Third Sunday of Epiphany
“If you return, O Israel, declares the Lord, to me you should return.”
Bete Giyorgis (the Church of St. George) at Lalibela in Ethiopia. A wonder of medieval architecture, the churches of Lalibela were carved directly out of the soft rock in the 12th and 13th C, creating a model Jerusalem at a time when the pilgrimage to the actual Jerusalem had become too dangerous. Explore a 3D model of Bete Giyorgis and the churches of Lalibela.
There is mercy with you, O God: therefore you shall be feared.
— Ps 130:4
The Third Sunday of Epiphany
Texts for this Week
Prayer
Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Every Nation Sees the Glory …
Though a recent hymn, Francis O’Brien’s Epiphany Carol (2002) is a new classic of the season: a rich renarration of the deep themes of Epiphany. The yearning for unity in the world in the light revealed in Jesus Christ is especially poignant … and especially timely.
Gather, God, the world together in the brightness of your day.
Fill our hearts with joy forever, help us walk the holy way.
May your justice rule the nations; may all people live as one.
Now we see our true salvation in the glory of your Son.
The hymn is sung to the old Sacred Harp tune, Beach Spring. There aren’t a lot of excellent recordings of it to date; the video linked here is adequate. For varied aural imagination, here is the tune performed by the Hymn Keepers group on guitar and dulcimers; and here is the Irish group performing the tune in the Sacred Harp style.
