Prayer as We Gather: Lord, you always keep your promises. Today, amidst threats of global health crises, evidence of constitutional democracy's decline in our own nation, friends struggling with the abrupt intrusions of sickness and death, we cling to prophet Isaiah's assurance that distress will not exhaust us: "On those living in a pitch-dark land, light has dawned." Move among us this holy hour in this sacred place, shattering every yoke that burdens us. Amen.*(Inspired by Isaiah 9)
Call to Worship:
The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Should I fear anyone?
The Lord is a fortress protecting my life.
Should I be frightened of anything?
God shelters me during troubling times,
High up in a secret place up high, safe on a rock.
I will bring offerings with shouts of joy, Singing and praising the Lord!
Lord, listen to my voice when I cry out - Have mercy on me and answer me!
Don't hide your face from me, don't push me aside.
You have been my help, don't neglect me! (from Psalm 27, The Common English Bible)
Morning Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for apostle Paul's encouraging reminder that baptism isn't a magic act cloning people in the image of their religious leaders, but a deep dive into the very mind and purpose of Jesus. When our soul was in the lost and found, you came along to claim it. We didn't know just what was wrong with us, but your love helped us name it. To our great relief, Jesus doesn't send us out to proclaim the gospel with clever words, but with changed hearts and minds that lift up our broken sisters and brothers. Now we're no longer doubtful of what we're living for, because your power delivers us by way of the cross, whose message is sheer foolishness to the distracted children of this age. Thanks be to God, who is indeed the key to our peace of mind, for coming to us in the Galilean carpenter who taught us to pray, saying …*(Inspired by 1 Corinthians 1 and the soulful witness of preacher's daughter Aretha Franklin)
Prayer of Confession: Forgive us, Lord, for choosing precisely the political leaders we deserve, people of boundless hubris and ambition on both sides of the aisle, whose primary guiding star is their desperate lust for re-election. Only a nation of shallow, performance craving consumers with the attention span of a gnat could have brought us to the precipice upon which we now teeter, our available choices for leadership mostly cut from the same old field of snake oil salesmen pandering to our insatiable need to be entertained. Thank goodness Jesus' first followers were drawn from hardened, rough hewn, no-nonsense fishermen accustomed to stormy seas and sleepless nights of fruitless labor, who nevertheless kept mending their nets and putting out to sea again in dogged hopes of better results next time. Have mercy on our addiction to quick fixes, effortless success, and con artists who would be king. Amen.*(Inspired by Matthew 4)
Assurance of Pardon: Take heart! I have good news for just such a time as this in the life of University Baptist Church. Jesus is still looking for followers, still offering the same miraculous covenant he first offered those sturdy fishermen by the lakeshore, some of them in their accustomed daily routine of casting their nets in hopes of a catch, others mending their nets in necessary preparation for the relentless demands of the dawning day's work. "Come," Jesus beckoned, "follow me and I'll show you how to fish for people." The looming transition in our beloved community's pastoral leadership brings its own set of changes, adjustments and churchly introspection, but one thing remains constant: The church exists for those who are not in it. Nothing about learning to heed a new shepherd's voice changes Jesus' basic expectation of us, to minister to the least of God's children and by our lives show weary pilgrims the way home. Thanks be to God for such a privilege, and for the exciting unknowns of the future being shaped for us in God's always-present Kingdom.* (Inspired by Matthew 4)
Thought for the Epiphany Season: "Most wishes - even good wishes - will not come true. Bodies age. Love slips out of our hands. Hope is the language of May it be." - Kate Bowler, author of Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel