Third Sunday after Epiphany

Year 1: January 27, 2019

Preaching Text: Matthew 5:1-20

The Way Home In the Night by Akiko Miyakoshi

(Written for ages 5-6)

Comment: In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus offers unusual blessings—he blesses not the most holy, the most special, the most extraordinary; instead, he blesses people from all situations, all kinds of difficulties. Jesus offers a blessing for whatever they’re going through, in their everyday lives, and then tells them to use those lives to be lights in the world. They ought not hide themselves away, instead, they ought to shine, so that others can see and know God. In The Way Home In the Night, a bunny and her mother walk home through the city at night, and the bunny is able to see into other creatures’ lives through the lights in their window. The lights through the window show the bunny these folks’ everyday lives, even as they walk through the night. Jesus blesses our lives, too, and not just when we are most holy or special, but in whatever we are going through, and tells us not to hide them away. Instead, he says, we ought to be lights in the world, we can shine, too, so that, just like the bunny saw light and lives through the windows, others can see the light of Christ in us.

Thanks to Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna Sara Anne Berger for writing the Year 1 Narrative Lectionary Links.

Lectionary Links (NL): January 27, 2019 by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.