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Sunday, January 30, 2022 – 4th Sunday after Epiphany (green) 

Sentence

The Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor and release to the captives. Luke 4.18 

Opening Hymn:  #645 – Come down, o Love divinehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMFIj8jysOQ 

Collect (on page 352):

Living God, in Christ you make all things new.  Transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace, and in the renewal of our lives make known your glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  AMEN

 The Proclamation of the Word

1st Reading:  Jeremiah 1:4-10 (NRSV)

Jeremiah’s Call and Commission

Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, ‘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.’  Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy.’ But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am only a boy”; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you.  Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.’  Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the Lord said to me, ‘Now I have put my words in your mouth.  See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.’ 

Psalm 71:1-6 (Book of alternative prayer, page 795)

1  In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge; * let me never be ashamed.   

2  In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free; * incline your ear to me and save me.  

3  Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe; * you are my crag and my stronghold.   

4  Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, * from the clutches of the evildoer and the oppressor.   

5  For you are my hope, O Lord God, * my confidence since I was young.   

6  I have been sustained by you ever since I was born; from my mother’s womb you have been my strength; * my praise shall be always of you. 

Holy God, be our strength and our salvation, that we may never be ashamed to praise you for your mighty acts. We ask this through Jesus Christ.  AMEN 

2nd Reading:  1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (NSRV)

The Gift of Love

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.  When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.  For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love. 

Sequence (Gradual) Hymn:  #619 – Fairest Lord Jesushttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81d84iBhUjg 

Gospel Reading:  Luke 4:21-30 (NRSV)

Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.” ’ And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way. 

The Prayers of the People

(In joy and humility let us pray to the creator of the universe, saying, “Lord, grant us peace.”)

By the good news of our salvation brought to Mary by the angel, hear us, O Lord.  Lord, grant us peace.

By the mystery of the Word made flesh, hear us, O Lord.  Lord, grant us peace.

By the birth in time of the timeless Son of God, hear us, O Lord.  Lord, grant us peace.

By the manifestation of the King of glory to the shepherds and magi, hear us, O Lord. Lord, grant us peace.

By the submission of the maker of the world to Mary and Joseph of Nazareth, hear us, O Lord. Lord, grant us peace. 

By the baptism of the Son of God in the river Jordan, hear us, O Lord. Lord, grant us peace.

Grant that the kingdoms of this world may become the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; hear us, O Lord. Lord, grant us peace. 

The Lord’s PrayerOur 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, the power, and the glory, forever and ever.  Amen.

Our Closing Hymn is #306 – O for a thousand tongues to singhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx0rCabJ16c Dismissal

Leader:   May the touch of Christ bring you healing; may the love of Christ bring you hope; may the life of Christ bring you insight as you go forth with new vision.

People:   Thanks be to God, Allelujah!