Fourth Sunday after Epiphany: Week of January 30, 2022

Begin your devotion time by praying this prayer: Holy God, you call us to go out and share your good news with other people. Help us recognize our gifts, and the gifts of others, and use those gifts to tell about the good news of your love. Amen.

Reflect on the Way of Love together: This week’s practice on the Way of Love is GO. In this week’s reading, Jeremiah is called to use his gifts of prophecy to go out and tell others about God. What gifts do you have that you can go out and share with other people? How can you go out and use these gifts?

Adult and Small Child

Read: Jeremiah 1:4-10

Reflect: I love hearing stories about people like Jeremiah. Jeremiah was called to be a prophet, or someone who would share with people messages from God. Jeremiah responds the same way other prophets in the Bible do when God calls them to go talk to people: he is afraid and says that he can’t do it! But, in each of these stories, God also reminds the prophets that God will be with them the whole way. God helps them find the courage to go out and talk to people.

It’s scary to go out and share with other people the good news of God’s love. But, just like with the prophets, that’s what God calls us to do! I wonder if you’ve ever been brave and shared God’s love with other people? How might God remind you that you’re never alone?

Respond: Play a game of follow-the-leader. If the weather’s nice, you can even play the game outside! After you play the game, say a prayer asking God to give you the courage to go out and share God’s love with other people.

- Victoria Hoppes

Adult and Elementary

Read: Jeremiah 1:4-10

Reflect: Currently, I live a few states away from my relatives, yet we enjoy a wonderful relationship. Through technology we are able to remain close. As we practice the latest TikTok challenge or chat on FaceTime, I realize that my cousins know me intimately. I have a laundry list of likes and dislikes and my cousins know all about these as well.

In our reading, Jeremiah realizes that God knows him intimately. Being known by God gives Jeremiah courage to do difficult things. Jeremiah speaks the words that God gives him to say. Do you have relatives with whom you are close? I hope that you do but, even if you do not, be encouraged because God knows you very well. God's love is empowering you today and every day!

Respond: Think of a few things that you have been afraid to do. Maybe you have not removed the training wheels from your bike, or perhaps you want to try a trick on a skateboard. Take the time to go and do what you've been afraid to do. Go with the knowledge that God loves you!

- Imani Driskell

Adult and Youth

Read: Jeremiah 1:4-10

Reflect: Have you ever experienced not being able to do something because of your age or your size? Sometimes we have to wait to be old enough to do certain things. However, God wants to use us every day, no matter our age. In this passage, God comes to Jeremiah and tells him that he will be a prophet. God had a job for Jeremiah before he was even born. Just like Jeremiah, God created you for something incredible because God knows you inside and out. We might not have everything all figured out right now, but when we read our Bibles, pray, and pay attention to those around us, we can get an idea of where God wants us to serve.

Respond: Think of a time when you needed extra help or extra instruction in order to do something. This week, think of someone who might could use a little extra help. Maybe this means sitting next to the new kid at lunch time, or sharing a special word or smile with a friend. The key to remember is that no matter what we are doing, if we are doing it for God, then God is with us and knows our true hearts.

- Lauren Wainwright

Adult and Adults

Read: Jeremiah 1:4-10

Reflect: This reading tells of the beginning of Jeremiah’s ministry. One of Judah’s mightiest and most radical prophets, Jeremiah began his prophetic work when he was just a child. As someone who spends a lot of my ministry working with children, I can’t tell you how often it is that I will encounter a child or group of children who are crystal clear that something happening in the church is not in keeping with God's call, and on the corrective action needed. There’s no need for months of debate– they just let us know that “it’s not ok that we have food inside the church and people in the park across the street don’t have any.� or “we always complain that there’s all this work that needs to be done around the church and no one to do it, and there are people who just got out of jail and can’t find jobs. Can’t they do it?�

Respond: What prophetic messages do the children of your parish, community, or family have to share? Schedule time to talk to them. What things are happening in the community that they know just aren’t right? What do they think God wants us to do about them? Resist the grown-up impulse to start listing reasons their ideas won’t work. So often, our objections can be boiled down to 3 main protests: 1) “Your solution is too simple.� 2) “Your solution will cost money.� or 3) “Your solution might make us embarrass ourselves.� None of these are valid reasons to back away from following God’s call. What might happen if we started from a place of believing that children tend to have more direct access to God’s voice than we do, and that our role as the people with power, money, and skill navigating complexity is to use those gifts to make possible the call that we hear from the youngest members of God’s body?

- Jessica Davis