Second Sunday After Epiphany(Year C)
Unifying Theme: |
||
| Scripture | Theme | Hymns |
|---|---|---|
| Isaiah 62:1-5 | God rejoices in His people, His bride | 720: Wake, Awake,
for Night is Flying 545: The Church's One Foundation |
| Psalm 36:5-10 | God's love reaches everywhere | 548: In Christ
There Is No East or West 144: This Is My Father's World |
| John 2:1-11 | The water becomes wine. Christ's first miracle--at a celebration of love. | 699: Come and Let
Us Sweetly Join 278: Hosanna, Loud Hosanna |
| 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 | Many gifts; one Lord. | 561: Jesus, United
by Thy Grace One Bread, One Body |
Have you ever felt "incomplete" as a person? How would you describe that feeling? Many people find it very difficult to describe. You see, when something is not there, there is nothing to describe. Even without a description, though, incompleteness is very real. It is very disruptive. It is very unsettling.
Have you ever felt the joy of being made complete as a person? How would you describe that feeling? Is this any easier? Perhaps not, but many relationships come quickly to mind. There is a completeness when teams play together. There is a completeness that comes when families are together. There is a completeness when fellowship groups meet together. There is completeness in God.
Charles Wesley encountered completeness in a special way. Although he was already ordained in ministry and had gone with his brother John as a missionary to the colony of Georgia, Charles felt incomplete in his spiritual life. Having returned to England, on May 21, 1738, Charles sensed Christ's forgiving presence in a powerful way. In his journal he wrote, "I felt a strange palpitation of the heart." This experience affected Charles in a way that would change him forever. That year Charles began having his hymns and poems published. Over the next fifty years he would write over 6,000 hymns--which averages to roughly one new hymn every three days.
Completeness to Charles required unity with God. That unity required faith, and true faith was accompanied by a clear sense of assurance of salvation. Charles' feelings were reflected in many of the hymns that he wrote. This week's featured hymn is no exception. As you read the words, seek to understand the completeness that Charles felt, and the completeness that you, too, can experience.
| 1. Come, and let us sweetly join, Christ to praise in hymns divine; give we all with one accord glory to our common Lord. |
2. Hands and hearts and voices raise, sing as in the ancient days; antedate the joys above, celebrate the feast of love. |
| 3. Jesus, dear expected Guest, thou art bidden to the feast; for thyself our hearts prepare; come, and sit, and banquet there. |
4. Sanctify us, Lord, and bless, breathe thy Spirit, give thy peace; thou thyself within us move, make our feast a feast of love. |
Join sweetly together, and glorify the Lord.
God bless you--
HymnSite.com
God bless you!
| Passages suggested are from The Revised Common Lectionary: Consultation on Common Texts (Abingdon Press, 1992) copyright © by the Consultation on Common Texts (CCT), P.O. Box 340003, Room 381, Nashville TN 37203-0003. Reprinted with permission of CCT. |