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 119:73–96
Yodh
[73] Your hands have made and fashioned me;
give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.
[74] Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice,
because I have hoped in your word.
[75] I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous,
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
[76] Let your steadfast love comfort me
according to your promise to your servant.
[77] Let your mercy come to me, that I may live;
for your law is my delight.
[78] Let the insolent be put to shame,
because they have wronged me with falsehood;
as for me, I will meditate on your precepts.
[79] Let those who fear you turn to me,
that they may know your testimonies.
[80] May my heart be blameless in your statutes,
that I may not be put to shame!
Kaph
[81] My soul longs for your salvation;
I hope in your word.
[82] My eyes long for your promise;
I ask, “When will you comfort me?”
[83] For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke,
yet I have not forgotten your statutes.
[84] How long must your servant endure?
When will you judge those who persecute me?
[85] The insolent have dug pitfalls for me;
they do not live according to your law.
[86] All your commandments are sure;
they persecute me with falsehood; help me!
[87] They have almost made an end of me on earth,
but I have not forsaken your precepts.
[88] In your steadfast love give me life,
that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth.
Lamedh
[89] Forever, O LORD, your word
is firmly fixed in the heavens.
[90] Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
[91] By your appointment they stand this day,
for all things are your servants.
[92] If your law had not been my delight,
I would have perished in my affliction.
[93] I will never forget your precepts,
for by them you have given me life.
[94] I am yours; save me,
for I have sought your precepts.
[95] The wicked lie in wait to destroy me,
but I consider your testimonies.
[96] I have seen a limit to all perfection,
but your commandment is exceedingly broad.
Old Testament Reading
Job 29
[1] And Job again took up his discourse, and said:
[2] “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me,
[3] when his lamp shone upon my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness,
[4] as I was in my prime,
when the friendship of God was upon my tent,
[5] when the Almighty was yet with me,
when my children were all around me,
[6] when my steps were washed with butter,
and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
[7] When I went out to the gate of the city,
when I prepared my seat in the square,
[8] the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose and stood;
[9] the princes refrained from talking
and laid their hand on their mouth;
[10] the voice of the nobles was hushed,
and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
[11] When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
[12] because I delivered the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.
[13] The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
[14] I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a turban.
[15] I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
[16] I was a father to the needy,
and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
[17] I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
[18] Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,
and I shall multiply my days as the sand,
[19] my roots spread out to the waters,
with the dew all night on my branches,
[20] my glory fresh with me,
and my bow ever new in my hand.’
[21] “Men listened to me and waited
and kept silence for my counsel.
[22] After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word dropped upon them.
[23] They waited for me as for the rain,
and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
[24] I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
and the light of my face they did not cast down.
[25] I chose their way and sat as chief,
and I lived like a king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.
New Testament Reading
1 Corinthians 15
[1] Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, [2] and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
[3] For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, [4] that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, [5] and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. [6] Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. [7] Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. [8] Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. [9] For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. [10] But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. [11] Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
[12] Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? [13] But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. [14] And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. [15] We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. [16] For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. [17] And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. [18] Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. [19] If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
[20] But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. [21] For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. [22] For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. [23] But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. [24] Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. [25] For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. [26] The last enemy to be destroyed is death. [27] For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. [28] When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
[29] Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf? [30] Why are we in danger every hour? [31] I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day! [32] What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” [33] Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” [34] Wake up from your drunken stupor, as is right, and do not go on sinning. For some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
[35] But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” [36] You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. [37] And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. [38] But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. [39] For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. [40] There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. [41] There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
[42] So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. [43] It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. [44] It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. [45] Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. [46] But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. [47] The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. [48] As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. [49] Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
[50] I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. [51] Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, [52] in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. [53] For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. [54] When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
[55] “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
[56] The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. [57] But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
[58] Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
- 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 Lord, you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing; Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you. Grant this for the sake of your only Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for 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.