Date: February 4, 2024

Bible Text: Isaiah 40:21-31, Mark 1:29-39 |

** We had some technical issues this week, and the live stream wasn't so live, or at least it wasn't in the right stream. We managed to find the recording of it, and this is it. There are a few blips in this video, too, but apparently not enough to derail the whole thing. The usual announcements video at the beginning of the service ended up in a separate place, so you can find it at    • CPC Announcements for 02/04/2024  . We apologize for the inconvenience, but we hope you will find the service meaningful nonetheless. **

In the weeks after Epiphany we look at texts in the gospels that demonstrate the appearing (meaning of "Epiphany") of Jesus Christ, opening with his baptism by John the Baptizer, then the call of the first disciples, and then on into his early ministry. We are coming to the close of this season of revealing, as it were, as Lent is approaching. So this week, we continue in the first chapter of Mark (where so much happens!), and we read more about the first days of Jesus' ministry. We'll pick up where we left off last week, with Jesus and company in Capernaum, the town that would be his home base in Galilee. We find him on a sabbath afternoon doing some more healing, and when the sabbath was over at sundown, the whole village came out to get everyone healed! Not surprisingly (speaking as an introvert), Jesus goes off by himself to pray the next morning, no doubt to recharge after a lot of hard work the day before. But rather than building his ministry in that place where he was doing really good work, he heads out to the rest of Galilee, taking the work on the road. While Mark never uses the word Savior, he shows us what the work of the one we call Savior is all about - proclaiming, healing, and casting out evil. Could this be an important lesson for today's church?

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