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Service Documents to view/print at home, we will display these on the screen at the virtual service.
Recording of the service:
* Εν αρχη ην ο λόγος * In the beginning was the Word * Au commencement était la Parole * An toiseach bha am Focal * Al principio, c’era colui che è “la Parola”
Epiphany Baptism of our Lord 10 January 2021
MUSICAL PRELUDE
WORDS OF WELCOME
CALL TO WORSHIP
We are born by water into the Church.
We are born by the Spirit into Christ.
We are born into community by participation.
We are born into each other’s heart by fellowship.
We are born again by forgiveness.
All through our lives we are born again and again.
We are born by grace through the love of God.
Let us worship God.
HYMN # 93 (VU) WHEN HEAVEN’S BRIGHT WITH MYSTERY
When heaven’s bright with mystery and science searches nature’s art,
when all creation yearns for peace and hope sinks deep in human hearts,
appear to us, O Holy Light; lift from our eyes the shades of night.
When Herod barters power and lives And Rachel’s weeping fills the night,
When suffering’s mask marks every face And Love’s a refugee in flight,
Reveal to us your word of grace And make us witness to your peace.
When fragile faith, like desert wind, blows dry and empty, hope erased,
when withered grass and fading flower proclaim again our day’s brief space,
breathe on the clay of our despair and work a new creation there.
When heaven’s bright with mystery and stars still lead an unknown way,
when love still lights a gentle path where courts of power can hold no sway,
there with the Magi, let us kneel, our gifts to share, God’s world to heal.
When Heaven’s Bright With Mystery. Words by Rob Jones, Music arr. Ralph Vaughn Williams.
Words copyright © 1987 Carol Johns. Music copyright © 1931 Oxford University Press. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission under License # A-734202. All rights reserved.
PRAYER OF APPROACH
God of Grace, join us together by water and the Spirit,
Until we become your Living Presence in this place and time.
Send your Spirit among us so that we who have been born of water
may be born again by your Spirit
into a new relationship with You, with each other and with ourselves.
Wash away misunderstandings of the past,
water the seeds of faith in the fields of spirituality today,
and nurture us as we grow in new understandings with Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
HYMN # 567 (VU) WILL YOU COME AND FOLLOW ME
Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?
Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown, will you let my name be known,
will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?
Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer in you and you in me?
Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free and never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean, and do such as this unseen,
and admit to what I mean in you and you in me?
Will you love the “you” you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?
Christ, your summons echoes true when you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you and never be the same.
In your company I’ll go where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I’ll move and live and grow in you and you in me.
Will You Come and Follow Me. Words and Music by the Iona Community.
Words and arrangement copyright © 1987 WGRG, The Iona Community. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission under License # A-734202. All rights reserved.
SCRIPTURE LESSONS
Acts 19: 1 – 7
Psalm 29
Give to the Lord, you heavenly beings, Give to the Lord glory and strength.
Give to the Lord glory due his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
And all in God’s Temple cry, “Glory!”
The voice of the Lord thunders over the mighty waters;
the Voice of the Lord thunders throughout the heavens.
And all in God’s Temple cry, “Glory!”
The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic.
And all in God’s Temple cry, “Glory!”
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
And all in God’s Temple cry, “Glory!”
The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning.
The voice of the Lord shakes the desert;
And all in God’s Temple cry, “Glory!”
The voice of the Lord twists the powerful oaks
and Voice of the LORD strips the forests bare.
And all in God’s Temple cry, “Glory!”
The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;
the Lord is enthroned as King forever.
The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people with peace.
And all in God’s Temple cry, “Glory!”
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.
Mark 1: 4 – 11
A TEACHING TIME (a time of learning for younger folk)
TEACHING PRAYER
In peace, dear God, I come to You through Jesus Christ who makes me new
And while I run or play or rest, be with those whom I love best,
Guide me in your Holy Way, as You walk with me each day, AMEN.
HYMN # 144 (MV) LIKE A HEALING STREAM
Like a healing stream in a barren desert, Spirit water bringing life to dusty earth,
God is trickling through our lives as in a dream unfolding,
promising revival and rebirth … like a healing stream.
Like a gentle rain on a thirsty garden, Spirit water comes to nourish tiny seed,
God is bubbling through the soil to coax a new creation,
yearning for an end to want and need … like a gentle rain.
Like a river strong with a restless current, Spirit water rushing on to distant shore,
God is carving out a channel in a new direction,
calling for an end to hate and war … like a river strong.
Like a mighty sea reaching far horizons, Spirit water with a love both deep and wide,
God is working in our hearts to shape a new tomorrow:
God will always challenge and provide! Like a mighty sea,
like a river strong, like a gentle rain, like a healing stream.
Like a Healing Stream. Words and Music by Bruce Harding.
Words and Music copyright © 2003 Bruce Harding. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission under License # A-734202. All rights reserved.
REFLECTION on the Scripture
STATEMENT OF FAITH (en français à page 919 dans Voices United)
We are not alone. We live in God’s world.
We believe in God:
Who has created and is creating,
Who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh,
To reconcile and make new;
Who works in us and others by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church;
To celebrate God’s Presence, To live with respect in creation,
To love and serve others, To seek justice and resist evil,
To proclaim Jesus, Crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. We are not alone.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
PASTORAL PRAYER and THE LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father….. Notre Père….. Ar n-Athair…. 주님의 기도 Fader vår….
Ons Vader…. Onze Vader… Vater unser… Padre Nostro… Padre nuestro…
主の祈り 主禱文 أَبَانَا Isä meidän Πάτερ ἡμῶν Baba yetu
HYMN # 161 (MV) I HAVE CALLED YOU BY YOUR NAME
I have called you by your name, you are mine;
I have gifted you and ask you now to shine.
I will not abandon you; all my promises are true.
You are gifted, called, and chosen; you are mine.
I will help you learn my name as you go;
read it written in my people, help them grow.
Pour the water in my name, speak the word your soul can claim,
offer Jesus’ body, given long ago.
I know you will need my touch as you go;
feel it pulsing in creation’s ebb and flow.
Like the woman reaching out, choosing faith in spite of doubt,
hold the hem of Jesus’ robe, then let it go.
I have given you a name, it is mine;
I have given you my Spirit as a sign.
With my wonder in your soul, make my wounded children whole;
go and tell my precious people they are mine.
I Have Called You By Your Name. Words and Music by Daniel Charles Damon.
Words and Music copyright © 1995 Hope Publishing Company. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission under License # A-734202. All rights reserved.
PARTING PRAYER (in unison)
Bless to us, O God, this day,
The doors we open,
The thresholds we cross,
And all the roads that lie before us.
Go with us always as we go and,
at the close of our day, welcome us home.
EXTINGUISHING OF THE CHRIST CANDLE
We are reminded that the Light of Christ is not in candles nor institutions
but within each of us. We are the Light of the World
BENEDICTION
May the blessing of the Maker be yours,
Encircling us, above us and within us.
May the blessing of the Son be yours,
The Wine and the water, the Bread and the stories,
to feed us and remind us.
May the blessing of the Spirit be yours,
The wind and the fire, the still small voice of calm,
to comfort us and disturb us.
May the blessing of God, Three-in-One and One-in-Three,
be yours, this day and every day,
To protect us, defend us, encourage us and strengthen us.
And may we bless each other,
A blessing rooted in our common pilgrimage,
the blessing of a friend.
EXCHANGING OF THE PEACE OF CHRIST
Mention someone’s name and hold them in your heart.
CHORAL PRAYER (Singing – Tune is at # 298 in Voices United)
When you walk from here,
When you walk from here,
Walk with Justice, walk with Mercy,
And with God’s Humble Care. Linnea Good 1991
Permission to podcast / stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE,
License # A-734202. All rights reserved.