ST. ANDREW’S CHURCH

JANUARY  23rd 2022

LIGHTING OF THE CHRIST CANDLE

ANNOUNCEMENTS

St. Andrew’s welcomes you al to this online service and prays that it will be a blessing to you throughout the week to come.
We thank Rev. Shirley Cochrane for preparing and leading our worship today. Video of the scripture readings and sermon will be added Sunday afternoon , following our in-person worship.

CALL TO WORSHIP

In mystery and grandeur,

we encounter the God of all creation.

In renewed justice and the promise of new life,

we know deep love of Christ.
In the wonderful diversity in every community,
 the Spirit of God moves among us.
Let us worship the God of beauty, love, and wisdom.

 We will praise God, ever Three and ever One, now and always.

 

HYMN      374  Oh for a thousand tongues to sing

 

Prayer of Adoration and Confession

Creator, Christ and Spirit; You are the maker of a better world. You are the creator of lasting peace. We worship you for the gifts of peace and healing that You bring into troubled lives.  You have shown us the way to work for justice, to love friend and enemy alike, to build a better world.  In this time of worship, inspire us to believe our work in your name makes a difference. So may we live to bring glory to you through our commitment to you and the communion we share with so many around world as your faithful disciples.   With humble hearts we  confess together ………………..

 

UNISON PRAYER OF CONFESSION

God of grace and unity, we confess

we can be divisive when you have called us to unity,

quarrelsome when you call us to seek peace, and

critical rather than caring. 

We have grown used to our own ways

and cannot imagine you would ask us to change

even for the sake of the Gospel.

Forgive us when we mistake our familiar traditions for your truth.

Show us how we can witness to your love

through working and worshipping together.

 

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

God’s mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. It shines into the world and scatters the darkness.  Know that you are forgiven and forgive one another. Be at peace and walk in the newness of life, led by God’s light.

 

HYMN      9 God’s law is perfect (online: The Law of the Lord is perfect)

 

 

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Psalm 19

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
5     It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,  like a champion rejoicing to run his course.6 It rises at one end of the heavens    and makes its circuit to the other;   nothing is deprived of its warmth.7 The law of the Lord is perfect,  refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,  making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the Lord are right,  giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.9 The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.

10 They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. 11 By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward. 12 But who can discern their own errors?  Forgive my hidden faults.13 Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.

14 May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

 

Luke 4:14-21

14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. 15 He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.  16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free,  19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

SERMON

Holy One, no wisdom or truth comes apart from you and so we seek your guidance as your Word is read and interpreted.   Send your Holy Spirit to move in and among us so that we might better understand your word for us this day, and act upon it for the sake of Christ, your Living Word.  Amen

 

The Holy Spirit is a major actor in Luke’s Gospel.  From the very beginning of the narrative, the Holy Spirit fills and speaks through the story’s characters

In the Gospel lesson, from Luke 4, we read that following his baptism and time of testing in the wilderness, Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit.  He begins to roam about Galilee, where he begins teaching in the synagogues. Jesus is praised by everyone who hears him and sees the healing taking place.  Many scholars understand that the other gospels relate that Jesus actually travelled and taught in areas around and beyond Galilee, perhaps for as long as up to a year before he returns home to Nazareth.

Now the synagogue is the central place for reading and teaching. In addition to the rabbi, each man may be given an opportunity to participate. A man would volunteer to read a passage from the scrolls and then he would sit down to explain what those passages mean to him

Jesus has returned Nazareth.  One Saturday morning, the folks gather in the synagogue as usual. Now, has the rumor gone round that Jesus is going to be there this particular morning? Luke doesn’t hint that this is preplanned so to speak. But we do have the impression people are willing and eager to listen to Jesus read and teach. This is no big surprise. He is well known in the area; after all it is his hometown. He grew up here. Stories of how he has been  teaching  have  reached  them and they want to  hear and to learn from him for themselves As an honored guest who is already gathering a reputation as a great teacher, Jesus is invited to read the Scriptures and to offer an interpretation

 

The words Jesus speaks in Nazareth are especially important because they are Luke’s first words we hear of his public ministry. What Jesus says here represents the heart of his message and mission. Of course, his message and mission do not come out of the blue, but from the Scriptures. This sabbath he reads from the prophet Isaiah: “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, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

 

So, when he reads from the scroll, everyone understands these words to be the words of Isaiah. It is a passage of hope and deliverance as they hear the words read, images would certainly form in the people’s minds about God’s promise and presence with them.

 

When Jesus finishes, he hands the scroll to the attendant and sits down. In that day you sat in the Moses Seat to teach to the people. Today preachers stand in a pulpit. So, all eyes are on Jesus, waiting for him to begin his teaching…

Jesus can feel the eyes on him in the room, as people are thinking, “okay man, you’ve announced the text, now go ahead and preach it. Don’t be shy. Go ahead and finish what you started.” To end the awkwardness of the moment, Jesus drops a bomb shell, “today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Now for hundreds of years, the people had been waiting for someone who would come into their lives and bring them hope. They were looking for someone who would be sent from God with power and authority to change their lives.

When Jesus states, “today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing, , Jesus is saying, “I’m the one you’ve been looking for all these years. I’m the one sent by God to make a difference in your lives. The one you have been hoping for has come.”

Jesus is telling them that he is giving himself for the salvation of the world. God’s grace has come through him. “The captives have been set free. Today, I am preaching good news to the poor. Today, salvation has come.

He boldly claims to fulfill the words of Isaiah, who speaks of the Spirit anointing him, sending him, compelling him to bring good news to every one of God’s children who is bound up, pressed down, broken in spirit, impoverished, imprisoned, and desperately hungry for good news.

The word translated “poor” has to do with, not just economic status, but as well as other factors that lowered one’s status in the first-century world—factors such as gender, genealogy, education, occupation, sickness, disability, and degree of religious purity. Sounds much like  people in the 21st century too !  Continued poverty is not the message Jesus preaches Jesus’s message is that you are of great value in the eyes of God.

Jesus’ mission is directed to the poor in the holistic sense of those who for various reasons are relegated to the margins of society. Jesus refuses to recognize these socially determined boundaries, insisting that these very “outsiders” are the special objects of God’s grace and mercy.

Simeon, guided by the Spirit, said of the infant Jesus: “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35). The truth of Simeon’s prophecy is laid bare at Nazareth.

In the second part of this story (4:21-30) which is next week’s Gospel reading, the reaction of the hometown crowd will turn from amazement and approval (4:22) to rage and even murderous intent (4:28-29). As we continue the story in Luke ‘s gospel over the next weeks Jesus will have much more to say about wealth and status and the reversals God’s reign brings about

By placing the communal experience of Scripture at the center of the story, the story implicitly communicates something about the generativity of Scripture in the life of the worshiping community This says that in the reading and rereading of Scripture, something new is created. Scripture does not remain static while the contexts around it change. Scripture generates new life and meanings for itself in a community’s appropriation of it.

As from ancient times, the Reading of Scripture and the possibility of its interpretation for the community’s present moment generates anticipation and expectation…. public reading and interpretation of Scripture creates the possibility for the inbreaking of the Spirit of God.

The spiritual aspect of salvation in Luke cannot be separated from economic, social, and political realities. Jesus’ mission is to free people from captivity to sin and from captivity to the sinful structures and systems that diminish and destroy lives.  The word “today” “highlights the immediacy and temporal specifics of the interpretation of Scripture in the context of a worshiping community. The interpretation of Scripture that occurs in a particular sermon receives its authoritative significance because it happens now, today.”

Epiphany and the days surrounding it celebrate the “appearance” or “manifestation” of God in the world. Psalm 19 begins on a cosmic level and progressively narrows to conclude with the human heart. On this third Sunday after Epiphany, Psalm 19 represents, in many ways, a poetic celebration of this variety and how it works to bring humanity into relationship with the God who appears in creation, in instruction, in relationship, and in flesh. Far from being the burden we often associate with instructions, the psalmist characterizes life lived in accordance with Yahweh’s speech as revitalizing, joyful, illuminating, and sweeter than honey.

God appears in the lives of those who follow the divine call to strive for perfect wholeness, wisdom, joy, truth, and justice. God appears in the honest prayers of those who recognize their own flaws and trust in God’s love. God appears in the quiet gifts of protection, strength, and courage offered to those in need. God appears in the dialogues of faith we have with ourselves, with one another, and with God.

It has been said the best sermon is not one that is preached. It is one that is lived. In these words of Jesus at the synagogue, Jesus is saying just that. God’s grace is fulfilled through a person, Christ Jesus.  AMEN

HYMN      480 In Christ there is no east or west   tune  357

 

OFFERING

The Apostle Paul reminds us that we are part of one body, each of us and all of us. The gifts we offer in Jesus’ name are all needed, Together, the body of Christ accomplishes many things through the gifts we share.

 

DOXOLOGY

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;

Praise him all creatures here below

Praise him above ye heavenly host.

Praise Father Son and Holy Ghost

 

OFFERTORY PRAYER

Creator God, you made each of us in our uniqueness, and together, all of us to bear your image in the world. Accept our gifts, unique as they are, and bless them for the sake of your Son, Jesus. May they bear his grace and mercy into the world you love so your purposes will be fulfilled

AMEN

 

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

God of life, God of love. You created us and set us in relationship with each other: In families and neighbourhoods, in churches and communities, in cultures and nations.

 

We give you thanks for the rich gifts of arts and culture, of home life and community celebration which bring meaning and encouragement to our lives. Help us contribute our gifts to the traditions and imagination that sustain the best of our common life from one generation to the next.

 

God, we thank You for creating such a beautiful world for us to enjoy. All of Your creation is amazing. May we have eyes to see the wonder and majesty of all that You have created. May we take the time to enjoy Your creation every day. May everyone see Your glory as they look at Your creation, and may they know, without a doubt, that there is a God

 

God of mercy and forgiveness, You call us to live together in peace and unity.  In this Week of Prayer for Christian unity, we pray that your Spirit will create understanding and co-operation among all who bear Christ’s name. Help us share our gifts with each other  so that churches within our community may flourish  and our common mission will find new energy after months of challenge. Lead us to reach out to those of other faiths and no faith  so that, together, we may be a blessing in the world you love.

 

God of healing and hope, We pray for our neighbourhoods and our nation. Where people are divided and bitterness turns into resentment, show us how to work for reconciliation. Inspire our leaders at every level of community life  to work together for the care of the most vulnerable and to restore the goodness of our common life as we recover from the effects of these months of pandemic. Make us generous citizens and careful stewards of the land you entrust to us together.

 

God of justice and mercy, We pray for the world you love, the world Christ died to redeem,  so deeply divided by religious and political animosities, by ancient bitterness and current conflict. Encourage world leaders to work for peace and understanding,  especially in places torn by violence, and areas still struggling with the effects of the pandemic,

by poverty, hunger and the effects of natural disasters.  May the hope Jesus embodies encourage us all to work for positive change.

 

God of courage and comfort, We remember those of our congregation and community in need of your special attention today….

 

We lift our prayers

In joyful thanks..

For those who are  ill and needing your healing hands …

For those who are grieving , bless them your comfort and peace

…………..

For travels  etc ……………………..

 

Use us as agents of your healing and hope  as we offer ourselves in Jesus’ name in the words he taught us to pray

 

THE  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.  Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

 

HYMN      497 Word of God, across the ages

Online: Ancient Word

BENEDICTION

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word. May the grace of God , the love of Jesus and th power of the Holy Spirit be with you   today and always

Closing Song