Worship Notes for Epiphany 5, 2015

Thursday after Epiphany 4

February 5, 2015

Blessed Epiphany season

This coming Sunday will be the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, or simply Epiphany 5. For our liturgy we will be using the second setting of the Divine Service (page 167). It has actually been some times since we have used this setting so we will probably be a bit rusty. I expect it will come back to us, though. This is a Communion service. To prepare you may wish to review what your Small Catechism has to say about the sacrament. Our lections are Isaiah 40:21-31, 1 Corinthians 9:16-27, and Mark 1:29-39. The sermon will be based on the Gospel lesson (Mark 1:34 is the text) and is titled “Not A Magic Show.”

Our opening hymn will be “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light” (LSB 411). Our sermon hymn will be “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” (LSB 790). Our closing hymn will be “Father, We Praise Thee” (LSB 875). Our distribution hymns will be “Thy Body, Given for Me, O Savior” (LSB 619), “Lord Jesus, Think on Me” (LSB 610) and “Crown Him with Many Crowns” (LSB 525).

Below is a video from the Lutheran Quartet singing our sermon hymn, “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty.” Lyrics are included.

What follows is a synopsis of the OT, Epistle and Gospel lessons, provided by the synod. What then follows are the readings themselves, including the Psalm.

The Son of God, Christ Jesus, Makes Us a New Creation

The Lord alone “is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Is. 40:28). He “sits above the circle of the earth” and “stretches out the heavens like a curtain” (Is. 40:22). Yet His almighty power is demonstrated chiefly by His mercy and compassion. “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength” (Is. 40:29). The only begotten Son of the Father, the very Word by whom all things were made, becomes flesh and takes all the poverty and weakness of our sin and death upon Himself, bearing it in His body to the cross. As He dies for us there, He also raises us up, a new creation, in His resurrection from the dead. Thus, by the preaching of this Word, He heals “many who were sick with various diseases,” and He casts out “many demons” (Mark 1:34, 39). And His preaching continues through those whom He has sent, who are “entrusted with a stewardship” to “preach the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16–17). Thus, we are set free by the Word of Christ, and we exercise our freedom in loving service to others.

Isaiah 40:21-31

²¹          Do you not know? Do you not hear?

                        Has it not been told you from the beginning?

                        Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

²²          It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

                        and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

            who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

                        and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

²³          who brings princes to nothing,

                        and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

²⁴          Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,

                        scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

            when he blows on them, and they wither,

                        and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

²⁵          To whom then will you compare me,

                        that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

²⁶          Lift up your eyes on high and see:

                        who created these?

            He who brings out their host by number,

                        calling them all by name,

            by the greatness of his might,

                        and because he is strong in power

                        not one is missing.

²⁷          Why do you say, O Jacob,

                        and speak, O Israel,

            “My way is hidden from the Lord,

                        and my right is disregarded by my God”?

²⁸          Have you not known? Have you not heard?

            The Lord is the everlasting God,

                        the Creator of the ends of the earth.

            He does not faint or grow weary;

                        his understanding is unsearchable.

²⁹          He gives power to the faint,

                        and to him who has no might he increases strength.

³⁰          Even youths shall faint and be weary,

                        and young men shall fall exhausted;

³¹          but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

                        they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

            they shall run and not be weary;

                        they shall walk and not faint.

1 Corinthians 9:16-27

¹⁶          For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. ¹⁸What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

¹⁹          For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. ²⁰To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. ²¹To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. ²³I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

²⁴          Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. ²⁵Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. ²⁶So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. ²⁷But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Mark 1:29-39

²⁹          And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. ³¹And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

³²          That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. ³³And the whole city was gathered together at the door. ³⁴And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

³⁵          And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. ³⁶And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, ³⁷and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” ³⁸And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” ³⁹And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Some Additional Notes

• The board of evangelism will meet for planning and lunch Sunday.

• Remember, we have pledged to pray for our neighbors. You can get a list of your 100 closest neighbors from pray4everyhome.com. Pastor has signed up the congregation and is waiting for confirmation, but you can sign-up as an individual.

• You can read the February newsletter by clicking on the newsletter page on this blog. All print copies have already been scooped up.

•  Women’s Bible Fellowship will meet Monday, 10:00 am.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor Rickert