FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY

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January 30, 2022

Love Directs Our Gifts

At the beginning of the Church Year, many sang the hymn “Love Came Down at Christmas.” Indeed, the Bible says, “God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son” (John 3:16). It is only on Good Friday, however, that we discover the depth and power of God’s love in the cross of the Lord’s death. And so it was that ever since the beginning of His earthly ministry, after His Baptism, we are given clear hints about the true nature of God’s love. Initially people marveled at Jesus’ preaching and miraculous healings. Yet not only did the crowds quickly reject our Lord, but Satan also was actively opposing Him from the beginning. The love of God is the power of God to defeat Satan and free the world from the grip of sin and death. The standard of love is the cross of Christ. In today’s Epistle, Paul describes love in and through Christ. Substitute “Christ” for “love” and you get, “Christ is patient and kind; Christ does not envy or boast; . . . Christ rejoices with the truth.” This love of Christ is given to us and through us. “Faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these” is the cross of Christ!

+ PREPARATION +

**OPENING HYMN: #842 – *Son of God, Eternal Savior***

INVOCATION

Pastor: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

People: Amen.

OPENING SENTENCES John 1:10–12

Pastor: Jesus Christ was in the world, and the world was made through Him,

People: yet the world did not know Him.

Pastor: He came to His own,

People: and His own people did not receive Him.

Pastor: But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name,

People: He gave the right to become children of God.

CONFESSION AND ABSOLUTION John 1:14

Pastor: God has come to us to make us His own children. Let us confess our sins of unbelief that He may give us faith to receive Him and His love.

People: O God, we confess that we have ignored Your voice and Spirit by choosing to go our own way. Without You, we are lost and confused and without hope. Without You, we do not know love. Come now to us and forgive our waywardness and weakness. Give us Your gifts of faith, hope, and love. Receive us again into the family of Your redeemed. Amen.

Pastor: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

People: Amen.

+ WORD +

PSALM Psalm 71:1–6 (spoken responsively)

¹In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;

let me never be put to shame!
²In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;

incline your ear to me, and save me!

³Be to me a rock of refuge,

to which I may continually come;

you have given the command to save me,

for you are my rock and my fortress.

⁴Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.

⁵For you, O Lord, are my hope,

my trust, O Lord, from my youth.

⁶Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;

you are he who took me from my mother’s womb.

My praise is continually of you.

KYRIE

Pastor: In peace, let us pray to the Lord.

People: Lord, have mercy.

Pastor: For the peace of God’s whole creation, for the well-being of all whom He has chosen to preach Christ crucified, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.

People: Lord, have mercy.

Pastor: For this holy house, and for all who offer here their thanks for the blessings that flow from the cross of Christ, let us pray to the Lord.

People: Lord, have mercy.

Pastor: Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.

People: Amen.

SALUTATION and PRAYER OF THE DAY

Pastor: The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Pastor: Let us pray.
Lord God, You have shown the world Your love chiefly in the deliverance of the cross of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Make us to know this self-sacrificing love and share it with all in every kind of need; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

People: Amen.

OLD TESTAMENT READING Jeremiah 1:4–19

(The call of Jeremiah)

⁴Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁵“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

⁶Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” ⁷But the Lord said to me,

“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak.
⁸Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
declares the Lord.”

⁹Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me,

“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
¹⁰See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to break down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”

¹¹And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond branch.” ¹²Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

¹³The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.” ¹⁴Then the Lord said to me, “Out of the north disaster shall be let loose upon all the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁵For behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah. ¹⁶And I will declare my judgments against them, for all their evil in forsaking me. They have made offerings to other gods and worshiped the works of their own hands. ¹⁷But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them. ¹⁸And I, behold, I make you this day a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land. ¹⁹They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.”

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.

People: Thanks be to God.

GRADUAL (spoken together)

Praise the Lord, all nations!
            Extol him, all peoples!
For great is his steadfast love toward us,
            and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
            bring an offering, and come into his courts!

EPISTLE 1 Corinthians 12:31b–13:13

(The more excellent way of love)

I will show you a still more excellent way.

¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ²And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹²For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

¹³So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Lector: This is the Word of the Lord.

People: Thanks be to God.

VERSE Luke 4:43b

Alleluia. I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose. Alleluia.

HOLY GOSPEL Luke 4:31–44

(Jesus heals many.)

Pastor: The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the fourth chapter.

People: Glory to You, O Lord.

³¹[Jesus] went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, ³²and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. ³³And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, ³⁴“Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” ³⁵But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. ³⁶And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” ³⁷And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

³⁸And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. ³⁹And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.

⁴⁰Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. ⁴¹And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

⁴²And when it was day, he departed and went into a desolate place. And the people sought him and came to him, and would have kept him from leaving them, ⁴³but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” ⁴⁴And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Pastor: This is the Gospel of the Lord.

People: Praise to You, O Christ.

HYMN OF THE DAY: #544 – O Love, How Deep

SERMON Love Directs Our Gifts

NICENE CREED

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
      maker of heaven and earth
            and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
      the only-begotten Son of God,
      begotten of His Father before all worlds,
      God of God, Light of Light,
      very God of very God,
      begotten, not made,
      being of one substance with the Father,
      by whom all things were made;
      who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven
      and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary
      and was made man;
      and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate.
      He suffered and was buried.
      And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures
            and ascended into heaven
      and sits at the right hand of the Father.
      And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit,
      the Lord and giver of life,
      who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
      who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified,
      who spoke by the prophets.
      And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church,
      I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins,
      and I look for the resurrection of the dead
      and the life + of the world to come. Amen.

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

After each petition:

Pastor: … Lord, in Your mercy:

People: hear our prayer.

At conclusion:

Pastor: … through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

People: Amen.

LORD’S PRAYER Matthew 6:9–13

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 and ever. Amen.

CLOSING PRAYER

Pastor: Let us pray.
Almighty God, You know we live in the midst of so many dangers that in our frailty we cannot stand upright. Grant strength and protection to support us in all dangers and carry us through all temptations; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

People: Amen.

BENEDICTION Numbers 6:24–26

Pastor: The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you with favor and + give you peace.

People: Amen.

FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY – Online Church at Home Service Bulletin