Login / Signup

Free Access

The Epiphany Of Our Lord

Worship
Lectionary Worship Workbook
Series IV, Cycle B
Call To Worship
This Call To Worship is based on Eugene Petersen's translation of Isaiah 60:1-3 in The Message.

Leader: Get out of bed, Jerusalem! Wake up, put your face in the sunlight!
God's bright glory has risen for you!
People: The whole earth is wrapped in darkness. All people sunk in deep darkness.
Leader: But God rises on you, O people of God.
People: His sunrise glory breaks over you.
Leader: Nations will come to your light;
People: Kings to your sunburst brightness.
Leader: Let us bow down before the one whose light fills the earth.
People: Amen!

This prayer is loosely based on the arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem and their worship of the newborn king. This Call To Worship and the following Prayer Of Confession and Assurance Of Pardon are all related.

Leader: Gifts for the newborn King.
People: O God, endow the King with your justice,
Leader: The royal Son with your righteousness.
People: All kings of the earth will bow down to him,
Leader: And all nations will serve him.
People: Noblemen pay tribute,
Leader: With gifts of gold and incense and myrrh.
People: Humble hearts seek him,
Leader: And lay down their treasures before him.
People: King Jesus, you alone are worthy.
Leader: Let us bow down and worship the King.


Prayer Of Confession
Leader: King of righteousness,
People: We tend toward comfort and conformity in the world,
Leader: Rather than taking our place in ways that are right.
People: We act as if the line between right and wrong
Leader: Is insignificant to you.
People: We do not let your righteousness rule in us.
Leader: Ruler of justice,
People: Who sees those who are oppressed
Leader: And hears the cries of the afflicted;
People: We live sheltered and self-centered lives,
Leader: Not seeing or hearing or caring or acting as you do
People: On behalf of those who are hurting or dying.
Leader: Our sense of justice is dulled.
People: We are slow to respond to the call of justice.
Leader: King of righteousness, ruler of justice,
People: Forgive us, change us, reign in us,
Leader: So that our lives will bear evidence to your presence in us
People: To those who need to know you. Amen.


Assurance Of Pardon
Leader: How great is our God!
People: Ever faithful to his promises!
Leader: He will deliver the needy who cry out,
People: The afflicted who have no one to help.
Leader: He will rescue them,
People: He will rescue me,
Leader: For our lives are precious to him.
People: God is our help and salvation.


Prayer For Illumination
Week in and week out we enter into the sanctuary of God, and yet, we do it without pause or attention to the awesome nature of the one into whose presence we come. As we open now the pages of this book, may we be aware of the humbling presence of the one the Magi met long ago. Amen.


Benediction
Ephesians 3:10
God's intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. As we leave this place, let us go forth intent on being revealers of God's wisdom in all we do. Amen.


Hymns

Adoration

As With Gladness Men Of Old

Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light

Fairest Lord Jesus

Go Tell It On The Mountain

If Jesus Goes With Me

O Sing A Song Of Bethlehem

One Small Child

We Three Kings


Contemporary Choruses
Here I Am, Lord (Appears as a hymn in some new hymnals)
UPCOMING WEEKS
In addition to the lectionary resources there are thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...
Proper 23 | OT 28 | Pentecost 18
30 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
30 – Children's Sermons / Resources
29 – Worship Resources
34 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 24 | OT 29 | Pentecost 19
29 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
27 – Children's Sermons / Resources
20 – Worship Resources
29 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Proper 25 | OT 30 | Pentecost 20
34 – Sermons
160+ – Illustrations / Stories
32 – Children's Sermons / Resources
26 – Worship Resources
31 – Commentary / Exegesis
4 – Pastor's Devotions
and more...
Plus thousands of non-lectionary, scripture based resources...

New & Featured This Week

The Immediate Word

Dean Feldmeyer
Christopher Keating
Thomas Willadsen
Katy Stenta
Mary Austin
Nazish Naseem
For November 9, 2025:
  • Reductio Ad Absurdum by Dean Feldmeyer. The best way to not lose an argument is to not argue at all.
  • Second Thoughts: Stirred, But Not Shaken by Chris Keating. In the face of lawlessness, chaos, and rumors about Jesus’ return, Paul urges the Thessalonians to hold fast. It is a reminder of the powerful witness we find in these often misinterpreted apocalyptic texts.

Emphasis Preaching Journal

Mark Ellingsen
Haggai 1:15b--2:9
The First Lesson is found in a book which is set early in the reign of the Persian emperor Darius I (around 520 BC), nearly 20 years after the Babylonian exiles had returned home. Work had ceased on the planned rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. The book recounts the prophet Haggai’s efforts to exhort the region’s Persian governor Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua to resume the construction project. This text is an ode to the new temple to be built.
Mark Ellingsen
Bill Thomas
Frank Ramirez
Haggai 2:1-15b--2:9 and Psalm 145:2-5, 17-21 or Psalm 98

CSSPlus

John Jamison
Object: A couple of board games or card games.

* * *

StoryShare

Peter Andrew Smith
“Hey Pastor Tom!” Mary waved from in front of the university library. “Are you heading to the flag raising?”

“I am,” Pastor Tom said. “Are you attending?”

“Not me — I’m afraid.” She gestured at the Physical Sciences building. “I have a class in a couple of minutes. See you on Sunday!”

“See you then. Have a good class!”

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Call to Worship:
Jesus responded to a trick question by telling people the good news that after death we live on forever in a new kind of life. In our worship today, let us explore the theme of life after death.

Invitation to Confession:

Jesus, sometimes I find it hard to believe in life after death. Lord, have mercy.

Jesus, sometimes I'm afraid of Judgement Day. Christ, have mercy.

SermonStudio

Carlos Wilton
Psalm 145 is known not so much in its entirety, but piecemeal, by those who are familiar with Christian worship texts. Words like "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised" (v. 3); "The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season" (v. 15) and "The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth" have often called us to worship. The words, "The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love" (v. 8) have often called us to confession, or assured us of God's pardon.
Robert R. Kopp
When I asked Dad to go to Israel with Mom and me about fifteen years ago, he said, "Son, I've been in two wars. That's enough dodging bullets for one lifetime."

But after almost two decades of trips to Israel, I've discovered Jerusalem is a lot safer than walking around Yankee Stadium or Central Park. Indeed, I'd be willing to wager a round at Pebble Beach that there are more crimes committed in America every day than in Israel every year.
John E. Berger
Here is a true story about a strange funeral service.

The deceased man had no church home, but that is not the unusual part of the story. The man's widow asked for a certain clergyman to be the funeral preacher. The desired clergyman had performed a family wedding a few years earlier. That is not unusual either. It is what is called "an extended church family relationship." In other words, the man had been neither a church member nor a church goer, but there had been a connecting experience -- in this case a family wedding.
Richard E. Gribble, CSC
I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him down the labyrinthine ways
Of my mind; and in the midst of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated
Adown Titantic glooms of chasmed fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying chase
And unperturbed pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy;
They beat -- and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet --

Special Occasion

Wildcard SSL