John E. Sumwalt

It seems everybody knows about Victor Hugo’s greatest novel, even if few have actually read it. He called his masterpiece, Les Miserables, and said that it was “a religious work.” So it is. The story echoes the gospel message at nearly every turn.

The main character, Jean Valjean, has been beaten hard by the cruel twists of fate. He has seen the sham of hypocrisy on all sides. So he casts the name of the Lord to the ground like a curse. What does God know of him, and what does it matter?

Did you ever notice in most of the old movies how the credits are at the front and they don’t share much information? Take the classic The Wizard of Oz. The overture begins with a rousing fanfare, followed by musical allusions to the key songs in the show. Visually, we see the Metro Goldwyn Mayer logo featuring the roaring lion and the words “Metro Goldwyn Mayer presents,” and of course the title of the film.

Call to Worship:

The Spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus as he worshipped in the synagogue at Nazareth. Let us ask God's Spirit to fill us as we worship in church today.

Invitation to Confession:

Jesus, when we are unaware of your Spirit within us,
Lord, have mercy.

Jesus, when we deny your Spirit within us,
Christ, have mercy.

Jesus, when we reject or damage your Spirit within us,
Lord, have mercy.

Reading:

Luke 4:14-21

Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
-- Luke 4:21

David led us the two blocks from our church to his place of worship: a synagogue. We all gathered around him to hear what he was saying. The mid-week church school students had been studying the Jewish faith for three weeks, and now it was time to visit a synagogue!

David's job was to help the rabbi, who could only come to town periodically. David spoke with much pride of the customs that have been handed down for centuries and that he now espoused.

Theme

Is the body of Christ able to work together in harmony because the spirit of the Lord is upon it, or is it meant to operate like any other organization?

Summary

Pastor Ralph needs some work on his car and he is also dealing with differing factions in his church. He is not having a good day. Earl, his friend and mechanic, gives him some good advice on taking care of his car and then relates it to his church -- get all the parts working together; after all, they all have the same manufacturer -- the Holy Spirit.

Playing Time

Gospel Theme:
An overture for the oppressed

Gospel Note:
Luke's moving of Jesus' hometown sermon from later in his ministry (as in Mark) to its inception makes it a kind of programmatic overture for the Master's entire career. Jesus' choice of passage (from Tito-Isaiah) to define his objective is as sobering today as it was then, for the recipients of the good news are to be, not the comfortable and contented, but the poor, the imprisoned, the blind, the oppressed.

Liturgical Color:
Green

Suggested Hymns:
O God Of Light

Psalm 19 celebrates two different media through which God is revealed: nature and the law.

The first part of the psalm calls our attention to the presence of God in nature -- "The heavens are telling the glory of God." The word "glory" is the Hebrew kabod and literally means weight or heaviness. The derived meaning is something akin to "reputation." God's reputation is evident in the heavens.

But reputation for what?

We live in a society in which right and wrong have become largely a matter of personal opinion. All individuals are seen as a law unto themselves, and what is right for one person is not necessarily right for anyone else. Indeed, if any person tries to impose their ethical standards on another, the response is usually defensive anger. "Don't try to impose your middle-class morality on me," goes the complaint. "I know what is right for me, and you have no business trying to meddle in my life!"

I shall never forget the night that Mae June came to church. Mae June was a workingwoman who, in our little community, was often seen in the late hours of the night in some of the darker places of our little town.

In the Sundays of the Epiphany we are reminded in our worship how God continually reveals God's Person. That, of course, is done most clearly in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, who came to be one of us. Today the emphasis of the Lessons is on how God is revealed in the Word. In the Holy Gospel, Jesus himself points out how he is revealed in the word, or the word is revealed in him, but the people do not seem to understand. That is always a problem in communication. The words can be ever so clear, but do people get the message?

Let me offer you a hypothetical situation. Suppose you had a friend who was unfamiliar with the church. The person had never attended a worship service or sat in on a Sunday school class. He or she had never participated in any of the midweek fellowship activities or volunteered to help out with one of the mission trips. In effect, Christianity was a complete mystery to him/her. And so, more out of curiosity than anything else, the person asks you, "What exactly is the church?"

A single song is being inflected through all the colorations of the human choir.
The way to become human is to recognize the lineaments of God in all the wonderful modulations of the face [of humankind].
-- Joseph Campbell, The Hero With a Thousand Faces

Call To Worship
Leader: Welcome! Together we'll explore ancient stories about a public reading, the awesomeness of Creation, satisfying life together, and we will claim our God-given abilities.