January 11, 2026
WELCOME TO THE SUNDAY OF THE EPIPHANY!!
A Service of Prayer, of Song, of Meditation, and of Journeying Alongside the Magi
Lead Minister: The Rev. Jope Langejans
Music Director: Cody Obst
Minister Emeritus: Rev. Gerry Scharff
Honorary Associate Ministers: Rev. Clint Mooney & Rev. Kelley Warner
Chair of Council: Vacant
Reader: Elizabeth Wegg
“The power of silence is greatly underestimated.
When you have nothing to say….say nothing…
Gathering
(*Indicates that you may stand if you are able…)
PRELUDE
INTROIT MV # 154 “Deep in Our Hearts”
ANNOUNCEMENTS
ACKNOWLEDGING THE TERRITORY (Unison)
ALL: For millennia, Indigenous peoples have lived, worked, played, and worshipped here. They have stewarded this land. Over time people from other parts of the world came to this region and made their homes here. Together, Indigenous people and Settlers share the care for land, water, and sky. May we learn together what this land and its people need. And so, we light a candle in recognition of our desire to live in right relations with each other.
Leader: And as today is the first Sunday of Epiphany, the season of surprises and a-ha! Moments. It is the time of light dancing and emerging. Appropriately we light the candle reminding us that Christ is the Light of the World.
LIGHTING OF THE CHRIST CANDLE
OPENING CALL TO WORSHIP (Responsive)
Leader: Rejoice, this is the day that God has made! This is a new day... a new year…a new beginning.
ALL: We are blessed with this new time. May we worship together as new people and may our praise and music engage us in this new life in Christ.
Leader: Let us gather to worship the one who has called us into being by offering us the first gift of all – life itself.
ALL: As we sing, pray, meditate, share silence, and listen to others, may God’s sustaining presence fill us with new meaning and renewed joy, so that we can confidently work creatively with God to care for ourselves, each other, and the earth.
Leader: Let us open our eyes and ears to all that surrounds us, for God is with us, embracing us, loving us, and guiding us.
ALL: Come, let us worship God together and we begin by offering a prayer – voiced to The Holy One, in unison:
PRAYER OF APPROACH (unison)
O Kind God, as we began this New Year a week or so ago, we ask that you guide us into it with the sense of your loving direction, ever-present Spirit, and unending wisdom. We give thanks for the accomplishments of the year past and eagerly anticipate your gracious work among us in the year ahead. May today mark not only the opening days of the year but a new beginning in a life of faith. Renew us, we pray, for the living of our days. Give to us, we pray, keen sensitivity that we may see where you are at work around us – and courage necessary to enter into that great work. We ask that our lives may be molded into the image of the Christ and that our witness to his name will be clear and bold. And grant that we may walk closer to you at this year’s ending than at its beginning.…Amen.
ASSURANCE of PARDON (Leader)
These short days of January, we yearn for light. We must wake up before dawn breaks, and night descends upon us early in the evening. Oh, how we crave light! Into this reality has come Jesus the Christ, the one we call the Light of the World. In putting our trust in him, we are assured of grace…thanks be to God!
*HYMN VU # 91 “The First Nowell”
MEDITATION (Leader)
In the stillness O God, our hearts turn to you as the needle of a compass points to true North. Amidst all the tension of our world and the sometimes turmoil of our lives, you remain at the centre, calling us to hope and clarity of purpose. Let us be tender to all of those in need and hear our prayers for those who live with sickness and whose bodies require rest and mending. Speak to us in our worship in something heard or seen or felt, that we may go from this act of praising you with a renewed sense of your presence in our lives…Amen.
Engaging the Sacred Text
(Reader: Elizabeth Wegg)
FIRST SCRIPTURE
ISAIAH 60:1-6 (602) Arise, shine, for your light has come…
SECOND SCRIPTURE
EPHESIANS 3:1-12 (950) Boldness and confidence through faith…
HYMN of ILLUMINATION VU # 94 “Lovely Star in the Sky”
GOSPEL PASSAGE
MATTHEW 2:1-12 (783) The visit of the Magi…
SERMON / MESSAGE / HOMILY “Follow the Star!”
THE NEW CREED
Responding
OFFERING INVITATION (Leader)
There is so much which needs doing, O God, and we have no magic wand to get it done without effort, and no gold, frankincense, and myrrh to finance our efforts. Here we present our offerings, but we also present our lives so that, in your grace, all our offerings may meet the needs to which they are directed. Give us wisdom and courage as we seek to offer all that we are in your work…
(Beth W Johnston, Bridging Waters P.C., Nipawin, Sask., Gathering Magazine, A/C/E 2025-2026, pg. 38)
EPIPHANY OFFERING MUSICAL SELECTION
PRAYER of DEDICATION (Rev. Jope)
CLOSING PRAYER (Unison)
O Patient God, a week or so ago, the clock struck midnight and some of us may have partied with a strange sadness in our hearts – possibly confusion in our minds. Now, we ask you to gather us, for we realize the storms of time have scattered some of us, the furies of the years past have driven some of us, many sorrows have scarred some of us, many accomplishments have disappointed some of us, much activity has wearied many of us, and fear has spooked some of us into a hundred hiding
places, one of which is pretended gaiety. We are sometimes tired of a string of “Have a nice day’s”. What we need are
passionate days…wondrous days….dangerous days…. surprising days. What we need is you! Come into our hearts this year and we open them to you…
LORD’S PRAYER
Blessing
COMMISSIONING (unison)
We have gathered on this day of mystery, seeking the ways in which God brings mystery and imagination to our lives. We have gathered, for we are successors to those who discovered in Jesus a special child, a unique person, a learned adult, a chosen one anointed by God. Now we go forth to follow in the Way of Jesus, knowing that the grace of Christ attends us, the love of God surrounds us, and the Holy Spirit keeps us, now and always.
*HYMN VU # 82 “A Light Is Gleaming” (Refrain, verses 1-4, refrain)
BLESSING (Rev. Jope)
RECESSIONAL
POSTLUDE MUSIC
***********GO IN EPIPHANY WONDER**********
SCRIPTURE PASSAGES for SUNDAY, JANUARY 18th
Baptism of the Lord Sunday
ISAIAH 42:1-9
ACTS 10:34-43
MATTHEW 3:13-17