Upper Room Sunday Liturgy - January 4, 2026 - Presiders: Deb Trees, Nita Powers and Steve Powers

Please join us between 9:30 and 9:55 am via Zoom:   https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155 

phone-in for (audio only).Phone Number: (646) 558-8656

Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155

Epiphany, January 4^th, 2026

Welcome: To all weary travelers, welcome. Rest. Be at Peace. Know that we are all on this road together. Whether you are here in person, online in Zoom, or watching later, we are all together supporting each other and gifting each other with love and attention. And we can be rest assured that God is with us. Welcome travelers to your very own space here at the Upper Room.

Opening Prayer: We see the beauty all around us, whether it is sun and sand, wind and cold, snow and rain, plant, animal, birds, humans, trees swaying – and we thank you Creator for your love for us. Thank you for every goodness that you give us to be here on this planet. And thank you for being with us in this sacred space as we are here. Help us to remember to thank you every day and to listen to each other in kindness, patience and love. Amen.

Opening song: Take us Home By Another Way - Christopher Grundy

https://youtu.be/dkZ1JJlJa14?si=oa4uISVCSZJMYo3c 

LITURGY OF THE WORD

First Reading: The Road Ahead by Thomas Merton 

My Lord God I have no idea where I am going, I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot see for certain where it will end.  Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.  But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.  And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.  And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.  Therefore, I will trust you always, though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.  I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

Inspired words from Thomas Merton, and we affirm them with, Amen. 

Gospel Acclamation: Hallelujah Amen. Handel

https://youtu.be/Fw9R5RJus-Y?list=RDiD826scFVoU

Epiphany Reading: A reading from the anonymous author known as Matthew (Mt 2:1-12)

After the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem in Judea, in the reign of King Herod, some magi from the East arrived in Jerusalem, asking: “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him.”

When King Herod heard of this, he was much troubled, and so, too, was all Jerusalem. He called together all the chief priests and teachers of the Law in the nation, and questioned them as to where the Christ was to be born. “At Bethlehem in Judea,” was their answer; “for it is said in the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem in Judah’s land, are in no way least among the chief cities of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler— who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

Then Herod secretly sent for the magi, and found out from them the date of the appearance of the star; and, sending them to Bethlehem, he said: “Go and make careful inquiries about the child, and, as soon as you have found him, bring me word so that I, too, can go and worship him.”

The magi heard what the king had to say, and then continued their journey. The star which they had seen in the east led them on, until it reached and stood over the place where the child was.

At the sight of the star they were filled with great joy. Entering the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary, and fell at his feet and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and offered to the child presents of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

But afterward, having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another road.

This is a reading from the Writer known as Matthew, and we affirm this story with a resounding, Amen.

(From The New, New Testament by Hal Tausig, et. al.)

Homily starter – Deb Trees

Epiphany is the ultimate awareness of a new idea. The Ah-ha moment. The opening of our minds to what is possible. 

We come to this weekend from the beautiful liturgy of last week going in concentric circles of close family to expansive cosmic experience. But here we are intimate with a child and visitors and gifts. And realization. This child is here for All. 

Matthew in his gospel writings is one concentrating on the Jewishness of Jesus. Commentary in the New New Testament about the Gospel of Matthew mentions his sharing of Jesus and Jewish practices and rituals. More than the other gospel writers, Matthew highlights these cultural aspects of Jesus’s time. Yet here we have foreign dignitaries honoring this little person and his family. The Holy One brings a sense of heaven to this earth through this beautiful child and his parents, and to the world. There is an intimacy here that zeroes in on the Holy One’s love of humanity and gifts that go beyond gold, incense and myrrh. There is in this Holy story a sense of the Love that is here for each of us. 

The Song of God Among Us. This is our closing song, and the words are noted at the end of our liturgy today.

How beautiful, the expansiveness of being in the cosmos, and at the same time being precious in the sight of the Creator. Enough that the Creator is living with us. 

May each of us experience the Holy One in our lives this week and bring that sense of Epiphany to each person whose lives we touch. 

Our prayer is to remain precious in the sight of the Creator and to know our blessedness and holy nature intimately. 

What did you hear, dear friends? Please share your insights and wisdom. 

Statement of Faith 

We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery
beyond all definition and rational understanding,
the heart of all that has ever existed,
that exists now, or that ever will exist.

We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word,
bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion,
bright star in the firmament of the Holy One's
prophets, mystics, and saints.

We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of divine love,
a source of wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of peace in the world.

We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One,
the life that is our innermost life,
the breath moving in our being,
the depth living in each of us.

We believe that the Divine kin-dom is here and now,
stretched out all around us for those
with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it,
and hands to make it happen.

Prayers of the Community

Deb: As we prepare for the sacred meal we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns.  Please feel free to voice your concerns beginning with the words “I bring to the table….”

Presider 1:  We pray for these and all unspoken concerns. Amen.

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST

Steve:  We are a priestly people. We are anointed. With open hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer as one voice:

All: O Nurturing, Mothering one, You are always with us. We are grateful for Your constant loving and unconditional presence. At times we forget that You are holding us, attending to us. We fall and You pick us up. You send strangers, friends and family to our aid. We are never without Your Light and Spirit.

We experience great joy and we experience great pain and suffering. You are with us in the joy and the pain and suffering. When we experience Your presence we long to sing our hymn of praise:Holy, Holy: Here in this 

Place by Christopher Grundy

https://youtu.be/sgkWXOSGmOQ

All: Creator and Lover of all beings, we cannot grow in the darkness of this world without Your Light. Our desire to be in Your light is a gift from You. Help us keep our hearts and minds open to You through our love and care for each other and all creation.

Nita: Please extend your hands in blessing

All: This bread and wine is a sign of Your nourishment and a sign of Your great love. Your Spirit is upon us and we belong to You and one another.

We thank you for Jesus, simple servant, lifting up the lowly, revealing you as God-With-Us, revealing us as one with you, and all creation.

On the night before he died, Jesus gathered for supper with the people closest to him. Like the least of household servants, he washed their feet. Once again he showed us how to love one another.

Presiders stand at table, Presider lifts bread. 

All: Back at the table, he took the bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it to them saying, 

Take and eat, this is my very self.

Presider lifts the cup as community prays the following:

Then he took the cup of blessing, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:

Take and drink of the covenant

Made new again through my life in you.

Whenever you remember me like this,

I am among you.

All: Bread and wine is transformed by Your Spirit and we are transformed when we open ourselves to Your Spirit. Every time we share this bread and wine we choose to be transformed. We choose to love as You love us.

As we celebrate and recognize You in this bread and wine we love and recognize you in each other. We are filled with gratitude and joy. Glory and Praise to you now and forever. Amen

Deb: Please share the bread with the words: You are chosen and loved by the Holy One.

Communion Song: Holy Angels by Sara Thomsen

https://youtu.be/MddARnvjJGQ 

All: 

Through Jesus, we have learned how to live.

Through Jesus, we have learned how to love.

Through Jesus, we have learned how to serve.

Steve: Let us pray our communion prayer together:  

All: What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives: as we share communion, we will become communion, both Love’s nourishment and Love’s challenge. 

Nita: Let us pray together the prayer of Jesus:

O Holy One, who is within, around, and among us, we celebrate your many names. Your wisdom come. Your will be done, unfolding from the depths within us. Each day you give us all that we need. You remind us of our limits, and we let go. You support us in our power, and we act with courage. For you are the dwelling place within us, the empowerment around us, and the celebration among us, now and forever. Amen.

The Prayer of Jesus as interpreted by Miriam Therese Winter

BLESSING

Deb:  Please extend your hands and pray our blessing together

May we continue to be the Face of God to each other. May the certainty of our connectedness to one another and all creation ignite us to love more fully.  May we, like Jesus be a shining light and a blessing in our time.  All: Amen.

Closing song: Song of God Among Us, St. Petronille Contemporary Choir.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM9Tr2F_Bos&authuser=0

Lest the Word be far from us.  

God prepared his coming.  

One who longed to share our fates. 

Made with us his dwelling.

In the midst of you is one you do not know. 

Who is everywhere at hand. 

Who is wholly human. 

One who goes unrecognized. 

Silent never spoken. 

In the midst of you is one you do not know. 

God from god and light from light. 

Hope of earth’s sad crying. 

Face to face with humankind. 

Speaks of love and dying.

Then let patience be your guide. 

Walk in ways of justice. 

Show each other at all time. 

Every kind of goodness. 

In the midst of you is one you do not know.  

Now is every full Of joy. 

God alone who calls us.

Touches all who live on earth. 

Makes a home among us.

Upper Room Saturday Liturgy, January 3, 2026 - Presider: Julie Corron

Please join us between 9:30 and 9:55 am via Zoom:   https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155 

phone-in for (audio only).Phone Number: (646) 558-8656

Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155

Welcome to our Saturday evening liturgy as we celebrate the feast of Epiphany.  Epiphany with its star of wonder guiding the three kings to Jesus.

Opening Prayer

Holy One, we gather this evening in your name. We follow the light of your love back to you and back to each other. Help us to see your light even in our darkest moments. Help us enter into wonder every day. Amen.

Opening Song:  Who Lights the Stars
https://youtu.be/5jF_YWsM4SI 

LITURGY OF THE WORD

First Reading:  A Reading from the Letter to the Ephesians 3:2-7 

You have surely heard how the gift of God’s grace to me was designed for your benefit, and how the mystery was made known to me by revelation.  I have described it briefly so that you might appreciate my insight into the mystery of the Christ.   

In former generations, this mystery was not made known to humankind.  Now, the mystery has been revealed to the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is, all people have the same inheritance, and form the same body, and enjoy the same promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.  By the gift of divine grace given to me through God's power, I have become a servant of this good news. 

These are the inspired words of a follower of Paul. We affirm them by saying AMEN.

Alleluia (Eightfold) – Jan Phillips 

https://youtu.be/IC4nbwmQDVw

Gospel:  Matthew 2:1-12

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,
in the days of King Herod, 
behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews?
We saw his star at its rising
and have come to do him homage.”
When King Herod heard this,
he was greatly troubled, 
and all Jerusalem with him.
Assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, 
he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, 
for thus it has been written through the prophet:
And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
since from you shall come a ruler,
who is to shepherd my people Israel.”
Then Herod called the magi secretly 
and ascertained from them the time of the star’s appearance.
He sent them to Bethlehem and said, 
“Go and search diligently for the child.
When you have found him, bring me word, 
that I too may go and do him homage.”
After their audience with the king they set out.
And behold, the star that they had seen at its rising preceded them, 
until it came and stopped over the place where the child was.
They were overjoyed at seeing the star, 
and on entering the house
they saw the child with Mary his mother.
They prostrated themselves and did him homage.
Then they opened their treasures 
and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, 
they departed for their country by another way.

These are the inspired words of the anonymous storyteller we know as Matthew. We affirm them by saying AMEN.

Homily Starter: Tonight we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany, when the Magi arrived bearing gifts for the baby Jesus. They didn’t bring what we would consider traditional baby gifts. There were no baby blankets or onesies on their camels. Instead, they brought this baby gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gifts fit for a king.

In turn, Jesus gave these three foreign kings, and by extension all of us, a gift as well. Jesus gave these foreigners the gift of inclusion. The miracle, the message, of Jesus was not just for the Jews but for all people. That’s something that we take for granted now but it was pretty radical at the time. That message is reinforced in the first reading when it says, “all people have the same inheritance, and form the same body, and enjoy the same promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” All people. All of us. What a miracle!

And guess what? We don’t even need to bring Jesus lavish gifts like gold to honor him. We simply need to follow his teachings and welcome the foreigner, the stranger, the person we’ve never met before. I say simply but I know it isn’t always easy. There is so much division and polarization in the world today. It’s hard to keep going sometimes. I’m late to start reading (or, in my case, listening to) Valerie Kaur’s See No Stranger, the Upper Room’s current discussion book. She writes “And when we think we have reached our limit, wonder is the act that returns us to love. Revolutionary love is the choice to enter into wonder and labor for others, for our opponents, and for ourselves in order to transform the world around us.”

In the old Christmas carol, it was the star of wonder that led the Magi, the Three Kings, to Jesus. In the dark of winter, in the dark of discouragement, let wonder inspire us and light our way and our work. It doesn’t have to be huge acts. It could be as simple as the next time you meet someone new, the next time you encounter someone different than you, smiling, saying hello, making them feel welcome, including them in your world. That way the gifts of the Magi, the Three Kings, live on forever.

What did you hear? What will you do? What will it cost you? We would love to hear your insights on the readings.

Statement of Faith 

We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery
beyond all definition and rational understanding,
the heart of all that has ever existed,
that exists now, or that ever will exist.

We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word,
bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion,
bright star in the firmament of the Holy One's
prophets, mystics, and saints.

We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of divine love,
a source of wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of peace in the world.

We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One,
the life that is our innermost life,
the breath moving in our being,
the depth living in each of us.

We believe that the Divine kin-dom is here and now,
stretched out all around us for those
with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it,
and hands to make it happen.

Prayers of the Community 

As we prepare for the sacred meal, we are aware that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns.  Please feel free to voice your concerns beginning with the words “I bring to the table….”

We pray for these and all the unspoken concerns held in the silence of our hearts. Amen.

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST

adapted from Diarmuid O’Murchu

With open hands let us pray our Eucharistic Prayer together:

Gracious God, source and sustenance of life, redeeming presence residing within and beyond every part of this grand Universe, Holy Spirit, who enlivens and inebriates all that exists, we celebrate your presence among us today.

Down through the ages, you rescue us from darkness.
you light up our ways with wise and holy people. You restore our spirits and you revive our dwindling hope.

May the Spirit of life and wholeness transform us, allowing us to see the path of mercy, love, and life that will lead us to the Kin-dom.

For all you bring to our lives, we acclaim your love and greatness,
and we join with all creation to sing our hymn of praise: 

Holy, Holy, Holy: Words and music by Karen Drucker 

https://youtu.be/9XywpRw3OPw

Please extend your hands in blessing.

Source of every path that leads to wholeness, maker and healer of all, we bring before you the darkness of our world, and the pain and suffering of your people.
We seek to be healed and to heal; we seek to be reconciled and to reconcile; we seek the road that leads to peace in our hearts and in our world.

We ask you to awaken anew in our hearts the empowering grace of your abundant Spirit, who infuses these gifts of bread and wine with the transforming energy of life, to nourish and sustain us.

As we gather around this friendship table, we recall God’s
blessing and love from ages past, and we celebrate anew
the gift of life which we share among us at this Eucharistic feast.

The bread we break and the cup we share are symbols of our world of abundance where all are invited to partake of the fullness of life. May all be invited to the feast; may no one be excluded.

On the night before he died, Jesus gathered for supper with the people closest to him. Like the least of household servants, he washed their feet. Once again, he showed us how to love one another.

All lift the plate and pray:

Back at the table, he took the Bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it to them saying, Take and eat, go and share my love with one another.

All lift the cup and pray:

Then he took the cup of the covenant, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:

Take and drink.

Whenever you remember me like this,

I am among you.

We share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace. We choose to live justly, love tenderly, and walk with integrity on the path that leads to life. 

Please receive communion saying: “I live in the light of wonder.”

Communion Song: Christ Be Our Light, by Bernadette Farrell
https://youtu.be/nn7Hl6ki9z8

Prayer After Communion

In faith and hope we are sustained,
In grace our dignity reclaimed,
In praise we thank our God.

Grant that we may strive to create a world where suffering and pain are diminished, where justice and peace are restored, and where all people can live in health and wholeness, united in acclaiming the God of life, whose abundance is offered to each and to all.

This prayer we make in the name of our loving God through, with, and in whom we have our being.  Amen.

Let us pray as Jesus taught us:

O Holy One, who is within, around and among us, 

We celebrate your many names. 

Your Wisdom come. 

Your will be done, unfolding from the depths within us, 

Each day you give us all we need; 

You remind us of our limits, and we let go. 

You support us in our power, and we act with courage. 

For you are the dwelling place within us,  

the empowerment around us, 

and the celebration among us, now and forever.  Amen (Miriam Therese Winter) 

BLESSING

Let us raise our hands and bless each other.

May we bask in the Holy One’s light. May we bring that light to others. May wonder guide our steps. And may our name be a blessing in our time. Amen.

Closing Song: Be a Light – shortened Thomas Rhett (lyrics ) ft. Keith Urban, Chris Tomlin, Hillary Scott & Reba McEntire
https://youtu.be/Oqiw54l_x-8