Year C – Epiphany

Epiphany falls on Wednesday the 6th of January this year. For those who celebrate it on this day, the first Sunday in January would be Christmas 2C. However, for many churches, the Epiphany celebration will be held on Sunday January 3rd, and it is with this in mind that I have prepared these resources. If you need resources for Christmas 2, I’m afraid I won’t be able to provide any here, but there is a really good list of links at The Text This Week. I hope this will meet your needs.

The focus of Epiphany, as usual, is the visit of the Magi. The other readings, though, add some wonderful nuances and textures to this story, emphasising the inclusivity of Christ and the priority of God for justice and for defending the least. In a world where faith is often used to exclude and exploit, and with the tough conflicts and divisions across our planet, the Epiphany message is a timely word.

READINGS:  
Isaiah 60:1-6: The light of God’s glory and God’s goodness shines on God’s people.

Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14: A prayer for God’s love of justice to fill God’s king, who will then defend the poor and rescue the oppressed.

Ephesians 3:1-12: In Christ both Jews & Gentiles enjoy the riches of God’s blessings.

Matthew 2:1-12: Wise men from the East arrive, worship the Christ-Child and present him with fine gifts.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:    
The Festival of Epiphany reveals to us who this Christ is that has incarnated himself among us. There are two clear revelations that would have been startling for the first readers of Matthew’s Gospel. The first is that the Messiah has come inclusively – for all people: Jew AND Gentile, Wealthy AND Poor, Oppressed AND Oppressor. This inclusivity is a significant aspect of the scandal of the Gospel. The second revelation is the mind-bending truth that has traditionally been seen as reflected in the Wise Men’s gifts: This Child is Royalty (gold), Divinity (frankincense), and yet, also, self-giving Sacrifice (myrrh). All of these passages call us into praise for God’s inclusive incarnation!

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: Defensiveness and otherness are two of the main characteristics of today’s political, social, economic and relational world. In the quest for self-development, human beings have increasingly seen their individual selves as distinct from and “other than” other people. Businesses work hard to “distinguish” themselves form their competitors and even nations work hard to identify themselves, drawing boundaries, naming enemies and allies, and putting huge investments into defending what is “uniquely theirs”. Epiphany, scandalously reveals that Christ crosses all of these boundaries, refusing to be defensive or self-protective, and refusing to draw lines separation. This incarnate Messiah draws all creation together into one, and gives up his own safety, security and comfort in order to do it.

LOCAL APPLICATION: Every church community, and every person, longs for the light of God’s glory and blessing to shine on them. This longing often leads us into trying to earn God’s blessing through legalism, doctrinal purity or separation from those who are considered “unrighteous”. Too often faith becomes something exclusive, something to defend against others who see things differently. Epiphany reveals an alternative view of God’s glory – that in Christ’s incarnation God’s glory and blessing are already ours – not something to earn; and that the experience of God’s glory is found in connection and sharing with others, while protecting and defending the least. It is a good discipline to ask: “Who needs to be included in our community right now?” and “Who needs to be protected?” – two questions that necessarily call us to emulate Christ’s self-sacrifice in our own lives.

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
About The Light
Light And Glory
Who Are You, Jesus?

Hymns: 
What Child Is This?
We Three Kings
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence
Christ From Whom All Blessings Flow
Glorious Things Of Thee Are Spoken
Marvelous Light (Listen to preview here)
Shine Jesus Shine (Link to YouTube video)
Here I Am To Worship (Link to YouTube video)
How Great Is Our God (Link to New Song Cafe’ YouTube video)
Open Our Eyes, Lord (Link to YouTube video)
Open The Eyes Of My Heart, Lord (Link to YouTube video)

Liturgy: 
A Liturgy For The Breaking Of Bread

Video:
Psalm 72 (From TheWorkOfThePeople.com)
To Know The Creator (From WorshipHouseMedia.com)

Images:
Word And Table – Epiphany PowerPoint
Word And Table – Another Epiphany PowerPoint 
Wise Men And Star Still (From WorshipHouseMedia.com)

Year C – Epiphany 5

Remember the bad old days when we used to pick teams on the school playground? Were you one of those who was chosen or not? Do you know what it feels like to be chosen last – or not at all? Well, this week in Epiphany (Week 5 – 7 February), that’s what all the people in the readings would have expected. David, aware of his weakness and need of God’s care; Isaiah, with sinful lips and from a people of sinful lips; Paul, the unworthy apostle and Simon Peter, the rough fisherman – all would have expected God to pass them by, and yet, God chose them unexpectedly. What a joyful, inspirational and challenging message this sends us. Can we be those who choose the unexpected the way God does?

May God bless you as you prepare this week.

READINGS:
Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13): Isaiah is called to speak God’s hard message of judgement and coming destruction to God’s people. Yet hope remains like the stump of fallen tree.

Psalm 138: David’s song of thanks for the God who is both glorious and worthy, and who cares for the lowly. David’s confidence in God’s plans and God’s care for him.

1 Corinthians 15:1-11: Paul’s “summary” of the Gospel message, and acknowledgement of his own unworthiness to be an apostle of this Gospel.

Luke 5:1-11: Jesus takes Peter out in Peter’s boat and they catch a huge catch of fish. In spite of Peter’s protestation of sinfulness, Jesus calls him to be a disciple.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
This week in Epiphany, the focus shifts, a little, away from Jesus himself. All of the readings turn our gaze to those whom God chooses, and particular to their weakness, sinfulness and unworthiness to be chosen. Isaiah, when faced with god, immediately recognises his, and his people’s, unworthiness. David recognises his weakness and need of God’s care and protection. Paul, rejoicing in the resurrection appearances of Jesus, also protest that he is unworthy to be called an apostle. And Peter, faced with Jesus presence and power, after the great catch, confesses his sinfulness. Yet, each of these people ultimately responded to God’s call, and were used by God in significant ways. When God calls our human standards of eligibility don’t apply, and often the ones called are the ones we would least expect.

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: In a world where “might is right”, where “money talks” and where “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”, it is tempting to shun and ignore the weak, the poor and the marginalised. Yet, as Christ is revealed through the season of Epiphany, we discover a God who chooses the very ones that would fail to qualify in human terms. What does this say to us as followers of Christ in a meritocratic world system? How do we ‘choose’ those who are most hurt by natural disasters, economic collapse and the consequences of climate change (food shortages etc.) And how do we use whatever influence or resources we may have to change this elitist system from within?

LOCAL APPLICATION: Every day we make choices about people – who we will connect with, who we will listen to, who we will value, who we will ignore or reject. Every day we subtly assess the people we encounter making judgements about them and their value to us or to the world. And every day we do the same as we evaluate ourselves – often causing us to push ourselves harder than we should, or making us defensive and threatened in the presence of those we consider “better” than ourselves. How might our daily living and interacting change if we were to take God’s “choosing” seriously. If we were to realise that God does not evaluate as we do, nor does God consider our worthiness as we do. Who might we choose if we were to choose as God does? How differently might we behave if we accepted our own choosing as an accomplished fact? Who are the people in your community who most need you to choose them today?

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
Chosen
Choosing Differently

Hymn Suggestions:
Come Let Us Sing Of A Wonderful Love
Saviour, Like a Shepherd Lead Us
Hallelujah! What A Saviour (Man Of Sorrows)
Holy Holy Holy
To God Be The Glory
Indescribable (Link to YouTube video)
Majesty And Mystery (Awesome God) (Link to Vicky Beeching’s MySpace page – Scroll down in the media player to find & listen to the song)
Love Enough (Link to YouTube video – a good song for youth)
Everyone Belongs (Link to Amazon.com Mp3 page – there is a preview option here)
Wonderful Love (Link to Amazon.com Mp3 page – there is a preview option here)

Liturgy:
A Liturgy for Communion

Video Suggestions:
Woe To Me

Easter 5C

The power of Easter lies not just in the life it offers us, but also in the way we are recruited to be life-bringers. This week, the role of love in leading us to life – and enabling us to bring life to others – stands out in the Lectionary. Love is never easy, it is always messy, unpredictable and scandalously inclusive. But, if we seek to follow Christ, we cannot avoid the privilege and the responsibility we have to be people of love.

May your worship lead into this love of Christ, and into his life, a little more this week.

READINGS:
Acts 11:1-18: Peter explains to the believers in Jerusalem how the Holy Spirit was received by Gentiles in Caesaria.

Psalm 148: A psalm exhorting all of creation and all peoples to praise God.

Revelation 21:1-6: John sees a vision of the New Jerusalem descending from heaven, and a voice that proclaims that God’s dwelling place is now among people on earth.

John 13:31-35: Jesus’ new commandment – to love one another.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
The Easter message shifts this week from Jesus’ offer of life to us, to the way we seek to live out that life as we follow him – and it’s a startling message of inclusivity and love. Jesus’ new commandment is frequently sung and quoted, but the “one another” that Jesus’ calls us to love is often limited to Christian believers. Now, in the lectionary, as the Gospel is laid aside the other readings, we realise that this “one another” goes much further. In Acts, we discover that the previously excluded Gentiles are now included in God’s Kingdom. In the Psalm, all of creation is included in this “one another” as the entire creation is exhorted to offer praise. And in John’s Revelation vision, we discover that God so includes all, that God moves God’s dwelling place (“heaven”) into our earthly neighbourhood. There can be no greater, all-encompassing statement of love for all from God. We have no more excuses for turning the Gospel into an exclusive message!

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: One of the big questions of our generation is “who is in and who is out?”. Global economic and trade regulations are designed to favour some (who tend to be the wealthy) and disempower others (who tend to live in third world countries). Political conversations are always being drawn in partisan ways with clear lines indicating who is on which side – and woe betide those who try to cross those lines. Religious communities and power structures, equally, have tended to focus on who is with us and who is against us. From geographical to economic to political to religious to racial to sexual to generational lines, our world is built on defining who is in and who is out. The prophetic Church, the Church of the resurrection, of love, of the God who lives among us, must be a Church that blurs every line, and invites everyone into the grace and love of God – and a Church that challenges the lines that exclude and oppress.

LOCAL APPLICATION:  In recent years the worship of the Church has been strongly divided along stylistic and generational lines. More and more churches are discovering, though, that any church or service that is built on division or exclusivity is bound to fail. Increasingly we are witnessing that the most healthy, vibrant and growing communities are those that include – that bring diverse people together to worship, to learn from each other and to learn to love one another. This is not easy, but if you seek to reach people who are not part of any church, if you seek to make an impact on your wider community, then we need to demonstrate that we can live the message we preach, and that those we seek to reach will be included and loved and brought into contact with a loving and inclusive God – not judged or condemned in the hopes that the fear of hell or God’s rejection will scare them into the Kingdom.

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
How You Have Loved
A Love So Strong
Where Is The Love

Hymn Suggestions:
Come Let Us Sing Of a Wonderful Love
Love Divine All Loves Excelling
Praise To The Lord, The Almighty
All Creatures Of Our God And King
Everyone Belongs (From my CD Every God-Beloved Life. Link to Amazon mp3 download page)
You Are (Also from Every God-Beloved Life. Free download from the linked page)
God Of The Moon (Link to YouTube video)
Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace
Servant Song (Brother, Sister Let Me Serve You)

Liturgy:
A Liturgy for the Breaking Of Bread

Video Suggestions:
Known By Love

Drama Script:
You’re Not Like Me

Easter 7C

If you decide to celebrate the Ascension on Thursday, then you’ll be looking at Easter 7 for Sunday. This is the last Sunday before Pentecost (which closes out the 50 days of Easter), and appropriately, the focus is on God’s invitation to all people to enjoy the life and grace that is offered in Jesus. The scene is set, then, for the welcoming of all nations in the reversal of Babel which happened on the birthday of the Church.

May you hear God’s gracious invitation again as you worship and prepare this week.

READINGS:
Acts 16:16-34: After casting a demon out of a fotune-telling slave girl, Paul & Silas are imprisoned. They continue to worship even while in jail, and the prison bursts open, giving Paul and opportunity to lead the jailer and his family to faith in Christ.

Psalm 97: God is great and mighty over all, above all gods and idols, causing the earth to tremble, and rescuing and protecting those who are God’s people

Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21: John’s conclusion to the Revelation proclaims Christ as the one who invites all to find life in Christ, and who is coming to  ‘set things to rights’ bringing rescue and the safety of the Holy City to those who respond to God’s invitation.

John 17:20-26: Jesus prays for his disciples and for all who will come to believe in him, that they may be one, and that through their love and their ‘belovedness’ the world may be brought to knowledge of Jesus.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
At first glance, the readings this week seem completely unconnected. But a closer look reveals the simple theme of invitation. In Acts, Paul and Silas are given a unique opportunity to invite a jailer into Christ’s life. In the Psalm, God’s gory and power are the context for an invitation to those who are ‘godly’ to find refuge in God. In Revelation the invitation to all who would ‘drink of the waters of life’ is proclaimed, along with the assurance of Christ’s return to love and welcome those who respond to the invitation. In John Jesus prays for unity and love among believers so that others may see this, know the truth about Jesus, and be drawn (invited) into the life of Christ, and loving, beloved community of faith. It is approproate that this theme should follow closely behind last week’s focus on hospitality, and on the celebration of the Ascension – which proclaimed both God’s divine reign, and God’s gracious immanence. God seeks intimate relationship with humanity, and, as an integral part of this intimacy, we need to share God’s love with one another. Thus, even as we accept God’s invitation to beloved life, we are called to extend the invitation to others. The Gospel is, after all, at its heart an extravagant, divine invitation.

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: When it comes to the Gospel invitation, we inevitably find ourselves debating things like the uniqueness of Christ, and what happens to people of other religions. But, the invitation of the Gospel is not to grow a particular religion (even one that calls itself by Christ’s name). Rather, it is to invite people into the grace and love of God which is embodied and offered in a person – Jesus Christ. The invitation is not intended to create a bunch of philosophical and religious hoops for people to jump through before they can be accepted as ‘in’, but rather to remove obstacles, and, through practical, lived and shared love, make God’s grace as easy to access as possible. Perhaps, if we were less concerned about religious dominance (or the dominance of other religions that are ot ours), and more concerned with the practical expression of love for those within (and without) our own faith community globally, we would have to worry less about evangelism, and more about how we welcome the people streaming to join us. As I read on a poster the other day: “A suggestion for global peace – all Christians should promise not to kill each other”. What if we also promised to feed, clothe, house and educate each other?

LOCAL APPLICATION: A lot of the conversation around “Church” these days (be it emerging church, seeker church, worship evangelism, denominational structures or whatever) boils down to “church growth” or, worse, “church survival”. We are constantly bombarded with statistics about people leaving the church and stories of those who have been hurt/disillusioned/marginalised by the church. Both the stats and the stories are good and need to be heard, but our responses are often to seek new “solutions” or “programs” or “techniques” or even “theologies” to stop the bleed and get back on top – or at least back to being alive to some degree. Jesus, though, doesn’t particularly concerned about “the Church” and whether it grows or not. What he is concerned is that people should now about God’s grace and life which is available through Christ and which is demonstrated by a community of love. God’s invitation, in the end, is not a message or an institution. It is a relationship with God and with those who love God and know they are beloved of God. Perhaps the best way we can be a people of invitation is to stop speaking, “reaching out” or trying to be attractive, and to start simply loving God and each other – and anyone else who happens to enter our circle of awareness.

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
The Amazing Invitation
Extending The Invitation
Chains

Hymn Suggestions:
And Can It Be
To God Be The Glory
Come Let Us Sing Of A Wonderful Love
Come Sinners To The Gospel Feast
You Are (Link to the Every God-Beloved Life CD page, where you can download a free mp3 & chord chart)
Everyone Under The Sun (Link to Yahoo listening page)
All Who Are Thirsty (Link to YouTube video)
Come Now Is The Time To Worship (Link to YouTube video)

Liturgy:
A Liturgy for Communion

Video Suggestions:
Invite
Invitation
You Are
Invitation To The Thirsty