1/25/2026 Traditional Service

AS WE GATHER The Epiphany season proclaims and celebrates the salvation of God coming into the world as a light shining in a dark place. Matthew quotes the prophet Isaiah predicting the dawning of that light into the darkness of unbelief, separation from God, sin, and “the shadow of death” (Matthew 4:16). That light was and is Jesus and His message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (v. 17). It may seem like a minor detail that Matthew says Isaiah’s prophetic words were fulfilled when Jesus left His hometown of Nazareth to live “in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali” (v. 13). Yet even this little fact testifies to how real the words of the Old Testament are and how they are fulfilled in Jesus, the Christ.

Likewise, it may at times seem insignificant and even unimportant when the light of the Gospel is preached in our hearing and in our world today. How many of us have heard God’s voice directly saying, “Follow me”? Those who were baptized as infants have no memory of ever being apart from God or His church. The life of faith in God may just seem normal or even routine to us—nothing out of the ordinary. Still, our sins remind us of the temptation to ignore God. Like the Christians in Corinth, we have sinful pride that causes divisions and quarreling among us. And while that’s no different than anywhere else in our world, to be a disciple of Jesus means to be truly different than the world. Repentance means being transformed by love of God and love of neighbor. Today, Jesus truly is saying to you, “Repent” and “Follow Me,” even in the ordinary details of life.