Uncategorized – Unfolding Light

8th Sunday after Epiphany / NL 124

January 31, 2026

Narrative Lectionary

Matthew 6:7-21 [25-34] — The Lord’s Prayer. Prayer, fasting. [Look to the birds of the air]
Psalm 20:7 —Our confidence is in God

Common Lectionary Texts

Isaiah 49. 8-16 — “I will bring home those who are in exile. You say I have abandoned you, but can a nursing mother forget her child? I will not forget you.”

Psalm 131 —We are infants in our mother’s arms.

1 Corinthians 4.1-5 God is our judge. Don’t judge others: God will disclose what you can’t see.

Matthew 6. 22-34 [The lectionary begins the Gospel reading at verse 24 but I include verses 22-23, in which Jesus talks about light, since light is the theme of the Epiphany season.] —The eye is the lamp of the body. Do not worry. Look to the birds of the air. Seek first the kingdom.

Preaching Thoughts

The Lord’s Prayer.
      What we’ve called the Lord’s Prayer I call the Prayer of Jesus, both to avoid the word “Lord,” loaded as it is with patriarchy (lords and ladies….)— and also because it’s a fruitful (Jewish) prayer for people for whom Jesus is a spiritual teacher but nor their “lord.”
      Look here for a set of my paraphrases of the prayer.
      Luke’s version is much leaner than Matthew’s. We’re not sure what Jesus actually said (other than we know he called God Abba) and what gospel writers added. It’s doubtful Jesus taught this prayer as a whole, but he used the various petitions at times and his words were made into a composite.
      “Father…” — Jesus doesn’t mean God is male, but that even though God is infinite and unknowable, God is also intimately present. Jesus’ particular image of God as “Father” is a strong corrective to many people’s experience of fatherhood as domineering, demanding and distant, and sometimes even violent. Form older generation even a kind father is often experienced as the one who’s away, “off at work.” For people with bad images of “father,” this can be healing. Jesus’ God is a father who is intimate, faithful, generous, and present and attentive— a really good listener.
      In our common version we say “Our Father,” reminding us that faith is never “between me and God,” but among the whole family. God does not belong to any one of us or a small group of us. God is everybody’s parent.
      “Your name be revered.” — This hearkens back to the ten commandments—not merely to avoid taking God’s name in vain but to revere it. God’s “name” means more than language. It means God’s reality, God’s character, God’s essence. This prayer means “May we always be guided by love.” This petition, and the “kingdom” one following, draw us out of our everyday thinking into a new form of consciousness. We abandon worldly values and attachments, and make God the center of our world.
      “Your kingdom come.” —In less patriarchal language, “Impose your imperial rule.” In the age of Disney’s “Magical Kingdom” we forget that a “kingdom” was a real political entity. In Jesus’ setting that was the Romans Empire. A kingdom, or empire, is a power structure with authority, obligations and privileges decreed from above. The Empire of God is a world in which love rules. Grace is not an option: it’s imposed from above. This both a “parallel universe” to this world, and also a real-world alternative to the Roman Empire, and to all human structures of power, domination, privilege and exclusion. As such this petition is not only a spiritual hope; it’s also a political statement.
      “Give us each day our daily bread.” — It’s given. Everything is a gift. Luke’s version, “each day,” has a more ongoing, long-term sense than Matthew’s “this day.” But either way we are invited to rely entirely on God’s providence. It’s like breathing: each breath—this breath— is a gift from God. I think of Ps. 127.2: “It is in vain that we rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for you give sleep to your beloved.” Even what we think we have earned is actually a gift from God.
     “Forgive our sins, for we forgive others…” — We would tremble to ask that God forgive us at the low rate we forgive. Of course God forgives absolutely. But there is something about forgiveness like a hug: you can’t receive it without being wiling to give it. Jesus is likely to have said “debts;” he meant real-life forgiveness of financial debts as well as the more religious and social aspects. That aspect gradually got removed from the real world of poverty and debt-enslavement. But in Jesus’ world nobody owes anybody anything. Jesus envisions us all being free of any guilt, shame, or obligation, being free and freeing others. Again, as in the petition for God’s Reign to come, there’s a sense of all of life being re-ordered, and even re-created. Imagine this: we are provided for, and completely free, before God.
     “Do not bring us to the time of trial.” — This might be asking God not to test our faith—which in fact God does not do. God knows our faith. And God has no need to make us struggle to prove anything. God’s only will is to bless and heal. But it may be more generally asking that we not be brought to the limits of our capacity—not that God causes difficulties in our lives, but that grace helps us avoid them if we can and endure them if we must. This might be a petition spoken not as an individual but as all of humanity: our wish to avoid the intense challenge of, say, world war or climate catastrophe.
     “Ask and you shall receive.” — God is profoundly generous.

   The eye is the lamp. The eye sees into the world, but it does so by admitting light into the body. A healthy, or “whole” eye, is one that sees everything in the light of God’s love.
    Two masters. One way of relating to the world is rooted in our ego, which is the heart of our individualism. It’s always calculating what is to our benefit. It’s instinctive, selfish, and anxious. The other way to relate to the world is rooted not in our ego but in our soul. Our soul is our connection with God. It’s like the stem of an apple hanging on a tree: where tree becomes apple. Your soul is where God becomes you. Rooted in our connection with God—who is infinitely good—our way of relating to the world is always trusting, generous, and at peace. We can’t serve our ego and God at the same time. One or the other.
    Don’t worry. Jesus says to let go of the root of our selfishness, which is our anxiety that we won’t have enough. Jesus is preaching to really poor people who have reason to worry about where the next day’s food would come from. He’s not saying everything will be fine; the poor know that sometimes it isn’t. He’s not saying “Never mind, just enjoy being poor.” He’s saying Trust God. God will be with us, lovingly present for us, even when things are not good. To “seek the Realm of God” is to open ourselves to the loving presence of God, to enter into God’s love for everyone, and to participate in sharing that love. It’s to live in what some wold call a parallel universe of awareness of God’s grace, despite real hardships and injustice. When we live in love with God, grateful for God’s grace, overflowing with the love we receive from God and extending it to others, we know deep blessing, regardless of how sick or poor or hungry or powerless we may be. When we help to create a world of healing and justice, we connect ourselves with a world of blessing that is greater than our suffering. We discover we have what we need!

Call to Worship

1.
Leader: Eternal God, though our future is unsure, your love is certain and unchanging.
All: We thank you! We praise you! We worship you!
Risen Christ, we come to die and rise with you,
to let go of what is familiar and walk with you in newness of life
Receive us, bless us, and renew us in the power of your Spirit.
Holy Spirit, no matter what changes around us, you remain within us.
Alleluia! Come, Holy Spirit,
fill us with your grace and lead us into the new day. Alleluia!

Collect / Prayer of the Day

Gracious God, you are present. You desire to speak to us. And we long to hear your voice. We give you our hearts, and await your Word. Amen.

Prayer of Confession

Pastor: The grace of God be with you.
All: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us confess our sin to God with one another.
Loving God, we confess our need for your saving, life-giving grace.
What is broken, heal.
What is sinful, forgive.
What is distorted, redeem.
Renew us and accompany us,
and make us once again your own. Amen.
…Silent prayer… the word of grace

Readings

Psalm 131

O simple God, I am not some hero of praise;
            I’m no expert at being awed.
I’m not pretending to be carried aloft
            with a bunch of religious feelings.
I’m just here; I’m a soul, not an emoticon.
            I’m a baby in your arms.
I nurse from your holy breast,
            and my eyes close.
This is good enough for me.
            Don’t ask me what it means.
O friends, relax into God’s arms,
            and never run away. Ever.

Response / Creed / Affirmation

1.
       God, Creator of all, ruler of all that is and all that is to come, we give our hearts to you. Though the earth should tremble and all familiar things should change, still your love is steadfast and sure.
       Crucified and risen Christ, we follow you. You who loved and blessed, who taught and healed, who walked toward the cross in love and were raised in glory, lead us to die and rise with you, to let go of all that we cling to and walk in newness of life. You who reign over all Creation with mercy and justice, you are our confidence, our hope, and our joy; and we entrust ourselves to you.
       Holy Spirit, we live by your grace and your unshakable presence with us, among us and within us. We, the Church, the Body of Christ, devote ourselves to lives of justice and compassion, trusting in the power of forgiveness, the reality of resurrection and the mystery of eternal life. God, Eternal Lover, we enter into the future confident of your presence, your grace and your faithfulness, for the sake of the redemption of the world, to your glory, in the name of Christ. Amen.

2.
Leader: God, you call us to awareness: to look at what is before us,
to see what you have given us. Help us to be mindful.
All: We seek the Realm of your grace. Alleluia!
God, you call us to simplicity: to let what is be enough,
to find delight in ordinary things. Help us to be grateful.
We seek the Realm of your grace. Alleluia!
God, you call us to presence: to be fully here
in the present moment, to let go of what we wish or dread,
and to honor what is. Help us to be attentive.
We seek the Realm of your grace. Alleluia!
God, you call us to trust: to receive your abundance,
to rely upon your grace. Help us to be receptive.
We seek the Realm of your grace. Alleluia!
God, you call us to wholeness: to care for the well being of all things,
not just ourselves. Help us to do justice.
We seek the Realm of your grace. Alleluia!
God, you call us to love: trusting our own well being,
to give of ourselves, never fearing want. Help us to be compassionate.
We seek the Realm of your grace. Alleluia!

Listening Prayer

(suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

The eye that is whole
fills the body with light.
Open the windows of our hearts,
that the light of your grace
may flood into us
and fill us with love.
Fill us with love.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear an audio clip, on the Music page)

Light for the World (Original song) – [Epiphany “Theme song”]
A dialogue between soloist and congregation. May be used as a “theme song” throughout the Epiphany season, using two or three verses per week. Throughout the season the congregation sings the chorus; each week the soloist’s verses relate to the day’s lectionary readings. Lyrics for this week:

Congregation
Love, may we live by your light.
Let us be light for the world.

Cantor:
1 We are your people you cannot forget. You brought us out of the darkness.
So may we live by the light of your love, trusting and faithful.

. Where is your treasure, the things you adore? The eye is the lamp of the body.
The eye that sees love is wide open to God; so let the light in.

God of the Future (Tune: Be Thou My Vision)

God of our dark night, and God of our day,
God of our journey, whose will is our way,
when our path dims and the future’s unknown,
still you walk with us; we’re never alone.

Though the familiar should fade and turn strange,
your steady love for us never will change.
So when we worry and can’t see the way
Lord, still your grace is enough for today.

All that is taken and all that we lose,
all of the cost of the path that we choose
never compares with the grace you impart:
faithful and gracious, you give us your heart.

Be our companion, our courage, our nerve,
You, the heart in us, to love and to serve.
Blessings you promise, whatever befall.
Still you walk with us, O lover of all.

6th Sunday after the epiphany

March, 2030

Lectionary Texts

2 Kings 5. 1-14. Elisha heals Naaman of leprosy.

Psalm 30. When I cried out you answered me. You have turned my weeping into dancing and gotten rid of my sackcloth.

1 Corinthians 9. 24-27 Discipline yourselves like athletes in training, so that we are in good spiritual shape.

Mark 1.40-45 Jesus heals a leper.

Preaching Thoughts

Every society has its untouchables. People we don’t want to touch, to see, to fully take in as fellow human beings. Lepers are made to live outside the town, so no one has to interact with them. Foreigners are looked down on. Jesus and Elisha both reach out across their culture’s taboos to heal. Your culture has untouchables. Who are they? You yourself have untouchables, people you just don’t want to have to deal with. Who are they?

Leprosy was considered a disease of “uncleanness.” It wasn’t just the “eeew” factor. There wasn’t merely something wrong with your skin: there was something wrong with you. Part of the disease is not just the pain, but the shame. It may seem primitive and barbaric to think that way—but we do, too. Sometimes we attach shame to misfortune. We think “You (or I) must have done something to deserve that.” Victims of rape or abuse, victims of poverty, victims of abuse of power are often made to feel shame, as if it’s their fault, as if there’s something wrong with them that either caused or resulted from their suffering. What power there is, then, in Jesus saying, “You are clean!” To see someone as being “acceptable in the sight of God” is healing in itself.

Have you ever felt dirty, and been healed by someone who reached out across the gulf of distaste and touched you anyway? Imagine the grace with which God has reached out to touch us, to embrace us, to fully take in our suffering, our loneliness, our shame. Gratitude for that grace might compel us to reach out to others similarly wounded or ostracized.

Maybe the worst part of the life of a leper is not just the sickness, but the loneliness. The more we are identified by what’s wrong with us the harder it is to see anything else. It’s harder and harder to avoid self-doubt and even self-loathing. And there’s no one to say “I see more in you than your wound.” We become our pain. This is the real healing that Elisha and Jesus offer: that someone cares. What would it be like to undo the taboos, the lie of untouchableness, and let those who are ostracized know that they are beloved and beautiful?

Naaman expects grander proceedings for his healing than what the prophet offers. Sometimes our ego gets in the way of our healing. What we want hinders what we need. Sometimes the door to our healing is not heroics, but humility. In fact sometimes humility is our healing. Humility doesn’t mean low self-regard. It means seeing ourselves as God’s Beloved, no more and no less. Sometimes that itself heals us of the pain our own fears and desires inflict on us.

The leper says to Jesus “If you are wiling.” Jesus says, “I am.” When we pray for healing, for ourselves or others, we might be tempted to think we’re convincing God to heal. But God is already willing. God is always willing. But healing doesn’t always come the way we want it. Sometimes healing isn’t possible. But God’s will is still, always, toward healing, toward wholeness. When healing doesn’t come, we don’t know why, but it’s not because God isn’t willing. Some things are too broken to heal, or the healing needs to come in a different way, a different dimension, than where we’re looking. Still, this is the hope by which we live, that God always wills healing. The love of God is energy toward wholeness.

Jesus sends the healed man to the priests as a sign to them, not just that the man is healed, but that he is forgiven, that uncleanness is being vanquished purely by God’s grace, not human effort.

Call to Worship

1.
Leader: God our savior, you forgive our sin.
All: You re-create us, and we thank you!
Christ our brother, you touch our wounds.
You heal us, and we praise you!
Holy Spirit, you lift our burdens.
You set us free, and we worship you! Alleluia!
Come, Spirit of Life, and transform us by your grace. Alleluia!

2.
Leader: Creator God, we praise you!
All: Risen Christ, we greet you!
Holy Spirit, we are one body by your grace.
You alone are holy, and we worship you.
Glory be to you, O God of all Creation.
Thanks be to you, O Christ, for our salvation.
You have stretched out your hand and touched us.
You have held us in your warm embrace.
You have healed us; now empower us to heal others.
Alleluia! Come, Holy Spirit, and transform us by your grace. Alleluia!

3.
Leader: Loving God, you have cleansed us of all sin, and healed us of our diseases.
All: We thank you for your mercy, for you alone are our healing.
We come now to worship, to be made new, to be made yours.
Alleluia! Reach out your hand and touch us, Lord Jesus.
Holy Spirit, come and transform us by your grace. Alleluia!

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
God of Life, we come to you broken and in need, sick and wanting, and yet also beautiful and beloved. Stretch out your hand and touch us where we are broken. Create us anew by your Word. We open our hearts to your will. We open our lives to your working. In your grace and your love, make us whole. Amen.
2.
Gracious God, Elisha healed Naaman, and Jesus healed the leper, and you have healed us in so many ways. You have walked with us through this life with your arm around us. You have blessed and sustained us, Now speak to us: reach out to us and touch us through your Word, and make us new, so that we can bear testimony to your grace. We pray in the name of Christ. Amen.

3.
God of love, there is much in us we don’t want others to see or touch. But you see us, and you touch us There is much in us that is not healthy, but you offer us healing.

4.
God of grace and healing, lepers came to Jesus and he healed them. Come to us now, heal the wounds of our hearts, and make us your new people, that through your grace working in us, the good news of your love may spread throughout the world. Speak to us now, in the presence of Christ and the power of your Spirit. Amen.

5.
God of healing, Jesus brought your good news to those who were outcast and broken, and by your grace he forgave the guilty and healed the sick. Speak to us, grant us your forgiveness, heal us of what paralyzes us, and set us free to walk in your ways, in the name and the spirit of Christ. Amen.

Listening Prayer

(suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

God of mercy,
for our healing
you are willing.
God of love,
for our wholeness,
you reach out.
Humble, grateful,
we receive you.

Prayer of Confession

God of love and mercy,
we confess all within us that feels dirty.
You reach out, and touch us, and make us clean.
We confess that we judge others as dirty,
and avoid them.
We confess our judgment and our fear.
By your grace in healing us,
move us to extend love to others.
Give us courage to cross the gulf of taboos,
to touch the untouchable,
to embrace the ashamed.
God of love and mercy,
by the grace of Christ
make us all, together, as one body,
clean and whole.

Response / Creed / Affirmation

      We believe in God, Creator of all things, heavenly father and mother, of infinite love, wisdom and power, ruler of all that is and all that is to come.
      We follow Christ, God’s chosen one, who loved and served humbly, who healed the broken and included the outcast. He was crucified for his love; yet he was raised by God to new life. We believe that he calls us to humbly follow him and obediently serve him for the sake of proclaiming God’s grace. We trust that he accompanies us and will help, guide, heal and defend us through all difficulty and suffering.
        We trust the Holy Spirit to guide us, empower us and sustain us as servants of God’s grace. We live as the body of Christ, with all the communion of saints, in the power of forgiveness and the reality of resurrection, and in the light of eternal life. With all our lives, may God be praised! Amen.

Eucharistic Prayer

[After the introduction, the body of the prayer may be read responsively with the presiding leader(s) and congregation, or by the leader(s) alone.]

God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.

Holy One, you created the world as one body, whole and beautiful.
When we are broken, when we sunder your world, you heal us.
You set free your beloved from slavery Egypt.
You healed them of exile and brought them home.
You gave us Jesus, your great healer,
so that we might have life, full and whole, and abundant.

            [Sanctus, spoken or sung:]
        Holy, holy, holy One, God of power and might,
        heaven and earth are full of your glory.
        Hosanna in the highest.
        Blessed is the one who comes in your name.
        Hosanna in the highest.
               [or alternate version]

Blessed are all who come in your name,
and blessed is Jesus, your Christ,
who loved the unloved, who touched the untouchable,
who embraced the outcast,
who made a broken people whole,
who heals us and calls us to rejoice together.

     (The Blessing and Covenant)

As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.
Therefore, remembering these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:

             [Memorial Acclamation, spoken or sung:]
        Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
                     —or—
        Dying, Christ destroyed our death. Rising, Christ restores our life.
        Christ will come again in glory.
             [or alternative]

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Spirit on us, that we may be for the world the Body of Christ,
moved by your grace to love those who are excluded,
to heal what is broken, to make one what is divided,
for the sake of the mending of the world,
in the name and the Spirit of Christ.

     [Spoken or sung]
Amen.

____________
* The Blessing and Covenant
[I usually don’t print the words. I want people to be looking at the bread, not their bulletins.]

On the night in which he gave himself for us
Jesus took bread, blessed it,. broke it, and gave it to his disciples,saying,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
blessed it with thanks and gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood,
poured out for you and for many, in a new Covenant,
which is the forgiveness of sin.”
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.

Prayer of Dedication / Sending / after Communion

[Adapt as needed.]
Gracious God, we thank you for (the mystery that you give yourself to us / this mystery in which you have given yourself to us.) You have healed us by your presence with us and within us. Send us in your Spirit as your healers with Jesus into the world that so needs your healing. Amen.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear an audio clip, on the Music page)

Becoming Whole (Original song)

We are a broken people become whole again.
We are a wounded people being healed again.

… multiple similar verses

Christ our healer (Tune: Ode to Joy; or Love Divine, All Loves Excelling;
or HOLY MANNA)

Christ, our healer, you have touched us, reaching through the dark divide,
healing broken hearts and bodies, casting death’s old shroud aside:
raised us from our bed of sorrows, put your arm around our pain,
raising us to new tomorrows, bringing us to life again.

Christ, our teacher, in our healing you have given us your gift:
grace to bless, your love revealing, pow’r to heal and hope to lift.
In your Spirit, your forgiveness, your compassion we embrace
ev’ry wounded, shamed or silenced child of God with gentle grace.

Christ, our savior, you are going on to every town and field,
on to every land and people, on until the world is healed.
Use us in the whole world’s mending, use us as your healing hands,
’till as one the world, made whole, takes up its mat with joy and stands.

Jesus, My Healer (Tune: Fairest Lord Jesus)

Jesus, my healer, come to me and touch me;
lay your hand upon my soul.
All of my woundedness gently embrace and bless
and, though I’m broken, make me whole.

Source of our healing, God, our Re-Creator,
your deep joy is to raise and bless.
Your faithful promises and all our trusting hope
are stronger than our dark distress.

Spirit of healing, move among your people
to bear the blessing that flows from you:
with tender love to bless the world’s brokenness
and share the grace that made us new.

The Bible’s model family

People who clamor that we should get back to the “Biblical family” don’t know what they’re talking about. Biblical families are sick. Cain murders Abel. Abraham passes his wife off as his sister so men might take her without killing him. Later he tries to kill his son. Jacob cheats Esau and his mom helps him run away. Later he trades deceptions with his father in law. Like Grandpa Abe, he has multiple wives. Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery. David rapes Bathsheba, gets her husband murdered, and marries her. His son Absalom revolts against him and is killed in the war. Jesus’ parables about families all involve disobedient or estranged sons. There doesn’t seem to be a model biblical family; they’re all dysfunctional. They all struggle, and sometimes succeed, to be faithful to each other. In the Bible, family is where you have to work out your Stuff, so you do.

But wait. There is one model of family the Bible consistently smiles on: faithful, loving, functional families. You know who that is? Single mothers. Hagar and Ishmael. Naomi and Ruth. The widow of Zarepheth and her son. The Syrophonecian woman who argues with Jesus for her daughter. Even the Virgin Mary, in a sense. In the gospels, especially at the crucifixion, Mary functions as a single mom. When Jesus lists the things you might sacrifice for your faith—house, lands, family—he says you’ll receive all, including mother and siblings, but no dad. A single-mother family. On the cross, referring to Mary, he says to John, “Behold your mother.” A family is created, not by blood, but by choice —with a single mom. The closest thing to the Bible’s ideal family is a single mother and her kids.

The Bible’s models don’t match our ideals. They reveal God’s preference for those who don’t quite fit our systems and stereotypes. What makes a “biblical family” isn’t anatomy, it’s relationship. It isn’t a father, it’s faithfulness.

Baptism

You lift off the helmet of knowing,
gently drop it.
You take off the armor of being right.
Unbuckle the chain mail of good enough—
lift it over your head,
with a little awkward squirming to get it off,
it’s so tight.
You unbutton the coat of deserving,
untie the padding of what people thought,
remove the vest of good intentions, the shirt of the past.
You lose even the underwear of should have, couldn’t.
You drop it all. Leave it.

You wear nothing but pure air of presence,
vulnerable skin, raw flesh of being,
ready as a newborn.

You go down into the water,

and are raised up, clothed in pure light.