Epiphany Day - Morning - Christian Worship Tools

(January 6^th)

“THEY KNELT DOWN AND PAID HIM HOMAGE”

Matthew 2:1-12

GREETING

The magi followed a star and ancient prophecies.

We follow scripture and the testimonies of friends.

We follow church tradition and personal experience.

And like the magi, we are overwhelmed with joy,

to find you, our King and our Messiah, here today.

Before you our hearts kneel down with gifts of love.

HYMN 243 “De Tierra Lejana Venimos” (“From a Distant Home”)

PSALM 72:10-14

PRAYER

(Consider some of the following concerns of people for prayers of thanksgiving, intercession, and petition. Follow with your personal prayer list.)

For a good gift to offer to Jesus Christ For wisdom to blossom across the earth

We offer ourselves as a gift to Christ For me to be made wise

We offer our minds and bodies as gifts to Christ For others to be made wise

We offer our material possessions as gifts For those not seeing Christ’s light

We bow heart and mind before the Christ For those not recognizing Christ’s light

For others to be called to the light of Christ For those turning away from his light

For others to bow down and worship Christ To establish Christ as my King

For unity with foreigners worshiping Christ To establish Christ as King of my family

For unity with other denominations in worshiping To establish Christ as King of our church

To see the wisdom in humbly bowing to Christ To establish Christ as King of our nation

For those traveling far to worship Christ To establish Christ as King of all nations

That Christ died for the Jews That all the world open our hearts to him

That Christ died for those who are not Jews ____________________________

That Christ was willing to give all for us ____________________________

That we are willing, like Christ, to give all ____________________________

THE LORD'S PRAYER

SCRIPTURE LESSON

(Choose a passage of scripture to read. It can be a chapter, a paragraph, or a particular story. Daily lectionaries are available online or in print that assign a lesson each day from the gospels, epistles, Old Testament and psalms on a three-year cycle. Or you can create a plan to read a book of the Bible, or the whole Bible. Then follow the steps below.)

Read a passage of scripture. Read it out loud, very slowly and carefully as if for the first time. Continue reading until a word, phrase or sentence captures your attention. Stop there to repeat the word, phrase or sentence over and over, listening to it deeply in your heart.

Reflect on why the passage got your attention. Consider the area of your life to which this may apply. Is God saying something to you in this passage? Take time to listen carefully to whatever God may be saying to you.

Respond to God in prayer (or with journaling, music, art or whatever you choose) about what you have heard. Ask questions. Open yourself to God’s will for you.

Rest in God’s company. Be still and quiet. Move beyond thinking, practicing interior silence. Let yourself be open to God’s presence. Savor this moment with God.

PRAYER

Child of Bethlehem, Lord and King of our lives,

once it was just the magi and the shepherds kneeling before you,

but now more than two billion, two hundred million Christians worship you.

Those thinking of you in Bethlehem’s manger,

have become your church and the largest religion on planet Earth.

And today, like the magi before us, we bring our humble gifts to honor you.

In you, Jesus, we have become one huge family,

brothers and sisters joined in one amazing life, learning your love,

sharing your love, telling your love, and forever abiding in your constant love.

We come from each of the seven continents,

from each of this world’s one hundred and ninety-seven countries,

with your contagious and all-powerful love being the one language uniting us.

We are a woman from Fiji, a man from Peru,

a child from India, a teenager from Latvia, an elder from Jamica,

a student from Kenya, a worker from Taiwan, a retired person from Greenland.

Children from Djibouti love hearing your stories.

Mountain climbers from Germany pause in Nepal to pray to you.

Diplomats from Argentina consult your scriptures at their meeting in Belgium.

South Korean missionaries preach in Chile,

South Africans sing your praises as part of Philippine evangelism.

Workers from China and the United States join to worship in Nigerian churches.

We tell stories of you as our children go to bed,

the same stories comfort a little one joining you in heaven soon,

as well as strengthening those enduring persecution because of their faith in you.

The gifts we offer you are humble but real.

The Afghanistan farmer, who lost a leg to a mine, brings his tithe.

An Austrian executive works to change company policy to be more fair to women.

A Micronesian widow lays before you her mite.

A Bolivian mother carries food to an elderly neighbor from Brazil.

A Ugandan doctor stays with a tough diagnosis until the way to healing is found.

English teens build houses for homeless Haitians.

A Canadian boy offers friendship to a lonely boy from Syria.

Indonesian Christians feed hungry families in desperate Sudanese refugee camps.

These songs of love rise across all the lands.

They are the living sacrifices you seek from all your followers.

Accept these humble offerings, Child of Bethlehem, from all the nations of Earth.

(Silently pray Christ’s blessings on our brothers and sisters serving him in the nations of one or more of the world’s seven continents.)

The fifty-four countries of Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkino Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zambia.

The people in Antarctica (no countries).

The fifty countries of Asia: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen.

The fourteen countries of Australia and Oceania: Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, New Zealand, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

The fifty-one countries of Europe: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and Vatican City.

The fifteen countries of North America: Antigua, Bermuda, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, St. Vincent, United States, The Caribbean, and Greenland.

The thirteen countries of South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

We pray your blessing upon all these lands.

Use their gifts to build up your church around the world, God.

Let the light of Christ shine with glory and love everywhere your people are found.

Amen.

SILENCE AND COMMITMENT

(Pause to reflect and listen. Work to push out of your mind any distracting or irrelevant thoughts. Concentrate your thoughts on the words of the hymns and choruses you have sung, the prayers you have spoken and the scriptures you have read. Be aware of what you are feeling. Listen for anything that God might be saying to you in this time you have spent together. As God responds to your prayer-time, seek guidance for how you can best respond to God’s will. Then commit to serving God’s will for you.)

HYMN 254 “We Three Kings”

CLOSING PRAYER

From foreign, unknown places the magi came,

their purpose to kneel down and worship Christ.

In them, God, we see wisdom and commitment.

Their faithfulness and generosity witness to us.

Around us today, are those from foreign places.

Help us recognize and welcome fellow believers.

Let us work side-by-side here, serving your Son;

then extend our work to peoples unknown to us.

Lead us to unfamiliar doors, where need dwells;

then let us worship you, by serving those within.

Remind us that you are Creator and Father to all,

and you want your people to light up this world. Amen.