Their priests fell by the sword,
and their widows made no lamentation.
[65] Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
like a strong man shouting because of wine.
[66] And he put his adversaries to rout;
he put them to everlasting shame.
[67] He rejected the tent of Joseph;
he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
[68] but he chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion, which he loves.
[69] He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
like the earth, which he has founded forever.
[70] He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheepfolds;
[71] from following the nursing ewes he brought him
to shepherd Jacob his people,
Israel his inheritance.
[72] With upright heart he shepherded them
and guided them with his skillful hand.
Psalm 79
A Psalm of Asaph.
[1] O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
[2] They have given the bodies of your servants
to the birds of the heavens for food,
the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth.
[3] They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.
[4] We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
mocked and derided by those around us.
[5] How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy burn like fire?
[6] Pour out your anger on the nations
that do not know you,
and on the kingdoms
that do not call upon your name!
[7] For they have devoured Jacob
and laid waste his habitation.
[8] Do not remember against us our former iniquities;
let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
for we are brought very low.
[9] Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and atone for our sins,
for your name’s sake!
[10] Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes!
[11] Let the groans of the prisoners come before you;
according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die!
[12] Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors
the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord!
[13] But we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
from generation to generation we will recount your praise.
Old Testament Reading
Job 6
[1] Then Job answered and said:
[2] “Oh that my vexation were weighed,
and all my calamity laid in the balances!
[3] For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea;
therefore my words have been rash.
[4] For the arrows of the Almighty are in me;
my spirit drinks their poison;
the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
[5] Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass,
or the ox low over his fodder?
[6] Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt,
or is there any taste in the juice of the mallow?
[7] My appetite refuses to touch them;
they are as food that is loathsome to me.
[8] “Oh that I might have my request,
and that God would fulfill my hope,
[9] that it would please God to crush me,
that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!
[10] This would be my comfort;
I would even exult in pain unsparing,
for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
[11] What is my strength, that I should wait?
And what is my end, that I should be patient?
[12] Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze?
[13] Have I any help in me,
when resource is driven from me?
[14] “He who withholds kindness from a friend
forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
[15] My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed,
as torrential streams that pass away,
[16] which are dark with ice,
and where the snow hides itself.
[17] When they melt, they disappear;
when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
[18] The caravans turn aside from their course;
they go up into the waste and perish.
[19] The caravans of Tema look,
the travelers of Sheba hope.
[20] They are ashamed because they were confident;
they come there and are disappointed.
[21] For you have now become nothing;
you see my calamity and are afraid.
[22] Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’?
Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’?
[23] Or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand’?
Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless’?
[24] “Teach me, and I will be silent;
make me understand how I have gone astray.
[25] How forceful are upright words!
But what does reproof from you reprove?
[26] Do you think that you can reprove words,
when the speech of a despairing man is wind?
[27] You would even cast lots over the fatherless,
and bargain over your friend.
[28] “But now, be pleased to look at me,
for I will not lie to your face.
[29] Please turn; let no injustice be done.
Turn now; my vindication is at stake.
[30] Is there any injustice on my tongue?
Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?
New Testament Reading
Romans 10
[1] Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. [2] For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. [3] For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. [4] For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
[5] For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. [6] But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) [7] “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). [8] But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); [9] because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. [10] For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. [11] For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” [12] For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. [13] For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
[14] How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? [15] And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” [16] But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” [17] So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
[18] But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for
“Their voice has gone out to all the earth,
and their words to the ends of the world.”
[19] But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,
“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;
with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”
[20] Then Isaiah is so bold as to say,
“I have been found by those who did not seek me;
I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.”
[21] But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”
- Communion -
Pray for yourself, others, our church, our neighbors, and the world.
Pray the Lord’s Prayer & the collect of the week:
Our Father who art in heaven...
Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
- Commission -
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14)
Let us go forth in the name of Christ.