Crandall United Methodist Church

Worship Guide

January 4, 2026

Epiphany of the Lord

Creating Disciples of Jesus who Transform the World

ENTRANCE WITH PRAISE

Greeting:

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

People: And also with you!

Special Music: When Hope Came Down - Stefanie

Centering Words:

Shining for all to see, Christ has come. Shining in our hearts, Christ still lives in wisdom, power, and love.

*Call to Worship:

Leader:    In this holy season of Christmas,

People:   Christ comes to us again.

Leader:    In this quiet after the harried days of December,

People:   God invites us to pause and reflect.

Leader:   Our journey has led us here.

People:   The Spirit is with us now.

Leader:    Let us bow down as sages of old,

People:   and worship Christ our King.

Leader:    Let us pray.

ALL: Christ of power and justice, help us embrace the power that comes from love, and guide us to seek the justice that love reveals. Open our hearts and minds, that we may hear your wisdom in this time of worship. Open our lives in the year ahead to the power and strength of your loving Spirit. In your holy name, we pray. Amen.

Hymn: “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear”

It came upon the midnight clear,

that glorious song of old,

from angels bending near the earth,

to touch their harps of gold;

“Peace on the earth, good will to men,

from heaven’s all gracious King."

The world in solemn stillness lay,

to hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come

with peaceful wings unfurled,

and still their heavenly music floats

o’er all the weary world;

above its sad and lowly plains,

they bend on hovering wing,

and ever o'er its Babel sounds

the blessed angels sing.

And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,

whose forms are bending low,

who toil along the climbing way

with painful steps and slow,

look now! for glad and golden hours

come swiftly on the wing.

O rest beside the weary road,

and hear the angels sing!

For lo! the days are hastening on,

by prophet seen of old,

when with the ever circling years

shall come the time foretold

when peace shall over all the earth

its ancient splendors fling,

and the whole world send back the song

which now the angels sing.

PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD

Words of Assurance

Arise! Shine! Christ the light has come, and this light will guide us well.

Amen.

*Old Testament Reading: Jeremiah 31:7-14

⁷      For thus says the Lord:

Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,

and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;

proclaim, give praise, and say,

“Save, O Lord, your people,

the remnant of Israel.”

⁸      See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north,

and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,

among them the blind and the lame,

those with child and those in labor, together;

a great company, they shall return here.

⁹      With weeping they shall come,

and with consolations I will lead them back,

I will let them walk by brooks of water,

in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;

for I have become a father to Israel,

and Ephraim is my firstborn.

¹⁰     Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,

and declare it in the coastlands far away;

say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him,

and will keep him as a shepherd a flock.”

¹¹     For the Lord has ransomed Jacob,

and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.

¹²     They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,

and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,

over the grain, the wine, and the oil,

and over the young of the flock and the herd;

their life shall become like a watered garden,

and they shall never languish again.

¹³     Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,

and the young men and the old shall be merry.

I will turn their mourning into joy,

I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.

¹⁴     I will give the priests their fill of fatness,

and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty, says the Lord.

Leader:    This is the Word of God for the people of God

People:   Thanks be to God.

WORD AND RESPONSE

Time with Young Friends: “Jesus Loves Me”

Children’s Message: Something New

Hymn: “We Three Kings”

We three kings of Orient are;

bearing gifts we traverse afar,

field and fountain, moor and mountain,

following yonder star.

O star of wonder, star of light,

star with royal beauty bright,

westward leading, still proceeding,

guide us to thy perfect light.

Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain

gold I bring to crown him again,

King forever, ceasing never,

over us all to reign.

O star of wonder, star of light,

star with royal beauty bright,

westward leading, still proceeding,

guide us to thy perfect light.

Frankincense to offer have I;

incense owns a Deity nigh;

prayer and praising, voices raising,

worshipping God on high.

O star of wonder, star of light,

star with royal beauty bright,

westward leading, still proceeding,

guide us to thy perfect light.

Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume

breathes a life of gathering gloom;

sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,

sealed in the stone cold tomb.

O star of wonder, star of light,

star with royal beauty bright,

westward leading, still proceeding,

guide us to thy perfect light.

Glorious now behold him arise;

King and God and sacrifice;

Alleluia, Alleluia,

sounds through the earth and skies.

O star of wonder, star of light,

star with royal beauty bright,

westward leading, still proceeding,

guide us to thy perfect light.

Sermon: “Seeing the Light” - John 1:1-18

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴ in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸ He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹ The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. ¹¹ He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. ¹² But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ”) ¹⁶ From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷ The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

RESPONSE TO THE WORD 

Prayers of the People: Joys and Concerns

   Silent Prayer, Pastoral Prayer

 THE SACRAMENTS OF

HOLY COMMUNION

Invitation, Prayer of Confession and Pardon:

 Christ our Lord invites to his table

       all who love him,

who earnestly repent of their sin

and seek to live in peace with one another.

Therefore, let us confess our sin before God

and one another.

Merciful God,

we confess that we have not loved you

with our whole hearts.

We have failed to be an obedient church.

We have not done your will,

we have broken your law,

we have rebelled against your love,

we have not loved our neighbors,

and we have not heard the

cry of the needy.

Forgive us, we pray.

Free us for joyful obedience,

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Hear the good news:

Christ died for us while we were yet sinners;

that proves God's love toward us.

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.

Glory to God. Amen

The Great Thanksgiving   

     The Lord be with you

And also with you. 

Lift up your hearts

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God

It is right to give our thanks and praise. 

It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

Before the mountains were brought forth, or you had formed the earth, from everlasting to everlasting, you alone are God.

You created light out of darkness and brought forth life on the earth,

You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life.

When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.

You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God, and spoke to us through your prophets.

In the fullness of time you gave your only Son Jesus Christ to be our Savior, and at his birth the angels sang glory to you in the highest and peace to your people on earth.

And so, with your people on earth

and all the company of heaven

we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord,

God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes

in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ, in whom you have revealed yourself, our light and our salvation.

You sent a star to guide wise men to where the Christ was born; and in your signs and witnesses, in every age and through all the world, you have led your people from far places to his light. 

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection, you gave birth to your church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit. 

When the Lord Jesus ascended, he promised to be with us always, in the power of your Word and Holy Spirit.

On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:

"Take, eat; this my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

When the supper was over, he took the cup,

gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:

"Drink from this all of you;

this is my blood of the new covenant,

poured out for you and for many

for the forgiveness of sins.

Do this, as often as you drink it in remembrance of me."

And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith 

Christ has died;

Christ is risen;

Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father, now and forever.   Amen

And now with the confidence of children of God, let us pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever.

Amen

Sharing of the Cup and Loaf

Moment of Prayer and Meditation

Prayer of Thanks 

Eternal God, we give you thanks

for this holy mystery

in which you have given yourself to us.

Grant that we may go into the world

in the strength of your Spirit,

to give ourselves to others,

in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

SENDING FORTH

Hymn: “Go Tell It on the Mountain”

Go, tell it on the mountain,

over the hills and everywhere;

go, tell it on the mountain,

that Jesus Christ is born.

While shepherds kept their watching

o'er silent flocks by night,

behold throughout the heavens

there shone a holy light.

Go, tell it on the mountain,

over the hills and everywhere;

go, tell it on the mountain,

that Jesus Christ is born.

The shepherds feared and trembled,

when lo! above the earth,

rang out the angels chorus

that hailed the Savior’s birth.

Go, tell it on the mountain,

over the hills and everywhere;

go, tell it on the mountain,

that Jesus Christ is born.

Down in a lowly manger

the humble Christ was born

and God sent us salvation

that blessed Christmas morn. 

Go, tell it on the mountain,

over the hills and everywhere;

go, tell it on the mountain,

that Jesus Christ is born.

Benediction

Hymn: “As We Go”

As we go, may your Spirit go before us.

As we go, may we follow where you lead.

May we live what we have learned,

share the message we have heard,

and be a light unto the world

as we go.