The Second Sunday after the Epiphany, January 18, 2026

This Sunday, we reflect on the interplay of vocation and witness. God is present in each moment of experience and the long haul of our lives, calling us forward toward abundance and service. God aims at intensity and beauty of experience for each moment, our whole lives, and the communities of which we are a part.
Isaiah 49 describes God’s omnipresent activity in our lives. From the very moment of conception, we are known and called. From a process perspective, God is in the details of the growing fetus, aiming it toward the best possibilities given our cellular structure, mother’s health, environment, and so forth. Present as the initial aim in every arising occasion of experience and guiding clusters of occasions of experiences, God is at work, urging forth possibilities that are the best for the given situation and our personal and relational future. We cannot speculate too precisely, but we can imagine that God envisions gifts and talents emerging from the growing fetus, neonate, infant, toddler, and every future season of our lives. While these vocational possibilities are not fully determined, we observe in ourselves and our closest relatives certain gifts and proclivities that emerge from nature and nurture, God and the environment.
In response to their growing awareness of God’s ubiquitous presence, the prophet proclaims that their efforts have been in vain. Perhaps the prophet is asking for a deeper understanding of their vocation. As I read the passage, there is a synchronicity between the prophet’s individual challenges and the challenges the nation is facing. In our sense of failure, God is still working, aiming us toward abundant life. With God as our inspiration, we can do more than we can ask or imagine. The prophet and the nation are challenged to be lights of challenge and healing to their environment and to the nations.
The Psalmist describes going from darkness to light and depression to exaltation. God has lifted him up and place the Psalmist on a higher plane. The Psalmist and their people have been delivered from bondage and now have a song in their hearts. We sing hymns and praises for our own spiritual health and also to minister to others. Filled with praise at God’s loving kindness, we seek to promote the same joy in our relationships and national life.
To the troubled and divided church in Corinth, the apostle Paul speaks surprising words of affirmation. Given their various struggles over economics, ethics, sexuality, and community spirit, the Corinthians assembled to listen to Paul’s epistle must have been shocked. Yet, even in troubled times, there is hope for the future. God never gives up and continues to work in their lives, providing the best for the impasse they face. Paul affirms that God is present in the congregation to strengthen and empower them, and that they have everything they need to flourish. Imagine these words being spoken to a dispirited post-Covid and aging congregation: God is at work in your community, God has a vision for you, and you can achieve more than you can imagine when you open to divine energy and wisdom. You have everything you need to flourish in this time, even if you are a very different church than what you once were. Perhaps, as they listen to the letter, the Corinthian Christians were thinking of the organic nature of the community’s giftedness, described in Paul’s image of the body of Christ in which everyone has a gift for service, and the community is called to nurture and support the many gifts of its members. God has inspired gifts for community and the planet in Corinth and also in our congregations today.
The key words in the Gospel reading are highlighted by the interchange between Jesus and John the Baptist’s disciples. When they approach him, “what are you looking for?” Jesus asks. “What is the deepest desire of your heart? How can I (Jesus) be of service?”
We need to live dialogically with our communities, listening for their deepest spiritual concerns and intuiting their gifts for service. Letting their concerns help shape our congregation’s ministry. In response, John’s followers, ask “Where are you staying?” Many people are looking for a place where they can find hospitality and acceptance; where their spiritual needs will be nurtured. Are we ready to welcome seekers and the children of “nones” with virtually no religious experience? How will we share spiritual possibilities with the?
Our calling is to be lights to the world, pointing in the direction of wholeness in open-spirited and non-authoritarian ways. With Jesus, we can invite seekers in an open-spirited way, “Come and see.” Here our calling is to share the good news of our community in an invitational and inspirational way. A process-oriented faith provides a clear alternation to nationalist and nativist understandings of Christianity.
During Epiphany, let us “go tell it on the mountain.” After “listening to our lives,” we can let our lives speak in testimony and hospitality. We and our congregations have every gift we need to live out our current vocation, regardless of our condition and size, to share our unique good news and bring beauty and joy to the world.

Bruce Epperly is Theologian in Residence at Westmoreland Congregational United Church of Christ, Bethesda, MD and a professor in theology and spirituality at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington DC. He is the author of over eighty books, including Jesus: Mystic, Healer, and Prophet; Creation Sings: Forty Days of Spiritual Wisdom from the Non-Human World; Messy Incarnation: Meditations on Christ in Process; and Homegrown Mystics: Restoring Our Nation with the Healing Wisdom of America’s Visionaries. His latest books are Creation Sings: Forty Days of Spiritual Wisdom from the Non-human World and Three Wise Wisdom: The Twelve Days of Christmas with Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna (volume seven in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” series along with his upcoming Lenten devotional, Just a Little Walk with Jesus: A Spiritual Saunter with Mark’s Gospel.  He can be reached at www.brucepperly.com.