Hi everyone,

Welcome to worship for this 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, which lands on January 18, 2026!

The bulletin for this service can be found here. You can use it to follow along with the service as it has the order and words of worship as well as the full sermon. Alternatively you can follow along with the words that will appear on your screen, and the sermon is also included on this page below the video.

For a fuller worship experience while online, you are invited to have a lit candle in your space for most of the service, and extinguish it near the end when the altar candles are extinguished after the sending hymn. You are also welcome to participate in communion if you are comfortable, by having something small to eat and drink prepared. Further instruction will be given at the appropriate time.

May the light of God’s love shine in and around you, empowering you with love, this day and always!

O God, send your Spirit upon us, that our eyes and ears be opened to see and hear you present and strengthening our hearts by your love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

So I’m going to be honest with you, with everything that is going on in these past couple of weeks and still continuing on now, with me stupidly still reading the comments on social media and websites that cover these stories, and even with that sermon that I preached last week, I don’t think I have it in me to talk about world news and politics today.  I don’t want to talk about the division I see between people because of it.  And I especially don’t want to talk about the darkness that is plaguing the world as of late. 

Instead, I want to keep things light today.  Literally.  I mean we are in the season after the Epiphany, the season of light after all.  Anyone know what this is?

*pull flashlight out of pocket*

You might see this as just a gadget of some kind.  A trinket.  Or maybe even a waste of money.  But it’s actually a flashlight, the one that I carry with me everyday, because you never know when you’d need a good light.  Never mind that our phones and some watches also have built-in flashlights.  Never mind that I could have gotten the same-ish functionality at a fraction of the cost of this one.  And especially never mind that I’ve only actually used it for its intended purpose like maybe twice in the year or so that I’ve had it.  But I love this thing.  And I chose this particular one for very specific reasons.

Now, I should say that this sermon isn’t sponsored or anything like that so I’m not trying to promote this particular one or sell it to you or anything, but I just want to say that, for such a small footprint, this torch is pretty packed with features.  I can’t list them all, of course, not without boring you more than you already are.  But I do want to point out one of the features that honestly I didn’t really care for but it came with it anyway.

See, this flashlight glows in the dark.

Uh, why?  Isn’t the point of a flashlight to flash light from its bulbs?  Why does it need to glow in the dark?  That was my exact thought when I learned that it had this feature built in, with no option to get rid of it to save a few bucks. It seemed more gimmicky to me than anything else, and a function that I would never need… outside of a sermon illustration, that is.  So really, I glossed over this feature and focussed more on its actually useful functions.  You know, those functions that I’ve used like twice in the past year and a bit.

But it wasn’t until the end of that day when I first got this thing, as it was sitting on my dresser charging that I realised why it’s even a thing to begin with.  Because when I turned off the light to go to sleep, guess what I saw?  Guess what continued to function even after I shut everything down?  Guess what thing I knew the exact location of, even in behind closed doors and curtains withd little to no light?   

You guessed it, this softly glowing flashlight.

Even with the lights off in the room, I knew where it was.  Even with its own light off, I could see it.  And because of how glow-in-the-dark things work, even if its batteries were completely drained, I’d still be able to reliably find it in the dark.

And that’s the cool thing about things that can glow like this.  They work not by their own power, but by the energy they absorbed from a greater power.  The intensity of their glow isn’t by their own will or intentional doing, but by how close and how long it was proximity to that energy source.  And because the glow is just that, a glow, it is best seen… in contrast, in the times of most darkness, when all other sources of light have been turned off, shut down, or cut out.  They’ll continue to glow, allowing us to see them, turn to them, and be pointed in the right direction because of them.

“Rabbi, where are you staying?”

This was the question that Andrew and the other unnamed disciple of John the baptizer, asked Jesus when they were seemingly jumping ship to follow him instead.  This question seems innocent enough, in that they’re concerned with his well-being and comfort.  Their former mentor and teacher pointed in his direction and called him the Lamb of God, after all.  John the baptizer, whom they were following, ranted and raved about this Jesus, the Messiah, who was to take away the sins of the world.  It wouldn’t be hard to wonder about such a character.  To be curious.  And to be attracted to the light that he is.

Interestingly enough, the word translated to “staying” could also be translated to “abiding,” as in, “where are you residing?” or “where are you making your home?” or “where are you most fully and wholly present?”.  See they didn’t just want to know where Jesus hangs his hat, they wanted to learn what he’s about, understand all that he is, and perhaps grow and be changed by his wisdom and power.

Jesus’ answer?  “Come and see.”

As in, “follow and witness” or “join the experience” or “bask in this light and absorb its goodness, so you might reflect it onto to others not by your own will or intention, but by the very nature of this grace given unto you, changing you from within, strengthening you in community, and endowing you with the gifts of the Spirit.”  Ok, maybe that last one was a bit of an embellishment over “come and see” but I do think that this is Jesus’ invitation to them and us all. 

See while these disciples were the ones who pursued Jesus, Jesus was the one who had already found them.  Who already prepared a place for them.  Who already was inviting them into his fold, his community, his family.

Invited to experience his love.  To feel his presence.  To see him working in and around the world that the light of his truth might be absorbed.  Because as we spend more time basking in this light, the more we are changed, renewed, and reformed to be God’s people in the world.

And as we all know, there are times in any one of our lives that we could use a little more of this light.  Maybe this light can be seen in our church.  Maybe we see it in each other.  Maybe we can see it in ourselves, teaching us compassion, showing us grace, and pushing out the darkness to make room for love.

But this isn’t a call to be perfect.  This isn’t a call for us to have it always together.  This isn’t a call for us to save the world.  But it’s a call to just see the light.  To absorb its goodness.  And to emanate that glow outward onto others.

See just like how my little flashlight glows after being in proximity of a decent light source, so do we glow just from spending time with Jesus.  Just like how my tiny torch absorbs and reflects that energy, so are we charged and empowered to care for and be compassionate toward others.  And just as how this small RovyVon Angel Eyes E5 everyday carry device, not by its own will and intention, but by its created format, function, and nature, soaks up light and then in turn illuminates not enough to allow us to see per se, but to point us to the greater light and source of energy that we need, so do we, in the presence of Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, in the teachings of his truth, in the guiding by his grace, and in the leading of his love, so do we absorb this light, reflect it out, and point others to its source.

By the grace of God, we become bearers of this truth, proclaimers of that hope, and beacons of the true light, knowing that we aren’t the light itself but we just point to the light.  The light that illumines our hearts.  The light that stitches together community and relationships.  The light that forgives and saves and reminds us all just how loved we are, even when the world throws on us nothing but shade and hate.

This light continues to shine and invites us to come and see even when we might not notice or recognise it.  This light perpetually radiates when we are lost and can’t see our way and illuminates our path.  This light will always empower and forgive, even in a world that has become so dark, because no matter how hard it might try and pout and bully, the darkness cannot overcome the light’s promise of compassion, salvation, and love.

Oh, look at that, I ended up talking about politics after all.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.