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 119:97–120
Mem
[97] Oh how I love your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
[98] Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
for it is ever with me.
[99] I have more understanding than all my teachers,
for your testimonies are my meditation.
[100] I understand more than the aged,
for I keep your precepts.
[101] I hold back my feet from every evil way,
in order to keep your word.
[102] I do not turn aside from your rules,
for you have taught me.
[103] How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
[104] Through your precepts I get understanding;
therefore I hate every false way.
Nun
[105] Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
[106] I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
to keep your righteous rules.
[107] I am severely afflicted;
give me life, O LORD, according to your word!
[108] Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O LORD,
and teach me your rules.
[109] I hold my life in my hand continually,
but I do not forget your law.
[110] The wicked have laid a snare for me,
but I do not stray from your precepts.
[111] Your testimonies are my heritage forever,
for they are the joy of my heart.
[112] I incline my heart to perform your statutes
forever, to the end.
Samekh
[113] I hate the double-minded,
but I love your law.
[114] You are my hiding place and my shield;
I hope in your word.
[115] Depart from me, you evildoers,
that I may keep the commandments of my God.
[116] Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
and let me not be put to shame in my hope!
[117] Hold me up, that I may be safe
and have regard for your statutes continually!
[118] You spurn all who go astray from your statutes,
for their cunning is in vain.
[119] All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross,
therefore I love your testimonies.
[120] My flesh trembles for fear of you,
and I am afraid of your judgments.
Old Testament Reading
Job 30
[1] “But now they laugh at me,
men who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock.
[2] What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
men whose vigor is gone?
[3] Through want and hard hunger
they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;
[4] they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,
and the roots of the broom tree for their food.
[5] They are driven out from human company;
they shout after them as after a thief.
[6] In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
[7] Among the bushes they bray;
under the nettles they huddle together.
[8] A senseless, a nameless brood,
they have been whipped out of the land.
[9] “And now I have become their song;
I am a byword to them.
[10] They abhor me; they keep aloof from me;
they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.
[11] Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,
they have cast off restraint in my presence.
[12] On my right hand the rabble rise;
they push away my feet;
they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
[13] They break up my path;
they promote my calamity;
they need no one to help them.
[14] As through a wide breach they come;
amid the crash they roll on.
[15] Terrors are turned upon me;
my honor is pursued as by the wind,
and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.
[16] “And now my soul is poured out within me;
days of affliction have taken hold of me.
[17] The night racks my bones,
and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
[18] With great force my garment is disfigured;
it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
[19] God has cast me into the mire,
and I have become like dust and ashes.
[20] I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you only look at me.
[21] You have turned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you persecute me.
[22] You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
[23] For I know that you will bring me to death
and to the house appointed for all living.
[24] “Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand,
and in his disaster cry for help?
[25] Did not I weep for him whose day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
[26] But when I hoped for good, evil came,
and when I waited for light, darkness came.
[27] My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;
days of affliction come to meet me.
[28] I go about darkened, but not by the sun;
I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
[29] I am a brother of jackals
and a companion of ostriches.
[30] My skin turns black and falls from me,
and my bones burn with heat.
[31] My lyre is turned to mourning,
and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
New Testament Reading
1 Corinthians 16
[1] Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. [2] On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. [3] And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. [4] If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.
[5] I will visit you after passing through Macedonia, for I intend to pass through Macedonia, [6] and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my journey, wherever I go. [7] For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. [8] But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, [9] for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
[10] When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. [11] So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, that he may return to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.
[12] Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.
[13] Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. [14] Let all that you do be done in love.
[15] Now I urge you, brothers—you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints—[16] be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. [17] I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, [18] for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people.
[19] The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. [20] All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
[21] I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. [22] If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come! [23] The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. [24] My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
- 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.