Today, we celebrate two important days on our church calendar. We celebrate Epiphany, the great celebration that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. We also celebrate Baptism of our Lord Sunday, where we celebrate Jesus’s baptism and also remember the importance of our own. I look forward to worshiping with you all again soon.
January 10th, 2020
Epiphany Sunday
Baptism of Our Lord Sunday
Announcements:
Greetings of Grace and Peace:
Call to Worship:
Wise men came to Jerusalem, looking for Jesus.
Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?
The prospect of a real, God-given, heaven-born king frightened King Herod, who immediately set out to destroy my Jesus.
But we found him anyway and laid our gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh at his feet. For we have seen his star at its rising, and have come to worship him.
Opening Prayer:
Most wonderful God, foolish and flawed though we are, we too delight in your beloved Son. As in his name we gather in the house of many praises, may the heavens be opened for us, that we may catch a glimpse of that Light and Love that transforms our common days with a beauty not of our making. Through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen!
Songs of Praise:
Prayer of Confession:
Loving Lord, we confess we have not always heeded your prophets’ voices. We admit we have not acknowledged John the baptizer who proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. We acknowledge in our failure to do so we missed John’s all too important declaration about the greater One who was coming. God, today we gather needing grace and the gift of forgiveness granted through your Son. And now friends let us take a quiet moment to confess our sins before the Lord, knowing that every time we sin, he understands, and he forgives, because of his undying love for us.
Epistle Lesson: Acts 19:1 – 7
Gospel Reading: Mark 1:4-11
Call to Offering:
Message: The Heavens Torn Apart
Another Thought on Today’s Scripture:
Pastoral Prayer:
In Uncertain Times:*
Dismissal with Blessing:
*Video Courtesy of Igniter Media
