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 98
A Psalm.
[1] Oh sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done marvelous things!
His right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
[2] The LORD has made known his salvation;
he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
[3] He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
[4] Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
[5] Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre,
with the lyre and the sound of melody!
[6] With trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!
[7] Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the world and those who dwell in it!
[8] Let the rivers clap their hands;
let the hills sing for joy together
[9] before the LORD, for he comes
to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity.
Psalm 99
[1] The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
[2] The LORD is great in Zion;
he is exalted over all the peoples.
[3] Let them praise your great and awesome name!
Holy is he!
[4] The King in his might loves justice.
You have established equity;
you have executed justice
and righteousness in Jacob.
[5] Exalt the LORD our God;
worship at his footstool!
Holy is he!
[6] Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
Samuel also was among those who called upon his name.
They called to the LORD, and he answered them.
[7] In the pillar of the cloud he spoke to them;
they kept his testimonies
and the statute that he gave them.
[8] O LORD our God, you answered them;
you were a forgiving God to them,
but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
[9] Exalt the LORD our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for the LORD our God is holy!
Psalm 100
A Psalm for giving thanks.
[1] Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
[2] Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
[3] Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
[4] Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
[5] For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
Old Testament Reading
Job 15
[1] Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
[2] “Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge,
and fill his belly with the east wind?
[3] Should he argue in unprofitable talk,
or in words with which he can do no good?
[4] But you are doing away with the fear of God
and hindering meditation before God.
[5] For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
[6] Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
your own lips testify against you.
[7] “Are you the first man who was born?
Or were you brought forth before the hills?
[8] Have you listened in the council of God?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
[9] What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
[10] Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
older than your father.
[11] Are the comforts of God too small for you,
or the word that deals gently with you?
[12] Why does your heart carry you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
[13] that you turn your spirit against God
and bring such words out of your mouth?
[14] What is man, that he can be pure?
Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
[15] Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones,
and the heavens are not pure in his sight;
[16] how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
a man who drinks injustice like water!
[17] “I will show you; hear me,
and what I have seen I will declare
[18] (what wise men have told,
without hiding it from their fathers,
[19] to whom alone the land was given,
and no stranger passed among them).
[20] The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
[21] Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
[22] He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,
and he is marked for the sword.
[23] He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;
[24] distress and anguish terrify him;
they prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.
[25] Because he has stretched out his hand against God
and defies the Almighty,
[26] running stubbornly against him
with a thickly bossed shield;
[27] because he has covered his face with his fat
and gathered fat upon his waist
[28] and has lived in desolate cities,
in houses that none should inhabit,
which were ready to become heaps of ruins;
[29] he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions spread over the earth;
[30] he will not depart from darkness;
the flame will dry up his shoots,
and by the breath of his mouth he will depart.
[31] Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
for emptiness will be his payment.
[32] It will be paid in full before his time,
and his branch will not be green.
[33] He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,
and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.
[34] For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
[35] They conceive trouble and give birth to evil,
and their womb prepares deceit.”
New Testament Reading
1 Corinthians 3
[1] But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. [2] I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, [3] for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? [4] For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?
[5] What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. [6] I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. [7] So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. [8] He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. [9] For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
[10] According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. [11] For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. [12] Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—[13] each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. [14] If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. [15] If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
[16] Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? [17] If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
[18] Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. [19] For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” [20] and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.” [21] So let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, [22] whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, [23] and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.
- 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...
O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; 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.