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Second Sunday after Epiphany • Year C
January 19, 2025
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Historical Collect
Almighty and eternal God, you restrain the powers of heaven and earth. Mercifully hear your people’s prayers for peace in our time. Grant this, we pray, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Gelasian Sacramentary, 7th Century)
Thematic Collect
Gracious Lord, giver of all that is good, through the power of your Holy Spirit you abundantly bless your children with gifts for the building up of the body of Christ. Empower us to recognize and value the gifts of others and through the strengthening of faith use our own gifts for the work of the kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Common Thread
Jesus performed his first miracle on earth at a wedding. The first sign after our resurrection from the earth will also be at a wedding: the wedding feast of the Lamb. There, our Lord and husband will once again drink wine with his Bride, his Delight: the Church. They who fear the Lord, and follow him, disciples walking in his ways, will be blessed and fruitful. God gives them varieties of gifts for this very reason: that they be fruitful in his house or kingdom.
First Reading • Isaiah 62:1-5
The Lord will not be quiet until the city of God is righteous. Likening the New Zion to a bride, God gives her his own righteousness. God provides the holy city of God, the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:2), new life in himself. This is unmistakable in his giving her a new name, that name given to a bride in marriage—his own name.
Psalm • Psalm 128:1-6
All who fear, love, and trust the Lord by walking his ways, will be blessed. They will be like a vine that bears much fruit. Followers of the Lord are compared to a fertile bride; their lives will be productive and prosperous and long.
Second Reading • 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
The Holy Spirit gives a variety of good gifts to his people so that they may be productive and bear much fruit. We do not work in our own power, nor do we serve the Kingdom with only the talents that we may have developed. God gives different gifts, as he determines, to all of his people so that the Church will be fruitful for the common good and the glory of God.
Gospel • John 2:1-11
It is not difficult to see why “the first of his signs” was done at a wedding. In both Testaments, God is equated with being a bridegroom, and his people with being a bride. The miracle of water being turned to wine highlights the joyous spirit of new life in Christ. Those who are joined with him will know more than joy; theirs will be a life of the abundance of God’s care and of the hope of new and eternal life in him.
Resources
Links to Worship Resources for this Service
