**Please note this service is based on the format of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church of Canada. Unless otherwise indicated, all prayers come from
Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW). Hymns and other prayers have been sourced
to give appropriate credit.
**NRSV translation used for the readings, unless otherwise stated.
Introduction to the Day
The feast of Epiphany concludes the Christmas season with a celebration
of God’s glory revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. In Isaiah and Ephesians,
that glory is proclaimed for all nations and people. Like the light of the star
that guided the magi to Jesus, the light of Christ reveals who we are: children
of God who are claimed and washed in the waters of baptism. We are sent out to
be beacons of the light of Christ, sharing the good news of God’s love to all
people.
Confession and Forgiveness
Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God, who sends the word with angels, who is made flesh among all
peoples, and who breathes peace on all the earth.
Amen.
In Christ, we are bold to name our sin and cry out for peace.
Holy God,
we confess our sin before you.
We replace compassion with competition.
We seek what is mighty while ignoring the meek.
We are quick to anger but slow to forgive.
We have not put on love in harmony with you.
Wrap us in the grace of your powerful Word.
Swaddle our hearts with your peace,
that all we do, in word or deed,
may reflect your love born among us.
Amen.
I bring you good news of great joy for all people:
God has come among us in the child born of Mary, Christ the Lord. ☩
In Christ your sins
are forgiven and you are clothed in peace.
Amen.
Gathering Song – Arise, Your Light has Come (ELW #314)
Greeting
The grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,
and the communion
of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.
Prayer of the Day
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray.
O God, on this day you revealed your Son to the nations by the leading
of a star. Lead us now by faith to know your presence in our lives, and bring
us at last to the full vision of your glory, through your Son, Jesus Christ our
Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
forever.
Amen.
Readings
A reading from the book of Isaiah 60:1-6
Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.
Nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
Lift up your eyes and look around;
they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away,
and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms.
Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and rejoice,
because the abundance of the sea shall
be brought to you,
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense,
and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14
Give the king your justice, O God,
and
your righteousness to a king’s son.
May he judge your
people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice.
May the mountains yield prosperity for the
people,
and
the hills, in righteousness.
May he defend the
cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the needy,
and crush the oppressor.
May he live while the sun endures,
and
as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
May he be like rain
that falls on the mown grass,
like showers that water the earth.
In his days may righteousness flourish
and
peace abound, until the moon is no more.
May the kings of
Tarshish and of the isles
render him tribute,
may the kings of Sheba and Seba
bring gifts.
May all kings fall
down before him,
all nations give him service.
For he delivers the needy when they call,
the
poor and those who have no helper.
He has pity on the
weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
From oppression and violence he redeems their
life;
and
precious is their blood in his sight.
A reading from the Letter from Paul to the Ephesians 3:1-12
This is the reason that I Paul am a
prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles – for surely you have
already heard of the commission of God’s grace that was given me for you, and
how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote above in a few
words, a reading of which will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery
of Christ. In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind,
as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:
that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and
sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Of this gospel I have become a servant
according to the gift of God’s grace that was given me by the working of his
power. Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to
me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ, and to
make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who
created all things; so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich
variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly
places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out
in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have access to God in boldness and
confidence through faith in him.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Gospel Acclamation – Alleluia
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew 2:1-12
Glory to you, O Lord.
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus
was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed
his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard
this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; and calling together all
the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the
Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has
been written by the prophet:
‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of
Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”
Then Herod secretly called for the wise
men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he
sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and
when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him
homage.” When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them,
went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place
where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were
overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother;
and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests,
they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned
in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another
road.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O
Christ.
Sermon
A reprise of my sermon delivered in 2020.
May only truth be spoken and truth heard.
Amen.
January 6 officially
ends the season of Christmas. During this season, the church celebrates the
incarnation of Immanuel, God with Us.
Most of the Western
world, however, celebrate an excess of giving and receiving.
Although there is no
biblical basis to link Santa Claus to the season of Christmas, gifts do show up
in this first festival after Christmas – Epiphany.
Epiphany is the
festival of the revelation of Jesus and the texts throughout this season will
help us to understand Jesus’ identity as God Incarnate.
It begins with the
revelation of the great star that the magi followed – the first outside of
Jesus’ own family to understand the importance of his birth.
When we first meet the
magi in Matthew 2:1, they have arrived in Jerusalem after a long journey and
are asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we
observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”
Breaking news! Pagan
princes discover Jesus through astrology!
What a startling headline!
You have to admit
though, according to Matthew’s Gospel, that’s kind of how it happened.
The magi arrive in
Jerusalem, the largest neighboring town to Bethlehem, “after Jesus was born in Bethlehem
of Judea”.
When the magi finally
arrive at Joseph’s house, they find “the child and Mary his mother.”
Despite the scene found
in various Christmas movies and stories, the magi did not find Jesus in the
stable.
Although Matthew uses a
number of terms to refer to Jesus here, he never uses the Greek word for infant
and, when the magi finally meet Jesus, he uses the term most often ascribed to
young children.
This may explain
Herod’s declaration to kill “all the children in and around Bethlehem who were
two years old or under”, with two years earlier likely being the time when the
magi identified the star’s first appearance.
These magi have been
assigned many roles as kings, sorcerers, astronomers, or wise men from the
East.
Based on their gifts,
we can assume they come from affluence and we know that they can track a star.
It is worth noting,
however, that the Bible neither names their gender nor states how many magi
there were.
The tradition that
there were three magi comes largely from Matthew’s enumeration of three gifts -
gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Gold is a gift for
royalty. Giving the gift of gold means the magi acknowledge that Jesus was of a
Royal line.
Frankincense is an
expensive incense that was burned as a part of worship in The Temple. The magi
give this gift as a way to declare Jesus’ divinity and his priestly role.
Myrrh is an expensive
oil used for perfume and was most commonly used among wealthy Jews as an anointing
oil for the dead. Thus, the myrrh is seen as a foreshadowing of Jesus’ death.
These valuable items
were standard gifts to honor a king or deity in the ancient world: gold as a
precious metal, frankincense as perfume or incense, and myrrh as anointing oil.
The Book of Isaiah,
when describing Jerusalem’s glorious restoration, tells of nations and kings
who will come and “bring gold and frankincense and shall proclaim the praise of
the Lord”.
Although Matthew’s
gospel, while paralleling Isaiah, does not include the names or number of the
magi, many believe that the number of the gifts is what led to the tradition of
the Three Wise Men.
With the festival of
Epiphany, we move from a season of indulgence and gift giving that has been
loosely connected with the incarnation of God, to a celebration marked by
honoring, not ourselves, but our God.
The wise men journeyed
a long time and distance to where the child was, and they gave their gifts.
If we are journeying
through our life in response to a God who calls us, we will also discover a
child. That child is the new person God is calling you and me to become.
It is for the birthing
of that child inside yourself that God wishes you to give your gifts.
Through the season of
Epiphany and the rest of the year, what gifts do we give?
Your gold, your
frankincense, your myrrh are such things as your energy, your integrity, your
brain, your loyalties, your hope, your deepest elements of heart and mind and
soul and strength.
How and why do we give
these gifts?
When you allow the
child within you to be born, then you ae re-energized to bring the child of
hope and possibility and new creation to be born at every level.
This can be true in
your relationships, in your profession, or in your neighbourhood.
Through our gifts, do
we (can we?) testify to who God is as the one who became incarnate among us?
Through you, through
us, the eternal and holy child of hope, who is Jesus Christ our Lord, can be
born daily. Not in a remote past, but in the present.
You are the Christmas
story.
You are the child of
God who is being called daily into birth.
You are also the wise
man or woman seeking the child.
You are the living,
breathing Bethlehem in which the Christ child is continually being born.
Speak, care, and pray
as one who has seen Christ and recognised him.
That is our offering and our testimony.
Amen.
Hymn of the Day – Angels from the Realms of Glory (ELW #275)
Creed
Let us confess the faith of our baptism, as we
say the Nicene Creed:
We
believe in one God,
the
Father, the Almighty,
maker
of heaven and earth,
of
all that is, seen and unseen.
We
believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the
only Son of God,
eternally
begotten of the Father,
God
from God, Light from Light,
true
God from true God,
begotten,
not made,
of
one Being with the Father;
through
him all things were made.
For
us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the
virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under
Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the
Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the
living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We
believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who
proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who
with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
who
has spoken through the prophets.
We
believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
We
acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We
look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Prayers of Intercession
Joining our voices with the heavenly host and Christians throughout time
and space, let us pray for the church, the world, and all in need.
Silence
God of wanderers, you sent the magi from afar to witness the mystery and
majesty of your birth. Send us into the world with your will in our hearts and
on our lips.
Merciful God,
Receive our prayer.
You created heaven and earth. Through your Spirit send your
all-encompassing love over the cosmos. Bless the stars that guide our way and
the night sky that invites the earth into slumber.
Merciful God,
Receive our prayer.
You sent the magi to follow the star into an uncertain future. May all
leaders and peoples seek your face, especially when paths are not clear,
conflicts rage, tyrants oppress, and fear abounds.
Merciful God,
Receive our prayer.
You sent your Spirit to dwell with Paul in prison. Send your Spirit to
those who are imprisoned and enslaved. Give courage and wisdom for building
roads that lead to justice and freedom.
Merciful God,
Receive our prayer.
You sent the holy family to seek safety in a new land. Protect all who
make similar journeys. Send your guiding Spirit to asylum seekers, refugees,
and all who journey toward safety.
Merciful God,
Receive our prayer.
Please take time to offer your own intercessions or pray in silence.
Your glory is shown to the saints. We give thanks for those whose
earthly journey has
ended and now dwell with you forever. Give us signs of your continual
presence until that day when we arise in you. We pray for all who are sick and
suffering
Merciful God,
Receive our prayer.
Rejoicing in your Word made flesh among us, we commend these prayers to
you, confident of your grace and love made known to us in Jesus Christ, our
Saviour.
Amen.
Peace
The peace of Christ be with you always.
And also with you.
Hymn
of Thanksgiving – Bright and Glorious is the Sky (ELW #301)
**Although
not physically at our church buildings to share our offering together I would
encourage you to set your offering of money aside so that it can be dropped off
or placed in the church once services resume, to mail your offering to the
church, or to make donations online. Please remember ministry is still taking
place.
Thanksgiving for the Word
Let us pray.
O God of justice and love, we give thanks to you that you illumine our
way through life with the words of your Son. Give us the light we need, awaken
us to the needs of others, and at the end bring all the world to your feast;
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy
Spirit, be honor and glory forever.
Amen.
Lord’s Prayer
Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray as Jesus taught us.
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our
daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those
who sin against us.
Save us from the time
of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the
power,
and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.
Blessing
The God of hope, fill us with all joy and peace in believing, so that we may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit, ☩ through Christ Jesus, the Word made flesh.
Amen.
Sending Song – As With Gladness Men of Old (ELW #302)
Dismissal
Go in peace. Rejoice in Christ our Saviour.
Thanks be to God.
