ST. MATTHEW’S
The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
Book of Alternative Services
• Interim Priest: Fr. Wright
• Honorary Assistant: Rev. Blair Dixon
• Wardens: Mae Boa & Ben Harmsworth
• Sunday School: Marlene Skaalrud
• Music Ministry: Nicole Stenerson
• Treasurer: Tammy Weisgerber Gilbert
• Prayer Cycle: Bert Clarke
WELCOME TO
ST. MATTHEW’S
THE GATHERING OF THE COMMUNITY
• Priest: The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you
all.
• Congregation: And also with you
COLLECT FOR PURITY
• Priest: Almighty God…
• Congregation: to you all hearts are open, all
desires known and from you no secrets are
hidden. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by
the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may
perfectly love you and worthy magnify your holy
name; through Christ our Lord.
10,000 REASONS (BLESS THE LORD)
Click on image to
bring up lyrics
(Nichole will play the
piano while we sing).
We will be singing this
song throughout
February.
CHILDREN'S TIME
Please join me at the chancel steps if you are young
enough or you figure you are young enough.
THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE, I’m goanna let it
shine. This little light of mine, I’m goanna let it
shine. This little light of mine, I’m goanna let it
shine. Let it shine, let it shine let it shine.
COLLECT
Merciful Lord, grant to your faithful people
pardon and peace, that we may be cleansed from
all our sins and serve you with a quiet mind;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now
and for ever.
WORD OF GOD
Please be seated as we listen to the Word of
God.
ISAIAH 40:21-31
21Have
you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been
told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from
the foundations of the earth? 22It is he who sits above the circle
of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who
stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like
a tent to live in; 23who brings princes to naught, and makes the
rulers of the earth as nothing.
ISAIAH 40:21-31
24Scarcely
are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their
stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and
they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25To
whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the
Holy One. 26Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created
these? He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name; because he is great in strength,
mighty in power, not one is missing.
ISAIAH 40:21-31
27Why
do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is
hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my
God”? 28Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is
the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He
does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is
unsearchable.
ISAIAH 40:21-31
29He
gives power to the faint, and strengthens the
powerless. 30Even youths will faint and be weary, and the
young will fall exhausted; 31but those who wait for
the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with
wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall
walk and not faint.
PSALM 147:1-12, 20C
REFRAIN: Praise the Lord who heals
the brokenhearted
1 CORINTHIANS 9:16-23
16If
I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for
boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do
not proclaim the gospel!17For if I do this of my own will, I have
a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a
commission. 18What then is my reward? Just this: that in my
proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not
to make full use of my rights in the gospel.
1 CORINTHIANS 9:16-23
19For
though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a
slave to all, so that I might win more of them. 20To the Jews I
became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I
became as one under the law (though I myself am not under
the law) so that I might win those under the law. 21To those
outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am
not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I
might win those outside the law.
1 CORINTHIANS 9:16-23
22To
the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I
have become all things to all people, that I might by all means
save some. 23I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may
share in its blessings.
GRADUAL HYMN (BLUE BOOK)
# 538: Nearer, My God, to Thee
Stop BEFORE last verse in order to listen
to the Gospel. Following the Gospel, we
will sing the last verse TOGETHER.
GOSPEL: MARK 1:29-39
29As
soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of
Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30Now Simon’s mother-inlaw was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at
once. 31He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then
the fever left her, and she began to serve them. 32That evening, at
sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with
demons. 33And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34And
he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out
many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak,
because they knew him.
GOSPEL: MARK 1:29-39
35In
the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and
went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36And
Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37When they found
him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38He
answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I
may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came
out to do.” 39And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the
message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
SERMON
Opening Prayer: Lord, open my heart that I may
speak your truth. Open our ears so that we hear
your truth. And guide our spirits so that we can
take that truth to the world. By your power, and
through your grace, Amen
TWO NATURES OF CHRIST (ATHANASIUS)
• In 360 AD, Athanasius argued for the divinity of
Christ while also affirming the full humanity of
Christ.
• Today… we listened to the Gospel, which points
to this reality – Jesus is both God and Human.
“Being God, he became a human being: an than as God he raised the
dead, healed all by a word, and also changed water into wine. These
were not the acts of a human being. But as a human being, he felt thirst
and tiredness, and he suffered pain. These experiences are not
appropriate to deity. As God he said, “I in the Father, the Father in me;”
when I am a man who has told you the truth, when I heard from my
father?” And yet these events are not events occurring without any
connection, distinguished according to their quality, so that one class
may be ascribed to the body, apart from the divinity, and the other
divinity, apart from the body. They all occurred in such a way that they
were joined together; and the Lord, who marvelously performed these
acts by his grace, was one.
He spat in human fashion; but his spittle had divine power, for
by it he restored sight to the eyes of the man blind from birth.
When he willed to make himself known as God, he used his
human tongue to signify this, when he said, “I and the Father
are one.” He cured by his mere will. Yet it was extending his
human hand that he raised Peter’s mother-in-law when she
had a fever, and raised from the dead the daughter of the ruler
of the synagogue, when she has already died.”
• Athanasius here offers a critique of the Arian
understanding of the identity of Christ – Arians denial of
the divinity of Christ.
• It is only God who can save! God, and God alone, can
break the power of sin and bring us to eternal life.
• An essential feature of being human is that one requires to
be redeemed. No creature can save another creature.
Only the Creator can redeem the creature.
• Athanasius makes the logical argument that Christ is both
fully human and divine. That Jesus is God incarnate!
CONCLUSION
• C.S. Lewis: “A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things
Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a
lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or
he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either
this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something
worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and
call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing
nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left
that open to us.”
• Do you agree? If so… that changes everything!
AMEN
APOSTLES’ CREED
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ , his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived
by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary . He
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He
ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I believe in
the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life
everlasting. Amen.
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
• LITANY # 3 (page 112-113 of BAS)
• RESPONSE: Lord, Hear Our Prayer
• PERSONAL PRAYERS
• PRAYER FOR ST. MATTHEW’S
• Please stand, sit or kneel as may be most comfortable for you.
INVITATION TO CONFESSION
Priest: Dear friends in Christ, God is
steadfast in Love and infinite in mercy,
he welcomes sinners and invites them
to his table. Let us confess our sins,
confident in God’s forgiveness.
CONFESSION
ALL: We confess that we have sinned against you in
thought, word and deed, by what we have done and by
what we have left undone. We have not loved you with
our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbor as
ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us
and forgive us, that we may delight in your will and walk
in your ways, to the glory of your name. AMEN
ABSOLUTION
• Priest: Almighty God have mercy upon
you, pardon and deliver you from all your
sins, confirm and strengthen you in all
goodness, and keep you in eternal life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN
THE PEACE
PRIEST: THE PEACE OF THE LORD BE
ALWAYS WITH YOU.
PEOPLE: AND WITH YOU
OFFERTORY HYMN: BLUE BOOK
#532: What a Friend We Have in Jesus
Representatives of the people will present the gifts
of bread and wine for the Eucharist (with money and
other gifts for the needs and responsibilities of the
Church) to the celebrant before the altar.
PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS
• God of compassion and forgiveness,
receive our offering this day, and make
us one with him who is our peace, Jesus
Christ our Saviour.
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING (EUCHARIST)
PRAYER #3 (PAGE 198, BAS)
• Priest: The Lord be with you
• People: And also with you
• Priest: Lift up your heart.
• People: we lift them to the Lord
• Priest: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God
• People: It is right to give our thanks and praise.
PROPER PREFACES
Celebrant: Blessed are you, gracious God, creator of
heaven and earth; you have revealed your eternal plan
of salvation, and have shown your Son Jesus Christ to
be the light of all peoples. Therefore with angels and
archangels we raise our voices in joyful praise to
proclaim the glory of your name.
SANCTUS
• All: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and
might
• Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna
in the highest.
• Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER #3
Celebrant We give thanks to you, Lord our God, for the
goodness and love you have made known to us in
creation; in calling Israel to be your people; in your Word
spoken through the prophets; and above all in the Word
made flesh, Jesus your Son. For in these last days you sent
him to be incarnate from the Virgin Mary, to be the
Saviour and Redeemer of the world. In him, you have
delivered us from evil, and made us worthy to stand
before you. In him, you have brought us out of error into
truth, out of sin into righteousness, out of death into life.
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER #3
• Celebrant: On the night he was handed over to suffering and death, a death
he freely accepted, our Lord Jesus Christ took bread; and when he had given
thanks to you, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, and said, “ Take, eat:
this is my body which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”
After supper he took the cup of wine; and when he had given thanks, he gave
it to them, and said, “Drink this, all of you: this is my blood of the new
covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.” Therefore, Father,
according to his command…
• ALL: we remember his death, we proclaim his resurrection, we await
his coming in glory
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER #3
• Celebrant: and we offer our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to
you, Lord of all; presenting to you, from your creation, this bread and
this wine. We pray you, gracious God, to send your Holy Spirit upon
these gifts, that they may be the sacrament of the body of Christ and
his blood of the new covenant. Unite us to your Son in his sacrifice, that
we, made acceptable in him, may be sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In
the fullness of time, reconcile all things in Christ, and make them new,
and bring us to that city of light where you dwell with all your sons and
daughters; through Jesus Christ our Lord, the firstborn of all creation,
the head of the Church, and the author of our salvation; by whom, and
with whom, and in whom, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honour and
glory are yours, almighty Father, now and for ever.
• People: Amen
THE LORD’S PRAYER
Celebrant: And now, as our Saviour Christ has taught us, we are
bold to say,
All: 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. And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen
THE BREAKING OF THE BREAD #4
PAGE 212-213 BAS
• Celebrant “I am the bread, which has come
down from heaven,” says the Lord.
• All: Give us this bread forever.
• Celebrant: “I am the vine, you are the
branches.”
• All: May we dwell in him, as he lives in us
THE COMMUNION
Celebrant: The gifts of God for the people of God.
People: Thanks be to God.
• ALL BAPTIZED Christians are welcome to partake in Holy
Communion.
• If you wish a blessing from the priest, please come forward
and cross your arms over your chest.
COMMUNION HYMN: BLUE BOOK
# 360: Bless the Lord, My Soul
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
• Eternal God, in you we find peace beyond all
telling. May we who share in this heavenly banquet
be instruments of your peace on earth, in the name
of Jesus Christ the Lord.
DOXOLOGY
Celebrant: Glory to God,
All: Whose power, working in us can do
infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.
Glory to God from generation to generation, in
the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and
ever. AMEN
ANNOUNCEMENTS
BLESSING
The peace of God which passes all understanding
keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and
love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord;
and the blessing of God almighty, the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit, be among you and remain
with you always.
RECESSIONAL HYMN: BLUE BOOK
# 528: God Our Help in Ages Past
DISMISSAL
•Celebrant: Go in peace to love & serve
the Lord
•All: Thanks be to God
Please join us downstairs for coffee and good food.