February 6, 2022 – 5th Sunday after the Epiphany
Psalm 138
L: I give You thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing Your praise;
P: I bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your steadfast love and Your faithfulness; for You have exalted Your name and Your word above everything.
L: On the day I called, You answered me, You increased my strength of soul.
P: All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O LORD, for they have heard the words of Your mouth.
L: They shall sing of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD.
P: For though the LORD is high, He regards the lowly; but the haughty He perceives from far away.
L: Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve me against the wrath of my enemies; You stretch out Your hand, and Your right hand delivers me.
P: The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me; Your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of Your hands.
Hymn #398 Jesus Calls Us
- Jesus calls us o'er the tumult of our life's wild, restless sea;
day by day His sweet voice soundeth, saying, "Christian, follow me!" - As of old the apostles heard it by the Galilean lake,
turned from home and toil and kindred, leaving all for Jesus' sake. - Jesus calls us from the worship of the vain world's golden store,
from each idol that would keep us, saying, "Christian, love Me more!" - In our joys and in our sorrows, days of toil and hours of ease,
still He calls, in cares and pleasures, "Christian, love Me more than these!" - Jesus calls us! By Thy mercies, Savior, may we hear Thy call,
give our hearts to Thine obedience, serve and love Thee best of all.
Children’s message
1 Corinthians 15:1-4
Now I would remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain. For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,
I wonder what you would do if you had something important to say, something important that you want to be sure another person hears you say. What do you do? Do you wait for them to be quiet? Do you raise your voice? Do you ask, “1,2,3, can you hear me?”
In this morning’s scripture, Paul has said some important things in his letter to the people living in Corinth. They were called Corinthians. But now, in this verse, he has come to the most important thing of all – the good news that Jesus died for our sins and that God raised Him up to new life. The Corinthians had heard Paul preach this good news before when he first met them. They had believed and trusted it. But now Paul worries that they are forgetting, so he reminds them again. He really wants them to hear this!
In verse 3, Paul reminds us to pass the good news on to others. We pass the good news by knowing God loves us and by telling others about God’s love.
It is almost Valentines’ Day and one of my favorite candies for Valentines’ Day are conversation hearts. They each have a little message on them that convey love, I also look for the one that says 1 I love and hand it off to whoever is near me because I want to share my love for them. Paul is sharing his love with the Corinthians by retelling them the good news of Jesus’ birth, death, and resurrection as God’s message of love to them and to us.
God so loved the world that God sent God’s son, Jesus to show us how much love God has for each of us. In other words, God says to each of us, “1 I love!” Jesus says to each of us, “1 (One) I love!”
I wonder how you would feel to pass God’s love, the good news, on to someone else. Let’s try it. I will count to three, and will say, “1 I Love.” When I say it, I want each of you to point to someone else in this room. It can be anyone, but point and make eye contact with someone. Let that person know that you are passing on to him or her the good news of God’s love. Let’s try it together. 1, 2, 3. “1 I love!”
I wonder if the people in Corinth felt the same feeling you just felt.
I wonder how we can share the good news of God’s love with other people.
Prayer: God of love, we give You thanks for reminding us constantly how much You love us. We truly feel Your love when we show and tell others of Your love. Thank You for making me 1 that You love! Amen. (adaptation from Discipleship Ministries)
Prayers of Intercession: Thank You most gracious and forgiving Father for hearing the cries of our hearts. We now pray as You have taught us: 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. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Offering spotlight: Soup-er Bowl of Caring is celebrated today. This evening we will collect any non-perishable food items or monetary donation that you wish to make, benefitting the Orangeville Food Bank. Every participating community nationwide gives to their own local food bank. If you want to help the food bank see Jeff Wolfe, Donna Winn or Pastor Ron French.
Offertory prayer: Gracious and merciful God, we offer our gifts to You this day with open hands and open hearts. We know there have been days when we have clung to money for our security, to try to control our future. At times, we’ve been tempted to believe that in gaining more, we would find salvation. Open our ears and minds to hear the truth from Your apostle Paul: we need only hold firmly to the good news of Christ’s death and Resurrection – it alone will save us. In the holy name of Jesus, our redeemer, we pray. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn of Preparation #358 Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
- Dear Lord and Father of mankind, forgive our foolish ways;
reclothe us in our rightful mind, in purer lives Thy service find, in deeper reverence, praise. - In simple trust like theirs who heard, beside the Syrian sea,
the gracious calling of the Lord, let us, like them, without a word, rise up and follow Thee. - O sabbath rest by Galilee, O calm of hills above,
where Jesus knelt to share with thee the silence of eternity, interpreted by love! - Drop Thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease;
take from our souls the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess
the beauty of Thy peace. - Breathe through the heats of our desire Thy coolness and Thy balm;
let sense be dumb, let flesh retire; speak through the earthquake, wind, and fire,
O still, small voice of calm.
Message scripture: Luke 5:1-11
Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on Him to hear the word of God, He saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then He sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed Him.
Message: Deep Water Pastor Becky Cuddeback
This account in the NRSV is subtitled Jesus calls the first disciples, most of our Bibles give chapter titles. They are usually rooted in tradition or sum up what the story is about, the subtitles can be helpful for our first read through, but by the twentieth – they can be a hindrance. We can oversimplify what is going on, or we believe the subtitle locks down the only learning to be found there. We have to ask broadening questions to be able to hear what God is speaking to us today because if not, then the Bible only becomes history and not living word. And I need it to be living word and the world needs it to be a living word because we don’t worship a dead God. So how do we look at this calling of the disciples, when we have been raised in the environment and knowledge that Jesus called these fishermen?
We look at what Jesus asked Peter to do. Jesus knows Peter is a fisherman and by all accounts Peter does a fairly good job at it. As any fisherman knows, there are good days and not so good days, days of enough, days of plenty and days of not one fish. But we know Peter must have more good days than bad, he has a boat, the gear for the job, and partners to fish with. If Peter wasn’t fairly good, he would be fishing alone, off the bank – not out in the sea. I believe I can say, he knows what he is doing.
Just like if Jesus showed up today, here in our worship, one of our ministries or missions. We have a fairly good idea of what we are doing. We are being obedient to loving God and loving our neighbor – the hallmark of the Church. We take seriously the call to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick or imprisoned, shelter the homeless and give water to those who thirst. We come together in worship and song. We pursue deeper walks with Jesus through the study of the Bible and prayer without ceasing. The impression would be we are fairly good at being the Church. Things are going fine.
And things were going just fine with Peter. He was ready to call it a day – then Jesus showed up. See, that is the thing with Jesus, when Jesus shows up, the “fine” becomes great. Jesus tells Peter to head out further and cast your nets into the deep water. Peter knows these waters and even after fishing all night, he does as Jesus has instructed him. And you know the rest of the story – they have such a great haul of fish the boat nearly sinks and Peter needs his partners’ help. Jesus is asking Peter to trust Him and to go deeper – Jesus isn’t giving fishing advice, but is asking Peter to venture into where “there may be unexplored areas of potential beyond perceived limits of resources, knowledge, and energy. (Karen Mohn)”.
And that is what Jesus is calling for us to do also, to do what we know we are skilled at, what we have been doing, but go deeper – look for that deep water, which may seem scary or hard, but Jesus is asking us to not settle for fine, but to live into the abundance of the call – it isn’t the great haul of fish that is the miracle, but the response of an obedient follower. And the beauty of all of this is, Jesus will be with us, the Holy Spirit will sustain us. Now we just need to look for the deep water.
Let us pray: Almighty God, You called us and we have responded and You now call us again to be in a deeper relationship with Your world. We know this will be hard and it will come with a cost. Not everyone will go with us, there will be those that will stay put, and be happy with fine – but we pray for those that will go to deep water and explore the vision You are casting for us. The vision to follow Your Son while we are leading and serving others. In and through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Closing Hymn Go Now in Peace
Go now in peace...never be afraid. God will go with you each hour of every day.
Go now in faith, steadfast, strong and true. Know He will guide you in all you do.
Go now in love, and show you believe. Reach out to others so all the world can see.
God will be there, watching from above. Go now in peace, in faith, and in love.
Benediction: Go into this week with the blessings of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.