Virtual Worship for February 13, 2022
Sixth Sunday after Epiphany
Worship at 9:00 a.m.
The congregation reads the boldface responses.
Once the prelude has begun, please cease all conversation
as we prepare our hearts and minds for worship.
PRELUDE
Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly - Chris Tomlin | Jason Ingram | Pat Barrett
INTRODUCTION
Blessings and curses abound on the sixth Sunday after Epiphany. We would do well to listen closely to whom the “blessed ares” and the “woe tos” are directed and to find our place in the crowd among those who desire to touch Jesus. The risen Christ stands among us in the mystery of the holy supper with an invitation to live in him, and offers power to heal us all.
GATHERING
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Please stand as you are able.
GATHERING HYMN
Let Justice Flow like Streams (WOV 763)
1. Let justice flow like streams
of sparkling water, pure,
enabling growth, refreshing life,
abundant, cleansing, sure.
2. Let righteousness roll on
as others' cares we heed,
an ever-flowing stream of faith
translated into deed.
3. So may God's plumb line, straight,
define our measure true,
and justice, right, and peace pervade
this world our whole life through.
Text: Jane Parker Huber, b. 1926
Text © 1984 Jane Parker Huber, admin. Westminster John Knox Press
CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
All may make the sign of the cross, the sign that is marked at baptism, as the presiding minister begins.
Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God,
who creates us,
redeems us,
and calls us by name.
Amen.
Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another.
Silence is kept for reflection.
Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
and your beloved children.
We have turned our faces away from your glory
when it did not appear as we expected.
We have rejected your word
when it made us confront ourselves.
We have failed to show hospitality
to those you called us to welcome.
Accept our repentance for the things we have done
and the things we have left undone.
For the sake of Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.
Forgive us and lead us, that we may bathe
in the glory of your Son born among us,
and reflect your love for all creation.
Amen.
Rejoice in this good news:
In ☩ Christ Jesus, your sins are forgiven.
You are descendants of the Most High,
adopted into the household of Christ,
and inheritors of eternal life.
Live as freed and forgiven children of God.
Amen.
GREETING
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
The love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Living God, in Christ you make all things new. Transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace, and in the renewal of our lives make known your glory, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
A PRAYER FOR THE CALL COMMITTEE
Holy Spirit, touch our call committee, that they may discern as they interview candidates to be our pastor. Fill their hearts with grace, their minds with wisdom, and their souls with faith, and grant them patience and love. Help them to see the gifts and strengths that are in others. In the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Please be seated.
WORD
FIRST READING
Jeremiah 17:5-10 (NRSV)
These verses compose a poem that is part of a larger collection of wisdom sayings that contrast two ways of life. Life with God brings blessing; the power and vitality of God is active in our life. Life without God brings a curse, the power of death.
5Thus says the Lord:
Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals
and make mere flesh their strength,
whose hearts turn away from the Lord.
6They shall be like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see when relief comes.
They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
7Blessed are those who trust in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
8They shall be like a tree planted by water,
sending out its roots by the stream.
It shall not fear when heat comes,
and its leaves shall stay green;
in the year of drought it is not anxious,
and it does not cease to bear fruit.
9The heart is devious above all else;
it is perverse—
who can understand it?
10I the Lord test the mind
and search the heart,
to give to all according to their ways,
according to the fruit of their doings.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
PSALMODY
Psalm 1 (NRSV)
(Read responsively.)
1Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked,
or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers;
2but their delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
3They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.
4The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6for the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
SECOND READING
1 Corinthians 15:12-20 (NRSV)
For Paul, the resurrection of Christ is the basis for Christian hope. Because Christ has been raised, those who are in Christ know that they too will be raised to a new life beyond death.
12Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; 14and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. 15We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ—whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.
16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. 17If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. 19If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.
The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God.
Please stand as you are able.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
GOSPEL
Luke 6:17-26 (NRSV)
The Holy Gospel according to Luke.
Glory to you, O Lord.
17He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
20Then he looked up at his disciples and said:
"Blessed are you who are poor,for yours is the kingdom of God.
21"Blessed are you who are hungry now,for you will be filled.
"Blessed are you who weep now,for you will laugh.
22Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 23Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
24"But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
25"Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
"Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
26Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Please be seated.
SERMON
You Lost Me
Chris Simcox
Please stand as you are able
HYMN OF THE DAY
Jesus the Very Thought of You (LBW 316)
1. Jesus, the very thought of you
fills us with sweet delight;
but sweeter far your face to view
and rest within your light.
2. No voice can sing, no heart can frame,
nor can the mind recall
a sweeter sound than your blest name,
O Savior of us all!
3. O Hope of ev'ry contrite soul,
O joy of all the meek,
how kind you are to those who fall!
How good to those who seek!
4. O Jesus, be our joy today;
help us to prize your love;
grant us at last to hear you say:
"Come, share my home above."
Text: attr. Bernard of Clairvaux, 1091-1153; tr. Edward Caswall, 1814-1878
APOSTLES’ CREED
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
The Spirit of the Lord is poured out upon us in abundance; so we are bold to pray for the church, the world, and all that God has made.
The response to “Lord, in your mercy,” is “hear our prayer.”
The prayers conclude:
Since we have such great hope in your promises, O God, we lift these and all of our prayers to you in confidence and faith; through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Amen.
Please be seated.
OFFERING
OFFERTORY
Come to the Water
Adult Choir
Please stand as you are able.
OFFERING PRAYER
Blessed are you, O God,
Sovereign of the universe.
You offer us new beginnings
and guide us on our journey.
Lead us to your table,
nourish us with this heavenly food,
and prepare us to carry your love
to a hungry world,
in the name of Christ our light.
Amen.
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 trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.
SENDING
BLESSING
God, who leads you in pathways of righteousness,
who rejoices over you,
and who calls you by name,
☩ bless your going out and your coming in,
today and forever.
Amen.
SENDING HYMN
I am the Bread of Life (WOV 702)
1. "I am the Bread of life.
You who come to me shall not hunger,
and who believe in me shall not thirst.
No one can come to me unless the Father beckons."
Refrain
"And I will raise you up,
and I will raise you up,
and I will raise you up on the last day."
2. "The bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world,
and if you eat of this bread,
you shall live forever, you shall live forever." Refrain
3. "Unless you eat
of the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink of his blood,
and drink of his blood,
you shall not have life within you." Refrain
4. "I am the resurrection,
I am the life.
If you believe in me,
even though you die, you shall live forever." Refrain
5. Yes, Lord, I believe
that you are the Christ,
the Son of God,
who have come into the world. Refrain
Text: Suzanne Toolan, RSM, b. 1927, based on John 6
Text © 1966, 1970, 1986, 1993 GIA Publications, Inc., 7404 S. Mason Ave., Chicago, IL 60638. www.giamusic.com. 800.442.3358.
DISMISSAL
Go with Christ into a weary world.
Share the good news.
Thanks be to God.
POSTLUDE
Healing River of the Spirit - Ruth C. Duck BEACH SPRING
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