The traditional Christian church calendar is comprised of seven seasons beginning with the Advent season. We are in the third of the seven seasons identified as the “Time after Epiphany”. Epiphany is the last day of the Christmas season and traditionally marks the time Jesus is revealed as a special teacher of the message of peace.
Brief Order For Confession and Forgiveness
Music to accompany this worship is on Spotify at:
Entrance Hymn
Hail to the Lord’s Anointed
Kyrie
Hymn of Praise
Prayer of the Day
Everlasting God, you give strength to the weak and power to the faint. Make us agents of your healing and wholeness, that your good news may be made known to the ends of your creation, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
The First Lesson
Isaiah 40:21-31
21. Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22. It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in;
23. who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
24. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25. To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
26. Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.
27. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28. Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
29. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.
30. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted;
31. but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Psalm
Psalm 147:1-11, 20c (3)
1. Praise the LORD! How good it is to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
2. The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
3. He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.
4. He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names.
5. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.
6. The LORD lifts up the downtrodden; he casts the wicked to the ground.
7. Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre.
8. He covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, makes grass grow on the hills.
9. He gives to the animals their food, and to the young ravens when they cry.
10. His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
11. but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.
20c. Praise the LORD!
The Second Lesson
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
16. If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel!
17. For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission.
18. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.
19. For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them.
20. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law.
21. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law.
22. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.
23. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.
The Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia. The servant of God took | our infirmities*
and bore | our diseases. Alleluia. (Matt. 8:17)
The Gospel
Mark 1:29-39
29. As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.
30. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.
31. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
32. That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.
33. And the whole city was gathered around the door.
34. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
35. In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.
36. And Simon and his companions hunted for him.
37. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.”
38. He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”
39. And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
The Sermon
Caring for others is our highest calling.
The Hymn of the Day
O Christ, the Healer
The Creed
The Peace
Deep Peace
The Prayers
The Offering
Communion
The Lord’s Prayer
Communion Hymns
Your Word O Lord
Communal Blessing
Dismissal
The Bible readings are from the New Revised Standard Version. I wish to thank the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, ELCA, and its predecessor bodies for all their teaching throughout the years. I’ve used the Lectionary published on the ELCA website at elca.org in preparation of this worship.