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 109
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
[1] Be not silent, O God of my praise!
[2] For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me,
speaking against me with lying tongues.
[3] They encircle me with words of hate,
and attack me without cause.
[4] In return for my love they accuse me,
but I give myself to prayer.
[5] So they reward me evil for good,
and hatred for my love.
[6] Appoint a wicked man against him;
let an accuser stand at his right hand.
[7] When he is tried, let him come forth guilty;
let his prayer be counted as sin!
[8] May his days be few;
may another take his office!
[9] May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow!
[10] May his children wander about and beg,
seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit!
[11] May the creditor seize all that he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil!
[12] Let there be none to extend kindness to him,
nor any to pity his fatherless children!
[13] May his posterity be cut off;
may his name be blotted out in the second generation!
[14] May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD,
and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!
[15] Let them be before the LORD continually,
that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth!
[16] For he did not remember to show kindness,
but pursued the poor and needy
and the brokenhearted, to put them to death.
[17] He loved to curse; let curses come upon him!
He did not delight in blessing; may it be far from him!
[18] He clothed himself with cursing as his coat;
may it soak into his body like water,
like oil into his bones!
[19] May it be like a garment that he wraps around him,
like a belt that he puts on every day!
[20] May this be the reward of my accusers from the LORD,
of those who speak evil against my life!
[21] But you, O GOD my Lord,
deal on my behalf for your name’s sake;
because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!
[22] For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is stricken within me.
[23] I am gone like a shadow at evening;
I am shaken off like a locust.
[24] My knees are weak through fasting;
my body has become gaunt, with no fat.
[25] I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they wag their heads.
[26] Help me, O LORD my God!
Save me according to your steadfast love!
[27] Let them know that this is your hand;
you, O LORD, have done it!
[28] Let them curse, but you will bless!
They arise and are put to shame, but your servant will be glad!
[29] May my accusers be clothed with dishonor;
may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a cloak!
[30] With my mouth I will give great thanks to the LORD;
I will praise him in the midst of the throng.
[31] For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,
to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.
Psalm 110
A Psalm of David.
[1] The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
[2] The LORD sends forth from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies!
[3] Your people will offer themselves freely
on the day of your power,
in holy garments;
from the womb of the morning,
the dew of your youth will be yours.
[4] The LORD has sworn
and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.”
[5] The Lord is at your right hand;
he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
[6] He will execute judgment among the nations,
filling them with corpses;
he will shatter chiefs
over the wide earth.
[7] He will drink from the brook by the way;
therefore he will lift up his head.
Psalm 111
[1] Praise the LORD!
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart,
in the company of the upright, in the congregation.
[2] Great are the works of the LORD,
studied by all who delight in them.
[3] Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
and his righteousness endures forever.
[4] He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
the LORD is gracious and merciful.
[5] He provides food for those who fear him;
he remembers his covenant forever.
[6] He has shown his people the power of his works,
in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
[7] The works of his hands are faithful and just;
all his precepts are trustworthy;
[8] they are established forever and ever,
to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.
[9] He sent redemption to his people;
he has commanded his covenant forever.
Holy and awesome is his name!
[10] The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever!
Old Testament Reading
Job 21
[1] Then Job answered and said:
[2] “Keep listening to my words,
and let this be your comfort.
[3] Bear with me, and I will speak,
and after I have spoken, mock on.
[4] As for me, is my complaint against man?
Why should I not be impatient?
[5] Look at me and be appalled,
and lay your hand over your mouth.
[6] When I remember, I am dismayed,
and shuddering seizes my flesh.
[7] Why do the wicked live,
reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
[8] Their offspring are established in their presence,
and their descendants before their eyes.
[9] Their houses are safe from fear,
and no rod of God is upon them.
[10] Their bull breeds without fail;
their cow calves and does not miscarry.
[11] They send out their little boys like a flock,
and their children dance.
[12] They sing to the tambourine and the lyre
and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
[13] They spend their days in prosperity,
and in peace they go down to Sheol.
[14] They say to God, ‘Depart from us!
We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.
[15] What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’
[16] Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
[17] “How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?
That their calamity comes upon them?
That God distributes pains in his anger?
[18] That they are like straw before the wind,
and like chaff that the storm carries away?
[19] You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’
Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it.
[20] Let their own eyes see their destruction,
and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
[21] For what do they care for their houses after them,
when the number of their months is cut off?
[22] Will any teach God knowledge,
seeing that he judges those who are on high?
[23] One dies in his full vigor,
being wholly at ease and secure,
[24] his pails full of milk
and the marrow of his bones moist.
[25] Another dies in bitterness of soul,
never having tasted of prosperity.
[26] They lie down alike in the dust,
and the worms cover them.
[27] “Behold, I know your thoughts
and your schemes to wrong me.
[28] For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?
Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
[29] Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
and do you not accept their testimony
[30] that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity,
that he is rescued in the day of wrath?
[31] Who declares his way to his face,
and who repays him for what he has done?
[32] When he is carried to the grave,
watch is kept over his tomb.
[33] The clods of the valley are sweet to him;
all mankind follows after him,
and those who go before him are innumerable.
[34] How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”
New Testament Reading
1 Corinthians 8
[1] Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. [2] If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. [3] But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.
[4] Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” [5] For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—[6] yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
[7] However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. [8] Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. [9] But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. [10] For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? [11] And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. [12] Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. [13] Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
- 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.