Sunday Worship Guide - Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

Worship Guide

January 30, 2022

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

Creating Disciples of Jesus who Transform the World

 

ENTRANCE WITH PRAISE

 

Greetings:

 

Minister: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!

People: And also with you!

 

Special Music:  Come, Now is the Time to Worship / O Worship the King - Donna

 

Centering Words:

 

God has known us, loved us, and been with us since before we were knit together in our mothers’ wombs. Sink into the arms of Love this day, and trust the hand that holds you, for we have abided in this love long before we first drew breath.

 

*Call to Worship:

 

Leader:   Offer God your worship and your praise.

People:  Before God formed us in our mothers’ wombs, God knew and loved us.

Leader:   Offer Christ your love and your devotion.

People:  Before we drew our first breath, Christ consecrated us as his own.

Leader:   Offer the Spirit your gratitude and your thanksgiving.

People:  Before we heard the call to heal the world, the Spirit sustained our every heartbeat.

Leader:   Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

People:  We will offer God our worship and our praise.

Leader:   Let us pray.

 

ALL:       Wrap us in the arms of your love, Holy One, for we need to feel your healing touch. As we gather to worship you this day, humble our hearts, teach us patience, and touch us with kindness. Open our eyes, that we may see ourselves as you see us. Open our hearts to your Spirit of gentleness, that our words may be true and our love may be pure. Bind us in a love that does not fail or fade, that we may bear all things, believe all things, and hopes all things in your love, which never ends. Amen.

 

Hymn: I Stand Amazed in the Presence”

 

I stand amazed in the presence

of Jesus the Nazarene,

and wonder how he could love me,

a sinner, condemned, unclean.

 

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!

And my song shall ever be:

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!

Is my Savior’s love for me!

 

For me it was in the garden

he prayed: “Not my will, but thine."

He had no tears for his own griefs,

but sweat drops of blood for mine.

 

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!

And my song shall ever be:

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!

Is my Savior’s love for me!

 

In pity angels beheld him,

and came from the world of light

to comfort him in the sorrows

he bore for my soul that night.

 

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!

And my song shall ever be:

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!

Is my Savior’s love for me!

 

He took my sins and my sorrows,

he made them his very own;

he bore the burden to Calvary,

and suffered and died alone.

 

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!

And my song shall ever be:

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!

Is my Savior’s love for me!

 

When with the ransomed in glory

his face I at last shall see,

’twill be my joy through the ages

to sing of his love for me.

 

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!

And my song shall ever be:

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!

Is my Savior’s love for me!

 

PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD

 

Words of Assurance

 

The one who formed us in our mothers’ wombs continues to shape our lives today.

Rejoice in the good news: God knows us and loves us as we are.

God’s love heals our wounds, and give us hope for the time before us.

Thanks be to God. Amen

 

Special Music: “Who You Say I Am” - Megan

 

*Gospel Reading: Luke 4:21-30

 

21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” 23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’ ” 24 And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of   Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at  Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

 

Leader:   This is the Word of God, for the People of God

People:  Thanks be to God!

 

WORD AND RESPONSE

 

Hymn: Freely, Freely”  

 

God forgave my sin in Jesus' name

I've been born again in Jesus' name

And in Jesus' name I come to you

To share His love as He told me to

 

He said freely, freely You have received

Freely, freely give

Go in My name And because you believe

Others will know that I live

 

All power is given in Jesus' name

In earth and heaven in Jesus' name

And in Jesus' name I come to you

To share His power as He told me to

 

He said freely, freely You have received

Freely, freely give Go in My name

And because you believe

Others will know that I live

 

Time with Young Friends: “Jesus Loves Me”                                

 

Children’s Message: “Candy Heart Words”

 

Special Music:  Love Beyond Degree / I’m So Thankful - Michael

 

Sermon: “The Greatest of These” 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

 

1 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 

8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

 

RESPONSE TO THE WORD

 

Hymn: “Gather Us In”  

 

Here in this place new light is streaming

Now is the darkness vanished away

See in this space our fears and our dreamings

Brought here to you in the light of this day

Gather us in, the lost and forsaken

Gather us in, the blind and the lame

Call to us now and we shall awaken

We shall arise at the sound of our name

 

We are the young, our lives are a mystery

We are the old who yearn for your face

We have been sung throughout all of history

Called to be light to the whole human race

Gather us in, the rich and the haughty

Gather us in, the proud and the strong

Give us a heart so meek and so lowly

Give us the courage to enter the song

 

Here we will take the wine and the water

Here we will take the bread of new birth

Here you shall call your sons and your daughters

Call us anew to be salt for the earth

Give us to drink the wine of compassion

Give us to eat the bread that is you

Nourish us well and teach us to fashion

Lives that are holy and hearts that are true

 

Not in the dark of buildings confining

Not in some heaven light years away

But here in this place the new light is shining

Now is the kingdom, now is the day

Gather us in and hold us forever

Gather us in and make us your own

Gather us in, all peoples together

Fire of love in our flesh and our bones

 

Psalter: Psalm 71:1-6

 

In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;

let me never be put to shame!

In your righteousness deliver me and  rescue me;

incline your ear to me, and save me!

Be to me a rock of refuge,

a strong fortress, to save me,

for you are my rock and my fortress.

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.

For you, O Lord, are my hope,

my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

Upon you I have leaned from my birth;

it was you who took me from my   mother's womb.

My praise is continually of you.

 

Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow

        

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;

praise him, all creatures here below;

praise him above, ye heavenly host;

praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Amen

 

Special Music: Your Great Name - Stefanie

 

Prayers of the People  Joys and concerns:         

Silent Prayer, Pastoral Prayer

 

SENDING FORTH

 

Hymn: “Spirit of Gentleness”  

 

Spirit, spirit of gentleness,

blow through the wilderness,

calling and free,

Spirit, spirit of restlessness,

stir me from placidness,

wind, wind on the sea.

 

You moved on the waters,

you called to the deep,

then you coaxed up the mountains

from the valleys of sleep;

and over the eons

you called to each thing;

wake from your slumbers

and rise on your wings.

 

Spirit, spirit of gentleness,

blow through the wilderness,

calling and free,

Spirit, spirit of restlessness,

stir me from placidness,

wind, wind on the sea.

 

You swept through the desert,

you stung with the sand

and you goaded your people

with a law and a land;

and when they were blinded

with idols and lies,

then you spoke through your prophets

to open their eyes.

 

Spirit, spirit of gentleness,

blow through the wilderness,

calling and free,

Spirit, spirit of restlessness,

stir me from placidness,

wind, wind on the sea.

 

You sang in a stable,

you cried from a hill,

then you whispered in silence

when the whole world was still;

and down in the city

you called once again,

when you blew through your people

on the rush of the wind.

 

Spirit, spirit of gentleness,

blow through the wilderness,

calling and free,

Spirit, spirit of restlessness,

stir me from placidness,

wind, wind on the sea.

 

You call from tomorrow,

you break ancient schemes.

From the bondage of sorrow

the captives dream dreams;

our women see visions,

our men clear their eyes.

With bold new decisions

your people arise.

 

Spirit, spirit of gentleness,

blow through the wilderness,

calling and free,

Spirit, spirit of restlessness,

stir me from placidness,

wind, wind on the sea.

 

Benediction