Epiphany 6 | Ordinary Time 6, Cycle B
“Lord God, mercifully receive the prayers of your people. Help us to see and understand the things we ought to do, and give us grace and power to do them; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”
It is in the portions of The Prayer of the Day for this Sunday that are italicized above that we see the unifying factor in the four texts selected for this day. Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Syria, needed help from the Lord God through Naaman’s own servants before he could understand the things that he should do in the cleansing of his body from leprosy in the 2 Kings 5:1-14 Elisha story.
Epiphany 5 | Ordinary Time 5, Cycle B
Isaiah 40:21-31 God is acclaimed in this text as not only the Creator of all of the splendor of the universe, but also as the one who watches over and actually mini-manages everything, without ever growing weary or lacking in understanding. Although even young men and women become tired and weak during strenuous activity, all [...]
Epiphany 4 | Ordinary Time 4, Cycle B
The issue of absolute authority and of derived authority is the most significant factor that is considered in these texts. In Deuteronomy 18:15-20 it is said that the absolute authority of God is so awesome that the people of God pleaded that they would not hear the voice of the Lord God again or see [...]
Epiphany 2 | Ordinary Time 2, Cycle B
In the texts selected for this day, the Epiphany themes of the omniscience of the Lord God and of the Johannine Jesus is proclaimed, along with the guidelines that in response to God we must be open to the revelation of God, especially in terms of our sense of hearing and of sight. This will define for us the message that we should proclaim and the guidelines for life that we should share in our sermon or homily for this occasion.
Epiphany of the Lord, Cycle B
We have a responsibility in our ministry to observe and to preserve the festival of the Epiphany in some way each year, not only on the years in which January 6 happens to be a Sunday. The Sundays after the Epiphany will not have much special meaning unless we observe Epiphany itself in some way that will bring it to the attention of the members of the congregation. If we do not have a worship service within our usual setting, perhaps we could gather a group of young people — or people of all ages — and go Epiphany caroling to members of the congregation and community who are older, are shut-in, or otherwise are special in some way. This activity would also be a reminder to us that a substantial portion of the Church, i.e., the Eastern Orthodox tradition, observes January 6 as the Festival of the birth of the Christ. A carol singing would also highlight the beautiful Epiphany hymns on the Day of Epiphany.
