This week's lessons: Micah 6:1-8, Psalm 15, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, Matthew 5:1-1

Emmanuel Community Church

Inter-generational Lectionary Study;

Sundays from 10:0 to 10:45 in the Board Room

Opening

Opening prayer by leader, or invite another participant to pray, or us:

Almighty God, who has caused all Holy Scripture to be written for our learning, open our ears and hearts today to learn from your word and from one another, we ask in Jesus' Name. Amen

Set the calendar-clock to the right date. Epiphany is our time of showing Christ forth into the world. Christ was “shown forth” in the miraculous signs that surrounded his birth, not only to his own people, but to the entire world, as evidenced by the visit of the Magi. The other great signs of Christ's life were also signs to the whole world. Over the weeks of Epiphany, the Gospel readings will review for us many of those signs that reveal who Christ is.

Today, the Gospel reviews for us Christ's baptism.

Review of Last Week

What was the sermon on? - Fishermen – the diversity of forms of fishing as evidence that God uses us in different ways. The Apostles as examples of people who were not strong or wise – but through whom God achieved much.

What was the Gospel lesson? - “I will make you fishers of men”

Did anyone have any insights about...

• Have you ever done anything sudden and never looked back, never regretted?

• How do “family values” relate to this dramatic, decisive turn in a person’s life of faith?

• How much do we use our “faith” or our religious commitment to put our lives in respectable, orderly comfort?

• How does God call us, in our own settings, to turn in a new direction, to open our lives to a radical renewal that may upset and re-orientate them?

• In what ways has your congregation sat in darkness, and then experienced the light of God’s love?

Bible Passage

Micah 6:1-8
Psalm 15
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Matthew 5:1-12 ---------

Memory Verse:

²¹Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.
²²But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.
²³Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
²⁴Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
²⁵Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
²⁶And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
²⁷She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
²⁸And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.
²⁹As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.

Pew-work Hand-outs

“Pew-work” is like Home-work, except that it is done in the pews, instead of being done at home. Because it is focussed on the readings (as the sermon, presumably, also is) it can be done during the sermon to help the listener concentrate. Or, it can be done while waiting for everyone else to finish their communion. It isn't done during prayers, or hymns, or the readings, because

• During Prayers, we pray

• During Hymns, we sing

During the Readings, we listen

Adult Student's Pew-work

Middle-school Students' Pew-work

Elementary-School Students' Pew-work

Pre-Schooler's Pew-work