02/08/26

As We Gather

 In the stewardship hymn “Forgive Us, Lord, for Shallow Thankfulness,” author William Watkins Reid Sr. includes the thoughtful line “Forgive us, Lord, for feast that knows not fast” (LSB 788:5). The text, written in 1965, reflected a growing understanding of the need for service in Jesus’ name by all who had received His blessing. In the concluding stanza of the hymn, he also writes, “May thankfulness be days in service spent, reflection of Christ’s life and love and light.” In this Epiphany season, when we celebrate the radiantly expanding light of Christ, we are directed to find new ways to reflect that light into all the areas of our life. Paul says it simply and directly: “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone” (Galatians 6:10). Those opportunities are just waiting for us!

Children Activity Bags We value children in our worship services. If needed, there is a family room available for families with children. The family room has a diaper changing table, a closed-circuit TV to watch the worship service, toys and books for children. The family room is located across from the kitchen in the long hallway, the first door on the right, just past the bathrooms. There are “King’s Kids” bags with activities for children to help them worship. They are near the usher’s station on a small rack. Please return the bag to the rack after the service.

Holy Communion The Scripture teaches the Lord’s Supper is a precious gift of God in which Christ gives us His true body and blood, together with the bread and wine, for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith. Because the Bible teaches that this Sacrament may also be spiritually harmful if misused, and that participation in the Lord’s Supper is an act of confession of faith, we ordinarily commune those who have been instructed in the teachings of our church and who have confessed their faith in these teachings. If you have a question, please speak to Pastor Ralph before the service. For those who prefer a non-alcoholic alternative, there is grape juice at the center of each tray. Those not receiving the Sacrament, including children, are invited to come to the altar, cross their arms over their chest, and receive a special blessing.
 Serve Others with What God Gives You “It is not the purpose of the gifts of God to enable those who possess them to enjoy a life of selfish pleasure and tyranny. Bu the right use of these gifts is to be directed to the glory of God and the welfare and benefit of our neighbor. However, men receive the blessing of God, a kingdom, priesthood, sturdiness, strength, prudence; and while taking these gifts from God, they do not bother about the purpose for which they are given. But why are you a king? Why are you a prince, priest, a father or a mother? You say: That I may be happy in this life, indulge in pleasures, and satisfy my desires to the full; I am learned and wealthy in order to achieve a great name and glory among men. But here the principle in which you glory is put aside, for God does not want to lavish His blessings for any other purpose than His glory, the praise of the Giver, and the welfare of the church.”      What Luther Says # 4309

Fifth Sunday of Epiphany

February 8, 2026

Opening Hymn                  Awake, My Soul, and With the Sun          LSB 868 vs. 1-4

Invocation, Confession and Absolution (Psalm 51: 1-9)

P:   We gather in the name and at the invitation of our great and gracious triune God;

C:   In the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

P:   Beloved in the Lord! Let us draw near with a true heart and confess our sins unto God our Father, beseeching Him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to grant us forgiveness.
Our help is in the name of the Lord,

C:   who made heaven and earth.

P:   I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord,

C:   and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.

P:   O almighty God, merciful Father,

C:   I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended You and justly deserved Your temporal and eternal punishment. But I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them, and I pray You of Your boundless mercy and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being.

(Silence for Meditation)

P:   “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Upon this your confession, I, by virtue of my office, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God unto all of you, and assure you that Yours are forgiven in the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit.

C:   Amen.

Hymn of Praise               Awake, My Soul, and With the Sun                    LSB 868  vs 5-6

Prayer of the Day 

All:   Heavenly Father, You sent Your Son into this world of darkness and death to be our light and our life. Strengthen us so that we share and shine the light of Christ throughout the world; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

O T Lesson                                          (True fasting, true faith)                   Isaiah 58:3-9

(The people ask:) ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. ⁴ Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. ⁵ Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? ⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? ⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? ⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. ⁹ Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. 

N T Lesson           (The simple testimony of God’s grace is enough)    1 Corinthians 2:1–16

When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. ² For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³ I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. ⁴ My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, ⁵ so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. ⁶ We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. ⁷ No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. ⁸ None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. ⁹ However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”— ¹⁰ but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹² We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. ¹³ This is what we speak, 

not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. ¹⁴ The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: ¹⁶ “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Gospel Lesson                     (The fulfillment of the Law)                    Matthew 5:13–20

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. ¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

Message Song                                 Who You Say I Am

Who am I that the highest King would welcome me

I was lost but He brought me in     Oh, his love for me (Oh, His love for me) 

Who the Son sets free, is free indeed – I’m a child of God, yes, I am!

Free at last, He has ransomed me, His grace runs deep

While I was a slave to sin, Jesus died for me Yes, He died for me!

   Chorus       Who the Son sets free, is free indeed – I’m a child of God, yes, I am!

In my Father’s house there’s a place for me – I’m a child of God, yes, I am!

               Bridge        I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who You say I am.

            You are for me, not against me. I am who You say I am   2 x’s

Now it’s time to serve the King, His power in me

The Spirit moves in ways unseen, re- making me!

                       Yes, re-making me!         Chorus

CCLI #7102401 ©Hillsong Music Publishing CCLI License # 11390779

Words and Music by Ben Fielding and Reuben Morgan

Message                                                    Children of the Light

1.      Believing in Christ as your Savior, you are to follow     Him and in doing so , show     yourself          to be His disciple. John 8:31-32; John 15: 8

2.      Christian understands how vital it is remain      connected       to Jesus so that our light shines brightly.    John 15

3.      The blessings of God’s abundant grace keep Jesus front    and    center        of your life. 

                                                                                                          John 10: 10

The Apostle’s Creed                                      

C:   I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.  

And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

Prayers of the Church  

 After each petition:

 P:  Lord, in your mercy,

 C:  hear our prayer.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

The Lord’s Supper

Preface                                                                      page 194 in the hymnal

P:  The Lord be with you.

C:  ♪ And with thy spirit.

P:  Lift up your hearts.

C:  ♪ We lift them up unto the Lord.

P:  Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

C:  ♪ It is meet and right so to do.

P:  It is truly good, right, and salutary …. And with the host of heaven we sing:

Sanctus — Holy, Holy, Holy                                          page 195 in the hymnal

C:  ♪ Ho -ly, ho-ly, ho-ly Lord God of Sa – ba – oth. Heaven and earth are full of Thy   

        glory. Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He, blessed is He, 

        blessed is He who cometh in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna 

        in the highest.

The Words of Institution (Jesus Institutes the Lord’s Supper)

Pax Domini—The Peace of the Lord                  page 197 in the hymnal

P:  The peace of the Lord be with you always.C:  ♪ Amen.

Agnus Dei – Lamb of God                                                                          page 198 in the hymnal                                      

C:  ♪ O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world; 

         have mercy upon us.

         O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world; 

         have mercy upon us.

         O Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world; 

         grant us Thy peace.  A – men.

Distribution of Communion

Distribution Hymn                               O Savior, Precious Savior                                  LSB 528

Nunc Dimittis                                                                                              page 211 in the hymnal

C: ♪ O Lord, now let Your servant      Depart in heav’nly peace,    For I have seen the glory     Of Your redeeming grace:     A light to lead the Gentiles    Unto Your holy hill,    The glory of Your people,   Your chosen Israel.  All glory to the Father,   All glory to the Son,  All glory to the Spirit,    Forever Three in One;    For as in the beginning,    Is now, shall ever be,   God’s triune name resounding    Through all eternity.

Post Communion Collect

All:  As You, O Lord, have called us in our ordinary lives to follow You, so You have given us extraordinary gifts. To sustain the spirit of true repentance and faith You have given, we give You thanks that through ordinary bread and wine You continue to give us forgiveness and life through Your very body and blood, once shed in atonement on the cross, now risen from death, and forever living everywhere among Your faithful people. Glory to You, O Lord, now and forever. Amen.

Benediction                                                                                                    Numbers 6:24–26                                                                                           

P:   The blessing of God Almighty—the Father who created us, the ✠ Son who saved us and shall return to welcome us home, and the Holy Spirit who creates and nourishes the faith that Jesus is the Lord—be with you now and forever.

C:   Amen. 

Closing Hymn                                I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light                  LSB 411 

Announcements 

Dismissal

P:   Go in peace as you serve the Lord.      

C:   Thanks be to God!   

Postlude

¹² Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”