We welcome everyone to our online worship resources for this fourth Sunday after the Epiphany as it is known in many faith traditions, including the Episcopal Church. Grace Church meets in person on Sundays at 10:30 and visitors are always welcome. We offer these online resources for those who, for any reason, cannot attend in person. This morning our in-person worshipers will welcome Canon Sharon Alexander as our guest celebrant. (That is Episcopalian for “the bishop’s assistant will lead our worship.”) We give her a warm Grace Church welcome.
Announcements
Ms. Jimmie’s birthday and get well cards – if you missed the chance to sign cards for Ms Jimmie after church today, you can do so next Sunday.
Mother Dorothy accepted the call to serve as Interim Rector at Clarksville’s Trinity Church, but we will have her with us for two Sundays in February before we bless her as she leaves.
Our Helping Hands day is 2/24/22, and Traci Smith is our liaison. Be thinking of the yummy baked goods you could prepare for auction (or buy!) or talk to Traci about what else you might be able to donate. Helping Hands distributes funding throughout the year to organizations that do amazing and much-needed service work in our community.
Grace will be serving as a “cookie cupboard” for the Girl Scout troops of the area. This means that any troops that need to pick up their cookies for booth sales or pre-orders will be coming by Grace Church for that distribution.
Ash Wednesday is March 2 and Father Bill Burks will be with us for that. Canon Sharon Alexander will be with us for Easter as well as one Sunday in March.
Children’s Resources
Our in-person Godly Play class has a “work day” in class today. This provides them with a longer time to work independently with the story manipulatives and art materials than they usually have. Here is a video story that corresponds to today’s gospel reading.
The Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany
The Opening Hymn
493 O for a thousand tongues to sing
1 O for a thousand tongues to sing
my dear Redeemer’s praise,
the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of his grace!
2 My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim,
and spread through all the earth abroad
the honors of thy Name.
3 Jesus! the Name that charms our fears
and bids our sorrows cease;
’tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’tis life and health and peace.
4 He speaks; and, listening to his voice,
new life the dead receive,
the mournful broken hearts rejoice,
the humble poor believe.
5 Hear him, ye deaf; ye voiceless ones,
your loosened tongues employ;
ye blind, behold your Savior comes;
and leap, ye lame, for joy!
6 Glory to God and praise and love
be now and ever given
by saints below and saints above,
the church in earth and heaven.
The Collect of the Day
Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Old Testament
Jeremiah 1:4-10
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.”
The Psalm
Psalm 71:1-6
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.
The Epistle
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
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.
The Gospel Hymn
If thou but trust in God to guide thee
1 If thou but trust in God to guide thee,
and hope in him through all thy ways,
he’ll give thee strength whate’er betide thee,
and bear thee through the evil days,
who trusts in God’s unchanging love
builds on a rock that nought can move.
2 Sing, pray, and keep his ways unswerving;
so do thine own part faithfully,
and trust his word, though undeserving
thou yet shalt find it true for thee;
God never yet forsook in need
the soul that trusted him indeed.
The Gospel
Luke 4:21-30
Jesus began to speak in the synagogue at Nazareth: “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 hometown 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 hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up 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 Sermon
The 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.
The Prayers of the People
The 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.
The Closing Hymn
Tell out my soul
1 Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord!
Unnumbered blessings give my spirit voice;
tender to me the promise of his word;
in God my Savior shall my heart rejoice.
2 Tell out, my soul, the greatness of his name!
Make known his might, the deeds his arm has done;
his mercy sure, from age to age the same;
his holy name — the Lord, the Mighty One.
3 Tell out, my soul, the greatness of his might!
Powers and dominions lay their glory by.
Proud hearts and stubborn wills are put to flight,
the hungry fed, the humble lifted high.
4 Tell out, my soul, the glories of his word!
Firm is his promise, and his mercy sure.
Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord
to children’s children and forevermore!
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.