Thursday after Epiphany 1
January 17, 2013
The Lord be with you
This coming Sunday is the Second Sunday after Epiphany. It
is also the commemoration of Sarah. While we will thank the Lord for her
witness in our prayers, she will not be featured in our worship in any other
fashion. Therefore, a quick word about her is in place at this time. Sarah was
originally named Sarai. The Lord changed her name when she was quite old. Both
Sarah and Sarai mean princess. Sarah was barren. However, at her advanced age, God
promised her a son. That son was Isaac. This has been seen as a type of the
birth of Jesus. In both cases you have women for whom it is impossible to bear
children (one because she was past the age of bearing children and the other
because she was a virgin). In both cases God intervened sending a messenger to
tell of a promised birth. Both births were miraculous. Both children were boys.
Both children were fulfillments of the promise of God. The child, in each case,
was a blessing to many. Another way to consider the story of Sarah is to
realize that she was “fruitful” even in her old age. This began when she
received her new name. So we receive a new name in our baptism. So we can pray,
in the words of the collect: “Give us a youthful hope in the joy of our own new
name, being baptized into the promised Messiah, that we, too, might be fruitful
in Your kingdom, abounding in the works of Your Spirit”.
We will be using Matins for our liturgy (page 219). The
appointed Psalm is Psalm 128 (antiphon verse 5). The appointed lessons are Isaiah
62:1-5, 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, and John 2:1-11. Our opening hymn will be “Songs
of Thankfulness and Praise” (LSB
394). Our sermon hymn will be “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” (LSB 700). Our closing hymn will be “We
Are Called to Stand Together” (LSB
828).
The sermon is titled “Same and Different.” The text is 1
Corinthians 12:4. The epistle lesson is actually the first of several drawn
from 1 Corinthians 12 and 13 and so we are going to have a mini-series drawn
from these chapters.
In our prayers we will continue to remember those who have
been mislead by our cultures advocacy of sexual immorality and abortion, asking
for healing in the lives damaged by these sins and those who are trapped in
modern-day slavery (often now called Human Trafficking). We will continue to
remember the families and friends of the Sandy Hook
murders. We will also remember The Lutheran Church - Hong Kong Synod and their
president, Rev. Dr. Allan Yung. The LCHKS is a partner church with us. We will
remember missionaries Tony and Constance Booker, who are in the Czech
Republic. We will remember our
sister congregations: Redeemer, Burlington, NC; Resurrection, Cary, NC;
Redeemer, Catawba, NC; Advent, Chapel Hill, NC; and Good Shepherd, Greenville,
SC. Finally we will remember the persecuted believers in Burma
(Myanmar).
Our adult Sunday school class will begin a new study this
Sunday. It is based on the Commission on Theology and Church Relations report
titled: “together with all creatures: caring for God’s living earth.” In this
study we will examine our relationship with the rest of God’s good creation.
Quite obviously, this will have real implications about how we live on the
earth. Class begins at 9:00 am.
Preview of Lessons
Isaiah 62:1-5
Our Old Testament lesson is another wonderful Gospel passage
from Isaiah. This lesson speaks of the global nature of God’s love in Christ
Jesus as Isaiah speaks of the “nations” seeing Christ’s righteousness and “kings”
his glory. Even if you don’t “get” all the metaphorical language, the overall
tone is unmistakable. This is “good news” that everyone enjoys for it encompasses
everyone.
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
Paul writes concerning the roll of the Holy Spirit. There
are two key verses one should pay attention to in understanding these and
subsequent verses. They are verses three and eleven. We will unpack this reading more in Sunday’s message.
John 2:1-11
This is the traditional Gospel lesson for Epiphany 2. Jesus
and his disciples are invited to a wedding. The host/groom runs out of wine.
Mary gets Jesus involved and Jesus turns a huge amount of water into wine
(which, no surprise, turns out to be the best wine the celebrators received at
the party). The reason this lesson is a traditional Epiphany text lies in verse
11: “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee,
and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” Aside from the
major theme of Jesus as God in human flesh and that we should believe in him,
many minor themes can also be found. The wedding metaphor is often used in
scriptures as an analogy for our relationship with God. Jesus attending a
wedding underscores that marriage is a good thing. In fact, marriage is an echo
of the Garden of Eden and the relationship of our first parents, Adam and Eve.
The turning of water into wine underscores the goodness of God’s creation. (As
a very small aside, it also indicates that consumption of wine is okay in
moderation. To say anything else is to say Jesus encouraged (or even indorsed)
sin.)
Tidbits
Our Health Fair (scheduled
for Saturday, April 13) has a name: “Spring forward for Health.” Apparently
this title won by a “healthy” margin (ugh, was that a bad pun or what?).
Junior Confirmation continues
to me on Wednesdays, beginning at 6:30 pm.
Women’s Bible
Fellowship has been canceled for tonight due to the threatening snow. We
are rescheduling for next Thursday. We will then begin the study “The Bible on
Trial: Beyond A Reasonable Doubt.” This study has many internet links. To make
it easier for the ladies, those links have been posted on this blog and can be
found in the post I made earlier today.
Below is a video of our closing hymn, “We Are Called to
Stand Together.” It is being sung at Concordia Seminary, St.
Louis.
Well, I pray I’ll see you Sunday.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert
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