The Celebration of the Gospel
January 24, 2016 —3rd Sunday after Epiphany
“Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.”
— Luke 5.10
________We Gather as the Body of Christ______
GREETING
PRELUDE O God, Our Help In Ages Past Tune: ST. ANNE, arr: Dwight Gustafson
[As we listen to the music we quiet our minds and bodies,
listen for our hearts’ deepest desires,
and become present to the Holy One who is lovingly present for us.]
* CALL TO WORSHIP adapted from Psalm 19
[All Creation, and even the passage of time, proclaims God’s praise, not with words, but with glory. So we seek to know God’s intent, and ask God to help us confront sins we don’t even know we suffer from.]
Leader: God, your whole Creation displays your glory;
All: the universe is your beautiful song without words.
Your Word gives life; it restores the breath of our souls.
Your delight shines in our eyes and makes us beautiful.
But who can see their own faults?
Save us, God, from our self-ignorance.
May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts
give you delight, O God, our rock and our redeemer.
* SONG Two Fishermen Black hymnal # 2101
(10:30) CHILDREN’S TIME
___________We Attend to the Word___________
PRAYER OF THE DAY
God of love, Jesus entered the lives of the fishers, spoke grace to them, and called them to follow him. Come into our lives now, speak your Word to us, and stir up your spirit in us to follow your call. Amen.
OLD TESTAMENT Isaiah 6.1-8
[The prophet has a vision of God sitting on a throne, attended by angels. He cries: “I am sinful, yet I have seen God face to face!” Nevertheless, he is prepared for the prophetic ministry.]
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.
And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
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NEW TESTAMENT 1 Corinthians 12.12-31
[The church is Christ’s body: we are all connected; we all have something to offer, and we need each other.]
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. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot were to 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. And if the ear were to 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. 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?
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as God chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 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.” On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 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; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
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GOSPEL Luke 5.1-11
[Jesus calls the first disciples. Jesus helps them take such a miraculous catch of fish that Peter feels unworthy. Yet he too is called into service. ]
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God. He saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.
But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.
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SERMON
SONG Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore Blue hymnal # 344
CALL TO PRAYER Take Time to Be Holy
Please join the Bells the second time through:
Take time to be holy; speak oft with thy Lord;
abide in God always and feed on God’s word.
make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,
forgetting in nothing God’s blessing to seek.
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
[Anyone who wishes may share a prayer concern at the microphone.]
THE PRAYER OF JESUS
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 trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass 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. Amen.
PASSING THE PEACE
(10:30) THE WORD IN SONG
Softly and Tenderly Anna Laura Page (Bells of St. Matthew’s)
______ We Are Sent in Ministry to the World_____
OFFERING OUR GIFTS This Little Light Of Mine Harry Dixon Loes, arr: Mark Hayes
* OFFERING SONG Doxology Blue hymnal #94
* PRAYER
Gracious God, we give you these gifts as symbols of our lives. Receive them with love, bless them with grace and use them according to your will. Call us with the voice of Jesus ringing in our hearts, with the light of your miraculous grace shining in our hands. Lead us to follow Jesus to for the sake of the healing of the world, in the name of Christ. Amen.
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
* SONG Here I Am, Lord Blue hymnal #593
* THE BLESSING AND SENDING FORTH
RESPONSE We stand and sing to our neighbors:
May the grace and peace of Christ be with you my friends.
Go and share the love of God, love that never ends.
POSTLUDE Psalm 19: The Heavens Declare Benedetto Marcello
[During the postlude there are people ready to pray with you at the candles in the corners.
Following worship please join us for fellowship and refreshments.]