The Greatest of these is Love

Epistle:

1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13                                         

³¹ But earnestly desire the higher gifts.

And I will show you a still more excellent way.

The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³ If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrong doing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Gospel:

Luke 4:31-44                    

Jesus Heals a Man with an Unclean Demon

³¹ And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, ³² and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. ³³ And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴ “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” ³⁵ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. ³⁶ And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” ³⁷ And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

Jesus Heals Many

³⁸ And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. ³⁹ And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.

⁴⁰ Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. ⁴¹ And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

Jesus Preaches in Synagogues

⁴² And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, ⁴³ but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” ⁴⁴ And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

Gospel:

Luke 4:16-30                    

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

¹⁶ And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. ¹⁷ And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

²⁰ And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹ And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” ²² And all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” ²³ And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” ²⁴ And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. ²⁵ But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, ²⁶ and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷ And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸ When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. ²⁹ And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. ³⁰ But passing through their midst, he went away.

The Baptism of Our Lord

Prayer of the day:
Father in heaven, at the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River You proclaimed Him Your beloved Son and anointed Him with the Holy Spirit.  Make all who are baptized in His name faithful in their calling as your children and inheritors with Him of everlasting life; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Epistle:

Romans 6:1-11                              

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? ² By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? ³ Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that our old self^[a] was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For one who has died has been set free^[b] from sin. ⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Gospel:

Luke 3:15-22                     

¹⁵ As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, ¹⁶ John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” ¹⁸ So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. ¹⁹ But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, ²⁰ added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison. ²¹ Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, ²² and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

Epiphany

Epiphany

Epiphany is a Christian feasting holiday celebrated on January 6th, although some Eastern countries celebrate on January 19th under the Julian calendar. It is sometimes called Three King’s Day in the United States. Although the holiday is specific to the Christian religion, different parts of the world vary in their focus of celebration. However, the general spirit of the holiday concerns Jesus’s physical form, the name actually meaning “manifestation.”

Biblical Background

The reason or the alternate name comes from the holiday’s marking of the Three King’s visit to Jesus and his earthly manifestation. Eastern churches will typically celebrate Jesus’s baptism. It is believed that the holiday was first observed in second century Eastern churches as a more broad celebration of Jesus coming to Earth, often celebrating the events of his life up until his baptism in the Jordan River, including the nativity story—why the holiday is celebrated soon after Christmas—and Jesus’s first miracle, in which he turned water to wine. Sometimes, Epiphany refers to the religious season that follows Christmas. Artwork associated with the holiday often includes items from the nativity scene, especially the Magi’s gifts and stars. In more ancient celebrations, the holiday was sometimes celebrated with a feast lasting eight days, which was continued by the Anglicans and the Latin Church, the latter keeping up the practice until reformed by Pope Pius XII in 1955.

Twelfth Night

The night before Epiphany is called Twelfth Night, which the famous Shakespearean play is named after. A theme of the play is overindulgence. This is because the night before Epiphany is sometimes celebrated with intense feasting, drinking, and antics such as pranks and other well-meaning jokes. In medieval times, many celebrated Halloween, or All Hallows Eve, on Twelfth Night.

Epiphany Traditions

Common Epiphany traditions can be divided into two categories: religious and national traditions. This depends on the type of Christian church or the country in which the celebration takes place.

Churches:

Western—the main difference with Western churches is that there is a significant distinction between the nativity scene and Epiphany. These churches usually reserve the nativity for Christmas time. On Epiphany, they will celebrate Jesus’s baptism, first miracle, and visit from the Three Kings. Sometimes, the Three Kings’ initials (CMB) will be carved over main doors along with a blessing.

Eastern Orthodox—this group focuses on Jesus’s baptism. The Eastern Orthodox Church considers Epiphany to be one of the more significant feasts, even outshining Christmas, lasting from January 1 to January 5. This celebration features fasting as well as feasting.

Coptic Orthodox—typically celebrated with a water blessings, including house blessings and baptisms, this church focuses on Jesus’s baptism, particularly the part of the story in which God shows himself though separated skies. It is also seen as the point at which Jesus’s life transitions to the events surrounding his crucifixion.

Oriental Orthodox—also called the Timkat, this Ethiopian church’s celebration actually falls on January 19th and features ritualistic ceremonies revolving around water during the feast.

National customs:

Britain—the British usually leave their yule log burning until Epiphany. Twelfth Night is also very widely celebrated. Typical British traditions include the Twelfth cake. This could be any type of cake, but usually a fruit cake, baked with items inside, including a bean, twig, clove, or rag. Anyone finding these items would earn distinctions for the day—king, fool, villain, or tart, respectively. Playing pranks and performing Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is also common. The feast often includes spicy food, a nod to the Magi’s gift of spices.

German speaking countries—many German speaking locations have declared Epiphany a public holiday. Similar to Christmas caroling, groups of children go from house to house dressed as Kings, singing. Interestingly, similar to Halloween, the children will often be given treats. German speaking celebrators also enjoy a fruit cake, except filled with an almond or a trinket to mark the day’s king. Slovakia and the Czech Republic also celebrate by having children dress up as the Three Kings.

Latin America—in these countries, Epiphany, or Día de los Reyes Magos, translated the Day of Kings, the Magi bring gifts to children instead of Santa Claus and the cake is usually ring shaped. Across the pond, Spain also features the Three Kings as present-bearers.

Bulgaria—this country celebrates with a unique custom: a swimming race to retrieve a cross thrown into water by a priest. In some towns, bagpipe music is customary.

Greece—also featuring a cross-retrieval race, the Greek feast, Phota, incorporates a blessing of the sea, starting the outlawing of sailing because of the tumultuous waters of the winter sea. It is said that the waters get rocky because Goblins are trying to frustrate Christians during their holy day. It is typically followed the next day by a feast honoring John the Baptist.

Other common ways to celebrate Epiphany include removing nativity sets and other Christmas decorations, while some cultures might put up decorations specifically for Epiphany.

Update on Holy Communion schedule

Beginning in January 2022 and continuing through the transition period, guest supply pastors and lay leaders will be officiating our worship services.  Supply pastors will be leading us in worship during Holy Communion services and lay leaders will preside over the non-Communion services.  For both the 8:00 and the 11:00 worship services, Holy Communion will be offered on the first and third Sundays of the month.

          A typical month’s worship schedule would be as follows:
 1^st Sunday (8:00 & 11:00)      Holy Communion       supply pastor

 2^nd Sunday (8:00 & 11:00)     no Communion           lay leaders

 3^rd Sunday (8:00 & 11:00)     Holy Communion       supply pastor

 4^th Sunday (8:00 & 11:00)     no Communion           lay leaders

 5^th Sunday (8:00 & 11:00)     no Communion           lay leaders