SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY
2nd Sunday after Epiphany
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA)
January 17, 2021
Ten Thirty in the morning
Minister: The Reverend Aaron Ochart
Liturgist: Dennis Lauland
Bold face indicates congregational participation.
GATHERING
WORDS OF WELCOME
PRELUDE Prayer – Jean Langlais
ADORATION
CALL TO WORSHIP (responsive) John 1:36, 39
Look, here is the Lamb of God!
Jesus calls us: Come and see.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
God of the nations, Show us how to love all the people of the earth, of all colors and kinds: those with technology and without; those who make due with very little and who use many resources; those with formal education and without; those who call upon your name and who do not; so that all your children may be glorified in the name of the One who brought glory and liberty, Jesus Christ our salvation. Amen.
1 Arise, your light has come!
The Spirit’s call obey;
show forth the glory of your God
which shines on you today.
2 Arise, your light has come!
Fling wide the prison door;
proclaim the captive’s liberty,
good tidings to the poor.
CALL TO CONFESSION
SILENT CONFESSION
PRAYER OF CONFESSION (unison)
By your loving mercy, help us to live in your light and abide in your ways, for the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
GLORIA PATRI 579
FIRST LESSON 2 Corinthians 4:1-6
ANTHEM “The Fragrance Of Christ” David Haas
Lord, may our prayer rise like incense in your sight,
may this place be filled with the fragrance of Christ.
I will thank you, Lord, with all of my heart,
You have heard the words of my mouth.
In the presence of the Lord I will bless you,
I will adore before your holy temple.
Lord, may our prayer rise like incense in your sight,
may this place be filled with the fragrance of Christ.
I will thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness and love,
Beyond all my hopes and dreams
On the day that I called you answered;
You gave life to the strength of my soul.
Lord, may our prayer rise like incense in your sight,
Second Lesson Luke 4:14-30
Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
SERMON “The Gospel for Other People” The Rev. Aaron Ochart
RESPONSE
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH Brief Statement of Faith
In life and in death we belong to God. Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we worship and serve. We trust in Jesus Christ, Fully human, fully God.
Jesus was crucified, suffering the depths of human pain and giving his life for the sins of the world. God raised this Jesus from the dead, vindicating his sinless life, breaking the power of sin and evil, delivering us from death to life eternal.
We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father. In sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone equally in God’s image male and female, of every race and people, to live as one community. But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator. Ignoring God’s commandments, we violate the image of God in others and ourselves, accept lies as truth, exploit neighbor and nature, and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care. We deserve God’s condemnation. Yet God acts with justice and mercy to redeem creation. In everlasting love.
We trust in God the Holy Spirit, everywhere the giver and renewer of life. The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith, sets us free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor, and binds us together with all believers in the one body of Christ, the Church.
With believers in every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
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
1 Live into hope of captives freed,
Of sight regained, the end of greed.
The oppressed shall be the first to see
The year of God’s own jubilee!
2 Live into hope the blind shall see
With insight and with clarity,
Removing shades of pride and fear–
A vision of our God brought near.
PARTING PRAYER Maria Ware (1798)
Lord, hear; Lord, forgive; Lord do.
Hear what we speak not; forgive what we speak amiss; do what we leave undone; that not according to our words, or our deeds, but according to your mercy and truth, all may work for your glory, and the good of your kingdom, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE Toccata – Belier