Prayer as We Gather: Thank you, Lord, for bidding us serve you, placing your spirit upon us to bring justice to the nations. Isaiah insists we are “called for a good reason,” a personal relationship in which you grasp our hand and guard us as your covenant people “to lead the prisoners from prison, and those who sit in darkness from the dungeon.” As this transition year at UBC reveals your steady hand, we trust you to “declare new things before they even appear.” Amen.* (Inspired by Isaiah 42)
Call to Worship:
Give to the Lord glory and power!
The Lord’s strong, majestic voice is over the mighty waters.
The Lord’s voice shakes the wilderness,
But in the Lord’s temple everyone shouts, “Glory!”
Let the Lord give us strength,
Let the Lord bless us with peace! (from Psalm 29, The Common English Bible)
Morning Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for scripture’s radical claim: God doesn’t show partiality to one group of people over another. May our tribal loyalties and entrenched ideologies melt away in the face of Simon Peter’s brash claim that whoever worships you and does what is right is acceptable to you. Whereas Jesus “went about doing good,” we are most often content to simply go about. Grant us sufficient epiphanies of your grace that we may have courage to follow the risen Galilean who bids us pray … *(Inspired by Acts 10)
Prayer of Confession: Forgive, Lord, our pious false modesty. Our patron saint seems to be Baptizer John, who was arguably at least sincere when he tried to refuse Jesus’ request to be baptized. John’s attempt to stop Jesus issued from a genuine sense of his own unworthiness to baptize “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” Our own efforts to thwart our risen Savior, on the other hand, are less noble, less likely premised on a healthy sense of our insufficiencies, more apt to hinge on our selfish refusal to risk everything for the sake of the Gospel. Have mercy on our petulant resistance to Jesus’ constant whispered entreaty within our hearts: “Please allow me to hold sway in your life.” Amen.*(Inspired by Matthew 3)
Assurance of Pardon: I have good news for all would-be discouragers of Jesus and his claim upon our lives: The same Baptizer John who at first sought to hinder Jesus’ perfect will finally relented, agreeing to escort Jesus into baptism’s swirling, mysterious waters of grace. Who but John, then, was
privileged to hear and later report to a world desperate for hope, God’s voice from heaven saying “This is my Son, whom I dearly love; I find happiness in him.” Failing John’s change of heart and subsequent faithful witness, we would be denied God’s history-altering affirmation of Jesus, his true identity, his divine mission. Thanks be to God for extending to us that same opportunity, despite our initial stubborn refusals, to relent and permit Jesus’ loving intrusion into our closed minds.*(Inspired by Matthew 3)
Thought for an Epiphany Season: “Local church ministry amounts to creating the right spaces and letting Holy Spirit do the rest.” -Samuel Wells