• 23 February 2025 (World Conference Special Offering)
WORSHIP RESOURCES
2 February 2025
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany Ordinary Time
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Love Is…
Additional Scriptures
Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; Luke 4:21-30; Doctrine and Covenants 154:7
Preparation
Throughout this service, there are responsive reflections where the leader states an issue or quandary, and the participants respond with a statement derived from 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. Make sure to project or print the responsive reflections for all to see. Presiders may want to explain this pattern during the Welcome.
Prelude
Welcoming Hymn
“Would You Bless Our Homes”
CCS 629 OR “Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love”
Encourage participants to sing in languages other than their own.
Welcome, Joys, and Concerns
Call to Worship and Responsive Reflection: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Leader: Love is the easiest word to say and the most difficult word to live. From the word to the deed is a long way.
CCS 367
Margaret Read MacDonald, “A Mexican Proverb” in Peace Tales: World Folktales to Talk About, Linnet Books, 1992.
All: Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. (Verse 4)
Hymn
“O My People, Saith the Spirit” Stanzas 3 and 4
CCS 604 OR “Now Sing to Our God”
Invocation
Response
Responsive Reflection
CCS 108
Leader: There are so many people who are convinced their way is “right” and others are “wrong.”
All: Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful. (Verse 5)
Focus on Love
This was written by Beatrice of Nazareth between 1200-1268. During that time, she wrote a diary. Through a keen desire to understand love, she meditated devoutly and eventually was given what she wrote, the Seven Manners of Love. This is an excerpt. Love…is…above her humanity, above human reason and intelligence, above all the heart’s operations, drawn exclusively by Eternal Love in the eternity of love, in the incomprehensibility, in the inaccessible breadth and height, in the profound abyss of the Divinity Who is “all in all things” and Who remains unknowable above all things, unchangeable, the plenitude of Being Who embraces all in His power, intelligence and sovereign work.
Beatrice of Nazareth, “The Seven Manners of Love,” In Her Words: Women’s Writings in the History of Christian Thought, edited by Amy Oden, Abingdon Press.
Responsive Reflection
Leader: For some, God’s love seems distant and unapproachable. All: Love never ends. (Verse 8)
Prayer for Peace
Peace Hymn
“Breathe on Me, Breath of God”
CCS 190 Encourage participants to sing in languages other than their own. OR “Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart”
CCS 48
Light the peace candle.
Peace Prayer
Spirit of loving community,
Thank you so much for the gift of community! Communities are powerful. Communities can band together to discern your word and create beautiful change! Communities can also reject those on the fringes, those who are different from us, and those who hurt us. Jesus was rejected by the very community that studied your word. Yet, he found a group to accept him and still included those who rejected him in his loving sacrifice. God, help us to follow Jesus’s example of peace.
Before peace is healing.
Before healing is forgiveness. Before forgiveness is a conversation at the table.
May we form communities where folks from all walks of life with varied opinions and life experiences join with the common goal of conversation, which leads to healing that leads to peace. We are so hopeful that our tables big and small, boring and quirky, long-standing and young can be the tables that bring the world to peace.
We are not blind to the divisions and conflicts and abused power in our world. We see them, but as communities of faith, we refuse to accept them. God, empower us to take our tables to the rejected, to bring healing, and to bring peace.
In the name of Jesus, the most loving host. Amen.
Responsive Reflection
Leader: My neighbor spreads rumors about me, and I often want to do the same about them.
Tiffany and Caleb Brian
All: Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. (Verse 6)
Ministry of Music or Congregational Hymn
“O May Your Church Build Bridges”
CCS 224 OR “God, Renew Us by Your Spirit”
Responsive Reflection
Leader: I feel restless. There’s too much on my plate. I don’t have time to just be.
All: Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (Verse 7)
Homily
Based on 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Focus Moment
CCS 237
You are invited to find someone to visit with about the meaning and blessings of love. Spend a moment focusing on these questions and then seek out a partner, perhaps someone new to you.
Project or print these questions.
• When has love improved your life and discipleship?
• What are the key foundations of love that inform your daily life?
• In what ways has love strengthened a particular ministry we offer?
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
Confession and Responsive Reflection
Leader: If I speak in tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love,
All: I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. (Verse 1)
Leader: If I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, All: I am nothing. (Verse 2)
Leader: If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, All: I gain nothing. (Verse 3)
Silent Prayers of Confession
Communion Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Sharing in the Spoken Word
Based on the sacrament of Communion
Hymn of Preparation
“Here at Thy Table, Lord”
CCS 517 OR “Is There One Who Feels Unworthy?”
Scripture Reading: Doctrine and Covenants 154:7 Silent reflection after the Scripture Reading.
Invitation to Communion
CCS 526
All are welcome at Christ’s table. The Lord’s Supper, or Communion, is a sacrament in which we remember the life, death, resurrection, and continuing presence of Jesus Christ. In Community of Christ, we also experience Communion as an opportunity to renew our baptismal covenant and to be formed as disciples who live Christ’s mission. Others might have different or added understandings within their faith traditions. We invite all who participate in the Lord’s Supper to do so in the love and peace of Jesus Christ.
Log in to Our Ministry Tools and search for Guidelines Lord’s Supper. If you have not used this library of resources, go to CofChrist.org/our-ministry-tools.
Blessing and Serving of the Bread and Wine
Disciples’ Generous Response
Hymn of Generosity
“My Life Flows On in Endless Song”
CCS 263 OR “Somos el cuerpo de Cristo/We Are the Body of Christ”
Statement
CCS 337
As we open our hearts to courageously and generously share by placing money in the offering plates or through eTithing, we join the movement of God’s compassion in the world. On this Sunday as we share in the sacraments, our offerings are dedicated to Abolishing Poverty and Ending Needless Suffering. This is how God’s generous compassion grows more visible in tangible ways.
If you have participants joining the worship online, remind them that they can give through www.CofChrist.org/give or through eTithing at www.eTithing.org (consider displaying these URLs).
Blessing and Receiving of Oblation, Local and Worldwide Mission Tithes
Responsive Reflection
Leader: When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. (Verses 11-12)
All: And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love. (Verse 13)
Closing Hymn
“When as a Child We Spoke”
OR “Though I May Speak with Bravest Fire”
Benediction
Unison Sending Forth
All: …and the greatest of these is love!
Postlude
CCS 571
CCS 166
Year C Letters
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany (Ordinary Time)
1 Corinthians 13:1–13
Exploring the Scripture
Our congregational identity often is shaped by what we do well. There was a crisis among the disciples in Corinth. Community members were looking for recognition, status, or even control and power, based on their spiritual gifts. Paul knew the people well. We assume that Paul is critiquing those who were boasting of their abilities in speaking, prophecy, and philanthropic efforts. But perhaps Paul chose these examples, knowing they were the spiritual gifts the Corinthian disciples valued most.
Love. Paul uses his final resource right from the start. One easily could interpret this to mean that Paul puts love at the top of the list of spiritual gifts. But Paul is pointing to something else. Speaking prophesying giving. In the previous chapter, Paul proposes that love was “an even better way” to strengthen the gifts we have (1 Corinthians 12:31). These words describe what we do with our giftedness, the “what” of our gifts. Paul asserts that love is not so much the what, but the how. Love is the path we take to do what we do. Love is the way.
Love as the “way” is witnessed in Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. The Greek word Paul uses for love is agape. That is Matthew’s word in talking about how Jesus taught his followers the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37–39). The good Samaritan story that Jesus uses to describe that love shows us love has less to do with feeling and more to do with action. As the popular 1990s Christian rap group DC Talk reminded us, “Luv is a verb.”
Jesus’s love (way) was a purposeful, intentional pathway to open doorways to justice, inclusion, wholeness, reconciliation, and healing of the Spirit, or shalom. This love never fails. It meets us again and again at the table. After we have failed it, willing to start over and put in the hard work it takes to unite and preserve a united body in a spirit of oneness, this love stands with those whose dignity may be at risk and tirelessly works to create spaces where all are seen, valued, and given a voice. This love seeks goodness for the other (love’s object=others) and then acts in ways that create pathways for that goodness to be clear made real.
So how do we know if what we are doing is being done in love? Paul provides a helpful tool for discerning what love is and what love is not. With this list, one quickly can see where he or she stands
Love is Love is not Patience
Kindness
Truth-seeking
Bearing
Hoping and Hopeful
Enduring all things
Envious
Boastful
Arrogant
Rude
Irritable
Resentful
Insistent on its way
Almost immediately you can see in the list “Love is not…” how much these words are centered on the subject…envious (me), boastful (me), insistent on its way (my way)! Compare this with the orientation of love focused on the object, the other. Patience (with you), kindness (to others), truthseeking (mutual, us, together). We could argue that Paul’s definition of love is the opposite of selfinterest. What a powerful litmus test to help answer the important question, “Are there things going on right now in my family, my community, and my world, more important than me being right, being
recognized, and getting my way?” When we insist on being right, being recognized, and getting our way, we eventually are left with nothing. We lose it all (v. 3). What if love is the cure? What are the best steps for addressing the pain, brokenness, and suffering in our families, communities, and world? Perhaps love can be the way of our next conversation. Maybe we should consider:
• Will we enter our next conversation with our agenda and ideas for what is best for the other person and get upset when that person doesn’t immediately do what we’ve suggested?
• Will we begin the conversation with a yearning for good and goodness for the other and then adjust our behavior to ensure pathways are opened so that goodness can become a reality? But in the other’s way? And on the other’s timeline?
• Will we begin the conversation by looking for the other person to understand (and most likely agree with) us? Or will we rejoice in the mutual sharing of various perspectives that may lead us to a broadened understanding of “the truth”?
Central Ideas
1. Love will strengthen what we do with our spiritual gifts.
2. Love’s greatest yearning is for others to have goodness, and it acts to create pathways for that goodness to be made real.
3. Even if we may have failed love, love never fails.
Questions for the Speaker
1. What features of ministry and worship does your congregation value most? (Preaching? Food bank? Generous donations? Choir? Children’s ministry? Community service?) How might a healthy critique, looking through the lens of love, help create space where the giftedness of others in the congregation could form the body of Christ more fully?
2. When has love improved your ministry?
3. How has love strengthened the ministry and giftedness of someone or a particular ministry in your congregation?
4. When has what you do felt more important than how you do it? And what did you lose by holding onto that belief?
SACRED SPACE: A RESOURCE FOR SMALL-GROUP MINISTRY
Year C Letters
Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany (Ordinary Time)
1
Corinthians
13:1–13 NRSVue
Communion Gathering
Welcome
The season after Epiphany includes the weeks between Epiphany and Transfiguration Sunday.
Prayer for Peace
Ring a bell or chime three times slowly. Light the peace candle.
Spirit of loving community, thank you so much for the gift of community! Communities are powerful. Communities can band together to discern your word and create beautiful change! Communities also can reject those on the fringes, those who are different than we are, those who hurt us. Jesus was rejected by the very community that studied your word together. Yet, he found a group to accept him and still included those who rejected him in his loving sacrifice. God, help us to follow Jesus’s example of peace.
Before peace is healing.
Before healing is forgiveness. Before forgiveness is a conversation at the table.
May we form communities where folks from all walks of life with varied opinions and life experiences join with the common goal of conversation that leads to healing and peace. We are so hopeful that our tables big and small, boring and quirky, longstanding and young can be the tables that bring the world to peace.
We are not blind to the divisions, conflicts, and abused power in our world. We see them, but as communities of faith, we refuse to accept them. God, empower us to take our tables to the rejected, to bring healing, and to bring peace.
In the name of Jesus, the most loving Host. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Dwelling in the Word
I will read a scripture aloud. As you hear the scripture breathe deeply and meditate on feelings that surface. Let them rest with you. After a moment of silence, I will read the scripture a second time. As you hear the scripture, listen and ponder on deep emotions that may surface and what that means in your life connected to this scripture.
Read Luke 4:21–30 NRSVue:
Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many with a skin disease in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
Pause. Read the scripture a second time. Invite group members to respond to these questions:
• What feelings came into you while listening to this scripture?
• How do you see yourself in this scripture?
Sharing around the Table
1 Corinthians 13:1–13 NRSVue
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it keeps no record of wrongs; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.
For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
The Corinthians were in what Paul deemed a crisis. Community members were attempting to use their status or spiritual gifts to gain power or control over others. Paul knew the people well and used his knowledge and rhetorical talents to change existing attitudes. In our scripture today, Paul looks to love as his definitive answer to bringing this community together. He proposes that love was “a still more excellent way” to strengthen the gifts we have (1 Corinthians 12:31 NRSVue).
Paul is not talking about affectionate love, Paul is speaking of the love that was witnessed in Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. Paul uses the Greek word for love, agape. That is the love that was present in the Good Samaritan story Jesus used to describe that love has less to do with feeling and more to do with action.
Jesus’s love was a purposeful, intentional pathway to open doorways to justice, inclusion, wholeness, reconciliation, and healing of the Spirit. This love never fails. It meets us at the table over and over again. This love seeks goodness for others and then acts in ways that create pathways for that goodness to be made real.
Paul’s letter helps us understand what love is and what it is not. Love is patience, kindness, truthseeking, bearing, hopeful, and enduring all things. Love is not envious, boastful, arrogant, rude, irritable, resentful, or insistent in its way.
You can see in the “love is not…” list, that the words center on the subject. When you are focusing on yourself, you are not sharing in love. The list of what love is focuses on the object. When we focus on others, we share in love. We could say that Paul’s definition of love is the opposite of selfinterest.
Questions
1. How might a healthy critique, looking through the lens of love, help create space where the giftedness of others in the congregation could more fully form the body of Christ?
2. When has love improved your ministry?
3. Think back on your life. How have you placed your self-interest above that of others and not reached out in love?
Sending Generosity Statement
Faithful disciples respond to an increasing awareness of the abundant generosity of God by sharing according to the desires of their hearts; not by commandment or constraint.
Doctrine and Covenants 163:9
The offering basket is available if you would like to support ongoing, small-group ministries as part of your generous response. You also may give at CofChrist.org/give The offering prayer for Epiphany is adapted from A Disciple’s Generous Response.
Revealing God, may we always be generous. You have gifted each of us with boundless grace and unending love. May our response to that love and grace be humble service to others, and may generosity be part of our nature. Amen.
Invitation to Next Meeting
Closing Hymn
Community of Christ Sings 362, “Prophetic Church, the Future Waits”
Closing Prayer
Optional Additions Depending on Group
• Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
• Thoughts for Children
Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
Communion Scripture
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NRSVue
Communion Statement
All are welcome at Christ’s table. The Lord’s Supper, or Communion, is a sacrament in which we remember the life, death, resurrection, and continuing presence of Jesus Christ. In Community of Christ, we also experience Communion as an opportunity to renew our baptismal covenant and to be formed as disciples who live Christ’s mission. Others may have different or added understandings within their faith traditions. We invite all who participate in the Lord’s Supper to do so in the love and peace of Jesus Christ.
We share in Communion as an expression of blessing, healing, peace, and community. In preparation let’s sing from Community of Christ Sings (choose from below options):
• 516, “Coming Together for Wine and for Bread”
• 521, “Let Us Break Bread Together”
• 523, “As We Gather at Your Table”
• 526, “Is There One Who Feels Unworthy?”
• 528, “Eat This Bread”
• 532, “We Meet as Friends at Table”
Thoughts for Children
Say: We all are called to love others. This is part of God’s work in the world.
One thing that can help us learn to love others is a practice called a body prayer. In this prayer, we will ask God to use us to bless others around us.
Stand up and make sure you have enough room that you will not hit anyone else as we pray. As we pray, we are going to be moving our bodies.
Move through the prayer, instructing the kids to join you in the motions as you pray.
Say: Reach high above your head with your hands. God, please use my hands to heal others.
Move your head from side to side and roll it around in a circle. God, help me to think and act like Jesus.
Open your eyes big and then close them tight. God, help me to see the world and its people the way you do.
Massage your ears with your fingers. God, help me to hear the needs of others and respond with love.
Open your mouth like you are about to yawn. God, help me to speak words of love and peace. Finally, place your hands over your heart. God, let your love flow through me and help me share it with others.
Amen.
9 February 2025
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany Youth Ministries Day
Provide a cross on the altar, big enough to be seen upright, and heavy enough to tie strings or ribbons around it. Or cover a small table cross with chicken wire. Beside the cross place a large open bowl of water. The bowl should be large enough to hold one ribbon/string from each participant. Provide enough ribbon/string for each person to have three pieces. Each piece of ribbon/string should be long enough to be tied around the cross transept or on the chicken wire. For the community chain, use a stapler to connect the ribbons/strings.
Prelude
Welcoming Hymn
“Earth and All Stars”
CCS 102 OR “Gather Your Children”
CCS 77
Welcome, Joys, and Concerns
Call to Worship
Everyone is called according to the gifts God has given us. What is your gift? How will you respond to God’s call to put your life into divine mission?
Hymn
“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
CCS 87 OR “Of All the Spirit’s Gifts to Me”
Invocation Response
Scripture Reading: Luke 5:1-3
Reflection
Reader 1: How can we believe something we can’t see? Before we experience God in our lives?
Reader 2: This is the task for everyone born after the resurrection of
CCS 45
Jesus the Christ believing it is the resurrected Jesus still present in our lives. It takes faith to follow the Way.
Leader: You all have pieces of string or ribbon. Choose one and reflect on your faith and why you believe. Then when you’re ready, come to the front and tie your string on the cross.
Prayer for Peace
Peace Hymn
“When Senseless Violence”
CCS 205 OR “What Comfort Can Our Worship Bring”
Light the peace candle.
Peace Prayer
CCS 199
God of Transformation, We confess our weakness as humans. Like the shepherds, we are afraid to follow your star. Like the Magi, we are uncertain of our journey. Like Isaiah, we say, “I am doomed!” as we see the death, destruction, conflict, oppression, and unjust systems in the world around us. Forgive us our uncertainty and our doubt.
Likewise, may we also follow Isaiah’s example and say also, “Send me!” in response to your call. May we follow in the footsteps of the fearful yet courageous shepherds and Magi, who journeyed to the manger of your son, Jesus, and who were forever transformed as a result.
Your love is stronger than human oppression, your patience is more long-lasting than human stubbornness, and your forgiveness is more powerful than human hatred. May we be renewed by your love and forgiveness and eager to work for peace. Grant us the humility and openness to your will so that we may act in your name. Grant us the faith to speak your words in the face of oppression, knowing the power to change the world lies in your words.
In the name of Jesus, in whose footsteps we strive to follow. Amen. Tiffany and Caleb Brian
Ministry of Music or Congregational Hymn
“How Long, O Lord”
CCS 201 OR “Lwe, lwe”
CCS 218
If this song is unfamiliar, ask participants to sing along with the vocal recording made in Haiti found on the Community of Christ Sings Audio Recordings available from Herald House.
Scripture Reading: Luke 5:4-6
Reflection
Reader 1: How can we live? How do we know what is expected of us? How do we know what is right and what is wrong, what is helpful and what is harmful?
Reader 2: Listen to the still, small voice that is already within you. Take the time to discern responsible choices and the giftedness God has given you. Have faith that God’s love will guide you.
Leader: The bowl of water beside the cross represents the Living Water. Choose another ribbon and reflect on how you can respond to needs that surround you. Then when you’re ready, come to the front and place your ribbon on the surface of the water.
Scripture Reading: Luke 5:7-11
Sharing in the Spoken Word
Based on Luke 5:1-11
Disciples’ Generous Response
Generosity Hymn
“Though the Spirit’s Gifts Are Many”
CCS 334 OR “According to the Gifts”
Scripture Reading: Doctrine and Covenants 153:9b
Statement
CCS 591
God’s generous compassion is limitless. As we open our hearts to courageously and generously share by placing money in the offering plates or through eTithing, we join the movement of God’s compassion in the world. God shares abundantly, we share faithfully, others share generously, and God’s love and compassion grow endlessly.
If you have participants joining the worship online, remind them that they can give through www.CofChrist.org/give or through eTithing at www.eTithing.org (consider displaying these URLs).
Blessing of Mission Tithes
God, help us step into the Deep Water and share according to our gifts and circumstances. May we provide for the welfare of others. Bless our giving this day. Amen.
Receiving of Local and Worldwide Mission Tithes
Reflection
Play soft music in the background, as it may take some time to form the chain.
Reader 1: Where do we belong? To whom do we belong?
Reader 2: We have forgotten who we are and must return to the source. We belong to God and we also belong to one another. We can’t do it alone.
Leader: Choose another ribbon and reflect on where you belong. When ready, take your ribbon and connect it with other people’s ribbons (with stapler) to form a large community chain.
Based on 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Place the completed chain near the cross and bowl to complete the worship setting.
Closing Hymn
“How Firm a Foundation” CCS 250 OR “I, the Lord of Sea and Sky” CCS 640
Benediction
Postlude
Year C Letters
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany (Ordinary Time)
Luke 5:1–11
Exploring the Scripture
This story of Jesus calling his disciples appears later in Luke’s Gospel than the other Gospels. The setting is the Sea of Galilee which Luke calls the lake of Gennesaret. It parallels two stories in Mark: Mark 1:16–20, the story of Jesus calling his disciples; and Mark 4:1–2, the story of Jesus beginning his teaching ministry.
The passage is divided into three parts. In the first part of the text, Luke introduces the setting. Jesus is being pressed by the crowds. He asks a fisherman to lend his boat as a rostrum from which Jesus can address and teach the crowd. Then Luke describes a miracle. The fishermen obey Jesus’ command to caste their nets into the water even though they had been unable to catch any fish that day. The nets become full of fish. They call their friends in other boats to share in the bounty. Finally we see a relationship develop between Jesus and the fishermen. The fishermen drop their nets and follow Jesus with his encouraging words that they will similarly catch people. They are “caught” by Jesus and given a new vocation in this wonderful metaphor.
As we reflect on this text, we can compare Peter’s calling to the other main character in Luke’s second account (Acts), Paul. Both Peter and Paul were called out of their normal lives and occupations by what can only be described as a miracle. This was so intense that following Jesus was a natural response, even by these men who did not feel worthy to be called. Features of both calls can be found in testimonies of many to this day.
Thinking of this text as proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah, a central theme in Luke, we see Jesus anointed by the Spirit, performing acts similar to Moses (manna), Elijah (meat and oil), and Elisha (loaves) in miraculous ways. Luke was saying the work of kingdom was accompanied by acts of abundant grace and generosity. It was a promise of more blessings to come to those who followed Christ in his mission of compassion, invitation, and justice and mercy.
Central Ideas
1. The fishermen did nothing to warrant or merit Jesus’ call to follow him.
2. The call to follow comes amid daily life and work.
3. Jesus commissions or “co-missions” us to invite others to follow him.
4. Jesus calls us to reorder our priorities and give of ourselves to our true capacity. We are obedient to that call as we engage in Christ’s mission.
Questions for the Speaker
1. How have you experienced the call to follow Jesus?
2. What stories of transformation can you share with the congregation?
3. With whom does your congregation share the hope of the kingdom? How do you uphold a relationship of love with them?
4. Become familiar with the church’s latest words of counsel on grace and generosity. How are you being called to give according to your true capacity and what does that look like?
SACRED SPACE: A RESOURCE FOR SMALL-GROUP MINISTRY
Year C Letters
Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany (Ordinary Time)
1 Corinthians 15:1–11 NRSVue
Gathering
Welcome
The season after Epiphany includes the weeks between Epiphany and Transfiguration Sunday.
Prayer for Peace
Ring a bell or chime three times slowly. Light the peace candle.
God of transformation, we confess our weakness as humans. Like the shepherds, we are afraid to follow your star. Like the magi, we are uncertain of our journey. Like Isaiah, we say, “I am doomed!” as we see the death, destruction, conflict, oppression, and unjust systems in the world. Forgive us our uncertainty and our doubt.
Likewise, may we follow Isaiah’s example and say also, “Send me!” in response to your call. May we follow in the footsteps of the fearful-yet-courageous shepherds and magi, who journeyed to the manger of your Son, Jesus, and who were transformed forever as a result.
Your love is stronger than human oppression; your patience lasts longer than human stubbornness; Your forgiveness is more powerful than human hatred. May we be renewed by your love and forgiveness, eager to work for peace. Grant us the humility and openness to your will that we may act in your name. Grant us the faith to speak your words in the face of oppression, knowing the power to change the world lies in your words.
In the name of Jesus, in whose footsteps we strive to follow. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Dwelling in the Word
I will read a scripture aloud. As you hear it, think of its meaning in context to when it was written. After a moment of silence, I will read the scripture a second time. As you hear the scripture again, think how you could rewrite it today to have similar meaning but in a different context.
Read Luke 5:1–11 NRSVue:
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 gotten 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 burst. 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’s 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.
Pause. Read the scripture again. Invite group members to respond to these questions:
• What images and thoughts came to your mind while listening to this scripture?
• Rewrite the scripture, considering something significant to you today. Share your rewritten scripture with the group.
Sharing around the Table
1 Corinthians 15:1–11 NRSVue
Now I want you to understand, brothers and sisters, 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 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you believed.
The people in Corinth had a lot going on, and Paul was busy trying to preserve the community of the church. In this letter alone, he dealt with spiritual elitism, sexual relationships, misunderstandings about marriage, divisive worship practices, and so forth. The issues involving the members in Corinth were causing division among the people and in their relationship with Paul. Paul was attempting to set things straight, reminding the people of the love of God for them and each other.
Going back to basics is essential during uncertainty and conflict. In today’s passage, Paul calls the people back to the fundamental elements of their belief, which for Paul was the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul wanted to remind them that everything they believe comes back to this essential truth: Jesus lives!
Paul reminds them that he is unfit to be an apostle because he persecuted the church, and still he was saved by the grace of God! This gift from God allowed him to make a difference in the life of the church. Lewis Galloway states that Paul believes:
[R]eceiving the gospel is not a matter of accruing one more good thing to a life that is already full of good things. Receiving the gospel is discovering in Christ a new center of existence, a new power for living, and a new perspective from which to view all things.
Paul is calling people to believe in and experience the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ first and then live accordingly. In so doing, the community experiences a deep sense of belonging to Christ and one another.
Questions
1. What does it mean for you to “get back to the basics?”
2. How have you felt “unfit” for ministry?
3. Who do you know that walked away from a faith community due to bickering over “issues?”
Sending Generosity Statement
Faithful disciples respond to an increasing awareness of the abundant generosity of God by sharing according to the desires of their hearts; not by commandment or constraint.
Doctrine and Covenants 163:9
The offering basket is available if you would like to support ongoing, small-group ministries as part of your generous response. You also may give at CofChrist.org/give.
The offering prayer for Epiphany is adapted from A Disciple’s Generous Response.
Revealing God, may we always be generous. You have gifted each of us with boundless grace and unending love. May our response to that love and grace be humble service to others, and may generosity be part of our nature. Amen.
Invitation
to Next Meeting
Closing Hymn
Community of Christ Sings 598, “You Walk along Our Shoreline”
Closing Prayer
Optional Additions Depending on Group
• Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
• Thoughts for Children
Thoughts for Children
Say: Paul was part of Christ’s mission. Paul was called to share the good news of Jesus with all the world. He traveled all over, talking about Jesus and helping people learn more about God’s community.
We also are called to work in God’s mission on Earth. That mission is:
• to invite others to be in relationship with Jesus.
• to care for the poor and help those who are suffering.
• to work for peace in our neighborhoods and the world.
Like Paul, we are called, and we have the opportunity to respond. Turn to your neighbor and say, “I am part of God’s mission, and so are you!”
After everyone has been included in God’s mission, thank everyone for participating.
Adapted from Community of Christ Worship Helps Focus Moments
16 February 2025
Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
1 Corinthians 15:12-20
Practice Resurrection
Additional Scriptures
Jeremiah 17:5-10; Psalm 1; Luke 6:17-26; Doctrine and Covenants 164:3b
Preparation
The Reflections are from Robert Bruch’s essay, “I Dream of the Day,” written after a life-changing experience when visiting the Republic of Kenya in East Africa. Found in Christian Drama for the Worship Service, first edition, edited by Debra Bruch, the essay is found at the end of the service to help provide context. It is used with permission. Print or project Our Response sentences so all can participate.
Prelude
Welcoming Hymn
“Jubilate Deo”
CCS 123
Sing through two times and then in a round with two, three, four, five, or six parts. If this song is unfamiliar, consider singing along with the vocal recording found on Community of Christ Sings Audio Recordings, available from Herald House.
OR “I Will Sing, I Will Sing”
Encourage participants to sing in languages other than their own.
Welcome, Joys, and Concerns
Call to Worship: Psalm 1:1-3
Reflection
CCS 112
I’ve been dreaming of fresh water in every village of the globe…of women taking their right place in the forums of society…of the cultural riches of humankind…being honored and accessible to all. …I’ve been dreaming of a world where consumption patterns are rationalized, and the great excesses of the West are harnessed…where a confrontation among nations and groups is tempered into dialogue by the common celebration of local people’s conquest of hunger, disease, and dehumanizing poverty.
Robert Bruch
Our Response: When we put these dreams into activities of justice, we practice resurrection.
Hymn
“For the Beauty of the Earth”
CCS 130 OR “Spirit, Open My Heart”
Invocation Response
Reflection
CCS 564
“I dream of a day when all peoples will be yoked by the bonds of love and work in caring for the needs of each other as they are sustained by the grace of God.”
Robert Bruch
Our Response: When we celebrate diversity, we practice resurrection.
Prayer for Peace
Peace Hymn
“O May Your Church Build Bridges”
CCS 224 OR “Why Should the Earth Disclose a Face”
Light the peace candle.
Peace Prayer
CCS 284
God of Healing, We are tired of violence and conflict. It is hard to see our neighbors in pain. It is hard to see our children in fear. It is hard to see people suffer. Conflict is hard to see and to experience.
Working for peace is also hard. Like a doctor who needs to operate to remove a cancerous tumor, working for peace requires confronting the root of the problem. When we confront the root, sometimes we need to cut through healthy tissue to get to it. How often do we say “keep the peace” for the sake of the status quo, resisting the pain that so often comes with healing?
God, forgive us for our resistance to the deep healing that requires deep inner transformation. Remind us that peace requires healing. Remind us that you are with us through it all. May we commit our hearts to healing the world, and may we begin close to home. Help us to trust your will, and trust that the healing of the world is intertwined with the transformation of our heart to align with ours. And as we are transformed, may we act in Your name for peace.
In the name of Jesus, the perfecter of our faith. Amen.
Tiffany and Caleb Brian
The offering basket is available if you would like to support ongoing, small-group ministries as part of your generous response. You also may give at CofChrist.org/give The offering prayer for Epiphany is adapted from A Disciple’s Generous Response.
Revealing God, may we always be generous. You have gifted each of us with boundless grace and unending love. May our response to that love and grace be humble service to others, and may generosity be part of our nature. Amen.
Invitation to Next Meeting
Closing Hymn Community of Christ Sings 58, “God of Still Waiting”
Closing Prayer
Optional Additions Depending on Group
• Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
• Thoughts for Children
Thoughts for Children
Materials:
• basket
• coin
• piece of bread
• fish
• Band-aid strip
• boat
• bag of Goldfish crackers
Lesson: Jesus Loves You
Read John 3:16–17 CEB.
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
Say: Jesus is God’s Son. God loves everyone, and God sent Jesus to show people how to love each other. Jesus fed hungry people. He healed sick people. He asked fishermen to come with him and be disciples. He encouraged rich people to share their treasure with poor people. He made friends with people who did not have many friends.
Many things remind us of what Jesus did and said.
Show the basket with a coin, boat, bread, fish, and Band-aid.
Ask: How might Jesus have used the items in the basket? Encourage children to share their responses.
• Jesus used these items to show people they were loved. How can we show other people that Jesus loves them?
We can show the love of Jesus by sharing with others.
Share Goldfish crackers with the children and group members and thank the children for sharing.
23 February 2025
Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany
1 Corinthians 15:35-38,
Make Room for Emerging Life
42-50
Additional Scriptures
Genesis 45:3-11, 15; Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40; Luke 6:27-38; Doctrine and Covenants 163:11a
Preparation
Instead of a sermon, today’s main message comes from the people assembled. Three people need to “rehearse” the mime. A large Band-Aid is needed.
Prelude
Welcoming Hymn
Encourage participants to sing in languages other than their own.
“Great and Marvelous Are Thy Works”
CCS 118 OR “Sing of Colors/De colores”
Call to Worship
CCS 332
Amanda Berry Smith (1837-1915) was born a slave in Maryland and eventually gained her freedom in Pennsylvania. The following is an excerpt from her conversion story.
Preacher: “When you go to bed at night you don’t fix any way for yourself to breathe.”
Amanda: “No,” I said, “I never think about it.”
Preacher: “You go to bed, you breathe all night, you have nothing to do with your breathing, you awake in the morning, you had nothing to do with it.”
Amanda: “Yes, yes, I see it.”
Preacher: “You don’t need to fix any way for God to live in you: get God in you in all His fullness and He will live Himself.”
An Autobiography: The Story of the Lord’s Dealings with Mrs. Amanda Smith the Colored Evangelist. In Her Words, Amy Oden, editor; Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1994.
Hymn
“There’s a Church within Us”
CCS 278 OR “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”
CCS 99
Invocation
Response
Reflection “Fingerprints”
When the Word spoke and creation began to take form
Each particle taking form, caught in the breath of creation, continued to become anew something else than what it had first appeared to be
Such is the spirit of evolution
The Spirit continues to breathe and form shifts to take on more than the first form appeared to be New, different, but not
Some compare creation to a painting always in process
Subtle rendering of form and focus
Continual reshaping, re-purposing of the breath flowing eternally from the Word
Nature shows the unique image projected by the Word each snowflake, blossom, seed, unique and individual
Equal in the flowing breath of the Word
Such is the nature of the Spirit imprinting the Word on all that has come forth
Each carrying its own unique identity
Each having unique fingerprints to its form and function
All bearing one common source
All having the same source placed on form
All having the same source placed on function
All bearing the fingerprints of the Word
Prayer for Peace
Peace Hymn
“Ososŏ/Come Now, O Prince of Peace”
Sing several times
Dean L. Robinson
Used with permission
CCS 225
Encouraging participants to sing in languages other than their own. OR “He Came Singing Love”
CCS 226
Light the peace candle.
Peace Prayer
Dreamer of Reconciliation,
We come before you desperate for peace in a world so torn by hatred, violence, and carelessness. Brother and sister do not speak, neighbors build higher fences, and communities pick up weapons of words and steel. The hungry yearn for a piece of bread, the grieving yearn for compassion, and the refugees yearn for a safe pillow for their head.
We mourn for the pain of the world.
May we learn to use our words as a balm for these wounds. May we learn to use forgiveness to weave Your dream of peace, as forgiveness is what will heal the tears in the tapestry of humanity. May we thread love over anger, fold generosity over hunger, and braid grace overpayment. Strengthen our hands for this weaving, for the tapestry is as wide as it is beautiful.
We look for the possibility of peace amid pain. In the name of Jesus, the master artist of peace. Amen.
Ministry of Music or Congregational Hymn
Tiffany and Caleb Brian
“In the Bulb There Is a Flower” CCS 561 OR “O for a World” CCS 379
The Sharing Together Print or project the questions.
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:35-38
Take the time to allow the worshipers to stand and witness about the times they’ve changed or grown. What is the seed for you? What seeds do you sow?
“Band-Aid” mime for three people Needed: One Very Large Band-Aid. Do not rush. Give observers a chance to take in what is happening.
Person 1 enters, crying with a hurt elbow.
Person 2 comes and puts a Band-Aid on the elbow and kisses it. Person 2 exits.
Person 3 enters, stumbles, falls, and cries with a hurt knee.
Person 1 takes off their Band-Aid and puts it on Person 3’s hurt knee and kisses it.
Debra Bruch From “Christian Drama for the Worship Service Used with permission.
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:42-45
Take the time to allow the worshipers to stand and witness of the times they’ve changed or grown.
When did you experience growth from a negative experience? As a disciple of Jesus, when have you been able to do something beyond that which you thought you were capable?
Called to Dance
A few days ago, I was sitting in my car in a parking lot when I saw a family in distress. The grandmother was pointing at the back window of her car and yelling. She then stomped to the driver’s side and got in. Her daughter placed her very young child in the back seat of the car, in the middle, and went and looked at the problem. Just then a 12-year-old boy came and looked at the problem while his mother yelled at him.
The mother got into the back seat and the boy also got into the back seat of the car, with the baby in between. Then she hit him in the face. It was a glancing blow, so she hit him again. That time it hurt. It got me thinking.
It seems that we hit one another all the time. Sometimes it’s out of anger. Sometimes it’s unintentional. Sometimes it’s so we can feel important or good about ourselves. But we bump and crash and bang and hit and step on toes and do just about everything else when we relate to one another.
We do it to strangers. We do it to people we don’t like. We do it to people who hurt us. We do it to people who love us. We do it to people we love. We flail and hit and manipulate. Sometimes it’s a sneak attack. Behind-the-back attack. Crash, crash, crash.
But it doesn't end there. China and France and Iran and Brazil crash, crash, crash!! Rich people, poor people got a different view than me? Crash, crash, crash!! People get hurt bumping into one another. Some people get killed bumping into one another
We are called to do, yes, and we are called to dance. In the movies sometimes we see a downward camera view of a group of people dancing. It’s pretty. It’s beautiful. Here are these people doing in action moving to the rhythm.
And not bumping into one another. Not colliding. Not crashing or banging or stepping on toes. Not hitting. Not hitting.
We’ve all been beat up, but we can choose to dance. “Step up ladies and gentlemen! The field is ripe and ready to harvest! So do something! You, here! You, over there! Come on up! You! Dance! It doesn’t matter how you move! Listen to the rhythm of the One!”
There! I can see it! I can see it! There’s one kind of dance, there’s another kind, and another and another and another. Different people, different dance, all dancing to the same rhythm, the same music the song of the Spirit.
And there’s no collision at all. None. I see people weaving arms and legs and hearts sensing one another, a common call, a different dance with nobody colliding. Just the beauty of motion.
Maybe it’s just a dream when nobody stumbles or crashes or bumps or hits. But I think maybe this dream can become real. Maybe when we decide to move to the rhythm of God.
I can imagine a day when we dance.
Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:46-50
Hymn
“O Christ, My Lord, Create in Me”
CCS 507 OR “God, the Source of Light and Beauty”
Disciples’ Generous Response
Scripture Reading: Doctrine and Covenants 163:11a
CCS 593
Statement
Life takes space and time to grow. We look at the seed and we see the plant. We look at the child and we see the adult. All emerging life needs resources. We need to support all of life for all of life to grow. As we do, we also emerge to be who God wants us to be.
We can help spread God’s love by being kind and sharing with others. Maybe by giving our money, we can be a rainbow for someone else and that can help God’s beautiful love shine for everyone to see.
If you have participants joining the worship online, remind them that they can give through www.CofChrist.org/give or through eTithing at www.eTithing.org (consider displaying these URLs).
Today is the Special Offering for the 2025 World Conference. Visit the https://www.Cofchrist.org/2025-world-conference and the online worship helps for more information.
Blessing and Receiving of Local and Worldwide Mission Tithes
Closing Hymn
“My Life Flows On in Endless Song”
263 OR “Though the Spirit’s Gifts Are Many”
Benediction
Postlude
334
Year C Letters
Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany (Proper 2)
1 Corinthians 15:35–38, 42–50
Exploring the Scripture
We find ourselves at the end of the first letter to the Corinthians amid Paul’s arguments on the nature of the resurrection. Within the community, there is confusion about the physicality of the resurrection. A perspective that is materialistic and literal can infer a reanimation of corpses.
Paul tries to suggest a deeper spiritual reality. His view takes the body seriously as intrinsic to life but also implies the importance of transformation in life that is yet to be. He uses “two kinds of analogies (seeds and kinds of bodies) to argue for both somatic continuity and transformation” (Stephen C. Barton, Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible, p. 1,348).
The first metaphor is of a seed. The substance of the seed both continues and changes as it is transformed in the dark of soil to become something new. “What you sow does not come to life unless it dies...you do not sow the body that is to be but a bare seed,” is a clear call to the continually transformative nature of life in Christ. When resurrection is considered a regular happening throughout the Christian life, people might ponder how the seed of who they are has broken open time and again for something new to emerge.
There is a cyclic, or spiraling, invitation to the deepening journey of life in Christ. This invitation bids disciples continually to plant the bare seeds of their lives in the soil of God’s love to be broken open into a new life. But the new life, too, is made of the substance of what has come before. This principle is true for individuals and communities.
We carry all the material from our personal and collective histories, our loves and losses, learning and thriving. It becomes part of what is to be even as we are transformed. A deep and personal continuity to resurrection honors the body and the essence of life while contributing to forming a new creation. Yet, the call to change also is unending and invites the death of one form to become another. Living the resurrection life is an embrace of this fundamental pattern of the Christian life.
Today’s text also echoes the protestor and activist’s chant, “they tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds” (This quote is originally by the Greek poet, Dinos Christianopoulos, often credited as a Mexican saying). We also find resonance in the words of Rubem Alves:
Such disciplined love is what has given prophets, revolutionaries, and saints the courage to die for the future they envisaged. They make their own bodies the seed of their highest hope “Tomorrow’s Children” from Hijos de Mañana, Salamanca, Spain: Ediciones Sigueme, 1976
The image of the transformative power of the seed has become a call to action in circumstances of injustice. It is also a summons to co-create God’s preferred future of justice, wholeness, and peace. The resurrection life is experienced when oppression is transformed into movements of peace and hope for the future.
Those exploring this text in community might consider the powerful metaphor of the seed and the invitation to the spiraling journey of the resurrection life. As Paul highlights in today’s text, every resurrection act is about continuity and transformation. Something essential about who we are continues even as we become a new creation in Christ, personally and collectively.
Central Ideas
1. The resurrection life is about continuity and transformation. Something essential about who we are continues even as we become a new creation in Christ, personally and collectively. Living the resurrection life is an embrace of this fundamental pattern of Christian life.
2. The image of the seed is a powerful metaphor that teaches the need for the death of an existing form so another can emerge. We experience this reality in our personal and communal lives, spiritual journeys, and in co-creating God’s future of justice and peace.
Questions for the Speaker
1. How have you experienced both continuity and transformation during significant moments of change in your life?
2. What forms in your life, or your community’s life, might need to die so new life-giving forms might emerge?
3. How have you experienced the pattern of death and resurrection in your personal and communal life?
4. How might the seed of our lives and bodies become our highest hope for the future?
5. What is God’s resurrection call to us now?
Year C, Letters
Seventh Week after Epiphany, Proper 2
1 Corinthians 15:35–
38, 42–50
NRSVue
Gathering
Welcome
The season after Epiphany includes the weeks between Epiphany and Transfiguration Sunday.
Prayer for Peace
Ring a bell or chime three times slowly. Light the peace candle
Dreamer of reconciliation, we come before you desperate for peace in a world torn by hatred, violence, and carelessness. Brother and sister do not speak, neighbors build higher fences, and communities pick up weapons of words and steel. The hungry yearn for a piece of bread, the grieving yearn for compassion, and the refugees yearn for a safe pillow for their head.
We mourn for the pain of the world.
May we learn to use our words as a balm for these wounds. May we learn to use forgiveness to weave your dream of peace, as forgiveness is what will heal the tears in humanity. May we thread love over anger, fold generosity over hunger, and braid grace over payment. Strengthen our hands for this weaving, for the tapestry is as wide as it is beautiful.
We look for the possibility of peace amid pain. In the name of Jesus, the master Artist of peace. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Dwelling in the Word
I will read a scripture aloud. As you hear it, allow the words, images, sights, sounds, or phrases to come to mind. Enter the scene and allow the story to be real to you. After a moment of silence, I will read the scripture again. As you hear it, pay attention to faces that come to mind.
Read Luke 6:27–30 NRSVue.
“But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who asks of you, and if anyone takes away what is yours, do not ask for it back again.”
Pause Read the scripture a second time. Invite group members to respond to these questions:
• What images and thoughts came to your mind while listening to this scripture?
• Whose face came to your mind during the second reading? How did that awareness change the meaning of this scripture for you? What does this say to you?
Sharing around the Table
1 Corinthians 15:35–38, 42–50 NRSVue
But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen and to each kind of seed its own body.
…So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the physical and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. As one of dust, so are those who are of the dust, and as one of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the one of dust, we will also bear the image of the one of heaven.
What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
We find ourselves at the end of the first letter to the Corinthians amid Paul’s arguments on the nature of the resurrection. There is confusion among the people about the physical nature of the resurrection. Does the body continue into the afterlife? This brings about a perspective that can infer a reanimation of corpses. Paul tries to suggest a deeper spiritual reality. Paul explains to the people that there is a transformation of life that is yet to be.
Paul uses the metaphor of a seed to help explain his position. The substance of the seed continues and changes as it is transformed in the dark soil to become something new. Seed-to-plant transformations show that bodily forms may change radically, yet be in continuity. We do not know what God’s creative plan has in store for “the body that is to be” (v. 37). If “sowing” leads to “raising,” then resurrection may not seem so strange.
There is a cyclic nature to the deepening journey of life in Christ. Disciples continually are called to plant the seeds of their lives into the soil of God’s love to be broken open into new life. That new life is contained in the substance of the old, transformed by the grace and love of God. There is a deep and personal continuity to resurrection that honors the body and the essence of life while contributing to forming a new creation.
Resurrection is not just for the dead, but continually takes place in the living as oppression is transformed into movements of peace and hope for the future.
Questions
1. How have you simultaneously experienced continuity and transformation in significant moments?
2. Have you experienced the pattern of death and resurrection in your personal or communal life?
3. What is God’s resurrection call to you/us now?
Sending
Generosity Statement
Faithful disciples respond to an increasing awareness of the abundant generosity of God by sharing according to the desires of their hearts; not by commandment or constraint.
Doctrine and Covenants 163:9
The offering basket is available if you would like to support ongoing, small-group ministries as part of your generous response. You also may give at CofChrist.org/give. The offering prayer for Epiphany is adapted from A Disciple’s Generous Response.
Revealing God, may we always be generous. You have gifted each of us with boundless grace and unending love. May our response to that love and grace be humble service to others, and may generosity be part of our nature. Amen.
Invitation to Next Meeting
Closing Hymn Community of Christ Sings 145, “Restless Weaver”
Closing Prayer
Optional Additions Depending on Group
• Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
• Thoughts for Children
Thoughts for Children
Materials:
• magnet
• small pieces of metal such as paper clips or screws
Say: When we follow Jesus, we participate in God’s salvation for the world. Salvation means that God always is yearning for all people to be in relationship with each other, with God, and with Earth. Salvation takes place in our lives as we allow God to draw us close.
Show how the magnet draws the metal items to it. Let the children take turns with the magnet.
Say: Just like the magnet draws metal, God draws us close. As we live with Jesus we experience the loving gift of God’s grace. When we are baptized we become a new person. Not so much in how we look or sound, but in how we make our choices. As followers of Jesus, we choose to share the good news of God’s love, and the peace of Jesus Christ. This is how we express our commitment to lifelong discipleship in community with other disciples.
We experience salvation (drawing close to God) through Jesus Christ, but we also realize that God’s grace and love can work in many ways.
