Worship Notes for Sunday, January 26, 2014

In the season of Epiphany, we celebrate the gift of Christ to all the world of and the light of the knowledge of Christ bringing hope and redemption. Our passage from Luke 15 illustrates a fulfillment of Epiphany. As Christ teaches us of the Father’s great love in seeking and saving the lost, He also provides an example of how we are to do the same.The service opens with the Call to Worship from Psalm 25 in which we are reminded that the Lord will teach us His ways and paths and will lead the humble in these paths of steadfast love and faithfulness. We respond by singing O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus that leads us as well as O Shine Upon Us Lord as a prayer for illumination form His Word so that we might learn the voice of Jesus, our Shepherd, and follow His ways.

The New Testament Reading from Ephesians 2 outlines the Father’s pursuit of His children in making them alive in Christ and forgiving them through His grace. It is that grace on which we rely as we come to the Prayer of Confession from Psalm 32. We need His help to truly see our sin in order to confess it and turn away from it because left on our own, we deceive ourselves as to our own righteousness instead of finding our security and hiding place in Christ.

As we continue by singing Speak, O Lord, we pray for renewed minds in His Word for the sake of walking in the truth with the desire that the whole earth be filled with His glory.

Our last hymn, Teach Me O Lord, Thy Holy Way, is a fitting final responsive prayer for Him to guide and guard us on the true path as we walk through this life in His strength to do His will in serving others.

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