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The Epiphany Of Our Lord

Worship
Isaiah 60:1-6
Ephesians 3:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12
Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14
Epiphany of the Lord - B
Charles And Donna Cammarata
Lectionary Worship Workbook
Series IV, Cycle B
Call To Worship
This Call To Worship is based on Eugene Petersen's translation of Isaiah 60:1-3 in The Message.

Leader: Get out of bed, Jerusalem! Wake up, put your face in the sunlight!
God's bright glory has risen for you!
People: The whole earth is wrapped in darkness. All people sunk in deep darkness.
Leader: But God rises on you, O people of God.
People: His sunrise glory breaks over you.
Leader: Nations will come to your light;
People: Kings to your sunburst brightness.
Leader: Let us bow down before the one whose light fills the earth.
People: Amen!

This prayer is loosely based on the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem and their worship of the newborn king. This Call To Worship and the following Prayer Of Confession and Assurance Of Pardon are all related.

Leader: Gifts for the newborn King.
People: O God, endow the King with your justice,
Leader: The royal Son with your righteousness.
People: All kings of the earth will bow down to him,
Leader: And all nations will serve him.
People: Noblemen pay tribute,
Leader: With gifts of gold and incense and myrrh.
People: Humble hearts seek him,
Leader: And lay down their treasures before him.
People: King Jesus, you alone are worthy.
Leader: Let us bow down and worship the King.


Prayer Of Confession
Leader: King of righteousness,
People: We tend toward comfort and conformity in the world,
Leader: Rather than taking our place in ways that are right.
People: We act as if the line between right and wrong
Leader: Is insignificant to you.
People: We do not let your righteousness rule in us.
Leader: Ruler of justice,
People: Who sees those who are oppressed
Leader: And hears the cries of the afflicted;
People: We live sheltered and self-centered lives,
Leader: Not seeing or hearing or caring or acting as you do
People: On behalf of those who are hurting or dying.
Leader: Our sense of justice is dulled.
People: We are slow to respond to the call of justice.
Leader: King of righteousness, ruler of justice,
People: Forgive us, change us, reign in us,
Leader: So that our lives will bear evidence to your presence in us
People: To those who need to know you. Amen.


Assurance Of Pardon
Leader: How great is our God!
People: Ever faithful to his promises!
Leader: He will deliver the needy who cry out,
People: The afflicted who have no one to help.
Leader: He will rescue them,
People: He will rescue me,
Leader: For our lives are precious to him.
People: God is our help and salvation.


Prayer For Illumination
Week in and week out we enter into the sanctuary of God, and yet, we do it without pause or attention to the awesome nature of the one into whose presence we come. As we open now the pages of this book, may we be aware of the humbling presence of the one the Magi met long ago. Amen.


Benediction
Ephesians 3:10
God's intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. As we leave this place, let us go forth intent on being revealers of God's wisdom in all we do. Amen.


Hymns

Adoration

As With Gladness Men Of Old

Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light

Fairest Lord Jesus

Go Tell It On The Mountain

If Jesus Goes With Me

O Sing A Song Of Bethlehem

One Small Child

We Three Kings


Contemporary Choruses
Here I Am, Lord (Appears as a hymn in some new hymnals)
UPCOMING WEEKS
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Praxis, the pixie whose skin changes colour according to his mood, was bright, bright blue. He was feeling very fed up. All by himself with nobody to play with, he had nothing to do but get into mischief. His mother was annoyed with him for eating all the jelly she had ready for tea, and she had ordered him out of the toadstool.

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David O. Bales
Contents
"The Way to God" by Peter Andrew Smith
"Looking Up" by David O. Bales


* * * * * * * *


The Way to God
by Peter Andrew Smith
Isaiah 58:1-9a (9b-12)

In his story "The Way to God," Peter Andrew Smith tells of a people seeking to know God in their lives who discover the answer is not about what they do but about how they live.

* * *

SermonStudio

Carlos Wilton
This is a dangerous psalm -- dangerous, because it is so open to misinterpretation.

"Happy are those who fear the Lord...." Well, who could quarrel with that? Yet this psalm goes on to describe, in concrete terms, exactly what form that happiness takes: "Their descendants will be mighty in the land.... Wealth and riches are in their houses" (vv. 2a, 3a).

Power? Wealth? Are these the fruits of a godly life? The psalmist seems to think so.

John R. Brokhoff
THE LESSONS

Lesson 1: Isaiah 58:1--9a (9b--12) (C); Isaiah 58:7--10 (RC)
John N. Brittain
I had a much-loved professor in seminary who confessed to some of us over coffee one day that he frequently came home from church and was so frustrated he had to go out and dig in the garden, even in the middle of winter. Robert Louis Stevenson once recorded in his diary, as if it were a surprise, "I went to church today and am not depressed." Someone has said, "I feel like unscrewing my head and putting it underneath the pew every time I go to church." Thoughts like these are often expressed by people who have dropped out of church, especially youth and young adults.
Charles L. Aaron, Jr.
Sometimes when we read a passage of scripture, we may need to pay careful attention to who in the text is speaking. Our understanding of the words themselves may change, depending on whose mouth they come from. If we are reading Job, we need to know which character is speaking in the passage. If Job's friends are talking, we know their words cannot be trusted. They are too self-righteous. Sometimes, we are not sure who is speaking. Job 28 is a beautiful poem extolling the virtue of wisdom, but we can't be sure who delivers this elegant piece.
William B. Kincaid, III
Of all the pressing questions of the day, a sign on one person's desk asks, "How much can I sin and still go to heaven?" The question seems amusing until we stop to think about it. Inherent in this question is a bold-faced confession that there is no interest at all in pursuing a life shaped wholly by the spirit of God, but at the same time we do not want to be so recklessly sacrilegious that we forfeit completely the rewards of the hereafter.
Robert A. Beringer
A Japanese legend says a pious Buddhist monk died and went to heaven. He was taken on a sightseeing tour and gazed in wonder at the lovely mansions built of marble and gold and precious stones. It was all so beautiful, exactly as he pictured it, until he came to a large room that looked like a merchant's shop. Lining the walls were shelves on which were piled and labeled what looked like dried mushrooms. On closer examination, he saw they were actually human ears.
John T. Ball
When pastors retire they have a chance to check out some of the Sunday morning religious television before going off to worship, presuming they don't succumb to the Sunday paper. One retired colleague who has the leisure to monitor Sunday morning television says that churchy television fixes mostly on the personal concerns of the viewers. Anxiety, depression, grief - all important and life--threatening matters - make up much of Sunday morning religious television.
Beverly S. Bailey
Hymns
Hail To The Lord's Anointed (LBW87, CBH185, NCH104, UM203)
When I Survey The Wondrous Cross (PH100, 101, CBH259, 260, NCH224, UM298, 299, LBW482)
Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light (CBH203, NCH140, PH26, UM223)
God Of Grace And God Of Glory (CBH366, NCH436, PH420, UM577)
You Are Salt For The Earth (CBH226, NCH181)
This Little Light Of Mine (CBH401, NCH524, 525, UM585)
Ask Me What Great Thing I Know (NCH49, UM192, PH433)
There's A Spirit In The Air (NCH294, UM192, PH433)

Emphasis Preaching Journal

One of the difficulties that confronts us who drive our vehicles is forgetting to turn off the lights and returning to the car after some hours only to discover a dead battery. I have found that the problem occurs most often when I have been driving during a storm in daytime and had to turn on headlights in order to be seen by other drivers. By the time I get to my destination the rain has often ceased, and the sun is shining brightly. The problem happens, too, when we drive into a brightly lighted parking lot at night.
Wayne Brouwer
Schuyler Rhodes
Some years ago Europa Times carried a story in which Mussa Zoabi of Israel claimed to be the oldest person alive at 160. Guinness Book of World Records would not print his name, however, simply because his age could not be verified. Mr. Zoabi was older than most records-keeping systems. Whatever his true age, Mussa Zoabi believed he knew the secret of longevity. He said, "Every day I drink a cup of melted butter or olive oil."

CSSPlus

Good morning, boys and girls. I brought some salt with me this morning. (Show the salt.) What do we use salt for? (Let them answer.) We use it for flavoring food. How many of you put salt on your popcorn? (Let them answer.) What else do we use salt for? (Let them answer.) We put salt on the sidewalks in winter to keep us from slipping. We put salt in water softeners to soften our water.

In this morning's lesson Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth. What do you think he meant by that? (Let them answer.) In Jesus' time salt was very important. It was used to keep food
Good morning! Once Jesus told a whole crowd of people who
had come to hear him preach that they couldn't get into Heaven
unless they were more "righteous" than all the religious leaders
of that day. Does anyone know what that word means? What does it
mean to be righteous? (Let them answer.) It means to be good, to
be fair, and to be honest. Now, what do you think he meant by
that? Was he telling people that they had to do everything
perfectly in this life in order to get into Heaven? (Let them
answer.)
Good morning! How many of you own your own Bible? (Let them
answer.) When you read the Bible, do you find some things that
are hard to understand? (Let them answer.) Yes, I think there are
some tough things to comprehend in the Bible. After all, the
Bible is God's Word, and it's not always easy to understand God.
He is so much greater than we are and much more complex.

Now, I brought a New Testament with me this morning and I
want someone to read a verse for us. Can I have a volunteer? (Let
Teachers and Parents: The most common false doctrine, even
among some who consider themselves strong Christians, is that we
can earn our way into Heaven by our own works. Our children must
learn the basic Christian truth that Heaven is a gift of God and
that there is no way to be righteous enough to deserve it. We
must rely on the righteousness of Christ for our ticket into
Heaven.

* Make white paper ponchos with the name JESUS written in
large letters on each one. (A large hole for the head in a big

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