John Calvin Presbyterian Church

SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY

Second Sunday of Christmas

Epiphany Sunday

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA)

January 3, 2021 Ten Thirty in the morning

Minister: The Reverend Aaron Ochart             

Liturgist: Bill Bottomley

Please silence all cell phones.. 

Bold face indicates congregational participation.

GATHERING

WORDS OF WELCOME 

PRELUDE        Prelude in C Major, BWV 553 (“Little”) attributed to J.S. Bach              

ADORATION

CALL TO WORSHIP (responsive)                                             Isaiah 60:1 

Arise, shine; for your light has come! 

The glory of God has risen upon us.   

                     

PRAYER OF THE DAY                                                                 

God of all learning, When the boy, Jesus, stayed in the temple to learn from the elders, it was the elders who in turn learned from him. Teach us, Lord, as you have taught others, and grant us wisdom and willingness to learn. Amen.                                                

HYMN 53                          “What Child is This?”                     Greensleeves

CONFESSION 

CALL TO CONFESSION                                                                  

SILENT CONFESSION

PRAYER OF CONFESSION (unison)

Merciful God, you pardon all who truly repent and turn to you. We humbly confess our sins and ask your mercy. We have not loved you with a pure heart, nor have we loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not done justice, loved kindness, or walked humbly with you, our God. Have mercy on us, O God, in your loving-kindness. In your great compassion, cleanse us from our sin. Do not cast us away from your presence, or take your Holy Spirit from us. Restore to us the joy of your salvation and sustain us with your bountiful Spirit.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON                     

GLORIA PATRI 579 

PROCLAMATION

FIRST LESSON                                             1 Corinthians 2:6-13 

Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written, 

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him”— 

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.

                                                 

MESSAGE FOR THE CHILDREN 

 

ANTHEM                       O Blessed Spring                      Arr.  Hal Hopson

O blessed spring, where Word and sign embrace us in to Christ the Vine:

Here Christ enjoins each one to be a branch of this lifegiving Tree.

As winter comes, as winters must, we breathe our last, return to dust;

Still held in Christ, our souls take wing and trust the promise of the spring.

Christ, Holy Vine, Christ, Living Tree, be praised for this blest mystery :

That Word and water thus revive and join us to your Tree of Life.

            

SECOND LESSON                                                               Luke 2:41-52

Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.                                

L: The Word of the Lord.

P: Thanks be to God.    

SERMON “Right Where I Need To Be”             Rev. Aaron Ochart 

 RESPONSE  

The Affirmation of Faith

God’s redeeming work in Jesus Christ embraces the whole of man’s life: social and cultural, economic and political, scientific and technological, individual and corporate. It includes man’s natural environment as exploited and despoiled by sin. It is the will of God that his purpose for human life shall be fulfilled under the rule of Christ and all evil be banished from his creation. 

Biblical visions and images of the rule of Christ, such as a heavenly city, a father’s house, a new heaven and earth, a marriage feast, and an unending day culminate in the image of the kingdom. The kingdom represents the triumph of God over all that resists his will and disrupts his creation. Already God’s reign is present as a ferment in the world, stirring hope in men and preparing the world to receive its ultimate judgment and redemption. 

With an urgency born of this hope, the church applies itself to present tasks and strives for a better world. It does not identify limited progress with the kingdom of God on earth, nor does it despair in the face of disappointment and defeat. In steadfast hope, the church looks beyond all partial achievement to the final triumph of God.

 “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” 

THE SACRAMENT OF THE HOLY COMMUNION

The Great Prayer of Thanksgiving

   The Lord be with you.

        And also with you.

   Lift up your hearts.

        We lift them to the Lord.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

…Therefore with all creation we sing your praise:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest…

According to Christ’s commandment:

We remember his death, we proclaim his resurrection, we await his coming glory.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever.  Amen

The gifts of God for the people of God.

Thanks be to God.

PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION  

Bless the Lord, O my soul;

and all that is within me,

bless God’s holy name.