January 29, 2023, Epiphany 4

Lighting the Christ Candle

Welcome and Announcements

Called to Worship:

Jesus came to bring peace

We give ourselves as those who want to work for peace.

Jesus came to bring people value

We give ourselves to work for people with no sense of worth, people who need to know that they are wanted.

Jesus came to bring reconciliation

We give ourselves to work for those who are oppressed, and to join hands with those separated by hate.

Jesus came to feed the world

We ask him to bring to us those who are starved that we may bring them all that they need.

Jesus came to build up his church

We give ourselves to be those who are God’s agents of liberation.

 

 

Hymn: 376 Lord the light of your love is shining

Prayer of Adoration

God of hope, we come to you in the midst of a world fraught with troubles. Open our eyes, Lord, to the light of your presence. Give us faith to stand against the voices of division and violence. Through your Spirit remake us into hope-filled disciples, discovering lives attune to your wonder, and sparking in others a desire to know you more.

So in praise and wonder, we come to worship you not just with our words but with our hearts and our lives.

Glory and honour be to you, O God, Creator of a new heaven and a new earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Hear us as we confess our failures and rededicate to living your way

Unison Prayer of Confession:

Open our eyes, Lord, to the modern yoke; the burden of our consumer culture, the debt that holds people fast, the myth of success which has us by the throat. We confess that we are trapped. We ask You to offer the possibility of release; to loose the shackles of greed, freeing us from the urge to acquire at any cost, relieving us from the treadmill of busyness.

We confess our neglect and offer ourselves as your new releases, telling a story for this generation. This we pledge: Feeding the hungry. we will whisper peace, clothing the naked, we will murmur hope, sheltering the homeless, we will declare your faithfulness.

Assurance of Pardon

The good news in Christ is that when we face ourselves and God with the awareness of our need, we are given grace to grow, and courage to continue the journey. In Jesus Christ we are forgiven!

Therefore, beloved, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

The Peace

The peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Hymn: 400 Spirit of the living God

Scripture Lessons:

Isaiah 58: 1-12 Psalm 112: 1-10 (Responsive)

Sermon: The fast I have chosen

Isaiah is writing to the people of Israel, reminding them that by the grace of God, they had been brought back from exile in order to rebuild the temple and the community of faith.

It seems like they needed a huge reminder of what it means to be a community of people of faith. Why? Because they are repeating the sins that had caused God to send them into exile in the first place.

They had forgotten the lessons of exile.

They had returned with hope and expectation, they had started strong. They formed a strong community of faith that honored God in their daily living. The reconstruction of the Temple had gone well…. And then…

The construction stalled and the people started quarreling with one another. They had forgotten what it meant to be the people of God.

 

So they decided to fast and pray. They put on the sackcloth and ashes. They sat in the square and there they complained to God. “Look at us. We are in sackcloth and ashes and we are bowed before you with humble heads, why are you not listening to our prayers?”

Isaiah had the answer to their complaint.

God does not hear your prayers because your hearts are not right.

 

Do we remember the account of Jesus and the rich young ruler, who came to Jesus, 17 “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’[d]”

20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” Mark 10 NIV

God loves the people of Israel, but they are on the same path that had previously caused them to be taken into exile.

Their hearts were not right with God.

Their wills were not aligned with God’s will.

The problem began with the return of economic prosperity, which led to oppression of the poor. The poor were burdened with great indebtedness which people could not repay. Many of them were being sold into slavery to repay their debt.

The people needed to know why God did not hear them. God in his compassion wants to hear them. Isaiah points out that if you don’t love with God’s love, then your prayers of humility and self-flagellation are false.

The people are saying the right words; but their hearts are not aligned with God.

 

Isaiah reminds the people that no one can build a relationship with God while at the same time ignoring the suffering of their community. They are not helping the poor, the widow or the orphan, and they are ignoring suffering of the stranger in their bounds.

Fasting and prayer are good but not apart from the practice of justice and compassion in the community and out into the world.

 

And then Isaiah reminds us of what we really need to remember.

God wants everyone to be saved.

God wants that deep heartfelt relationship with everyone.

Isaiah reminds the people that the community will look very different when they return their hearts to God and practice justice and charity.

They will be those who repair broken walls and those who restore dwellings.

That is a multi-faceted promise that is both physical and spiritual. They will repair the broken walls between themselves as well as the broken walls of the Temple. The community will once again make progress on restoring the Temple.

They will restore their dwelling place…

their own homes which they were rebuilding, but also their relationship with God, who is their dwelling place.

The way they live justice and mercy will mean that their light will shine and their righteousness will go before them. It will be like Jesus said, that a city on a hill cannot be hidden, it’s light will shine for all to see.

God will guide them and protect them. And they will be like a well-watered garden.

As people who sang the Psalms whenever they gathered for worship they would have been familiar with the words of the first Psalm. Isaiah’s words would have evoked that Psalm:

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. Psalm 1 NIV

 

These people have been fasting and praying to promote their own agenda and self-interest. It is all for show. They are reminded that if they are going to fast and pray that it must be in conjunction with what God desires in his heart.

We are reminded of the parable of the publican and the sinner at prayer. Jesus points out that God hears the prayer of the sinner because it comes from a heart seeking God.

We are also reminded of the rich man who gives a large sum, and the widow who puts in a mite, which is all she has. Jesus points out that her heart is in the gift she has given.

How we pray, and give, and serve is not so others to see how good we are; but for others to know through us that God loves them.

This, says Isaiah, is the fast that God wants

It will loose the bonds of injustice

It will untie the thongs of the yoke

It will let the oppressed go free

It will break everything that binds the people.

Can you hear the coming of the pronouncement of the year of the jubilee?

Further into this address Isaiah will say:

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a] 2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor Isaiah 61 NIV

Jesus will later use these same words to describe the purpose of the ministry to which he is called.

 

The people of Israel were reminded, as is the Christian Church, that our calling is always to take care of the least of these, the widow, the orphan, the stranger in our midst…

We are reminded that our actions are always a demonstration of the state of our hearts. When our hearts are right with God then we are extending God’s love and God’s mercy in all that we do. When our hearts are right with God, then it is God’s love that fills our hearts.

Our prayers, our worship, even our good deeds are empty without the love of God flowing through our hearts. So our prayer is always to be aligned with God’s heart in all that we do.

Let us join together in that prayer, printed in your bulletin….

 

 

Prayer of Response:

We have chosen to fast Not with ashes but with actions Not with sackcloth but in sharing Not in thoughts but in deeds

We will give up our abundance To share our food with the hungry We will give up our comfort To provide homes for the destitute

We will give up our fashions To see the naked clothed We will share where others hoard We will free where others oppress

We will heal where others harm Then God’s light will break out on us God’s healing will quickly appear

God will guide us always God’s righteousness will go before us We will find our joy in the Lord We will be like a well-watered garden We will be called repairers of broken walls Together we will feast at God’s banquet table Amen

Adapted from Godspace. Used with permission.

Hymn: 722 Lord whose love

Offering Doxology Offertory Prayer

Merciful God, the gifts we bring are a reflection of the generosity you pour out on us and yet, are so small in comparison to the vast needs in our world.

As You once multiplied the five small loaves and two fish, multiply these gifts as well, so that, once again, your generous healing gifts may abound in our gifts and labours.

Amen.

 

 

Gathering Prayer Requests Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer

God of the living, with all Your creatures great and small we sing Your bounty and Your goodness shown to us in the cycles of the seasons, and the wonders of all creation.

Daily You reveal Your generosity. Teach us to have deep gratitude that we may honor each gift as You cherish Your creation, and praise You in all times and places.

We express our gratitude now, as we express our joy and pray for the needs of others.

JOYS

 

PRAYERS FOR THOSE GRIEVING

Bitter family, Hughson family

 

PRAYERS FOR THOSE IN NEED

The homeless settling into the new night shelter/volunteers/staff

 

PRAYERS FOR THE WORLD YOU LOVE

The places of conflict

 

The places where weather has devastated

 

Creator God, may your grace go with us wherever we will be this day

May you guide us through the challenges, protect us when in need and inspire us with your love. Hear us now as we pray as Jesus taught us, saying, 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 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: 726 May the God of hope

Charge and Benediction

As you go from here, remember this: the same Spirit of God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead, also lives in you, breathing new life and freedom into your hearts and minds.

So go from here with joy and confidence, knowing that God is at work within you.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the power of the Holy Spirit

 

Sung Blessing Go now in peace