Worship Service at Church of the Dawntreader Thursday January 27, 2013 10:00 a.m. SLT
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
    Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™
    Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
    www.zondervan.com
"New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989,
Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved." Designated by the initials, (NRSV).

Invocation:
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen
Confession and Absolution
We come before you, our Loving Father, Mother God, confessing most of all our need of you.
We confess that we have not always acknowledged just how much we depend on you.
We confess that we have not always loved you with all our heart, soul and mind.
We have not always loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We ask that you will forgive us and grant us your strength to conform more fully to your loving will for us.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Amen.
In obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is my privilege to declare to you and to myself, the entire
forgiveness of all our sins.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen

Prayer of the Day
Let us pray.
Blessed Lord God, you have caused the holy scriptures to be written for the nourishment of your people.
Grant that we may hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that, comforted by your promises,
we may embrace and forever hold fast to the hope of eternal life, through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

First Lesson: from Nehemiah 8 (NRSV)
1 All the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate.
They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had given to Israel.
2 Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding.
This was on the first day of the seventh month.
3 He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday,
in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand;
and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.
4 The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose.
5 And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it,
all the people stood up.
6 Then Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, "Amen, Amen," lifting up their hands.
Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
8 So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.
9 And Nehemi'ah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Le'vites who taught the people said to all the people,
"This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.
10 Then he said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared,
for this day is holy to our LORD; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
Here ends the First Lesson

Psalm 19 (NRSV)
1 The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
4 yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them;
and nothing is hid from its heat.
7 The law of the LORD is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the decrees of the LORD are sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the LORD are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the LORD is clear,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the LORD is pure,
enduring forever;
the ordinances of the LORD are true
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey,
and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 But who can detect their errors?
Clear me from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from the insolent;
do not let them have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to you,
O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Second Lesson: from 1 Corinthians 12 (NRSV)
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
13 For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.
15 If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.
16 And if the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
19 If all were a single member, where would the body be?
20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."
22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable,
23 and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect;
24 whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member,
25 that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another.
26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing,
forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues.
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
31 But strive for the greater gifts.
Here ends the Second Lesson.

Gospel Lesson: from Luke 1 and 4 (NRSV)
1 Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us,
2 just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word,
3 I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you,
most excellent Theoph'ilus,
4 so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed.
4:14 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee,
and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country.
15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
16 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,
17 and the scroll of the prophet Isai'ah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:
18 "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,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
20 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.
21 Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
Here end the Readings from Holy Scripture.

 - Sermon -

What is the Holy Bible?
This may seem like a simple question with an obvious answer,
but it is one of the crucial questions of our time,
maybe more so than at any other time in human history.
There are many believing Christians who are led far astray
by what their teachers and preachers tell them about the Bible.
The first and most important thing I need to say today is
that no Bible you can hold in your hands is infallible.
Let me say that another way.
Any Bible you can get and read has mistakes of every kind in it.
It is of primary importance that we remember this
because many Christians make the claim that the Bible is the infallible word of God.
In fact, that claim is a practical impossibility, very nearly a contradiction in terms.
The claim can only be made of the original manuscripts,
and no original manuscript of any portion of the Bible exists.
For myself, I would go so far as to say that the claim of infallilibility for the Bible
is a form of idolatry.
Only God is without error,
and sometimes we might wonder if He doesn't wish that He had done certain things differently.
Whatever we may think about that,
only God is truly perfect.
Devout Muslim artists will always put a small error in an otherwise perfect work of art
because only God is truly perfect.
It is good to pay attention to that kind of witness,
because claiming God's perfection
for any object we can hold in our hands
is a form of idolatry,
making that object,
even a copy of the Holy Bible,
into an object of worship.
I call the Bible holy
because I believe that it is a reliable account of relationships:
first of all,
the relationships of people with God
as those relationships were understood in their own time,
and secondly,
the relationships among human beings.
As such, the Bible is the most excellent guide to meaningful relationships between you and me and God, our Father and Mother,
and to our relationships with each other.
Only if we allow the Bible to be what it is
and not try to tell it what it may or may not say
can we begin to enjoy the wealth of wisdom that it offers us every day.
The Bible is not infallible.
Therefore we can see it as reliable.
It is not a book of history or science,
and if we don't try to see history or science in it,
we can read it for the stories of relationships that are of value for all time.
In our first lesson, we read how the law book was interpreted so that it could make sense for the people.
That is always necessary.
We cannot understand the Bible
in ways that mean anything for our lives
without some help
by way of interpretation.
It is a wonder that we can understand anything at all
from documents that were first handed down in oral form
and later written within the constraints of a bronze age civilization so very different from our own.
Yet human nature has changed very little,
and in the stories of the Bible we can find a lot to identify with.
As we seek to interpret the words of Scripture
to apply them to our own lives,
we can be very careful to use the best tools of history, science, and literary scholarship
to try to understand what those words may have meant to the people who first heard them.
The word of God to Her children
is never nonsense,
then or now.
So it had meaning to those who first heard it.
It has meaning to us, too,
in very different circumstances,
and the two meanings will at least echo each other.
Yet everything must be taken with a grain of salt, so to speak,
and evaluated in the light of the living Christ
Who is revealed to us in the pages of Scripture.
"What would Jesus do?"
or
"What would Jesus say?"
may or may not be very useful questions in evaluating what we need to say or do in our own lives,
but they are most useful in evaluating and interpreting the meaning of the words of the Bible.
In our Gospel lesson for this week,
we hear first the words of St. Luke
as he introduced the purpose of his Gospel:
to give an orderly account of the Jesus story.
Likewise his second volume, the book of Acts,
is introduced as an orderly account of the story of the earliest days of the Christian church.
Theophilus, to whom the introductions are addressed,
is an unknown believer.
The name means "one who loves God,"
so the introduction could be addressed to you and me, too,
and to all kinds of people through the ages
who could be called people who love God.
Finally, in our Gospel lesson,
our Lord Jesus gives us a beautiful example of the fulfillment of prophecy in the Bible.
Jesus read promising, hope filled words from the prophecy of Isaiah,
and He told His hearers that those words were fulfilled there and then, in their hearing.
He filled the words of the prophet with new meaning,
centered on His own ministry,
and His words bring hope,
not for His own time only,
but for our time as well,
and for all of us
for all eternity.
Amen.

Prayer of the People
Please type your spontaneous petitions in chat.
Each prepared petition is intended to remind us of the things we need to pray about,
so a brief pause will be provided for us to pray our own petitions,
either sharing them in the chat window
or praying them in our own hearts.

Loving God, we pray for each other, for those who depend upon us for prayer, and for all people according to their needs.
We ask that your healing power may prevail in our lives.
We pray that those in positions of public trust may be worthy of that trust as they act as stewards of power and wealth
for the benefit of all.
We pray that conflicts may be resolved in the context of relationships,
so that violence of thought word and deed may be diminished all through our world.
We ask your blessing for all who bear witness to the Gospel, so that relationships with you may be deepened for all people.
All these things, and whatever else you see that we need, we ask that you will grant for the sake of your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, in Whose name we pray.
Amen.
Our 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 sins as we forgive those who sin 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.
Benediction
May the Lord bless us and keep us.
May the Lord make His face to shine upon us and be gracious to us.
May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, and give us peace.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen +

Worship Service at Church of the Dawntreader Thursday January 17, 2013 10:00 a.m. SLT
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
    Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™
    Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
    www.zondervan.com
"New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989,
Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved." Designated by the initials, (NRSV).

Invocation:
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen
Confession and Absolution
We come before you, our Loving Father, Mother God, confessing most of all our need of you.
We confess that we have not always acknowledged just how much we depend on you.
We confess that we have not always loved you with all our heart, soul and mind.
We have not always loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We ask that you will forgive us and grant us your strength to conform more fully to your loving will for us.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Amen.
In obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is my privilege to declare to you and to myself, the entire
forgiveness of all our sins.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen

Prayer of the Day
Let us pray.
Lord God, source of every blessing, you showed forth your glory and led many to faith by the works of your Son,
who brought gladness and salvation to his people. Transform us by the Spirit of his love, that we may find our life together in him,
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen

First Lesson: Isaiah 62: 1 - 5 (NRSV)
1 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,
until her vindication shines out like the dawn,
and her salvation like a burning torch.
2 The nations shall see your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the LORD will give.
3 You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;
for the LORD delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
5 For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your builder marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.
Here ends the First Lesson

Psalm Psalm 96: 1 - 3, 7 - 10 (NRSV)
1 O sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples.
7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
bring an offering, and come into his courts.
9 Worship the LORD in holy splendor;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, "The LORD is king!
The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved.
He will judge the peoples with equity."
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 12: 1 - 11 (NRSV)
1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters,
I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were
pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak.
3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the
Spirit of God ever says "Let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say
"Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. 4 Now there are varieties
of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of services,
but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is
the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given
the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 To one is given
through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the
utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another
faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one
Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to
another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of
tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are
activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one
individually just as the Spirit chooses.
Here ends the Second Lesson.

Gospel Lesson: John 2: 1 - 11 (NRSV)
1 On the third day there was a wedding in Ca'na of
Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus and his disciples
had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine gave out, the
mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." 4 And Jesus said to
her, "Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not
yet come." 5 His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells
you." 6 Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish
rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus
said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to
the brim. 8 He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the
chief steward." So they took it. 9 When the steward tasted the water
that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the
servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the
bridegroom 10 and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first,
and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you
have kept the good wine until now." 11 Jesus did this, the first of
his signs, in Ca'na of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his
disciples believed in him. 12 After this he went down to Caper'naum
with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained
there a few days.
Here end the Readings from Holy Scripture.

 - Sermon -

Our gospel lesson for this week tells the beautiful story of the first miracle performed by our Lord in His ministry.
It includes a delightful view of the very familiar relationship within the family of Jesus.
He and His Mother interacted in a way that informs us about relationships,
not only between one Jewish Son and His Jewish Mother long ago and far away
but also about their relationship to this very day
and even our own relationships with our dear ones.
It is no accident that these signs of love and intercession took place in His first miracle,
and that the first miracle took place in a wedding festival.
Now, in ancient Galilee,
a wedding was a really big event.
It might last three days,
with lots of food and wine provided for everyone.
The families, friends, and loved ones of everyone involved would have a wonderful time together,
celebrating the establishment of a new household.
Everyone involved wanted the event to take place in the best way possible.
In those days as it is to this very day,
there seems to have been an unwritten rule
that something has to go wrong at every wedding.
So much planning, so many emotions, such complex interactions of all kinds of people
seem to indicate that something has to go wrong.
It has certainly been my experience.
It may not take place in the wedding service itself.
It may involve the planning, the rehearsal, one of the dinners of celebration, the wedding service, or the reception.
Certainly whatever goes wrong does not have to be a disaster,
but if everyone is prepared for the reality,
no one will be surprised, and everyone can move on from there, making the best of whatever situation has presented itself.
The most perfect wedding I have ever presided at
had a near disaster at the rehearsal dinner.
A restaurant had closed its doors to the public in favor of the rehearsal dinner,
and the guests all had the opportunity to choose one of several entrees to eat.
As the food was being served, a server dropped an entire tray of food down the back of one of the guests.
There was hot food, so I know it hurt.
I was seated next to the young woman who was unfortunate enough to have the food fall on her.
Fortunately, she was not injured at all.
In addition, she herself had worked as a waitress, so she was most gracious and understanding.
I turned to the bride, who was seated on the other side of me, and said, "Well, now we know!"
(I had explained to her that we had to be prepared for something to go wrong!)
She said, "Oh! Do you think that will count?"
I laughed and said, "I think that is plenty!"
Sure enough, the rest of the wedding and reception were absolutely flawless.
A chamber music group provided procession, special music and recessional.
As a special blessing, I think,
when the bride and groom were kneeling for the final prayers,
a ray of light shone through the church windows and illuminated the bride in a way I had never seen before,
and I have never seen anything quite like it since.
Anyway, the thing to remember is one of Murphy's laws.
If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong,
and that especially applies to weddings.
At the wedding at Cana in Galilee,
what went wrong was that the wine gave out.
That would have been a serious disaster.
People still wanted more to drink,
and there was no more wine.
Mary, the Mother of our Lord must have been close to the family.
In any case, she had compassion on them.
She knew very well that Jesus could do something to help.
She went to Him and reported the problem.
He reminded her that His time had not yet come.
He had not yet been revealed as Lord and Christ.
Yet she knew that He could help.
So she did a perfect passive aggressive turn about on Him.
She said nothing more to Him;
she said to the servants, "Do whatever He tells you."
The ball was now in His court.
He almost had to do something!
So He turned water into wine.
It was not only ordinary wine,
it was the best wine that was served at that wedding!
Most of the people there did not know what had happened.
They knew only that they did not run out of wine,
and in the event, that was a very good thing.
The disciples knew.
Jesus' family knew, especially His Mother,
and they believed in Him.
Now we see a lot of important principles in this story.
Our families can sometimes be a source of frustration to us.
Something often can and does go wrong.
That does not mean we don't love each other.
Best of all,
God can change the unexpected circumstances of life into wonderful examples of grace at work.
After all, God makes wine every day!
The processes of photosynthesis and fermentation
change water into wine very slowly.
On this particular day,
at the request of His Mother,
our Lord did what God does very quickly,
and it was a sign to us.
Mothers who are passive aggressive with their sons may irritate them,
but the grace of God is still revealed.
Best of all, the Mother of Jesus here showed herself to be an effective intercessor with her Son,
and millions of Christians through the ages have taken deep comfort in this fact.
Our own families are imperfect examples of love and grace,
but they are ours, and our learning to deal with them prepares us for God's gifts to us in this world and the next.
Amen.

Prayer of the People
Please type your spontaneous petitions in chat.
Each prepared petition is intended to remind us of the things we need to pray about,
so a brief pause will be provided for us to pray our own petitions,
either sharing them in the chat window
or praying them in our own hearts.

Loving God, we pray for each other, for those who depend upon us for prayer, and for all people according to their needs.
We ask that your healing power may prevail in our lives.
We pray that those in positions of public trust may be worthy of that trust as they act as stewards of power and wealth
for the benefit of all.
We pray that conflicts may be resolved in the context of relationships,
so that violence of thought word and deed may be diminished all through our world.
We ask your blessing for all who bear witness to the Gospel, so that relationships with you may be deepened for all people.
All these things, and whatever else you see that we need, we ask that you will grant for the sake of your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, in Whose name we pray.
Amen.
Our 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 sins as we forgive those who sin 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.
Benediction
May the Lord bless us and keep us.
May the Lord make His face to shine upon us and be gracious to us.
May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, and give us peace.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen +

Worship Service at Church of the Dawntreader Thursday January 3, 2013 10:00 a.m. SLT
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
    Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™
    Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
    www.zondervan.com
"New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989,
Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved." Designated by the initials, (NRSV).

Invocation:
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen
Confession and Absolution
We come before you, our Loving Father, Mother God, confessing most of all our need of you.
We confess that we have not always acknowledged just how much we depend on you.
We confess that we have not always loved you with all our heart, soul and mind.
We have not always loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We ask that you will forgive us and grant us your strength to conform more fully to your loving will for us.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Amen.
In obedience to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is my privilege to declare to you and to myself, the entire
forgiveness of all our sins.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen

Prayer of the Day
Let us pray.
Almighty and ever-living God, you revealed the incarnation of your Son by the brilliant shining of a star.
Shine the light of your justice always in our hearts and over all lands, and accept our lives as the treasure we offer
in your praise and for your service, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen

First Lesson: Isaiah 60: 1 - 6 (NRSV)
1 Arise, shine; for your light has come,
and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
2 For darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the LORD will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.
3 Nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.
4 Lift up your eyes and look around;
they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from far away,
and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses' arms.
5 Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and rejoice,
because the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you,
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
6 A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Mid'ian and E'phah;
all those from She'ba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense,
and shall proclaim the praise of the LORD.
Here ends the First Lesson

Psalm 72 (NRSV)  
1 Give the king your justice, O God,
and your righteousness to a king's son.
2 May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice.
3 May the mountains yield prosperity for the people,
and the hills, in righteousness.
4 May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
give deliverance to the needy,
and crush the oppressor.
5 May he live while the sun endures,
and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
6 May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
like showers that water the earth.
7 In his days may righteousness flourish
and peace abound, until the moon is no more.
8 May he have dominion from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
9 May his foes bow down before him,
and his enemies lick the dust.
10 May the kings of Tar'shish and of the isles
render him tribute,
may the kings of She'ba and Se'ba
bring gifts.
11 May all kings fall down before him,
all nations give him service.
12 For he delivers the needy when they call,
the poor and those who have no helper.
13 He has pity on the weak and the needy,
and saves the lives of the needy.
14 From oppression and violence he redeems their life;
and precious is their blood in his sight.
15 Long may he live!
May gold of She'ba be given to him.
May prayer be made for him continually,
and blessings invoked for him all day long.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Second Lesson: Ephesians 3: 1 - 12 (NRSV)
1 This is the reason that I Paul am a prisoner for Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles--
2 for surely you have already heard of the commission of God's grace that was given me for you,
3 and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote above in a few words,
4 a reading of which will enable you to perceive my understanding of the mystery of Christ.
5 In former generations this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:
6 that is, the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
7 Of this gospel I have become a servant according to the gift of God's grace that was given me by the working of his power.
8 Although I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given to me to bring to the Gentiles the news of the boundless riches of Christ,
9 and to make everyone see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things;
10 so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.
11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose that he has carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,
12 in whom we have access to God in boldness and confidence through faith in him.
Here ends the Second Lesson.

Gospel Lesson: Matthew 2: 1 - 12 (NRSV)
1 In the time of King Her'od, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
2 asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage."
3 When King Her'od heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him;
4 and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.
5 They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:
6 "And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.'"
7 Then Her'od secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.
8 Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage."
9 When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.
10 When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.
11 On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 And having been warned in a dream not to return to Her'od, they left for their own country by another road.
Here end the Readings from Holy Scripture.

 - Sermon -

On the church calendar, this week brings us to the end of the Christmas season
and the beginning of another season, Epiphany.
The word, Epiphany, means shining out.
In this season, we contemplate the many ways Christ shone out in our world
and the ways He continues to shine out for us, around us, and even through us.
The original shining out of Christ is the visit of the Magi.
People of foreign nations were drawn to Him,
and their visit has become a symbol of the universality of Christ.
It is no accident that the story is recorded only in the Gospel of Matthew.
In Matthew we find an interesting split personality:
While Matthew shows us the clearest link between the emerging Christian Church and the traditions of Judaism,
Matthew also universalizes the message of Christ.
He shows us that the good news of salvation is for all people,
not just for a select few.
The Magi were not only unacceptable within the Jewish community into which Jesus was born;
they were foreign, not even worshippers of Yahweh, and they practiced some form of astrology.
Among more conservative Christians,
they would still be highly unacceptable,
but they came to worship the newborn King of the Jews.
God is always wanting to draw all kinds of people into the communities of faith,
and sometimes it's hard to convince the people already in those communities
to receive the new people with love and open arms.
Not much is known about the Magi, but people have been fascinated by them since their story was first told,
and so many different legends have grown up around them.
The term Magi itself could have many different meanings,
but it is the very word from which we get our English word, "magic."
The term magi comes from a Persian (or Farsi) word
that refers to a special, priestly class of people who were careful students of the stars
and who likely could have interpreted the meaning of a sign
which God may have set in the Heavens to signify the coming of the Savior.
Historians and Christian astronomers and astrologers have long speculated about just what that sign may have been.
We call it the Star of Bethlehem,
but it may have been a convergence of planets, a comet, or any number of possible celestial phenomena.
One well known possibility is the convergence of Jupiter and Saturn within the constellation Pisces.
As such it would have spoken of the birth of a world ruler among the Jews
whose coming would mark the start of a new age of the world.
Our own period of history has seen a well known, similar transition, from the Age of Pisces,
which began with the birth of Christ,
to the age of Aquarius, whose beginnings we are witnessing now.
Exactly what these astrological ages signify is not always clear,
but a period of major cultural and religious change
is surely indicated.
When it comes to the usefulness of astrology in describing our lives in this world,
I would suggest caution.
Not that I consider astrology to be anything evil;
quite the contrary,
one of the verses in the Song of Creation, the verse of the fourth day,
involves the creation of the stars.
God said, "Let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years..." (Genesis 1:14b)
If they are to be for signs,
then somebody needs to study them to see what can be known about the meaning of those signs.
That somebody would be an astrologer.
At the same time, I think astrology is of very little value in predicting events.
It simply provides us with a collection of metaphors
to help us communicate about the "signs and the seasons" of our time.
Besides, the most basic principle of all occult science is that the lower reflects the higher.
There is a relationship of reflection between all levels of existence.
Otherwise, how do people and their pets sometimes begin to resemble each other?
OK
So I'm being a little bit tongue-in-cheek here,
but I do believe that there is something to be learned from the ancient wisdom
which the Magi themselves used to find their way to the birthplace of the One
Whom they knew by their art
would be the savior of the world.
Even more important is that something is to be learned from the Gospel according to St. Matthew.
Wherever we may want to draw the lines between acceptable people and unacceptable people,
God is looking outside those lines to find His children,
people who belong to Him,
whom He will draw to Himself and make His own.
We try to set limits, but God keeps going beyond them.
It was especially important to Matthew to find grace reaching beyond the boundaries
if the traditions of the church are correct about him.
If Matthew is also Levi, then the disciple and evangelist
was once a tax collector,
a hated collaborator with the Roman pagans who had conquered God's country.
Jesus chose just such a man
to show that God's grace does not respect human limits
no matter how important those limits may sometimes seem to us.
Who are the Magi of today?
Well, who are the people that you think are beyond the pale?
God is at work among them, too,
just as He was at work among pagan astrologers
who would not have been acceptable to the people of God,
and yet who found their way to the place where the Christ child awaited them.
They knelt before Him and worshipped Him as their king,
so they are our brothers in Christ,
no matter where they came from
and no matter what method they used to chart their course.
You see a lot of this theme in my preaching.
You hear a lot from me about
what we learn this week from the Magi, the Three Kings of ancient fame,
that God is not terribly impressed by our political and religious accomplishments.
He is not impressed by countries that fight and try to destroy each other.
He is not impressed by our religious denominations,
no matter how sure we are that we alone have the truth.
God is impressed by a humble, loving heart,
the one to be found in a human being
who will kneel next to a pagan astrologer
and offer his or her own gifts of devotion and discipleship
alongside the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
Amen.

Prayer of the People
Please type your spontaneous petitions in chat.
Each prepared petition is intended to remind us of the things we need to pray about,
so a brief pause will be provided for us to pray our own petitions,
either sharing them in the chat window
or praying them in our own hearts.

Loving God, we pray for each other, for those who depend upon us for prayer, and for all people according to their needs.
We ask that your healing power may prevail in our lives.
We pray that those in positions of public trust may be worthy of that trust as they act as stewards of power and wealth
for the benefit of all.
We pray that conflicts may be resolved in the context of relationships,
so that violence of thought word and deed may be diminished all through our world.
We ask your blessing for all who bear witness to the Gospel, so that relationships with you may be deepened for all people.
All these things, and whatever else you see that we need, we ask that you will grant for the sake of your Son,
our Lord Jesus Christ, in Whose name we pray.
Amen.
Our 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 sins as we forgive those who sin 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.
Benediction
May the Lord bless us and keep us.
May the Lord make His face to shine upon us and be gracious to us.
May the Lord lift up His countenance upon us, and give us peace.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
Amen +