January 25, 2026 – Online Only

Sunday, January 25

Due to the Winter Storm Watch, the Session of the Presbyterian Church at Woodbury has cancelled in-person worship. Please join us at 10am on-line through our Facebook Live feed. This service will be an abbreviated time of prayers, scripture and proclamation of the Good News!

The annual congregational/corporation has been rescheduled for Sunday, February 1 following 10am worship.

Please stay safe and warm!! Blessing to all!!!

 

CHIMING OF THE HOUR

WELCOME            

PRAYER

God our light and our rescue,
our fortress in times of trouble,
when human powers seek to crush us,
protect us in the hidden places of your heart.
Ease our fears and let us rest in you. 
When we are safe, but other lives are threatened,
fortify our resolve to be your protection
for all our kin and all your good creation.
When the work is done, 
we ask only to live in your house 
and enjoy your beauty forever. Amen.

PRELUDE               “O Blessed Jesus”             Johannes Brahms                             

CALL TO WORSHIP

In the sea of life’s daily stress and strife,
in the struggle to keep our heads above the waves,
Jesus calls us from the shore:
“Follow me, and be fishers of people!”
God gathers us into new boats 
built with room for friend and stranger.

“Follow me, and use your gifts with purpose.
Follow me, and build abundant life.” 
We will be weavers of community,
architects of justice,
gardeners of peace.

*HYMN No. 2, vs. 1-3                  “Come Thou Almighty King”

1 Come, thou almighty King,
help us thy name to sing;
help us to praise:
Father, all glorious,
o’er all victorious,
come, and reign over us,
Ancient of Days.

2 Come, thou incarnate Word,
merciful, mighty Lord,
our prayer attend.
Come, and thy people bless, 
and give thy word success;
Spirit of holiness, 
on us descend.

3 Come, holy Comforter,
thy sacred witness bear
in this glad hour.
Thou who almighty art,
now rule in every heart,
and ne’er from us depart,
Spirit of power.

CALL TO CONFESSION

Christ calls us to follow, knowing that we are human.
Jesus knows we are not perfect.
He knows we will not always get it right.
All he asks is that we try, learn, and try again.
Let us go to God, telling how we have tried and failed,
that God may teach us what we must learn.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Christ, our Messiah, 
you call us to fish for people, 
but we are hesitant to leave our boats. 
We are afraid to let go of the things we hoard, 
believing they make us secure. 
We are afraid to put our trust in you, 
afraid to follow, afraid we will fail. 
Forgive us. 
Transform our fear into faithfulness, 
and enable us to walk with you, 
that we may be part of your work in the world.

Silence is observed

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

Just as Jesus called the disciples,
so Christ calls us.
Forgiven of our sin
and freed to serve,
let us answer Christ’s call.
Christ calls us, forgives us, heals us, and teaches us. 
Thanks be to God!

RESPONSE NO.  2, v. 4              “Come Thou Almighty King”

4 To thee, great One in Three,
eternal praises be,
hence evermore!
Thy sovereign majesty
may we in glory see,
and to eternity
love and adore.

*PASSING OF THE PEACE OF CHRIST         

Since we are reconciled to God in Christ through our Baptism, let us share the sign of peace with one another:

May the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

And also with you.

Worshippers are invited to briefly “pass the peace” of Christ to those directly seated around them thus keeping our worship time “decent and in order” with a focus upon being part of God’s community.

ANTHEM                “Be Glad in the Lord”                   Joseph Martin                        

CHILDREN’S MESSAGE

UNISON PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

Saving God, source of our calling,
your Word is full of power and glory.
Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us
so that we may receive your grace
and live as your beloved children;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

SCRIPTURE                     Matthew 4:12-23    

¹²Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. ¹³He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, ¹⁴so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: ¹⁵“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— ¹⁶the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”¹⁷From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

¹⁸As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. ¹⁹And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” ²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. ²²Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

²³Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

Pause…

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God!!

 

SERMON                “FOLLOW ME”                 

It was mid-afternoon on a fall day in Columbia South Carolina. High School students met in a parking lot after another day of classes, suitcases in tow. A caravan of five cars or so formed, ready to travel the long road of I-81 to a Youth Retreat at Montreat Conference Center. After some negotiation, all the baggage made it into trunks in what was at best a jigsaw puzzle. Riders divided, front seats were claimed. Walkie talkies were distributed to keep in contact. Everything was ready to go. And then someone asked, “where are the directions?” The youth group leader, an imposing 6 foot plus father of three named Chris turned around with a somewhat irritated look. “Follow me” was his only reply.

A few drivers persisted, “of course, we’re planning on staying together, but it’d be nice to have the directions, you know, just in case.” “Follow me.” “It’s just a long trip. What if we hit traffic? Look, we just want to know where we’re going.” “Follow me.” Needless to say, it was an order that was not an easy one to follow.

“Follow me.” Jesus says to Simon, also called Peter, and his brother Andrew. Then, down the shore, a similar invitation is issued to two other brothers, James and John. Can you imagine the scene? Here are two sets of brothers, working hard in the family business, casting nest into the sea, hoping to catch enough fish to make a living. And here comes this man with an invitation that on first glance probably didn’t fall into the category of “something too good to miss.” And yet, the brothers do respond. There must have been something about this stranger on the shore that gave the disciple’s confidence to drop their nets.  Both times, Matthew uses the same word to describe the timing of their reaction – IMMEDIATELY – and both times, Matthew tells us how the respond – they follow him. Clearly there was something different about Jesus than my Mock Trial group leader.

The great theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that the call to “follow me” was a call to “absolute discipleship,” and that it came at a pretty high cost. But, he also noted that it was only in surrendering ourselves to Jesus’ command that we could, paradoxically, know our greatest joy. There must have been something so provocative about Jesus’ invitation that these four fisherman were willing to take a risk.

Perhaps it was because of where they were going. The verses that follow this one immediately go into Jesus’ ministry of healing and teaching throughout Galilee. Then we have the Sermon on the Mount, four chapters in Matthew’s gospel of Jesus’ instruction. Christ takes the disciples on one wild ride, continuing to say, “follow me,” and then teaching them, by word and example, just what that means. It should be no surprise, then, that by the end of the gospel, Jesus sends out these disciples to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. And in this powerful charge, he also includes the pivotal reminder that he is with them always, even to the end of the age.

But the disciples wouldn’t have known any of this while they were pulling in their nets, struggling to make a living. No, there had to have been some other hook, pardon the pun, that Jesus used to lure them in. Perhaps it is because rather than just some blind directive, he provided additional information that resonated with something they knew. He said, “I will make you fish for people.” Jesus piqued their interest, speaking to something that was close to their hearts and perhaps at the root of who they were. He nurtured and kindled a part of them that became inspired to move forward and join him.

“Follow me.” It’s a command that comes repeatedly in Scripture. God called Abraham and Sarah to leave their home, their family, their identity, and sojourn into an unfamiliar land. God called Rahab to shelter undercover agents sent to Jericho. God called Samuel, three times as a young boy, to be God’s servant, who later would anoint Israel’s first king. God called prophets like Isaiah to summon the people of Israel to open their prosperity-glazed eyes and see God in their midst. God called Mary to give birth to God incarnate. And God called fishermen from their nets to follow Jesus.

As James O. Chatham notes:

From the beginning, God has called people; God has stepped into their lives and pointed them in new directions. God does this throughout the Bible; few pages go by without it. Is this not a strong signal that God is going to call us too; that in some moment when we are involved in a normal day’s pursuits, God will walk up to the lake shore and beckon us to leave our fishing boats for a future we had not planned?

A lot of times we believe that God’s call is reserved for a select few, you know, those of us pastor types. Maybe we allow ourselves to believe that they are for non-clergy, but even then, only a select few. However, in Matthew’s gospel that idea is challenged by the very fact that these first disciples were fishermen. They were ordinary, everyday people, going about their very ordinary, everyday lives. They were people who worked with their hands, who likely lived day to day, hoping they would catch enough fish to survive. Their hands and faces were weathered by wind and sea. They probably said things they shouldn’t. And yet, this is Jesus’ target audience. Just like the shepherds on the hillsides heard the news of his birth, God again brings in unlikely people into the extraordinary story of our salvation. This should cause us to take note. Maybe, God will even call us into the story – if we are open enough to hearing Jesus’ voice, “Follow Me.”

Follow me – on a cold morning in January, when the warmth of a cozy bed is even more alluring on a Sunday morning, into a time of worship, prayer, and study with a community of faith.

Follow me – when you see that coworker, classmate, or neighbor who seems to not have anyone to talk to, who is longing for someone to hear his or her story and offer support.

Follow me – at a dinner party where jokes become increasingly crude, and you can’t quite bring yourself to laugh at yet another joke that brims with racism or sexism.

Follow me – to speak out for what is right.

Follow me – when you see those who are hungry, or without shelter, or who lack decent clothing, or who are oppressed and without voice; recognize them as fellow children’ of God and respond in action – from loading produce at a mobile food pantry to tagging items for our clothing closet to working for real changes in the systems that have failed.

Follow me. God’s calls are all around us. James Chatham goes on to say,:

If the Bible says anything clearly, it says this: God calls us. Calls us to do whatever God has in mind. Calls us to set a great many other things aside and follow God’s bidding.

Of course, it can be difficult to hear God’s call. There are many other places in our lives and world that make a lot of noise, too, in hopes that we will follow.

Follow Me – you need this list of products in order to make yourself look or feel your very best. With the right combination of them, you will be successful.

Follow Me – on social media, so you can keep up with the latest news and thoughts of celebrities, politicians, and friends.

Follow Me – just make up some plausible excuse, even if it isn’t quite true, to spare your friend’s feelings and avoid an invitation. It’s just a little white lie, after all.

Our work, it seems, is to discern which of these “follow me”s are from God, and which might be from places that don’t quite lead us down the same path of discipleship. To do this, we have to be open to hearing God’s call in the first place, making space in our lives, minds and hearts to be open to the kind of change God’s call might bring to us.

This is the process of discernment, and it helps us discover our vocation, that call that God issues to each of us as disciples. It is a unique call, based on the skills and gifts and passions we have, and balanced with the needs of the world. Frederick Buechner is often quoted for his definition of vocation as “the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet,” but he goes on to further explain it in this way, saying:

By and large a good rule for finding out is this: The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you’ve presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing cigarette ads, the chances are you’ve missed requirement (b). On the other hand, if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you’re bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a), but probably aren’t helping your patients much either. Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do.

The disciples were working as fisherman, but when they received the call, they enthusiastically followed. And Jesus gave them a new vocation – to fish for people. He took the skills they presumably already had – fishing – and used their abilities (learned and innate) to help them learn how to be disciples. I believe God’s call works in many of the same ways today. God nurtures in us the talents, gifts, and interests that we have, and helps us find ways to use them to be a part of what God is doing in the world. These often become identified as spiritual gifts, and range from beautiful singing voices and compassionate hearts to the ability to organize and understand numbers. All of these are needed for the work of Christ’s kingdom – therefore, all of us are called. We just need to know how to discern what that means for us.

In the movie, Dead Poets’ Society, a boy’s boarding school experiences the creative and dynamic teaching of a somewhat renegade English teacher, Professor Keating, portrayed by Robin Williams. In one of the early scenes of the movie, he provides commentary on how to approach reading poetry that I believe is very much akin to how we should approach discerning our calls. After opening a poetry textbook, he asks a student to begin reading the Introduction, “Understanding Poetry.” the students find a boring rubric for interpreting the merit of a given poem – paying attention to rhyme, meter, figures of speech, etc. Professor Keating toys with it for a moment, illustrating the line graph quantitative analysis of different poems. Then he calls the whole introduction “excrement.” There’s something more to it, he says, than being able to graph a poem’s perfection and merit. It’s not about following a prescribed checklist of things. Instead, Professor Keating instructs them to rip out that page – and then the entire introduction. He gathers the boys in close, then urges them to approach poetry in this way, saying:

We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race, and the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business and engineering – these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life – but poetry, beauty, romance, love – these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, “O me! O life! . . . of the questions of these recurring, of the endless trains of the faithless – of cities filled with the foolish . . . What good amid these, O me? O life? Answer. That you are here – that life exists, and identity, that the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse. That the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.”  What will your verse be?

What will our verse be? That is the question of call, and how we will be a part of what God is doing in the world. Discerning it is less like reading an instruction manual, and more like reading poetry. It requires interpretive work. Not just what the author, God, is saying, but what we are saying in response. Call and Discernment is a two way street between us and God. It evokes a relationship, and action. But it begins with God coming to us, in the midst of our everyday, ordinary lives, and saying, “Follow Me.”

The verses that follow? They are up to us. Amen.

*AFFIRMATION OF FAITH                   

A portion of “The Brief Statement of Faith”

We trust in Jesus Christ, fully human, fully God. Jesus proclaimed the reign of God:  preaching good news to the poor and release to the captives, teaching by word and deed and blessing the children, healing the sick and binding up the brokenhearted, eating with outcasts, forgiving sinners, and calling all to repent and believe the gospel. Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition, Jesus was crucified, suffering the depths of human pain and giving his life for the sins of the world. God raised Jesus from the dead, vindicating his sinless life, breaking the power of sin and evil, delivering us from death to life eternal. Amen.

*HYMN No. 693                “Though I May Speak”

1 Though I may speak with bravest fire,
and have the gift to all inspire,
and have not love, my words are vain,
as sounding brass, and hopeless gain.

2 Though I may give all I possess,
and striving so my love profess,
but not be given by love within,
the profit soon turns strangely thin.

3 Come, Spirit, come, our hearts control;
our spirits long to be made whole.
Let inward love guide every deed;
by this we worship, and are freed.

THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE & THE LORD’S PRAYER

Eternal God, in this season of Epiphany, this season of holy “showing,” we remember the wonder of Christ’s birth with joy and gratitude. Yet our problems, our brokenness, and our suffering remain. Our hearts still cry out for you as we long to know you face to face, as close as creature and creator can be. So often we cannot find you, and we feel forsaken amid our despair. Show us how near you truly are, Holy God. Restore our confidence in your presence.

We pause now to center our minds and hearts on you in prayer. Long ago, the psalmists lifted their voices to you, trusting that you would hear and receive their petitions. Following their example, we lift before you the needs of the world, our communities, and those we love. In your mercy, O God, hear our prayers.

We pray for a world aching with violence, fear and injustice. We remember Ukraine, and we remember all places where war is raging and lives are torn apart. Hold close the people of Israel and Palestine. Be near to those suffering in Sudan, in Myanmar, and in every region where conflict destroys homes, families and hope. Protect those who cling to what is good and resist what is evil. Turn the hearts of leaders who choose domination over peace. Lift up the lowly. Bring relief to the oppressed. Plant seeds of justice that lead to lasting reconciliation. In your mercy, O God, hear our prayers.

We pray for our communities, for neighbors seeking companionship and belonging, for the ill and those who care for them, for all whose daily labor sustains our lives. Help us to recognize you at work among us, in the friendships we form as we serve together, in kindness shared, in compassion received, in the growth that comes when we listen to those whose lives are different from our own. We praise you for becoming God-with-us in Jesus Christ. Dispel our fear and doubt so that we may welcome your presence among us. In your mercy, O God, hear our prayers.

We pray for those dear to us. Hold close all who grieve. Strengthen those who are ill. Surround those who have received difficult news. Make room for those who feel like outsiders and long to belong. Generous God, take our despair and filter it through your good news of great joy, so that we may see, know, and share your hope that does not fail and your grace that knows no limit.

In your mercy, O God, hear our prayers. Help us live as signs of your presence in the world, bearing your love wherever we go. And now we pray together the prayer Christ taught us, saying, “Our Father…”

The Lord’s Prayer

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. Forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.  For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

PASSING OF FELLOWSHIP PADS & ANNOUNCEMENTS

TITHES & OFFERINGS

There is only one Lord and God,
from whom all things come
and for whom we live.
Let us offer our lives to the Lord.

OFFERTORY ANTHEM                                  

*RESPONSE N0. 609                  “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow” 

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow.
Praise God, all creatures high and low.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Praise God, in Jesus fully known:
Creator, Word, and Spirit one.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

*PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

God of glory,
as people brought gifts to the infant Jesus,
we bring our gifts to you.
May these gifts be used
to lift up those who are oppressed,
to bring deliverance to those who are in need,
to support those who are poor,
and to help those who are in trouble. Amen.

*HYMN No. 339                “Lift Every Voice and Sing”

1 Lift every voice and sing till earth and heaven ring,
ring with the harmonies of liberty.
Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies;
let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us;
sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us.
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
let us march on, till victory is won.

2 Stony the road we trod, bitter the chastening rod,
felt in the days when hope unborn had died.
Yet, with a steady beat, have not our weary feet
come to the place for which our parents sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered;
we have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last
where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.

3 God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
thou who hast by thy might led us into the light,
keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met thee;
lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee;
shadowed beneath thy hand may we forever stand,
true to our God, true to our native land.

 

*BENEDICTION

Your heart beckons you to “Come! To seek God’s face!” (based on Psalm 27:18)

Let us listen to the needs of our heart and leave this house of worship ready to seek, find and follow our Savior.  May the grace, hope, peace and love of God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit: be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

*POSTLUDE