St Ansgar Lutheran Church, London

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Sunday Morning

We invite you to join us for the following worship services:

Sundays
10:30 a.m. Worship service

Hand sanitizer will be available at the entrance and other locations in the church for
your use.

Washrooms will be available for use.

In the service: The service will be shown on the screen. The offering will not be gathered and presented, but there will be an offering plate at the back of the sanctuary where you can put your offering as you enter or leave. Pastor David distributes the communion wafers and an Assisting Minister distributes wine or grape juice in individual glasses.

We have coffee and fellowship time available again in Luther Hall after the service.

We will continue to evaluate our worship service procedures on a monthly basis.

SECOND SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY, JANUARY 18, 2026

St. Ansgar Lutheran Church, Outline for Worship (with sermon)
Sunday, January 18, 2026 – Second Sunday after Epiphany
Based on ELW Setting Four

GATHERING

WELCOME & ANNOUNCEMENTS

BRIEF ORDER FOR CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
P: Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God, the Creator of heaven and earth,
the Word who spoke life into being, the Wind stirring the waters.
C: Amen.

P: Let us turn in confession to the one who knows us completely.

Silence is kept for reflection.

P: Mighty God, lover of justice,
C: you call us to life in community, but we have served our own
interests at the expense of our neighbours.
We have sown deceit where honesty was needed.
We say the right words, but our hearts are far from you.
Turn us to seek your face.
Knit us together and give us the mind of Christ, that we may do justice,
love mercy, and walk humbly with you, our God.
Amen.

P: The former things have passed away, and new things God now declares.
Like a spring of water that never fails, God covers you in the righteousness
of Christ, and forgives your sin in ☩ Jesus’ name.
May the Spirit give you strength to live for others, and bless you with
the gift of peace.
C: Amen.

ENTRANCE HYMN - O Day Full of Grace (ELW #627)

GREETING
P: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion
of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
C: And also with you

KYRIE
A: In peace, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: For the peace from above, and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the Church of God,
and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: For this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and praise,
let us pray to the Lord.
C: Lord, have mercy.

A: Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord.
C: Amen.

HYMN OF PRAISE (sung) (ELW p. 149)
P: This is the feast of victory for our God. Alleluia.
C: Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain,
whose blood set us free to be people of God.
Power and riches and wisdom and strength,
and honour and blessing and glory are his.
This is the feast of victory for our God. Alleluia.
Sing with all the people of God
and join in the hymn of all creation:
Blessing and honour and glory and might
be to God and the Lamb forever. Amen.
This is the feast of victory for our God,
for the Lamb who was slain has begun his reign.
Alleluia. Alleluia.

PRAYER OF THE DAY
P: Let us pray.
P: Holy God, our strength and our redeemer, by your Spirit hold
us forever, that through your grace we may worship you and faithfully
serve you, follow you and joyfully find you, through Jesus Christ, our
Saviour and Lord.
Amen

WORD

FIRST READING: Isaiah 49:1-7
1 Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The LORD called me before I was born, while I was in my mother's womb
he named me. 2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow
of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid
me away. 3 And he said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will
be glorified." 4 But I said, "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength
for nothing and vanity; yet surely my cause is with the LORD, and my reward
with my God." 5 And now the LORD says, who formed me in the womb to
be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered
to him, for I am honoured in the sight of the LORD, and my God has become
my strength- 6 he says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will
give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end
of the earth." 7 Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy
One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers,
"Kings shall see and stand up, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has
chosen you."

A: The word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.

PSALM 40: 1-11
1 I waited patiently upon the Lord,
who stooped to me and heard my cry.
2 The Lord lifted me out of the desolate pit, out of the miry clay,
and set my feet upon a high cliff, making my footing sure.
3 The Lord put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God;
many shall see, and stand in awe, and put their trust in the Lord.
4 Happy are they who trust in the Lord!
They do not turn to enemies or to those who follow lies.
5 Great are the wonders you have done, O Lord my God! In your plans for us,
none can be compared with you!
Oh, that I could make them known and tell them! But they are more than
I can count.
6 Sacrifice and offering you do not desire;
you have opened my ears: burnt-offering and sin-offering you have
not required.
7 And so I said, “Here I am; I come.
In the scroll of the book it is written of me:
8 ‘I love to do your will, O my God;
your law is deep within me.’”
9 I proclaimed righteousness in the great assembly;
I have not restrained my lips, O Lord, you know.
10 I have not hidden your righteousness in my heart; I have spoken of
your faithfulness and your deliverance;
I have not concealed your steadfast love and truth from the great assembly.
11 You are the Lord; do not withhold your compassion from me;
may your steadfast love and your truth continually keep me safe.

SECOND READING: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our
brother Sosthenes, 2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those who
are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those
who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their
Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of
the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, 5 for in every
way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind
6 just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you 7 so that
you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our
Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may
be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful; by him
you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

A: The word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
C: Alleluia. Lord, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life. Alleluia.

GOSPEL
P: The Holy Gospel according to John 1:29-42
C: Glory to you, O Lord.

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, "Here is the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is he of whom I said,
'After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'
31 I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason,
that he might be revealed to Israel." 32 And John testified, "I saw the Spirit
descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did
not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on
whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the
Holy Spirit.' 34 And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son
of God." 35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples,
36 and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, "Look, here is the Lamb
of God!" 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.
38 When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are
you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher),
"where are you staying?" 39 He said to them, "Come and see." They came and
saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four
o'clock in the afternoon. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed
him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. 41 He first found his brother Simon
and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated Anointed).
42 He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and said, "You are Simon
son of John. You are to be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).

P: The Gospel of the Lord.
C: Praise to you, O Christ.

SERMON
John 1:29-42
Let us pray: May the words of my mouth, and the prayers of our hearts,
always be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our Strength, and our Redeemer.
AMEN

It is clear from the beginning of the Gospel of John that his Gospel is different
from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. For example, the first three
Gospels tell us something about John the Baptist’s ministry of baptism and
his preaching. The Gospel of John does not include any of this information.
We do not hear about John the Baptist denouncing religious leaders as a
“brood of vipers,” or John’s thunderous preaching, and about the large crowds
flocking to hear him. Our introduction to John the Baptist in the Gospel of
John begins with a delegation of priests and Levites from Jerusalem asking
John the Baptist, “Who are you?” Surely, they must have heard about what
he has done, but this delegation wants to know who it is that is saying and
doing these things. John the Baptist answers their question by making it clear
who he is not. “I am not the Messiah” and “I am not him (Elijah).” When being
pressed for an answer, John declared, “I am the voice of one crying out in the
wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’” This is the introduction of
John the Baptist in the Gospel of John.
As Jesus approaches John the Baptist in our Gospel lesson this morning,
John declares, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
It is John the Baptist who gives Jesus his first title in the narrative part of John’s
Gospel as, “Lamb of God.” This title is only one way to identify Jesus, but it
connects Jesus with the Passover in the Book of Exodus. This phrase stirs
up memories for the Jewish people in the crowd. At the Passover, the people
of Israel were spared from the angel of death by putting the blood of an
unblemished lamb on their doorposts and lintel, just before they escaped from
slavery in Egypt. The Passover is a time of salvation, of forming community,
of celebrating God’s power. Jesus is God’s lamb. God continues to act
through Jesus for the salvation of all God’s people.
John the Baptist’s speech to those who had gathered tells us not only who
Jesus is: the Lamb of God, but also what Jesus does: takes away the sin
of the world. When the fourth Gospel talks about “the world,” it refers to all
of creation. Jesus has come to take the sin and darkness from God’s creation.
Jesus does more than forgive sin; Jesus conquers sin. We live in a world that
contains more than its fair share of sin and darkness. Sin surrounds us all
the time, but sometimes it seems to erupt in overflowing hatred and violence.
If you are watching the news you can clearly see, sadly, that south of the
border is a glaring example of this. John the Baptist makes sure that we
know who Jesus is: the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Let us now take this Gospel lesson a little further. When we continue reading
our lesson, the next characters to appear in the narrative are Jesus’ disciples.
Only the Gospel of John tells us that at least a couple Jesus’ disciples originally
were disciples of John the Baptist. The other three Gospels read as if Jesus
chose his disciples at random. According to John, Jesus’ first disciples make
a shift in loyalty, and John the Baptist encourages this shift. Once again,
John points away from himself toward Jesus. Sometimes claiming to be
disciples of Jesus means that we place our loyalty to Jesus above some of the
other ways we define ourselves. If we define ourselves as an athlete, our loyalty
to Jesus must come first, over Sunday morning golf or sport practices. If we define
ourselves with a particular political party, our loyalty to Jesus should come first,
remembering all parties distort the facts to receive votes. Our first loyalty must
always be to Jesus and to the truth.
The account in the Gospel of John of how the disciples make their transition
in loyalty from John to Jesus is important. Again, here John differs from the
other Gospels. The Gospel of Matthew especially presents a scene in which
the disciples immediately drop everything to follow Jesus. Some of us are just
not able to commit to something in this way. Some of us need, for one reason
or another, to take our time. The Gospel of John allows for that without criticism.
In John’s Gospel the disciples begin with a conversation. Jesus asks the
potential disciples, “What are you looking for?” Personally, we can think
of a number of answers for Jesus’ question that make sense. “I am looking
for spiritual fulfillment.” “I am looking for a deeper connection with God.”
“I am looking for a way to make sense of my life.” Instead of answering Jesus’
question directly, the potential disciples answer Jesus’ question with
another question. “Rabbi, where are you staying?” I am not sure what they
mean with such a response. Is it really about location, or are these potential
disciples trying to avoid Jesus’ penetrating question by changing the subject?
The important thing for us to remember is that discipleship often moves slowly,
and that is okay if it does. In fact, true discipleship is a journey of a lifetime.
But a word of caution: we can move so slowly that we never get around to it.
Later in John’s Gospel, we learn that some of the disciples did not come to
fully believe in Jesus until they had seen water turned to wine at the wedding
in Cana. Coming to believe can be a process.
All four Gospels single out Simon. In John’s Gospel, Simon’s brother, Andrew,
brings Simon to Jesus. We do not often meet someone who immediately
changes our name, but that is what Jesus did with Simon. Jesus gives Simon
the name Cephas, Aramaic for the word rock. The Aramaic word translates in
Greek to Petros, and to Peter in English. What does Jesus see in Simon that
deserves the name the Rock? We know that Simon does not always act like
a rock. The Rock quivered in his sandals while standing by the fire as Jesus
was led away by the soldiers. The Rock denied being a disciple of Jesus when
the going got tough. Yet Jesus looked at Simon and saw the Rock. “What are
you looking for?” Jesus asked. Whatever Simon was looking for when his
brother told him they found the Messiah we do not know, but what Simon did
find was himself. Simon found himself as Jesus saw him.
Through the Gospels, Jesus wanted us to know who John the Baptist was,
who Jesus is, and who the disciples, especially Simon, were. We might even
come here on Sunday mornings looking for who we are. Simon found himself
while trying to find the Messiah. What Jesus says to Simon is good for us
to hear. We often hear in church that we are not to be too full of pride, not to
think too much of ourselves. We need to hear that from time to time. Jesus saw
more in Simon than Simon saw in himself. We need to hear that too. Do we see
ourselves as spiritually weak? Have we let the putdowns of others sink in?
The risen Christ sees in each one of us abilities, strength, and potential that no
one else, including ourselves, can see. The risen Christ sees our inner Rock.
AMEN

Silence is kept for reflection.

HYMN OF THE DAY – This Little Light of Mine (ELW #677)

APOSTLES’ CREED
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.*
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
A: As God’s beloved children united in Christ, let us pray for the church,
the whole human community, and the well-being of the earth, our home.
A: God of our church, send forth your Spirit as we pray for our National
Bishop Larry Kochendorfer. Empower him with your wisdom to lead
the church. We also pray for our Synod Bishop Carla Blakley and the
Eastern Synod Office and Support Staff. Merciful God,
C: receive our prayer.

A: Gracious God, gather the church into one great fellowship. Equip your
people to work together for justice and peace, following the example of
Martin Luther King Jr., renewer of society, whose birth we remember
this week. Merciful God,
C: receive our prayer.

A: Creating God, sustain the web of life on this planet. Protect wild places,
endangered species, and vulnerable habitats. Come to the aid of those
affected by natural disasters. Merciful God,
C: receive our prayer.

A: Just God, you desire respect and equality for everyone. Raise up prophets
who speak truth to the nations. Embolden leaders and those in authority to
advocate for people in need. Merciful God,
C: receive our prayer.

A: Healing God, you lift up those who are bowed down by trouble, oppression,
or illness. We pray especially for Beth, Jean, Mary Margaret, Kristine, Karen,
Emma, Cathy, Lene, Grethe, Lyra, Bud, and those others who are in our hearts.
Bring an end to social injustice and inequities of every kind, so that all people
may have abundant life. Merciful God,
C: receive our prayer.

A: Abiding God, you are present with this congregation. Keep us mindful of
our mission and guide our ministries in this community. Kindle in us a desire
to help one another. Merciful God,
C: receive our prayer.

A: Merciful God, we pray for peace as war continues to rage in Ukraine
and in Israel and Gaza. Shelter all living in fear; protect those seeking refuge
in neighbouring countries; sustain families separated by the horrors of war;
tend to those who are injured; comfort all who mourn their dead. Direct your
people into the way of peace. Merciful God,
C: receive our prayer.

A: Faithful God, you promise to be with us always. We remember with
gratitude the faithful departed who now rest in you. Strengthen us to
the end, that we may see you face to face. Merciful God,
C: receive our prayer.

A: Confident that the Holy Spirit receives our prayers and answers us,
we commend all for whom we pray to God’s loving-kindness made
known to us in Christ Jesus our Saviour.
C: Amen.

PEACE
P: The peace of Christ be with you always.
C: And also with you.

LORD’S PRAYER
P: Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray.
C: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.

SENDING

BLESSING
P: May the triune God, who has put a new song in your mouth and tuned your
heart for praise + bless you now and forever.
C: Amen.

SENDING HYMN – We Are Marching in the Light (ELW #866)

DISMISSAL
A: Go in peace. Do justice. Love mercy.
C: Thanks be to God.

DISMISSAL HYMN – The Lord Now Sends Us Forth (ELW #538)
Verse 1
The Lord now sends us forth
with hands to serve and give,
to make of all the earth
a better place to live. Repeat (2X)

Verse 2
The angels are not sent
into our world of pain
to do what we were meant
to do in Jesus' name;
that falls to you and me
and all who are made free.
Help us, O Lord, we pray,
to do your will today. Repeat (2X)