February 1, 2026 | Word Out!
Download the Bulletin from February 1, 2026
READINGS AND SERMON
First Reading: Micah 6:1-8
1 Hear what the Lord says:
Rise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
2 Hear, you mountains, the case of the Lord,
and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has a case against his people,
and he will contend with Israel.
3 “O my people, what have I done to you?
In what have I wearied you? Answer me!
4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.
5 O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised,
what Balaam son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.”
6 “With what shall I come before the Lord
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
and to walk humbly with your God?
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
18 The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of the proclamation, to save those who believe. 22 For Jews ask for signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to abolish things that are, 29 so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30 In contrast, God is why you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12
1 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he began to speak and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Sermon: Pastor Kristy Daniels
So, again, we find ourselves this Fourth Sunday after Epiphany. And as you recall, in Epiphany, the star that guided the wise men or the magi to Jesus, we started this season with white to remind us of holiness, but we’ve since switched to the color green to remind us it’s a season of growth, and it’s a growth in our understanding of who Jesus is. So I like to tell the guys in my congregation “Think of the cartoon light bulb going on.” That’s what’s going on during this season, we understand Jesus.
So, we start with the call stories; the disciples coming to know Jesus as he calls them by name. And today, we come to know Jesus by his first sermon, as he calls people together and sits with them on the mountain. So, we learn about Jesus, and Jesus’s desire for us, and right away that he recognizes everyone and appreciates the gift that they are and the gifts they have to offer.
This is one of my favorite seasons, because of this light. During this season, we say “there is a light that has come into the darkness that no darkness can overcome,” and I appreciate that so much during these dark days and with what’s going on in the world around us, and confusion, all of those things. There is a light that no darkness can overcome; for that, we are grateful and we are blessed.
But I want to read to you first. You’re going to have to hear three sermons today—some of you, six! So, I’m going to read you this text again, but from the First Nations version, an indigenous translation of the New Testament:
“When Creator Sets Free (Jesus) saw this great crowd, he went back up into the mountainside and sat down to teach the people. His followers came to him there, so he took a deep breath,opened him mouth and began to share his wisdom with them and teach them how to see Creator’s Good Road.
Creator’s blessing rests on the poor, the ones with broken spirits,
the good road from above is theirs to walk.
Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who walk a trail of tears,
for he will wipe the tears from their eyes and comfort them.
Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who walk softly and in a humble manner;
the earth, land, and sky will welcome them and always be their home.
Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who hunger and thirst for wrongs to be made right again;
they will eat and drink until they are full.
Creator’s blessings rests on the ones who are merciful and kind to others;
their kindness will find its way back to them–full circle.
Creator’s blessing rests on the pure of heart,
for they are the ones who will see the Great Spirit.
Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who make peace;
it will be said of them, ‘They are the children of the Great Spirit!’
Creator’s blessing rests on the ones who are hunted down and mistreated for doing what is right,
for they are walking the Good Road from above.
Others will lie about you, speak against you, and look down on you with scorn and contempt, all because you walk the road with me. This is a sign that Creator’s blessing is resting on you. So let your hearts be glad and jump for joy, for you will be honored in the world above. You are like the prophets of old, who were treated in the same way by your ancestors.”
[Matthew 5:1-12 (FNV)]
—The Gospel of the Lord.
I think we’re very familiar, most of us, with the Sermon on the Mount, and so I wanted to read this other version, so you could hear it in another way, and be reminded that we are not alone as disciples. We’re on this journey together. We are blessed. We have received the Holy Spirit. We come together and become the body of Christ and are sent out, individually and together into the world to be bearers of the good news, workers of mercy, bringers of peace, those who proclaim hope.
We’re living in frightening times, for many. And when I hear this reading from the Indigenous scripture, I am reminded this is not a time for complacency, for looking away. We know when we are disciples, when the journey is hard, because we are doing what is right. We’re looking inward and seeing where we have failed, where we have sinned, where we are in need of forgiveness and mercy, and we are called to look outward to where we are needed, where the good news is needed, where the light is needed, where peace and mercy and justice and kindness are needed in the world, and we are reminded that we have been equipped with these gifts, gifts that are often minimized or forgotten or not recognized in our communities, but Jesus lifts them up. Says, I see you, and you are needed. Your gift is needed. You are necessary.
So, as I’ve shared with you, Mother Teresa tells us we can do no great things—and this is Mother Teresa, so she ought to know— we can only do small things with great love. So, we can practice peace in our hearts, in our homes, in our communities. We can remember what it means to provide mercy.
We can think of ourselves—sometimes it’s hard, because I know in my congregation, one of the biggest challenges I have, and people always say, “Do you preach the same sermon?” And I say, “Well no, because I don’t write them down. But also, kind of coming from a different angle, when I come here, I know that we live in a world of luxury where we can put up a mask and be what people want to see. But in my congregation, you don’t have that luxury, of putting on a mask.
If you found your way to the Church of Steadfast Love, you are hurting, and you get to be part of a community where you are seen and loved. That community is so important and fundamental to who we are; and here Jesus is, gathering community around him and reminding people there is community. Even when we think we don’t have a lot that we’re only coming to get, when we join in community, we realize that we also have so much to give, just by being present.
So thank you for coming and being a part of a community that cares, or being nurtured by the word that Dan read for today, that I read for you, by being nurtured by relationship, and by this meal that has been prepared for you, the body broken and the blood poured out for you, for the forgiveness of sin, for courage, for strength, because we are sent out into this world.
So, I was thinking, Well, how do we know that we are blessed? —Other than Jesus says, you know, you’re blessed here when people don’t like you, because you’re loving other people—and, what do we do? How can we go out into this world?
And so I got out my Bible; it’s a crazy thing.
From Ephesians:
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord in the strength of his power; 11 put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, 12 for our struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on the evil day and, having prevailed against everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand, therefore, and belt your waist with truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness 15 and lace up your sandals in preparation for the gospel of peace. 16 With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18
I hope you have heard the Word of God and will continue to hear the Word of God throughout the service today, where you were welcomed, where you were forgiven, where you were promised hope and joy, where you are seen. We walked past the waters of baptism to come into this space, where we are reminded that we are put to death, all of that stuff that separates us from God and from one another, all the things about ourselves of which we are ashamed, all the things we’ve left undone; dead, and raised to new life as children of God for the sake of God’s good creation.
Here we are, the very body of Christ, for the sake of the world.
I want to finish with this poem from Anne Weems:
Our Gifts Are Gifts of Hope
Our yearning after God, our hope for a better way, creates infinite possibilities:
to touch the lives of the untouched,
to reach the hearts of the unreached,
to heal the wounds of the unhealed,
to feed the bodies of the unfed,
to accept the personhood of the unaccepted,
to love the being of the unloved.
Our gifts are gifts of hope,
O God,
touch
reach
heal
feed
accept
and love us
that we might love one another.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.