The Epiphany of the Lord – Sun 08 Jan: Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-13; Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6; Matthew 2:1-12 ~ Savior of all nations

The Epiphany of the Lord

On Epiphany Sunday, we celebrate the revelation of Jesus Christ as the Savior of all nations, including ours. We worship God who wants all people to be saved.

+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening Prayer:

Lord God of the nations, we have seen the star of your glory rising in splendour. The radiance of your incarnate Word pierces the darkness that covers the earth and signals the dawn of peace and justice.

Make radiant the lives of your people with that same brightness, and beckon all the nations to walk as one in your light.

We ask this through Jesus Christ, your Word made flesh, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, in the splendor of eternal light, God for ever and ever.
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“Arise, Shine (Kumi Ori)”

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A Reading from the Old Testament: Isaiah 60:1-6 (NLT)
[Isaiah refers to foreign people coming to worship the God of Israel, just as the wise men did.]

“Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you. Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth, but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you. All nations will come to your light; mighty kings will come to see your radiance.

“Look and see, for everyone is coming home! Your sons are coming from distant lands; your little daughters will be carried home. Your eyes will shine, and your heart will thrill with joy, for merchants from around the world will come to you. They will bring you the wealth of many lands. Vast caravans of camels will converge on you, the camels of Midian and Ephah. The people of Sheba will bring gold and frankincense and will come worshiping the Lord.
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A Reading from the Psalms: Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 10-13 (NLT)

Give your love of justice to the king, O God, and righteousness to the king’s son. Help him judge your people in the right way; let the poor always be treated fairly.
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May all the godly flourish during his reign. May there be abundant prosperity until the moon is no more. May he reign from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.
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The western kings of Tarshish and other distant lands will bring him tribute. The eastern kings of Sheba and Seba will bring him gifts. All kings will bow before him, and all nations will serve him. He will rescue the poor when they cry to him; he will help the oppressed, who have no one to defend them. He feels pity for the weak and the needy, and he will rescue them.
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“Psalm 72” – Big Tent Revival

My Lord will soon be coming down | Like the rain on new mown grass | Showers fallin’ on the thirsty land

The righteous man will flourish in those days | And for as long as the moon runs ’round | Peace will abound

I sing praises, I sing praises | Praises to my Savior | Praises to my Lord

All those who dwell in wilderness | Will bow down licking dust | And kings will follow, bringing gifts to my Lord

With one cry, He’ll deliver those in need | All the meek | And those who have oppressors in the world

I sing praises, I sing praises | Praises to my Savior | Praises to my Lord

And blessed be the Power | Blessed be the Glory | And blessed be the Name

I sing praises, I sing praises | Praises to my Savior | Praises to my Lord | Jesus

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A Reading from the Letters: Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6 (NLT)
[Paul talks about the meaning of the feast: in Jesus, salvation is made available to Jews and pagans alike.]

You know God gave me the special responsibility of extending his grace to you Gentiles. As I briefly wrote earlier, God himself revealed his mysterious plan to me.
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God did not reveal it to previous generations, but now by his Spirit he has revealed it to his holy apostles and prophets.

And this is God’s plan: Both Gentiles and Jews who believe the Good News share equally in the riches inherited by God’s children. Both are part of the same body, and both enjoy the promise of blessings because they belong to Christ Jesus.
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A Reading from the Gospels: Matthew 2:1-12 (NLT)
[The events celebrated on the Epiphany are described in the Gospel.]

Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”

King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”

“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:

‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”

Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”

After this interview the wise men went their way. And the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod.
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” We Three Kings” – Hillsong

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Intercessory Prayer:

God of the nations: you save all people when they cry out for help. Lord, hear us.

+ For the people of all nations — that they may believe the Good News of salvation. Lord, hear us.
+ For the Jewish people, our brothers and sisters – that through your faithfulness, they too may enter the Kingdom…. Lord, hear us.
+ For Christians in every nations – that together we may meet the challenges facing humanity…. Lord, hear us.
+ For people of all faiths and of none – that in this New Year they may grow in mutual respect and tolerance…. Lord, hear us.
+ For those in our midst who are sick or in sorrow – that your healing presence may bring them peace…. Lord, hear us.
+ For all Christians suffering persecution and violence – that they may be protected and delivered from evil…. Lord hear us.
+ For our friends and family members who have died – that eternal life with you may be theirs…. Lord, hear us.

O God, you rule the earth with justice: help us according to our needs, we pray, through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever. Amen.
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“Christmas Hallelujah” – Abigail Schmidt

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Benediction:

Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you. Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth, but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you. All nations will come to your light; mighty kings will come to see your radiance.
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+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen

NFL: Arizona Cardinals National Anthem with Eagle “Challenger”

Peanut Gallery: Never prouder to be an American.

Morning Prayer: Sat, 07 Jan – 1 John 3:22-4:6; Psalm 2:7-8,10-11; Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25 ~ truth or deception?

Saturday of the Second Week of Christmas

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Opening Sentence

O come, let us adore him!

The people that lived in darkness have seen a great light; on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death a light has dawned.
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Reading:1 John 3:22-4:6 (NLT)

And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.

And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.

Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.
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Reading: Psalm 2:7-8,10-11 (NLT)

The king proclaims the Lord’s decree: “The Lord said to me, ‘You are my son. Today I have become your Father. Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the whole earth as your possession….'”
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Now then, you kings, act wisely! Be warned, you rulers of the earth! Serve the Lord with reverent fear, and rejoice with trembling.
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Reading: Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25 (NLT)

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he left Judea and returned to Galilee. He went first to Nazareth, then left there and moved to Capernaum, beside the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This fulfilled what God said through the prophet Isaiah:

“In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali, beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River, in Galilee where so many Gentiles live, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined.”

From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”
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Prayer:

Glory to you, Christ the Lord! Through you God’s salvation reaches to the boundaries of the earth.

+ Christ, our Redeemer, you have drawn all men to yourself; break down the walls of prejudice that separate man from man.
+ Word, made flesh, you came to live among us: help us to recognize your presence in the Church and in the lives of the people around us.
+ Jesus, God’s righteousness revealed: conform our faith and our works to your teaching.
+ Immanuel, God with us, renew our lives completely; make us a people you can call your own.

Lord God, may the radiance of your glory light up our hearts and bring us through the shadows of this world until we reach our homeland of everlasting light. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
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“Light of the World” – Eden’s Bridge

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Blessing

You belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory… because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Alzheimer’s Disease: 9 things you should know | Re-blog – Joe Carter | TGC

Peanut Gallery: Recently I boarded an airline flight early and, with an aisle seat near the front, watched the parade of the remaining passengers. One older couple caught my eye. She seemed confused as her husband gently guided her to her seat in the row behind me. She didn’t seem to know how to slide in to her window seat, or where to sit, or how to buckle her seat belt. All the while, her husband patiently explained what to do and how to do it. And then it dawned on me – the woman must have Alzheimer’s Disease.

I have re-blogged this article written by Joe Carter, September 20, 2016, for The Gospel Coalition to help you better understand the nature of the disease. Alzheimer’s disease affects nearly 6 million Americans. Perhaps it is affecting someone you know.
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via 9 Things You Should Know About Alzheimer’s Disease (please click on link for full article)
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1. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, degenerative disorder that attacks the brain’s nerve cells (neurons) that produce the brain chemical (neurotransmitter) acetylcholine. The disorder causes the connections between the nerve cells to break and ultimately die. The destruction of these nerve cells results in loss of memory, thinking, and language skills, and can cause behavioral changes.

2. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, a general term for a range of mental impairments such as memory loss and inability to focus that are both persistent and serious enough to affect a person’s ability to function normally. Dementia is a syndrome (a group of symptoms that doesn’t have a definitive diagnosis) and is not, like Alzheimer’s, a distinct disease. Neither dementia nor Alzheimer’s is part of the natural aging process.

3. Alzheimer’s disease symptoms vary among individuals, but the most common initial symptom is a gradually worsening ability to remember new information. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, this occurs because the first neurons to be damaged and destroyed are usually in brain regions involved in forming new memories. As neurons in other parts of the brain are damaged and destroyed, individuals experience other difficulties. Other common symptoms of Alzheimer’s are memory loss that disrupts daily life, challenges in planning or solving problems, difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, at work or at leisure, and confusion with time or place.

4. Alzheimer’s disease is named after the German clinical psychiatrist and neuroanatomist Alois Alzheimer. In 1906 Alzheimer gave a lecture at a meeting of German psychiatrists in which he identified an “unusual disease of the cerebral cortex” that affected Auguste Deter, a woman in her 50s. The disease caused Deter to suffer disorientation, hallucinations, and memory loss before leading to her death at age 55. At the time the lecture—and the discovery—attracted little notice. Although the local press commented extensively on the lectures given at the meeting, only two lines were devoted to Alzheimer’s lecture.

5. Among the leading causes of death in the United States, Alzheimer’s disease ranks sixth. In 2014, 93,541 Americans died from the disease. However, official mortality figures may be substantially underreporting deaths due to the disease. Recent research shows that the disorder may rank third, just behind heart disease and cancer, as a cause of death for older people. And a 2014 study published in the journal Neurology found that the number of deaths due to Alzheimer’s disease in people 75 and older could be six-times higher than the official count, with researchers’ estimating that 503,400 deaths in 2010 were due to Alzheimer’s.

6. People with Down’s syndrome have an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in middle age. One study found that the proportion of the overall population with Down’s syndrome and dementia is about 17 percent, and that about one-third (32.1 percent) of people aged 55 to 60 that had Down syndrome also suffered from dementia.

7. People with fewer years of formal education are at higher risk for Alzheimer’s and other dementias than those with more years of formal education. Some epidemiological studies appear to suggest that lifelong experiences, including educational and occupational attainment, and leisure activities in later life, can increase a person’s “cognitive reserve” (i.e., the mind’s resistance to damage and deterioration in the brain) that enables individuals to better compensate for changes in the brain that could result in symptoms of Alzheimer’s or another dementia.

8. To diagnose Alzheimer’s a primary doctor or neurologist (a physician trained in brain conditions) will review a patient’s medical and medication history and consider all related symptoms. According to the Mayo Clinic, the doctor may also order additional laboratory tests, brain-imaging tests, or send the patient for memory testing. Such tests can help doctors rule out other diseases that cause similar symptoms.

9. Currently, there is neither a cure for Alzheimer’s nor a way to reverse the damage caused by the disease. However, new research announced last week might lead to a breakthrough in understanding the disease. Researchers at Northeastern University say that Alzheimer’s disease may “progress not like falling dominoes, with one molecular event sparking the formation of plaques throughout the brain, but rather like a fireworks display, with a unique flare launching each plaque, one by one.” The finding provides “critical insights for developing therapies to slow, halt, or reverse” the disease, the researchers say.

Morning Prayer: Fri, 06 Jan – 1 John 5:5-13; Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20; Mark 1:7-11 ~ it’s all about Jesus, the Son of God

Friday of the Second Week of Christmas

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

Opening Sentence

O come, let us adore him!

The heavens were opened and the voice of the Father thundered: This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.
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Reading: 1 John 5:5-13 (NLT)

And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water and by shedding his blood on the cross—not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony. So we have these three witnesses—the Spirit, the water, and the blood—and all three agree. Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son. All who believe in the Son of God know in their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has testified about his Son.

And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.

I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.
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Reading: Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20 (NLT)

Glorify the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!

For he has strengthened the bars of your gates and blessed your children within your walls. He sends peace across your nation and satisfies your hunger with the finest wheat. He sends his orders to the world—how swiftly his word flies!
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He has revealed his words to Jacob, his decrees and regulations to Israel. He has not done this for any other nation; they do not know his regulations.

Praise the Lord!
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Reading: Mark 1:7-11 (NLT)

John announced: “Someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not even worthy to stoop down like a slave and untie the straps of his sandals. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”

One day Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River. As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens splitting apart and the Holy Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice from heaven said, “You are my dearly loved Son, and you bring me great joy.”
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Prayer:

Christ our Redeemer: you humbled yourself to receive baptism at the hands of John, have mercy on us.

+ Lord, you taught us how to live; open our eyes to the light which is ever ready to enlighten us.
+ Lord, you humbled yourself to receive baptism from your servant: help us to give ourselves for others.
+ Lord, your baptism has made us children of the Father: grant the Spirit of adoption to all who seek you.
+ Lord, with baptism you have opened the door of repentance: make us living ministers of your gospel of new life.
+ Lord, your baptism has revealed to us the persons of the Trinity: renew your Spirit in all baptized believers.

Almighty, ever-living God, when Christ was baptized in the river Jordan the Holy Spirit came upon him and your voice proclaimed from heaven, ‘This is my beloved Son.’ Grant that we, who by water and the Holy Spirit are your adopted children, may continue steadfast in your love. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
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“It’s All About You Jesus” – Passion

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Blessing

This is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.

+ In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen!

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