FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
CRAFT: We have plenty of empty water bottles. Take two, hot glue gun them together and then let the children make rafts, with sails and such. We should have a tub of water for them to try and float their boats.
SNACK: Tuna finger sandwiches.
LESSON PLAN: The call of Peter and the fisherman (in this case James and John) to be fishers of men, is a wonder of God solely at work deciding who will believe and be one of His followers, one of His disciples. Start off playing the card game "go fish." Point out that we don't always get what we ask, or what we want when we play. (Peter had been fishing all night and got nothing.) But God always gets what He wants, because He is God.
MEMORY WORK: 1 Corinthians 14:12 Since you are eager to have spiritual gifts, try to excel in gifts that build up the church.
FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER THE EPIPHANY
We will learn that only God calls people to believe in and follow Jesus.
We will understand that our Jesus has done all the work toward our response.
We will thank God that in our baptism we are called by God and through the great miracle of conversion, made His forever.
Preliminary considerations: The overall theme for today involves being called out of the world by Jesus. In the Introit the word "fear" means "know." We are blessed that we are allowed to know God. The Collect emphasizes that it is through Grace in the work of the Holy Spirit that gives us Faith The Old Testament Lesson is the call of Isaiah, which allows us to see another call at work. (Baptism is easier.) The Gradual describes the Grace of God and our response to His call. The Epistle Lesson mirrors the Fishers of Men part of the Gospel. Showing forth the response to the call of God. The Gospel Lesson is the call of Peter and the first of the Apostles. Jesus came with a miracle to bring them in. The same is true for us in the wonder of the call of our baptism.
THE OLD TESTAMENT LESSON: Isaiah 6:1-8
In 742 BC King Uzziah died. For 40 years King Uzziah had kept the Assyrians at bay from Israel as well as Judah, but conditions would deteriorate rapidly until Israel was pillaged by Assyria just 20 years later. The people had come to depend on the earthly king rather than on their heavenly king for their protections. The fiery ordination of Isaiah signals that God is not giving up on calling His people. He would preserve a "seed" from the mighty oak that had been cut down to grow into His people again. (This is a prophecy of Christ.) The ordination of Isaiah shows our great weakness and God's great strength. All arguments of weakness presented by Isaiah were met and He was empowered by God. Our weakness of sin is met and we are given the power of Faith in our baptism.
THE EPISTLE LESSON: 1 Corinthians 14:12b-20
If you hadn't noticed by now, we have been reading through 1 Corinthians starting at chapter 12. Today we continue the thoughts of spiritual gifts, the gifts we received in the water and Word of our baptism, and made alive by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The call to believe carries with it gifts of Faith and sanctification from God. Isaiah was given gifts of forgiveness and speech. Peter was given gifts of forgiveness and wisdom. Because these gifts were given through the church, they are to be used in the church for the purposes of edification. Primarily then, to use our gifts we must be in fellowship which means worship.
THE GOSPEL LESSON: Luke 5:1-11
The call of the Apostles is a little complicated. John tells us that Peter had a relationship with Jesus from the second day back from the wilderness. It would seem, however, that Jesus doesn't call Peter until some time later. Peter resists as do we all. Sin keeps us away from God. As in the call of Isaiah, God overwhelms our sin and gives us Faith. As we learn from our Epistle Lesson, our Faith is alive and active. We perform our Faith in worship. Peter, James and John are called to follow Jesus and become Fishers of Men. The call of God in the water and Word of our baptism is very different for every person. Some are called to active ministry and some are called to support.
STUDY SHEET
God spends an inordinate amount of time telling us not to be afraid. We are afraid a lot. We are afraid of our Faith, because the world tells us Faith in God is foolish. We are afraid of God, because we know that we have doubts. We are afraid of God because we know that we have sin. For all the times God tells us not to be afraid, we come back with some expression of fear.
The chosen people were afraid when their king and protector was killed. They didn't think to turn to God, they tried to raise up a more powerful king. Isaiah was afraid of being a prophet because of His sin, because of what the people would do to him. Peter was afraid to follow God because of the people, because of his sin, because of... We are afraid to follow God for any number of reasons.
Jesus comes to us in our fear with His overwhelming power. Jesus comes to us with the wonder of our baptism, where we have been called out of the world and infused with the power of the Holy Spirit to keep us always with Him. Jesus accomplished the work of our greatest fear, He has gone through the veil of death, so that we will pass from life to life.
With all this at hand we have nothing to fear. God is with us, God is for us, God is in us. We are His eternally. Any attempt on our part to proclaim the wonder of Jesus will be empowered with His Love to make it a success among His people.
1. What was the condition of Israel when Isaiah received His call (and ordination?)
2. What made Isaiah most afraid?
3. What did God do for Isaiah's fear?
4. What was the condition of the chosen people when Peter received His call?
5. What made Peter most afraid?
6. What did God do for Peter's fear?
7. What was our condition when God called us?
8. What made us the most afraid?
9. What did God do for our fear?
10. What assurance did the miracle of the fish have for the Apostles?
11. What miracle happens in our life for our assurance (think cross)?