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Service of Light
Greeting/Invocation
We light the Epiphany Candles and say or sing:
Light and Peace in Jesus Christ our Lord!
~Thanks be to God!
This is God’s Beloved One, Alleluia!
~Let us listen to him, Alleluia!
Hymn for the Baptism of the Lord
Jesus to Jordan’s waters came Those waters to redeem.
Under the Baptist’s guiding hand He plunged into its stream.
That all who come to be baptized Might share his life supreme.
Rising he saw the heavens part; Saw, falling from above
God’s Spirit sailing down on him, In symbol as a dove.
He heard his heav’nly Abba’s voice: “You are the Son I love.”
O God, who claimed us in your Son. Keep us your children still.
Spirit, who shone about the Christ, His life in us fulfill.
O Christ, sustain our life in you In thought and heart and will.
Text: J. Michael Joncas. Tune: Brother James Air or Morning Song
SERVICE OF THE WORD
PSALMODY
Antiphon 1
When you were baptized, O Christ, the heavens were opened
and the waters of the Jordan carried us to heaven, alleluia.
Psalm 109/110
Adonai, to the One who will reign:
“Come and be My companion;
We will undo selfishness and sin.”
The Spirit will bring from Zion
The power and strength to save:
Love changing foes into friends.
Precious from the day of your birth
on the holy mountain;
from the womb before the dawn I begot you.
The Promise holds true forever:
Your ministry is Loving-Kindness–
A priest like Melchizedek of old.
Companions of the Most High are ready
To liberate all who suffer from evil.
The One who calls us to justice
Invites us to join in the struggle:
Enlightening all who are unaware of the truth.
Drink from streams of Living Water,
Lift your head and celebrate the feast.
Glory to the ONE and to the WORD
and to the BREATH of Love!
As always before,
so now and evermore. Amen
When you were baptized, O Christ, the heavens were opened
and the waters of the Jordan carried us to heaven, alleluia.
Antiphon 2
The waters saw you, O Lord, the waters saw you and trembled!
O Savior of humankind, glory to you!
Psalm 113a/114
When Israel came out from Egypt
Jacob’s children from a foreign country
Judah became the holy place for Adonai
Israel became the place where God reigns.
The sea fled at the sight
the Jordan turned back on its course,
the mountains leapt like rams
and the hills like yearling sheep.
Why was it sea, that you fled?
that you turned back, Jordan, on your course?
Mountains, why did you leap like rams
and you hills, like yearling sheep?
Tremble, O Earth, before Adonai,
in the presence of the God of Love,
Who turns the rock into a pool
and flint into a spring of water.
Glory to the ONE and to the WORD
and to the BREATH of Love!
As always before,
so now and evermore. Amen
The waters saw you, O Lord, the waters saw you and trembled!
O Savior of humankind, glory to you!
Antiphon 3
Today the Lord comes to be baptized
and all humankind is lifted up, Alleluia!
Canticle from Isaiah 42
Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight.
I have bestowed my Spirit upon him,
and he will make justice shine on the nations.
He will not call out or lift his voice high,
or make himself heard in the open street.
He will not break a bruised reed,
or snuff out a smoldering wick;
But he will make justice shine on every race,
never faltering, never breaking down,
he will plant justice on the Earth,
while coasts and islands wait for his teaching.
I have called you with a righteous purpose
and taken you by the hand;
I have formed you, and appointed you
to be a light to all peoples
and a beacon for all the nations
to bring into the light all who lie in darkness.
Glory to the ONE and to the WORD
and to the BREATH of Love!
As always before,
so now and evermore. Amen
Today the Lord comes to be baptized
and all humankind is lifted up, Alleluia!
Reading Ephesians 1: 5-6
God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless. God destined us in love to adopt us as children through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of the divine will to the praise of God’s glorious grace freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
Silent Prayer
Responsory
R. Baptized into union with Christ we have all put on Christ as a garment, *We are all one person in Christ Jesus our Lord. V. There is no such thing as Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female. *We are all one person in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Canticle of Mary
Antiphon
O Son of God, baptized by John in the River Jordan,
save us who sing to you: Alleluia!
It is customary to make the sign of the cross at the beginning of the Gospel Canticle.
My heart + is radiant with the Lord,
My whole being delights in God my Savior.
All people now will call me blessed
For God has loved this humble handmaid.
The Almighty has shown me great favor
Holy is the NAME,
Whose mercy embraces the faithful,
From one generation to the next.
The mighty arm of God,
Scatters the proud in their own conceit,
Pulls tyrants from their thrones
While lifting up the lowly:
Fills the famished with bounty,
And reveals the emptiness of riches.
Rescues lowly Israel,
Sharing such loving kindness,
As promised to our ancestors
To Abraham and Sarah, and their descendants forever.
Glory to the ONE and to WORD
And to the BREATH of Love!
As always before,
so now and evermore. Amen
O Son of God, baptized by John in the River Jordan,
save us who sing to you: Alleluia!
Service of Prayer
Litany of Intercession
Your baptism by John in the Jordan made all the waters of the world and all creation holy,
~may we reverence the holiness of all creation and use water with restraint and care.
Your baptism initiated your public life of preaching, healing, and teaching,
~may all who have been baptized continue your mission and ministry.
Your baptism revealed your special relationship with your Abba and Holy Spirit,
~may all people accept your offer of adoption and your sharing of divine life.
Prayer of Jesus
Our Father …
Closing Prayer & Blessing
O Holy One, Source, Guide and Goal of all that is, your voice from heaven revealed Jesus Christ as your beloved Son, the fulfillment of all you had promised. May all those whom you have adopted through him, follow his path of service to humankind and work to build up your reign on Earth as it is in heaven where you live and reign forever and ever. Amen.
May the Word made flesh, full of grace and truth + bless us and all of creation. ~Amen
Let us bless the world with peace. ~And give thanks to God.
Those who wish may end evening prayer with the Marian Antiphon for Epiphany.
Marian Antiphon
Loving Mother of our Savior, holding open heaven’s only hope, Star for steerage in this vastness, rise to help us, save the sinking. Nature’s greatest Wonder: you have borne your own true Maker, giving human life to him. Virgin ever, before and after, that Good News from Gabriel, Word of Life for living, tell it now: mercy to all people!
The angel of the Lord brought the message to Mary. ~ And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Let us pray. Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ, your Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may, by his Passion and Cross, be brought to the glory of his Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.