Worship
Service for January 19, 2025
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: No matter how far we wander from You, O
God,
P: Your steadfast love finds us.
L: No matter how unjust the world seems to
us, O God,
P: Your steadfast righteousness sustains us.
L: No matter how vulnerable our lives seem to
us, O God,
P: Your steadfast presence gives us hope.
L: No matter how unloved and uncared for we
feel, O God,
P: You hear our cries and answer our
prayers. Be present now in our worship
service today.
Opening Hymn – All Creatures of Our God and King #455/63
Prayer of Confession
Lord, how we must try Your
patience! We often doubt, when we should place our faith in Your abiding
presence. We think that we have to have
all the answers, and judge others who fail to live up to our expectations. We think that we are the one thing that
matters most in life. So, we place ourselves at the center of our own
universe. Forgive us when we show how
shallow our faith is. Help us to really
understand the miraculous ways in which You have already worked in our lives
and will continue to work as we journey in faith. Bring to us the Light of Joy,
and let it flood through our whole beings, that we may be transformed into
people of joyful service and faith. In
Jesus' Name, we pray. (Silent prayers
are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: God’s love is continually poured out for
us. We are forgiven and redeemed by the
Holy One of Israel.
P: For this we give our thanks and
praise. AMEN.
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
Sacrament of Baptism
Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s
Prayer
Precious and Holy Lord,
allow us to recognize Christ present in this place. Let us recognize Christ in one another. And more importantly, let us recognize Christ
in the face of strangers we meet each day.
We are members of your body and you have called us to do your work in
the world. You have called us to show
your love, your mercy, and your graciousness to a world in pain, to a world
full of anger, and to those who are lost and alone. Let that work begin in us today. Enable us to carry out your work in our
communities, in our neighborhoods, in our places of work, school, homes, and
among our friends and acquaintances.
Lord, open our eyes of
faith to see you in all the peoples of the earth. By the power of your Holy Spirit, enable us
to be your instruments of peace, of grace, and of redemption.
Be with the leaders of
our churches, our communities, our states, our nation, and the countries of the
world. Light a fire of compassion and
care within them for the people they govern, a fire of passion for the needs of
their own communities and peoples. Lord,
bring peace to the corners of the world that have not known peace in a long
time. Bring harmony to those who have
fought, disagreed with one another, have said hurtful things against one
another, and have held hatred in their hearts.
Dear God, we also pray
for people in our church, our own family members and friends – those who have
undergone surgeries, procedures, rounds of curative medicine. We pray for those who have broken bones,
broken hearts, and broken spirits. We
pray for those who have lost loved ones.
Show your presence in times of need and heal us of our afflictions.
We especially pray
for….
And now in this time of
silence, we lift up to you, the burden of our own hearts….
Most excellent Lord, we
give you thanks for hearing us this morning.
Continue to watch over us as pray 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 – Here
I Am, Lord #525/589
Scripture Reading(s):
First Scripture Reading – Psalm
36:5-10
Second Scripture Reading – Matthew 2:19-23
Sermon – “Going Home”
For Advent and the Christmas Season of 2024 and stretching into this
year, we’ve been going over all the parts of the Christmas story as found in gospels
of Matthew and Luke, especially as the passages relate to various
journeys. Recalling the journey of their
ancestors in the wilderness after freedom from slavery in Egypt, all the way
until last Sunday’s reading about the flight of Mary and Joseph with baby Jesus
back to Egypt because of Herod’s massacre of baby boys due to the birth of
Jesus.
Well, in due time Herod died, and when Herod died the whole
kingdom over which he had ruled was split up.
The Romans had trusted Herod, and they had allowed him to reign over a
very considerable territory, but Herod well knew that none of his sons would be
allowed a like power. So, he divided his kingdom into three. He left a part to each of three of his
sons. He had left Judaea to Archelaus;
Galilee to Herod Antipas; and the region away to the northeast and beyond
Jordan to Philip.
But the death of Herod didn’t solve the problem for Mary and
Joseph despite the angel’s dream message.
Archelaus was a bad king. In
fact, he was much like his father, he had opened his rule with the deliberate
slaughter of three thousand of the most influential people in the country.
Clearly, even now that Herod was dead, it was still unsafe to return to Judaea
with the savage and reckless Archelaus on the throne. So, Joseph was guided to go to Galilee where
Herod Antipas, a much better king, reigned.
It was in Nazareth that Joseph settled, and it was in Nazareth
that Jesus was brought up. But this
morning I want us to take a closer look at Joseph rather than Jesus or even
Mary. We don’t spend nearly enough time
learning anything about him. This
morning, I want us to imagine or maybe re-imagine this extremely important man
in Christ’s life.
Tradition tells us that Joseph was perhaps an older man, at least
significantly older than Mary. We don’t
know that for sure. There is nothing in
scripture that gives us any indication at all that this is true. We know that he’s a carpenter by trade, so he
is beyond being an apprentice which is usually several years after the age of
10-13. And we know that from scripture
he has maybe some decency and moral standing which usually comes with age. Because, after he found out that she was
pregnant, and not by him, he sought ways to dismiss his betrothal to her “in
private” so that she wouldn’t be publicly shamed. Now, to be perfectly honest, I’m not exactly
sure how he thought that would have been accomplished. She still would have had a child without a
husband. And perhaps that gives
us some indication that he may not have been as wise as older age would give
him. When you read the scripture
closely, it looks more like he was trying to get out of the marriage, not so
much for her sake, but for his own.
So, here’s the
picture I have of Joseph. He has
recently finished his apprenticeship years and has struck out on his own to
become a tradesman, a carpenter. In
Biblical times, during the first Century AD, that would put him perhaps
somewhere between 16-20 years old. Now,
he is looking to settle down with a wife.
His betrothed wife turns out to be pregnant. I think, if he was an older man, as tradition
might suggest, this might have come as good news because who knows if he would
be able to father a child in an advanced stage of life. So, because of his actions, I’m imagining
that he is just a bit older than Mary herself.
So, I’m going to put both of them between the ages of 14-17.
Joseph is visited by
an angel who tells him to not be afraid and to take Mary as his wife, that the
child she carries is from the Holy Spirit and that the child will be God’s son,
sent to redeem his people. Matthew loves
to make parallels to the Old Testament, so I’m going to make some parallels as
well. When angels came to Abraham and
Sarah in their advanced years to tell them that they would have children and
become the ancestors to many generations, what did Sarah do? Anybody remember? Yup, she laughed. I think the older you get, the more cynical
you get about the realities of life.
You’ve seen a lot, you know a lot, you know that people who are 100
years old, don’t have children. But what
did Mary and Joseph do when an angel came to them to give them this news? Okey-Dokey.
No big deal. Whatever the Lord
says. I think when you are young and not
so cynical about life, miracles are easier to believe.
I’m saying all this
because I think it’s important to characterize Joseph appropriately. Like Mary, Joseph was willing to be guided by
an angel to do all that was necessary for the safety and well-being of his
family. Experience alone wouldn’t have
done it, in fact, perhaps the exact opposite.
He may have needed more signs and wonders to believe. He may have needed more proof, more coaxing,
more prodding to do what was necessary.
Now that we have
perhaps a different picture of Joseph, let’s skip to last week’s passage when,
again an angel appeared to Joseph and warned him about Herod’s revenge. He takes Mary and the infant/baby Jesus and
flees to Egypt.
Here’s a young
family in a foreign land. None of
scripture give us any indication of how they fair in Egypt. But think about it. Here is a young couple of Jewish origin
returning to the land where the Jews had been enslaved for five hundred
years. Where do you think they’ll rank
in the class system of Egypt? Your
ancestors were slaves in this land, and you are foreigners, who don’t even
belong there. And yet, an angel of the
Lord tells them to flee to this country.
Why? I think because God knows
that an enterprising young man will do whatever it takes to make a living for
his family. Joseph worked his trade and
thrived in Egypt. But he is not the same
man that lain in bed one night worried about dismissing Mary quietly. He traveled to Bethlehem to sign up for the
census, the first one ever taken, as a citizen of Rome while his wife was nearly
due in pregnancy. He found no place for
them to stay but managed to find shelter in a stable just so they might be out
of the elements when the time came for her to deliver. Shepherds came to witness the birth who told
about an angel chorus. Joseph eventually
finds better housing for them to stay in Bethlehem for a time and magi from
distant lands come to pay his child homage, giving the family strange
gifts. The reigning king of the Israel
then comes in search of his child to kill him and he flees to Egypt. There he remains somewhat undercover so as
not to be detected and sent back to Israel, burdened with the stigma of being a
foreigner and the offspring of slaves from a distant past. There is no way that this Joseph is the same
Joseph that lain in bed wondering what to do about Mary.
He’s grown up, he’s
a changed man. He is the guardian of
God’s son, the physical shelter to a woman who found favor with God, and the
young man that God entrusted with a purpose.
He has endured threats from the king of his own country and who knows
what else in the hands of a people who would rather spit on him than offer him
grace.
One night an angel
appears once more and tells him it’s time to go home. How do you go home when you aren’t the man
you were just a few short years ago?
I remember leaving
for college. I was 17. I couldn’t wait to get there. I was finally on my own, away from home and
yet close enough for things to be familiar.
I saw my family every Sunday when we met for worship, sometimes joining
them for brunch afterwards. Nearly two
years went by, I stayed on campus during holidays and found a summer job at the
college so I could continue living there.
I made new friends, changed my major – a dream of being a music teacher,
gone. I found a decent job that paid
well, travelled alone, went away on my own vacations, all while going to school
and trying to find my own way in the world.
A lot about me had changed, too.
I think it was a last-ditch effort to save their marriage, but my
mom and dad asked me to come home to look after the house while they went away
on vacation. I agreed, although I hadn’t
set foot in the house I grew up in for two years. I remember going up to my old bedroom. It was still a bright yellow, the color I had
chosen to repaint it when I was 15. That
color now shouted at me. My old wooden
dresser looked worn, the curtains looked…eh, dated. The bifold doors on the closet no longer felt
like they held monsters at bay. This
room that had been my sanctuary from the world growing up felt so…unimportant
and small.
I walked through the house, remembering both good times and bad,
memories flooding me like ancient dreams of someone else. I sat at the kitchen table thinking about the
questions mom would ask us about our day and the discussions we had at
dinner. I thought about how different my
answers to those questions would be now.
I was no longer that naïve little boy.
I had seen things, witnessed life outside those protective walls, been a
part of the world. I was not the same
person anymore.
When I read today’s passage, I thought about Joseph going
home. I thought about all that he’d been
through and how he was no longer the same man.
God had prepared him for whatever he’d need to do. God prepared him for teaching his child well,
for instilling in him the necessary lessons of life, the gifts of both home and
the world.
You may not have left home and gone off to a foreign country, but
you aren’t the same today as you were two years ago, last year, or even yesterday. So, my questions for you this morning are
what lessons are you learning on your own journey, what is God teaching you to
fulfill God’s purpose in your life?
Thanks be to God. AMEN.
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
These
gifts, Lord, represent our lives, our possessions, all that we are and
have. We offer them now to you as
symbols of ourselves, so that you may take us and bless us and, through the
power of your Spirit, shape us into the true body of your Son. Amen
Closing
Hymn – Be Thou My Vision #562
Blue (3 verses)
Benediction –
Friends, as the disciples
walked with Christ so long ago, may you go from this place and walk with Christ
as well. Feel the power of the Holy
Spirit guiding your path. Know that the
love of God is poured out for you and rejoice.
Go in peace. AMEN.
Postlude
