The Adventurous Lectionary – Second Sunday after the Epiphany – January 18, 2026
Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 41:1-11; I Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42
The Second Sunday after the Epiphany focuses on the nature of call, personally and communally. Life is a moment-by-moment call and response in which God speaks to us in our gifts and in the events of our lives, and we respond, embodying God’s call in our own unique way. God’s call to us is not only for us and our fulfillment as God’s beloved children, but also for the world. God’s call always joins context and universality: taking us from ourselves and this moment in time to the larger world of family, congregation, society, and planet. Ultimately, in an interdependent world, our personal calls are also planetary. Will we contribute to the beauty or ugliness of the world? Will we promote wellbeing or destruction for our neighbors or the planet? Our actions can bring life and death personally and institutionally.
Deep down, we are all looking for a sense of vocation to give meaning to our lives and relationships. Jesus’ question is a powerful entry point for today’s readings, “What are you looking for?” Jesus’ query is followed by an equally significant invitation, “come and see.” The spiritual journey involves an adventure of self and God discovery, of opening to the deeper dimensions of life, many of which were unknown to us until embraced the question, “What are you looking for?” as the catalyst for decisions that will shape our journeys.
Isaiah discovers that divine intimacy leads to prophetic adventure. Presented with a vision of God’s intimate care, the prophet gets cold feet. He believes that he is not up to the task. He appropriately experiences a sense of his own finitude and fallibility. Yet, God reminds Isaiah that he never stands alone or isolated. His life has been anonymously God-filled from the very beginning. From his conception, God has been moving in his cells as well as his soul. He is wonderfully made, a reflection of divine wisdom and creativity. God’s witness is to be found in every moment of his life. Hidden or obvious, bidden or unbidden, God is with us.
While this passage is often cited by the anti-abortion community as an example of “biblical science,” the prophet’s words are poetic and mystical, not scientific in nature, although they do lead us to the affirmation of life – both pre- and post-natal – as beloved by God and of value. There is no doubt that the omnipresent and omniactive God is at work in the processes of conception and fetal growth as well as after our births. God is present in our cells as well as our souls, in our DNA and context as well as our spiritual lives and imagination. While this should not determine public policy, it does remind us that we are on holy ground and that all life from Right Whales and Spotted Owls to human fetuses deserves ethical consideration, even when hard decisions are required. All creation must be handled both with care and prayer.
There is life in the womb, and this should not be discounted by punitive politicians or potential parents. There is also life outside the womb which deserves respect and affirmation in all its diversity. Isaiah’s mystical experience calls us to a whole life ethic, embracing life in every season from conception to death. A culture of life supports every expectant mother and continues in support of the well-being of every newborn child or political protester. A culture of life is not either-or, favoring either fetus or mother, but challenges us to affirm life even when we need to make difficult pre-natal life and death decisions.
Isaiah protests his finitude and his protest reflects both his humility and maturity. He is not foolhardy or proud, and those virtues are necessary for prophets. God responds by giving him a larger vision of himself and his mission. He is not to be content with small achievements but is to aspire to spiritual greatness. His life matters well beyond himself and even his nation. Young Isaiah – and the nation of Israel – in his fallibility and uncertainty has a vocation of being a light to the nations. Later, Jesus was to say to his followers, “you are the light of the world; let you light shine.” God’s vision for us is always larger than our vision for ourselves. What would it be like for you in all humility to claim your vocation as a light of the world challenging our national darkness and the uncertainties of congregational life.
The Psalmist moves from protection to praise. From a dark place, he has been rescued. God has heard his call, and recognized that in his weakness, the Psalmist has a witness to world. From darkness – whether emotional, personal, professional, ethical, or political – the Psalmist has found light. From now on, his life is a gift. His praise will motivate him toward open-heartedness and justice. The One who saved him is now the object of his devotion, and this devotion is lived out in a life of compassionate and just action. The graces we have received inspire gracefulness toward others. His life is now a witness to what God can do for everyone. Psalm 40 asks us: Where have you experienced a rescue from the pit? Where have you experienced healing in its many dimensions? What is your calling in responding to the grace you’ve received?
In the spirit of the passage from Isaiah, Paul experiences his own life as God’s inspiration. He has been called – and so have the Christians in Corinth – to a life of service for the Graceful and Living God. Though the church in Corinth is small and divided, God has given it every good gift. We have what we need not only to survive but to flourish and give glory to God by our lives. In this time of national and numerical uncertainty, it is good to remind your church that, despite its fallibilities and limits, it lacks no spiritual gift What is your congregation’s challenge? What great spiritual gifts are unnoticed in your congregation? What divine resources are available to you and your congregation?
In John’s gospel, the question and the search it inspires lead to witness. Having found what they are looking for, Jesus’ new followers go out into the world, sharing good news of a new age. In the encounter, they discover gifts beyond belief and adventure beyond their imagination in companionship with God’s Beloved Child. With Jesus’ first followers, what are you looking for? Where is Jesus calling you to come and see?
Preaching is always contextual in space and time. The local is the global and the global impinges on the local. Our nation – and congregations – are reeling from unprecedented chaos in foreign and domestic affairs. Once believing itself to be a light to the nations, the US is perceived globally – and rightfully – as a bully nation, guided by power and punishment employed with no moral consideration.
In this time of national chaos, don’t let business or politics stunt your vision of divine possibility and your role in ushering forth a new earth and just political order. God calls Isaiah to be the change he is seeking in the world. Paul challenges the Christians of Corinth to imagine their giftedness and then live it out. Jesus probes our values and invites us on a holy adventure. We are here for “just such a time as this,” promising yet perilous, as God’s companions in healing the world. Our calling is to let our light shine for the darkness cannot overcome it. We must be faithful to God’s vision even if success of our actions is uncertain.
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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 and Whitehead and Jesus. He can be reached at www.brucepperly.com.
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