Redeemer Lutheran and St. Theodore’s

On Sunday, Jan. 5, the congregations of Redeemer Lutheran Church and St. Theodore of Canterbury Episcopal Church will be celebrating Epiphany Sunday. Rev. Murray D. Finck and Bishop Emeritus will be presiding with a sermon titled: “What Shall We Do While We Wander?” continuing the theme of “What shall we do while we...?” during this Advent and Christmas season.

The 10:30 a.m. Communion and worship service gathers at 13564 St. Andrews Drive, followed by fellowship in the Fellowship Hall with coffee, tea, cookies and snacks. Everyone is welcome. As always, the congregations continue to collect donations of canned and boxed foods for the hungry.

The Bible study will return Jan. 8 and finish up the study of the Ten Commandments.

Jan. 6—Epiphany of Our Lord. The gospel lesson is from Matthew 2:1-12. It is the story of the Magi coming to worship Jesus in this Gospel, and a presentation of Jesus to the Gentile world. The Magi bring gifts of frankincense, gold and myrrh. Traditionally, these gifts are looked at as declarations of Jesus’s divinity, kingship and the suffering servant/his death. Frankincense was a perfume used in smoke as a gift to God; gold is worldly riches that was given to kings; and myrrh was an antiseptic ointment often used for burial purposes.

But it is not just about the Magi. It is also about Herod. It is about Herod’s fear and need to hold onto power. Herod is afraid of the potential of a newborn baby. He is so afraid that he lies to the Magi about wanting to worship this baby and commands his soldiers to kill every Jewish boy child from newborn to two years old in Bethlehem. So, while people celebrate the birth of Jesus and the gifts of the Magi, they are also reminded that there is pain and suffering in the story of who Jesus was when he walked the earth. There is pain and suffering as people follow in Jesus’s footsteps in their own journeys of faith.