Worship for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
February 7, 2021
Prepare for worship with a bowl of water, candles, bread, and wine. Join us on Zoom at 9 am on Sundays for worship.
Gathering
Thanksgiving for Baptism[1]
Joined to Christ in the waters of baptism,
clothed with God’s mercy and forgiveness,
let us give thanks for the gift of baptism.
Holy God, fountain of living water,
source of mercy, tender and mighty,
you are clothed with majesty and splendor.
Your steadfast love fills the earth.
Your steadfast love fills the earth.
Your love flows through water,
satisfying the thirst of all living things,
sustaining life in this community,
nourishing and delighting us.
We bless you for these gifts of water:
Penn’s Creek and the Susquehanna River.
Your steadfast love fills the earth.
Your steadfast love fills the earth.
Your love flows through water,
a sign of your saving power:
Noah and the animals survive the flood,
Hagar discovers your well.
The Israelites escape through the sea,
and they drink from your gushing rock.
Naaman washes his leprosy away,
and the Samaritan woman will never be thirsty again.
Your steadfast love fills the earth.
Your steadfast love fills the earth.
Your love flows through the water of baptism
joined to your life-giving Word:
your well of mercy and cleansing flood,
your sea of deliverance from death into life,
your healing river washing sin away,
your living water springing up to eternal life.
Your steadfast love fills the earth.
Your steadfast love fills the earth.
Shower us with your Holy Spirit.
Fill us with your love.
Clothe us and all your people with grace.
Embolden us to do justice.
Bless us to love mercy.
Guide us to walk humbly with you,
whom we thank and praise, through Jesus Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, now and forever.
Amen
Gathering Song – ACS 978 – “God Welcomes All”
CarolAnn and Craig
Greeting
Lowell
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.
Prayer of the Day
Let us pray,
A period of silence for reflection.
Everlasting God, you give strength to the weak and power to the faint. Make us agents of your healing and wholeness, that your good news may be made known to the ends of your creation, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen
Word
First Reading – Isaiah 40:21-31
Brian
A reading from Isaiah.
21Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22It is God who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to live in;
23who brings the great to naught,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.
24Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when God blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
25To whom then will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
26Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
The one who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because God is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.
27Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
The Lord does not faint or grow weary;
the understanding of God is unsearchable.
29The Lord gives power to the faint,
and strengthens the powerless.
30Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted;
31but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.
Word of God, word of life.
Thanks be to God.
Psalm – 147:1-11, 20c
CarolAnn and Craig
Refrain – Sing twice at the beginning and once at the ℟
The Lord heals the brokenhearted.
1Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises | to our God!
How pleasant it is to honor | God with praise!
2The Lord re- | builds Jerusalem,
and gathers the ex- | iles of Israel.
3The Lord heals the | brokenhearted
and binds | up their wounds.
4The Lord counts the number | of the stars
and calls them all | by their names. ℟
5Great is our Lord and might- | y in power;
there is no limit | to God’s wisdom.
6The Lord lifts | up the lowly,
but casts the wicked | to the ground.
7Sing to the Lord| with thanksgiving;
make music upon the harp | to our God,
8who covers the heav- | ens with clouds
and prepares rain for the earth,
making grass to grow up- | on the mountains. ℟
9God provides food | for the cattle
and for the young ravens | when they cry.
10God is not impressed by the might | of a horse,
and has no pleasure in the speed | of a runner,
11but finds pleasure in those who | fear the Lord,
in those who await God’s steadfast love. 20c| Hallelujah! ℟
Second Reading – 1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Brian
A reading from 1 Corinthians:
16If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! 17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. 18What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.
19For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. 20To the Jewish people I became as a Jew, in order to win the Jewish people. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. 21To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. 22To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. 23I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.
Word of God, word of life.
Thanks be to God.
Gospel – Mark 1:29-39
Lowell
The holy gospel according to St. Mark.
Glory to you, O Lord.
29As soon as Jesus and the disciples left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31Jesus came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
32That evening, at sundown, they brought to Jesus all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
35In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38Jesus answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” 39And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
The gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
Homily
Hymn of the Day – ELW 507 – “O God of Light”
Amy
Prayers of Intercession
Lowell
All are invited to unmute on Zoom and join in the prayers, responding to each petition with “Have mercy, O God.”
Peace
Lowell
The peace of Christ be with you always.
And also with you.
All share the peace of Christ with one another.
Meal
Announcements
Lowell
Offertory – ELW 593, Refrain – “Drawn to the Light”
CarolAnn and Craig
Offering Prayer
Hannah
O God,
receive these gifts as you receive us:
like a mother receives her child, with arms open wide.
Nourish us anew in your tender care,
and empower us in faithful service
to tend to others with this same love,
through Jesus Christ, our saving grace.
Amen.
Great Thanksgiving
Lowell
All are encouraged to unmute and join in the responses in bold.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right, our duty and our joy,
that we should at all times and in all places
give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God,
through our Savior Jesus Christ;
who on this day overcame death and the grave,
and by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life.
And so, with all the choirs of angels,
with the church on earth and the hosts of heaven,
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed are you, O holy God:
you are the Life and Light of all.
By your powerful word you created all things.
Through the prophets you called your people to be a light to the nations.
Blessed are you for Jesus, your Son.
He is your Light, shining in our darkness
and revealing to us your mercy and might.
In the night in which he was betrayed,
our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks;
broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take and eat; this is my body, given for you.
Do this for the remembrance of me.
Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks,
and gave it for all to drink, saying:
This cup is the new covenant in my blood,
shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin.
Do this for the remembrance of me.
Remembering, therefore,
his preaching and healing,
his dying and rising,
and his promise to come again,
we await that day when all the universe
will rejoice in your holy and life-giving light
as we proclaim the mystery of faith:
Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
By your Spirit bless us and this meal,
that, refreshed with this heavenly food,
we may be light for the world,
revealing the brilliance of your Son.
Through him all glory and honor is yours,
Almighty Father, with the Holy Spirit,
in your holy Church,
both now and forever.
Amen
Lord’s Prayer
Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray as Jesus taught us.
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.
Invitation to the Table
These are indeed the gifts of God for you, the very much beloved people of God. Taste and see that God is good.
Communion
All distribute to one another saying:
The body of Christ, given for you.
The blood of Christ, shed for you.
After communing Hannah distributes to Lowell
Blessing at the Table
Lowell
May the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you in eternal life.
Prayer after communion
Hannah
Christ Jesus,
at this table we have feasted on your very life
and are strengthened for our journey.
Send us forth from this banquet
nourished in body and in spirit
to proclaim your good news
and serve others in your name.
Amen
Sending
Sending of Communion
Lowell
Gracious God, as we gather as one body this day and feast at your table, our assembly is incomplete for there are many unable to join us today. We long for the day when we are reunited as one body around a common table and we pray that you extend our gathering into homes and campsites, yards and porches, and strengthen all who hear your Word and feast at your table with the abiding presence of your son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen
Blessing
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord’s face shine on you with grace and mercy.
The Lord look upon you with favor and ☩ give you peace.
Amen.
Sending Song – ACS 1016 – “Cast Out, O Christ”
JR
Dismissal
Hannah
Go in peace. Be the light of Christ.
Thanks be to God.
Join us on Zoom for Coffee Hour.
Liturgy from Evangelical Lutheran Worship and Sundays and Seasons © Augsburg Fortress. Used by permission under Augsburg Fortress Annual Liturgies License SBT002156. Music is used by permission under OneLicense.net # A-715196.
[1] All Creation Sings – Form E © 2020 Augsburg Fortress.