Talk About Variety!
Second Sunday after Epiphany - January 19, 2025
Are you longing to hear God’s voice? What would it be like to hear God call you by name? For many it seems that God spoke to people long ago and far away, but now in this time and place God’s voice is much less clear and less audible. Perhaps we cannot hear the voice of God because our world is full of noise? Perhaps we are not open to the particular frequency in which God chooses to call us? Perhaps we continually tune out this heavenly summons with our daily rush, not taking the time to quiet ourselves, our minds, our inner voices. We can use this time after Epiphany to clear out a corner of our lives for quiet prayer, meditation, or centering. Maybe then we will be able to hear . . . to sense . . . to listen.
Listen! God’s voice comes from heaven to call us by name, speak to the earth, shake the wilderness, and to anoint “the Beloved.” Listen! God’s people speak words of covenant, commitment, and community in the liturgy of baptism. Listen! God’s word surrounds this day with power and majesty and “in the temple of the Lord all are crying, ‘Glory!’” (Ps. 29:9). In this season of epiphanies, today’s miraculous encounter with the living God immerses us in the sound of God’s voice and bathes us in God’s baptismal promise. All who are splashed by this water gasp, cry, exclaim, sigh, and sing. Let all who have breath, praise the Lord!
Living "Words With Friends"
Third Sunday after Epiphany - January 26, 2025
Playgrounds still resound with “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” But those words ring hollow. As adults, and as children, we know only too well the power of words to do harm. In contrast, the scriptures for today point us to the word that bears hope, promise, and life. Human words can hurt or fail, but now we hear this holy word of wisdom, challenge, instruction, and hope that really does form us in God’s promise. Rather than words that tear down, we are invited by the prophets and Jesus into God’s living words with and among friends. Jesus, in coming home and attending the synagogue, reads from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus announces good news to those struggling economically on the fringes of society, hope to those who are imprisoned, healing to those without sight, a lifting of the burden from those who are weighed down or oppressed, and even the in-breaking of a holy year of favor. Standing in a tradition of prophets and priests who speak, engage, and teach God’s word, Jesus now offers one thing more—fulfillment. The words of those who dream and hope, who work for justice and mercy on behalf of God, are now true. Today as we look around and see people spending time speaking, reading, and even playing games with words, this is an opportunity to ground ourselves in the one full Word that bears life. This word counters sticks and stones and all that oppresses; Jesus address announces God’s liberating actions. This Word sounds promise to all who hear; it is an invitation to see God at work among God’s people.
©2025, Sundays and Seasons, a div. of Augsburg Fortress.
