Thursday after The Epiphany of our Lord
Commemoration of Basil the Great of Caesarea,
Gregory of Nazainzus, and Gregory of Nyssa, Pastors and Confessors
January 10, 2013
The Lord be with you
Well, I’m back from my vacation. For those who come to these
notes regularly, I apologize for not posting much for the past few weeks. In
the week leading up to Christmas I was just to busy with all the worship
services. In the two weeks after Christmas, I was on vacation. But I’m back now,
and so are these notes.
This coming Sunday is the First Sunday after Epiphany.
Epiphany is always January 6 and so typically is not a Sunday. The first Sunday
after Epiphany is also the Baptism of our Lord. The readings in the three year
cycle we use retains this historic theme, we just read it from a different
Gospel each year. In the old one-year series the story was read from Luke. It
just so happens that we are in the third year of the three-year cycle, and our
Gospel lesson for Sunday is from Luke, so we will hear the historic lesson this
Sunday. The appointed lessons are: Isaiah
43:1-7; Romans 6:1-11; Luke 3:15-22.
We will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper. For our liturgy,
we will be using Divine Service 1, which begins on page 151. Our opening hymn
will be “God Himself Is Present” (LSB
907). Our sermon hymn will be “To Jordan
Came the Christ, Our Lord” (LSB 407,
verses 1-4, 7). Our closing hymn will be “Forth in the
Peace of Christ We Go” (LSB 920).
Our distribution hymns will be “Baptized into Your Name Most Holy” (LSB 590), “Your Table I Approach” (LSB 628) and “All Christians Who Have
Been Baptized” (LSB 596).
The sermon is titled “More Than Meets the Eye.” The text is
Romans 6:4. No surprise, on a Sunday when we remember the baptism of our Lord,
the sermon will accent baptism.
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. We also regularly remember 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. St. Paul’s Lutheran, and
ELCA church down in Newberry, is burning as I write this. We will remember them
in our prayers. We will also remember the China
Evangelical Lutheran
Church and their president, Rev.
Andrew Miao. The CELC is a partner church with us. We will remember
our missionaries Tony and Constance Booker, who are in the Czech
Republic. We will remember our
sister congregations: Greenwood, Greenwood, SC; Emmanuel, Rock Hill, SC;
Eternal Shepherd, Seneca, SC; Emmanuel, Ashville, NC; Island, Hilton Head, SC.
Island Lutheran is where Kitty and I worshiped one of the Sundays we were on
vacation.
The adult Sunday school class is almost finished with the
four-part study The Intersection of
Church and State. We will finish it this Sunday, or the next at the latest.
Our next topic has already been picked by the class. We will be looking at a
report of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations of the Lutheran Church-Missouri
Synod that came out April 2010. It is titled “together with all creatures: Caring for God’s Living Earth.”
Personally, I’m looking forward to the discussions. I’m sure they will be
lively.
Preview of Lessons
Isaiah 43:1-7
This is a wonderful reading from Isaiah and helps us
understand why he has received the nickname, the Fifth Evangelist. The lesson
is pure gospel. If you are having a bad day, read it. Through Isaiah the Lord
reminds us that he has created us, redeemed us, called us by name, are precious
in his eyes, called us by name, and so much more. There are baptismal overtones
with the references to passing through the waters and through the rivers. You
may wonder about this as Christian baptism would not be established for about
700 years (give or take a decade or two). However this section of Isaiah, like
much of his book, is poetry. Isaiah is not speaking literally but symbolically.
Two of the most common things water points to in the Bible, when used
symbolically, are troubles and baptism. It is something like the flood:
Troubles as the world is deluged, but also baptism as the Lord rescued Noah and
his family through the flood (1 Peter 3:20-21).
Romans 6:1-11
This reading is all about the power of baptism in our lives.
In theological circles baptism is approached basically in two ways. One way
treats it basically as a symbolic event and not much more. The other way treats
it as a miracle of God. The “miracle of God” group does not deny that baptism
has symbolic elements; it simply does not view baptism as only a symbol. As you
read this lesson ask yourself, does Paul say baptism symbolizes our union with
the death of Jesus or does he say this union takes place in baptism? Is baptism
just a symbol of being buried with him or does Paul say that in our baptism we
actually are joined with Jesus in that burial? In verse 11 Paul tells us to
“consider [ourselves] dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Is this
some abstract idea or is it based on our baptism, according to Paul?
Luke 3:15-22
Luke picks up some highlight in the ministry of John the
Baptist. John preaches about baptism and the coming Messiah. The people
wondered if he was the Messiah, which John denies. Herod had John arrested. The
reading reaches its apex with the baptism of Jesus and a revelation of the
Trinity. The Holy Spirit appears in the form of a dove. The Father speaks from
heaven. Jesus, of course, is identified by the Father as his beloved Son.
Tidbits
We have scheduled a Health
Fair for Saturday, April 13. It will begin at 1:00
pm and last until 4:00
pm. Jill, our parish nurse, has
told us that such Health Fairs need a theme, sort of a title. The committee has
come up with several options. This Sunday there will be a ballot in the
bulletin with those options on it. We are asking for your opinion. What theme
do you prefer? The theme with the most votes, even if it isn’t over 50%, will
be the one we use. The options are: “Total Health,” “Every Day Health,” “Health
Expo,” “Spring forward for Health,” and “A Health Life.” If it helps in your
decision making, we are talking about having boots featuring dental care, blood
pressure, chiropractic care, Medicare information, nursing homes, fire safety
(fire department), personal safety (police), counseling, the YMCA, and more.
All is very preliminary right now so some of these options may well change, but
you get the general idea.
Junior Confirmation will
resume this coming Wednesday. We begin at 6:30 pm.
Women’s Bible
Fellowship will resume. The next meeting will be Thursday, January 17.
Please note the change from Wednesday to Thursday. This change is because the
ladies have asked me to lead the studies, and I just can’t make Wednesdays at
this time. The ladies have decided to return to the church for their Bible studies.
They have been rotating from home to home, but by meeting at our church
building it is hoped that it will be easier for new people to find the study
and join in. The ladies will meet at 6:30 pm for fellowship. I have
been asked to arrive late and begin the study at 7:15.
Apparently the ladies feel they don’t want a man listening in on everything
they may want to say. The study the ladies selected is: The Bible on Trial:
Beyond A Reasonable Doubt. This is a four-session video-based study. I am
assured that the ladies typically do not finished a session in one evening. So,
while this study is designed to take a month, it may take longer.
Below is a video of the hymn “All Christians Who Have Been Baptized.”
The congregation singing is Memorial Evangelical Lutheran in Houston,
TX.
Well, I pray I’ll see you Sunday.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert
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