Sixth Sunday after Epiphany
Preaching and Reading the Old Testament Lessons:
In many respects religious faith has become a rather casual affair in our society. Persons can have it, or they can leave it alone. It's all a matter of personal opinion. There is no particular opprobrium leveled at the person who claims to be an agnostic or atheist, nor is there considered to be much advantage to claiming that one is a Christian. To be sure, at election time, every politician will claim to be deeply religious in order to secure the faithfuls' vote. But otherwise, everyone goes his or her own way, believing or unbelieving, church-goer or Sunday-golfer.