Third Sunday After Epiphany
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Third Sunday after Epiphany Coronavirus
01-23-2022 10:00AM Worship
OPENING SONG: “WE’RE MARCHING TO ZION” Trudi Wright Tan #590
THE OPENING RITE: Lisa Tillison + Lydia Henson
L Today, my sisters and brothers!
Today we are gathered in worship,
gathered to hear afresh God’s living Word,
which sometimes must humble and convict us.
C Today we are gathered together in unity,
gathered to discern the will of God,
and to depend on one another to carry it out.
L Today the Spirit of God is present and hovers over us,
teaching and empowering,
weaving our personalities and gifts into a united fabric of God’s people.
C Today and always,
the joy of God is our strength,
the mercy of God is our saving help.
L Today, right now and right here,
every Christian community and the ONE CHURCH on earth is being called to proclaim the gospel – GOOD news – to the hungry, captive, suffering, and oppressed people of the world.
And, if it is true that “The Word became flesh” in Jesus of Nazareth,
then let us share his light, bear his word, and dare his will – today and our entire lives.
THE PRAYER OF THE DAY: Lydia
And let us pray.
Father in heaven, you sent your Son Jesus to proclaim and embody good news to the least, the lost, and the lonely. O how we pray that you might anoint us with the power of your Spirit that we, too, may proclaim and embody, may show and tell, good news to all the world – today and tomorrow, here and there, forever and ever. Lord, keep us thirsty in our hearts and busy in our witness.
So be it, Amen!
FIRST READING: NEHEMIAH 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 [Read it and weep… but then rejoice. There is redemption and release and renewal in the Word of God!] Rosella McVay
8:1 all the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had given to Israel.
8:2 Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month.
8:3 He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.
8:5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up.
8:6 Then Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
8:8 So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
8:9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.
8:10 Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our LORD; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
SECOND READING: 1 CORINTHIANS 12:12-31a [Talking feet, self-deprecating ears, and arrogant eyes. The Church can only function as a healthy body of connected interactive parts – diverse members unified by the Holy Spirit in community and mission.] Mariah Morris
12:12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
12:13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body–Jews or Greeks, slaves or free–and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
12:14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.
12:15 If the foot would say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
12:16 And if the ear would say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.
12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
12:18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
12:19 If all were a single member, where would the body be?
12:20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body.
12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
12:22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
12:23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect;
12:24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member,
12:25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another.
12:26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
12:27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
12:28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues.
12:29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
12:30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
12:31 But strive for the greater gifts.
GOSPEL VERSE: Iyanna
“Always remember Jesus, Jesus.
Always remember Jesus, Jesus.
Always keep Him on your mind.”
THE GOSPEL: LUKE 4:14-21 [Jesus’ keynote speech: This is his ministry. And this must be our mission… with all the urgency of today.] Maliek Patterson
4:14 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country.
4:15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
4:16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read,
4:17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,
4:19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
4:20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
4:21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
THE SERMON: Pastor Gwen or Pastor Neil
SONG SELECTION Paul Samuel
OFFERING [If LIGHT has dawned upon us, we want to share it! If there is GOOD NEWS to tell, we can’t help but say it! If God’s SON has summoned us, we can’t help but follow! And if God’s SPIRIT has touched us, we can’t act like nothing happened! So let’s make an offering to God of ourselves, each and every one of us. The good news of Jesus should be the very essence of who we are now and seek to become… it’s too exciting to keep to ourselves.]
THE OFFERTORY SONG: “THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE” Hillsman-Mathis Family
- This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine… (3X)
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!
- Ev’rywhere I go, I’m gonna let it shine… (3X)
- Jesus gave it to me, I’m gonna let it shine… (3X)
OFFERING PRAYER: Jewel
O Lord our God, You have anointed us to bring good news and to proclaim liberty, to bind up the brokenhearted and to liberate the oppressed. Help us to shine forth always and in all ways with the bright glory of Jesus Christ. Amen.
MUSIC SELECTION: “BLEST BE THE TIE THAT BINDS” Dennis Fortune Tan #341
THE PRAYERS… We pray that the joy and light of JESUS CHRIST will touch all lives! Daren Waite
THE LORD’S PRAYER
SONG SELECTION Charlotte Webb
THE BENEDICTION