January 31,
2016
4515 Dobie Road
Okemos MI 48864-2203
517-349-0620
Pastor Ellen Schoepf
prellen@faithlutheranokemos.org
Email faith@faithlutheranokemos.org
Website www.faithlutheranokemos.org
Facebook facebook.com/faithlutheranokemos
Accepting Jesus
It seems ironic that the people closest to Jesus—the people with whom he grew up and who knew him as Joseph’s son—were also the ones who had the hardest time accepting him and his “gracious words” (Luke 4:22). This pattern is repeated later in Jesus’ life, when his closest disciples turn their backs on him: Judas betrays him, Peter denies him, and most of the rest scatter and run away when he is arrested, tortured, and crucified.
If we are honest, we have to admit that we, the present-day family and followers of Jesus, are not much better. How often do we hear Jesus calling us into discipleship, to take up our crosses and follow him, only to squirm uncomfortably and make excuses? At our core, we long to live lives of true generosity, selfless service, and deep relationship, but all too often we get distracted by other demands or by our own fears. Although we know and love Jesus, we hesitate to accept him.
But here’s the thing: the light and love of Christ has come in its fullness, and nothing we do or don’t do can extinguish it! By the power of baptism into his birth, death, and resurrection, his life is poured into ours. Through the breaking of bread at God’s table and the gathering around God’s word week after week, we are strengthened to live like the prophet from Nazareth: to love with reckless abandon, to give our lives in service to all who suffer, to listen for God’s voice in daily life. This seems impossibly hard, but we are not alone on this path. By prayer and fellowship, we uphold each other when we struggle to be faithful. We accept each other even in our weakness.
And so: in us and through us, Jesus is, after all, accepted by his people.
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Holy Communion
INTRODUCTION TO THE DAY
The glory of God is often revealed when and where it is least expected. God uses our lips to declare that glory, inexperienced and hesitant though they may be. God uses our love to demonstrate that glory and so urges us to exercise it. God uses Jesus of Nazareth, water and the word, bread and wine, to reveal God’s glory where and when God chooses. Take heed, lest the glory of God slip through our midst unnoticed.
If hearing assistance is needed,
please ask an usher for a personal PA receiver.
The ushers also have large print copies of today’s
worship folder available.
If it will be difficult for you to stand along with
the congregation during
any part of the worship service, please
feel free to remain seated.
There is a nursery available during the worship
service for those who wish
to use it. It is located at the end of the
hall beyond the coat racks.
WELCOME AND
ANNOUNCEMENTS
We cordially greet all who
have come to worship today.
Please register your
attendance and join us in fellowship after the service.
Prayer Requests
PRELUDE
The pre-service music signals
the beginning of the worship service.
Silence during the
pre-service music enables worshipers to prepare for worship through quiet
meditation.
“Although I Speak” arr. Dale
Wood
Reference today’s communion song ELW hymn #644
GATHERING
The Holy Spirit calls us together as the
people of God
The assembly stands
Brief Order for
Confession and Forgiveness
As the presiding minister begins, all may make the
sign of the cross, the sign marked at baptism
P Blessed be the holy Trinity, + one God,
who creates us and forms us, who redeems us
and calls us, who unites us and sends us.
C Amen
P Gathered in God’s presence,
let us confess our sin.
Silence is kept for reflection
P Mighty and loving God,
C we confess that we are captive
to sin and cannot free ourselves.
We seek our own way.
We divide the body of
Christ.
In your mercy,
cleanse us and heal us.
Let the words of our
mouths,
the thoughts of our hearts,
and everything that we do be
filled with faith, hope and love.
Amen
P Hear the voice of Jesus:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
to proclaim release to the captives.”
In the name of + Jesus Christ,
I proclaim to you that your sins are
forgiven and you are released.
The joy of the Lord is your strength, and
the gifts of the Holy Spirit are yours forever.
C Amen
Entrance Hymn
#514
Greeting
A The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
C And also with you.
Hymn of Praise
Prayer of the Day
A The Lord be with you.
C And also
with you.
A Let us
pray.
Almighty and ever-living God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and love; and that we may obtain what you promise,
make us love what you command, through your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
C Amen
The
assembly is seated
word
God speaks to us in scripture reading,
preaching and song
First Reading: Jeremiah
1:4-10
God calls Jeremiah to be a prophet and
consecrates him in the womb. Jeremiah’s task is to preach
God’s word in the midst of the difficult political realities of his time,
before the Babylonian exile. He is to make God known not only to Judah,
but also to the nations.
A A reading from Jeremiah.
4Now
the word of the Lord came to me
saying,
5“Before I formed
you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
6Then I said, “Ah,
Lord God! Truly I do not know how
to speak, for I am only a boy.” 7But
the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a boy’;
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
8Do not be afraid
of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
says the Lord.”
9Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my
mouth; and the Lord said to me,
“Now I have put my words in your mouth.
10See, today I
appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to pull down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”
A The word of the Lord.
C Thanks be to God.
-8-
Psalm: Psalm
71:1-6
Refrain:
First Choir sings refrain
Second Choir and congregation sing refrain together
From my mother’s womb you have been my strength. (Ps. 71:6)
Psalm tone:
1In
you, O Lord, have I |
taken refuge;
let me never be | put
to shame.
2In your
righteousness, deliver me and | set me free;
incline your ear to |
me and save me.
3Be my strong rock, a castle
to | keep me safe;
you are my crag | and
my stronghold.
4Deliver me, my
God, from the hand | of the wicked,
from of the
clutches of the evildoer and | the oppressor.
-9-
5For you are my hope, |
O Lord God,
my confidence since |
I was young.
6I have been sustained by you ever since I was born;
from my mother’s womb you have |
been my strength;
my praise shall be al- |
ways of you.
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Christians in Corinth prided themselves on their
spiritual gifts. Paul reminds them that God gives us many gifts through the
Holy Spirit, but the purpose behind all of them is love, the kind of love that
God showed us in Jesus Christ.
A A reading from 1 Corinthians.
1If
I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a
noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And
if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and
if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do
not have love, I am nothing. 3If
I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast,
but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient;
love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or
arrogant 5or rude.
It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice in
wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, endures all things.
-10-
8Love never ends.
But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as
for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9For we know only in part, and
we prophesy only in part; 10but
when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.
11When I was a
child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child;
when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror,
dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know
only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been
fully known. 13And
now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the
greatest of these is love.
A The word of the Lord.
C Thanks be to God.
The
assembly stands to welcome the gospel
Gospel Acclamation
-11-
Gospel: Luke
4:21-30
People in Jesus’ hometown are initially pleased
when he says that God will free the oppressed. Their pleasure turns to rage
when he reminds them that God’s prophetic mission typically pushes beyond human
boundaries so that mercy and healing are extended to
those regarded as outsiders.
P The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the fourth chapter.
C Glory to you, O Lord.
21Then [Jesus] began to say to [all in the synagogue in Nazareth,] “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” 23He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’ ” 24And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
P The Gospel of the Lord.
C Praise to you, O Christ.
The
assembly is seated
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE
Sermon
-12-
The assembly stands to proclaim the word of God in song
Hymn of the Day #581
Text and music printed under OneLicense.net license A-708005
APOSTLES’ Creed
C I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again 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
The Prayers
A Gathered as children of the same Lord, we pray
for the church, the world, and all those in need.
Prayers
of intercession are prayed.
To
each petition, the assembly responds:
A Lord, in your mercy,
C hear our prayer.
The
presiding minister concludes the
prayers, and the assembly responds:
P Into your hands, gracious God, we commend
all of your beloved for whom we pray, trusting
in your mercy; through Christ our Lord.
C Amen
-14-
Peace
P The peace of the Lord be with you always.
C And also
with you.
The ministers and
congregation may greet one another
with a gesture of peace, using these or similar words:
Peace be with you.
The assembly is seated
OFFERING
An offering is gathered for the mission of the
church, including the care of those in need.
Chancel Choir “Without Love” Petker
Joel Schut, violin
The assembly stands
OFFERING PRAYER
A Let us pray.
Merciful God, as grains of wheat scattered upon the
hills were gathered together to become one bread,
so let your church be gathered together from the
ends of the earth into your kingdom, for yours is
the glory through Jesus Christ, now and forever.
C Amen
-15-
Dialogue
P The Lord be with you.
C And also
with you.
P Lift up your hearts.
C We
lift them to the Lord.
P Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
C It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Preface
P It is indeed right and salutary that we should at all times and in all places offer thanks and praise to you, O Lord, holy Father, through Christ our Lord. Sharing our life, he lived among us to reveal your glory and love, that our darkness should give way to his own brilliant light. And so, with the Church on earth and the hosts of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
Sanctus
Great Thanksgiving
P Blessed are you, O holy God:
you are the Life
and Light of all.
By your powerful word you created all things.
Through the
prophets you called your
people to be a
light to the nations.
Blessed are you
for Jesus, your Son.
He is your Light,
shining in our darkness
and revealing to
us your mercy and might.
In the night in
which he was betrayed,
our Lord Jesus
took bread, and gave thanks;
broke it, and gave
it to his disciples, saying:
Take and eat;
this is my body, given for you.
Do this for the remembrance
of me.
Again, after
supper, he took the cup, gave thanks,
and gave it for
all to drink, saying:
This cup is the
new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and
for all people for the forgiveness of sin.
Do this for the
remembrance of me.
Remembering,
therefore,
his preaching and
healing,
his dying and
rising,
and his promise to
come again,
we await that day
when all the universe
will rejoice in
your holy and life-giving light.
By your Spirit bless us and this meal,
that, refreshed
with this heavenly food,
we may be light
for the world,
revealing the
brilliance of your Son.
P Through him all glory
and honor is yours,
Almighty Father,
with the Holy Spirit,
in your holy
Church, both now and forever.
C Amen
-17-
Lord’s Prayer
P Let us pray with confidence
in the words our Savior gave us:
C Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those
who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and
forever. Amen
INVITATION TO COMMUNION
P Come to the table.
Feast on God’s abundant life for you.
The
assembly is seated
Communion
As the ministers
give the bread and cup
to each communicant, they say these words:
The body of Christ, given for you.
The blood of Christ, shed for you.
The communicant may say:
Amen
WE WELCOME ALL GUESTS worshiping with us today and invite all
baptized Christians to come to the Lord’s table. Children who have not yet received First
Communion instruction are invited to come forward with
their families to receive a blessing. There will be one chalice (cup) of wine,
as well as trays of individual cups. In
the center of each tray, there are a few glasses filled with white grape juice
for those who prefer juice rather than wine.
Communion SONGS
“Lord Speak to Us, That We May Speak” #676
“Although I Speak with Angel’s Tongue” #644
-19-
The assembly stands
P The body and blood of
our Lord Jesus Christ
strengthen you and keep you in his grace.
C Amen
Prayer AFTER
COMMUNION
A Let us pray.
We thank you, O God, that you have
fed us at your banqueting table with
bread and wine beyond compare,
the very life of Christ for us.
Send your Spirit with us now,
that we may set the captive free, use
your gifts to build one another up, and
in everything reflect your glory revealed
in Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
C Amen
SENDING
God blesses us and sends us in mission to
the world
Blessing
P God Almighty send you light and truth
to keep you all the days of your life.
P The hand of God protect you;
the holy angels accompany you;
and the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, the + Son, and the Holy Spirit,
be with you now and forever.
C Amen
-20-
SENDING SONG #720
-21-
Dismissal
A Go in peace. Remember the poor.
C Thanks be to God.
POSTLUDE
“Dialogue” Louis
Marchand
Copyright © 2016 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Reprinted by
permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License #SAS000803.
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.
Clipart copyright © 2016 by Communication Resources. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Welcome, one and all!
Faith, hope and love are gifts of God.
May you find them here.
Sunday education hour 9:00 a.m.
SUNDAY WORSHIP 10:00 a.m.
Pastor Ellen
Schoepf
Secretary Rita Barry
Director
of Christian Education
Director
of Music Debra
Borton-McDonough
Organist/Pianist Bruce
Williams
January
24 worship attendance: 142
Serving
Faith Today February 7
Acolytes Lily
O’Brien Molly Hereza
Altar care Karen Whitmyer Elaine Harrison
Michelle
Ransom
Communion assistants John McPhail Ken Schoepf
Dane Webb Brian Ransom
Lily O’Brien Molly Hereza
Greeters Rich
Weingartner Ken and Karen
Whitmyer
Lay assistants John McPhail Ken Schoepf
Readers Dane Webb Brian Ransom
Ushers Nussdorfer family
Nursery Beth Ballegeer Mark and Jody Marquardt