Welcome and merry Christmas! This is Second Sunday after Christmas and we are still celebrating Christ’s birth, as is the Episcopal way (and many other faith traditions as well.) The Reverend Dorothy Hartzog is presiding over this morning’s service. May this season of Christmastide bring you and our whole world much-needed hope and joy.
We are grateful for music supplied by our wonderful church musicians, Rhonda Stanton and Zoë Pouliot, and our lay readers, Missy McDonald and Jonathan Beasley.
Announcements: Nora Beasley, daughter of Jonathan and Michelle, was baptized Dec 28 in a baptismal service conducted by Mother Dorothy at Grace Church. Welcome to the family of God, little Nora! For some precious photos, visit Grace’s member’s group on Facebook.
Thank you to everyone who participated in our “reverse Advent collection of food.“ We collected a significant amount and those items will be donated to the food pantry at Atkins Porter park.
Our New Year’s Eve service is available here, in case you want to kick 2020 to the curb all over again! Thank you to Rhonda Stanton, Jim Lacey, Dianne Carlisle, Pat Woods and Mother Dorothy for their recorded participation. It was (and still is!) a lovely way to greet 2021 with faith and hope in God’s faithfulness.
Children’s Resources
This week we present two different ways to tell the story of Epiphany, the visit of the Magi to the Christ Child. If you have time to share both of them with your children, the differences and similarities may spark their thinking and imagination as they make art about this story or re-enact it with their own materials. What part of the story seems to be of particular interest to your children today? What part of the story could be about them, or could they see themselves in this story?
Together at Home: click the link to download conversation starters, prayers and activities for families based on Bible lectionary readings for the week of January 3rd.
The Second Sunday After Christmas
Prelude: Away in a Manger
Opening Hymn: 93 Angels from the realms of glory
Opening Sentences and Collect for the Second Sunday after Christmas
O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
First Reading: Jeremiah 31:7-14
Thus says the Lord:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
“Save, O Lord, your people,
the remnant of Israel.”
See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north,
and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame, those with child and
those in labor, together;
a great company, they shall return here.
With weeping they shall come,
and with consolations I will lead them back,
I will let them walk by brooks of water,
in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;
for I have become a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my firstborn.
Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep him as a shepherd a flock.”
For the Lord has ransomed Jacob,
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young of the flock and the herd;
their life shall become like a watered garden,
and they shall never languish again.
Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
I will give the priests their fill of fatness,
and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty,
says the Lord.
Psalm 84
Second Reading: Ephesians 1:3-6,15-19a
Gospel Hymn: When Jesus left his Father’s throne
Gospel Reading: Matthew 2:1-12
Sermon
Nicene Creed
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Prayers of the People
Father, we pray for your holy Catholic Church;
That we all may be one.
Grant that every member of the Church may truly and
humbly serve you;
That your Name may be glorified by all people.
We pray for all bishops, priests, and deacons;
That they may be faithful ministers of your Word and
Sacraments.
We pray for all who govern and hold authority in the nations
of the world;
That there may be justice and peace on the earth.
Give us grace to do your will in all that we undertake;
That our works may find favor in your sight.
Have compassion on those who suffer from any grief or trouble;
That they may be delivered from their distress.
Give to the departed eternal rest.
Let light perpetual shine upon them.
We praise you for your saints who have entered into joy;
May we also come to share in your heavenly kingdom.
Let us pray for our own needs and those of others.
Silence
The People may add their own petitions.