You've probably noticed that lately there have not been any YouTube links for our service. Unfortunately, the app that I was using for the past several years to record the services went to a paid subscription. On Christmas Eve, I did manage to record the service using Facebook Live, but those who are not on Facebook didn't get to see it. I'm still working on figuring this out. Until then, I hope you continue to follow us in print form only, for now. Blessings!
Worship
Service for January 8, 2023
Prelude
Announcements:
Today, we celebrate Communion together
Joint Session Meeting on Tuesday, Jan 10 at 7pm at Bethesda
Food Bank delivery on Friday, Jan 13 at 9:00am at Olivet
Call to Worship
L: The magi came from a far-away place,
following a star.
P: We come to worship, and the star sheds
light on our lives.
L: The magi brought gifts to offer the Child.
P: We too bring gifts – ourselves, our hopes,
our dreams.
L: Shepherds and magi – the meek and the
mighty – all were welcome in Bethlehem.
P: We too come to Bethlehem and then return
to our homes rejoicing.
Opening Hymn – The First Noel Hymn #56/265 verses 3,4,5,6
Prayer of Confession
God of perfect light, lead us
as we proceed through life. Forgive us
when, like Herod, selfish ambition makes us willing to hurt others. Forgive us, when, unlike the magi, we refuse to
follow the light You give us. Shine in our
lives through the light of Your Christ, in whose name we pray . (Silent prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: The Guiding Light of all eternity has
blessed us with love and peace. It is in
that light that we are forgiven and redeemed.
P: We give thanks to God for His love and
light.
Gloria Patri
Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’
Creed
I believe in God the Father
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the
third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge
the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the
resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN
Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s
Prayer
Almighty God, we gather
as your people, and we gather as those who live in hope. Our lives provide us many opportunities to
speak words of peace and reconciliation, but often we don’t have the
courage. Draw us together in our Lord
Jesus Christ, that we may proclaim the good news of hope and salvation to our
communities and world. Make us bold not
only to speak the word, but also to live it.
O Great God of Light, we give you thanks that all creation
is blessed by your faithful and forgiving love – always overcoming our sins of
pride, blindness, and despair. In times
of abundance give us grateful hearts, that we may rejoice in your great
kindness. In times of suffering give us
eyes to see your light shining, that we may live in hope and faithful service.
By your Spirit empower us to reach out to all of your
children who are suffering in physical, emotional, or spiritual pain,
injustice, living in poverty, or those without hope. May we work and pray together in the light of
your grace. Hear our prayer requests
this morning…
And also the desires of
our hearts that we lift up to you today in silence….
O Lord, you are faithful
and true, full of compassion and abounding in steadfast love. We acknowledge your shining star as it guides
our own way to the Christ child and we pray together saying,.
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. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our
debtors. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. AMEN.
Hymn – We
Three Kings Hymn #66/288
Scripture Reading(s):
First Scripture Reading – Isaiah
60:1-6
Second Scripture Reading – Matthew
2:1-12
Sermon – Star Words and Gifts of the Magi
(Based on Matthew 2:1-12)
For a number of years, we’ve been
handing out Star-Words at the beginning of the new year in relation to
Epiphany. You should have received a new
star-word for this year as you entered the sanctuary, or as the envelope was
being passed around. Last year my word
was tenderness, this year it is service.
Sometimes our words are immediately recognizable as something we should
perhaps “work on” for the year. Other
times it’s a word that seems to be something we’re already good at, or we
believe we’re good at. Your Star-Word
doesn’t always mean that you should strive to do it more, that for whatever
reason, you are lacking in this skill.
Perhaps it might indicate that you need to delve a bit deeper for what
the word means, that perhaps there’s an area that you might need to work on.
Last year’s word baffled me a
bit. Tenderness. It’s something that I thought I was
relatively good at. I think I tend to be
tender with others, always using my active listening skills to be allow others
to share whatever they need to with me and being kind and considerate in my
response – tender in nature to others’ needs.
What I learned over the course of the year is that I’m not always tender
with myself. I’m the first one to judge
my own actions harshly and am very critical of my own short-comings and
failures. I’m also a pretty independent
person, relying on my own set of skills and abilities to accomplish everything
and anything that needs to be done. Over
the course of last year, I learned that I needed to be a bit more tender with myself,
not as quick to self-judgment and repudiation, but rather to be more forgiving
and gentle. I also learned a great deal
in trusting others and their willingness to help. Especially while I was in foreign territory
and among strangers. I needed to let go
of my self-assurance and rely on others often.
Rather than being a disappointment, much if not most of the time, others
came through with astounding tenderness toward me. And I learned to appreciate that.
So, whatever your word might be this
year, look deeper into how it’s meaning might serve you to learn something new
about yourself or others.
And
speaking of the definition of words – there are three, somewhat unusual ones
that come to mind in our reading this morning from Matthew. Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. Okay, maybe just two. We all know the definition and meaning of
Gold. But let’s take a deeper look at
the gifts the wisemen from the east brought to baby Jesus. There are treasure boxes that contain these
gifts given to me as a Christmas gift by one of our members – pass them around
and touch them, feel them, smell them.
The primary significance of the gifts
lay in their great value—they were indeed gifts fit for a king. Beyond making it clear that these were great
treasures given in an act of worship, Scripture does not directly attach any
other symbolic meaning to the gifts. However,
without venturing too far off into wild speculation, it’s reasonable to draw a
few possible inferences from the gifts brought by the wisemen. These valuable
gifts were clearly intended to honor Jesus, this newborn king, but it’s
possible they carried some deeper theological significance as well.
The
Gift of Gold
As it
is today, gold was a valued commodity in the ancient world. Among the types of
assets listed in the Bible (e.g., precious metals, livestock, servants,
gemstones, etc.), accumulation of gold was one of the chief measures of wealth. Because of its scarcity and immense value,
gold was particularly associated with royalty and nobility. By bringing a gift of gold, the wisemen
showed that they did indeed consider Jesus a king.
In
addition to underscoring the royalty of Jesus, some have noted that the wisemen’s
gift of gold may have foreshadowed another aspect of Jesus’ ministry. Under the Old Covenant, the Most Holy Place, also
known as the Holy of Holies, was an inner sanctuary within the Temple where the
priest would encounter the presence of God and offer a sacrifice of atonement
for the sins of the people. The Altar
within the Holy of Holies was overlaid in gold. Likewise, the incarnation of Jesus heralded
the presence of God—Immanuel – God with us. Perhaps unbeknownst to the wisemen, their gift
of gold represented the same representation of Jesus as the Holy of Holies.
The
Gift of Frankincense
Frankincense
is an aromatic gum resin that is still widely used in parts of the Middle East
and Africa today. It is produced by
scraping the bark of certain native species of trees and then harvesting the
beads of resin after they have dried. When burned as incense, it creates a strong
and beautiful aroma. In the ancient near
east, the cost of frankincense precluded it from being used as a common
household air freshener. Rather, the
burning of frankincense was closely associated with ceremonial worship of a
deity. In this way, the inclusion of
frankincense as a gift for Jesus may have indicated that the wisemen understood
that the prophecy of the newborn king carried with it a claim of deity and a
connection to their own culture of elevating extraordinary human beings to the
status of a deity.
As
with gold, frankincense may also have an implied connection with the Temple
worship of the Old Covenant. Burning
incense at the altar was a key part of the sacrificial system prescribed by God
for use in the Tabernacle and, later, in the Temple itself. It was the only incense permitted at the
altar. A speculative parallel can be
drawn between this and Jesus’ life as a pure and holy offering to the Lord.
The
Gift of Myrrh
Myrrh
is a fragrant spice derived from the sap of a tree native to the Near East. Like frankincense, it can be used as incense,
but in the ancient world it also had wider usage as a perfume, anointing oil,
and was even imbibed as a medicinal tonic. Most notable with regard to Jesus’ life, myrrh
was a key ingredient in the mixture of spices that were used to prepare bodies
for burial. Again, perhaps unbeknownst
to the wisemen, but this gift represented an indication of Jesus’ humanity and
the manner in which he would save his people—namely, that he would die for
them.
Just
like the first two gifts, there is a Temple connection with myrrh as well. Exodus 30 tells us that liquid myrrh was a
main ingredient in the anointing oil used to ceremonially prepare the priests,
the instruments, the altar, and the Temple itself before sacrifices could be
made. Again, parallels to Jesus’
consecrated life and sacrificial death are immediately noticeable.
All
three gifts reveal thought-provoking implications that related to Jesus’ life
and his ministry.
Practically
speaking, in this case, the gold was likely used to help the family escape to
another nation. As we know from last
week’s reading, an angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream and he was
instructed to take refuge in Egypt, a journey of over 100 miles. For a family of humble means, a trip of this
magnitude would be difficult to pull off. Though we don’t have a record of this, it is
reasonable to think that the valuable gifts Mary and Joseph received from the
wisemen may have helped finance the family’s flight to Egypt and eased their
time and entry into that country.
Now, let’s talk for a moment about
these wisemen or magi. We can’t really
talk about the gifts they brought without asking the question, who were these
men that came visiting Jesus bringing these unusual gifts?
With
no hint of a backstory, Matthew simply introduces us to the travelers with,
“behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem....” But who were these men? The term wise men (also translated as magi)
refers to astronomers or astrologers who served in royal courts throughout the
ancient near eastern world. Within the
Medo-Persian Empire, for example, magi were regarded as valuable advisors due
to their knowledge of science, agriculture, and sorcery. Later, during the Babylonian Empire, Daniel
encountered—and rescued—a group of prominent wise men that had been called upon
to interpret the king’s dream (Daniel 2:2,24).
By the
1st Century AD, magi were more broadly known as men who studied sacred writings
and dabbled with occult practices. As
evidenced by the account of Simon Magus in Acts 8, such men who “practiced
magic” were contemporaries of Jesus and his disciples in and around Palestine.
Though present throughout the region, magi were more commonly associated with
the Parthian Empire located to the east of Palestine (present-day Iran). It’s possible that the wise men who visited
Jesus hailed from this area, which would explain their familiarity with the Old
Testament prophesy of the “king of the Jews”. After the Babylonian captivity, remnants of Jewish
culture lingered in that region and it’s likely that Hebrew Scriptures were
among the sacred writings these wise men studied in their pursuit of wisdom.
The
wise men and their gifts may also be seen through the lens of global missions. Israel was never intended to be the stopping
point of grace; God called them to be a light for all nations. One of the clearest examples of this picture
is found in Isaiah 60, a scene describing an age to come when the nations would
be drawn to the glory of Israel—“nations shall come to your light, and kings to
the brightness of your rising” (Isaiah 60:3). The nations would come, but they
wouldn’t be empty-handed: “they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall
bring good news, the praises of the Lord” (v. 6). In the wise men, we see a
microcosm of the greater reality that is to come: one day, people from every
tribe, tongue, and nation will come before the throne of Jesus in praise and
adoration.
So, what’s the point of reading about
these magi and their gifts? They brought
gifts they were familiar with in their day and age. What gifts do you bring? Perhaps your Star-Word will allow you to
learn a bit more about what you can bring this year to Christ.
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
God of the nations, long ago
the magi brought gifts to Christ, rich and costly gifts, each one a unique
expression of the giver. Help us to
bring gifts today that will express our love and dedication, not only gifts of
gold, but gifts of talent, time, and energy.
We lay these gifts at your feet, trusting that you will find a use for
all that is given in Jesus’ name. AMEN.
Communion
Invitation: Revelation 3:20 tells us that Jesus stands at
the door and knocks; if you hear his voice and open the door, he will come in
and eat with you, and you with him. In
our worship today, Christ invites you now to this feast. Will you come?
Words of Institution and the
Partaking of the Elements
Prayer of Thanksgiving: God Almighty, who is, who was, and who shall
ever be, we give You thanks that You have taken Your great power and have begun
to reign in this world and in the world to come! We thank You for this feast of love and
victory, which is a foretaste of the day when all shall gather together on Your
Holy Mountain, reunited with Christ the Lamb.
Give us courage to serve You in obedience, that Your ways of justice and
truth may triumph on this earth. AMEN.
Closing
Hymn – As With Gladness Men of Old Hymn
#63/290
Benediction –
May God’s Heavenly
Light and the Inspiration of the Magi’s Gifts guide your
daily living this
week. Go in peace. AMEN.
Postlude
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