January 4, 2026
Indianola Presbyterian Church
"Meeting Jesus"
Sermon by Rev. Trip Porch
January 4, 2026 Based on John 1: 35-51
I remember meeting my best friend in Highschool… a person who would shape me into the person I am today and probably had a strong hand in changing my life forever.
We were in class together, sitting side by side for months, but never really talked much. We learned each other’s names, but that’s all we really had time for. Until months later, we happened to be at the same party and we started up a conversation. I learned he was Muslim, the first Muslim I ever remembered meeting. We started talking about faith, and I had so many questions, I wanted to learn more about Islam, this faith that was so important to him, and he had questions too, he wanted to learn more about Christianity, this faith that through our conversation I began to realize was important to me. We stayed up all night in dialogue and from that point on whenever we’d get together we’d have endless conversation about faith, about life, about language, about culture. I credit these conversations, this friendship, as a major contributing factor to me deciding to go to seminary.
This relationship changed my life for ever.
I wonder how many of you can picture a person who changed your life forever… a friend, a family member, a mentor, a coach..
I imagine Most of us can tell a story about how we met someone who changed our lives.
At the time, it probably did not feel momentous.
It felt ordinary.
Accidental even.
Easy to miss.
Only later, looking back, do we realize that moment became a turning point.
I think meeting Jesus is like that.
We imagine that encountering Christ should feel dramatic, decisive, unmistakable, like the sky opening up with divine voices.
But the stories we inherit tell us something a little more human.
Recently, I learned something about the way the early church formed its calendar that has stayed with me.
The earliest Christian feast day, or holiday was not Christmas.
It was Easter.
Because Easter is where the story that was worth telling really began.
Easter is where everything comes into focus for the early christians.
It is where this most core story of our faith, resurrection is first proclaimed.
Easter is where new life begins.
It is where baptisms in the christian faith first started happened.
And because baptism matters so much,
the church developed a season of preparation.
A season of learning and watching and listening.
That season became Lent.
But the next feast day to emerge after Easter was not Christmas either.
It actually was Epiphany, the day we celebrate 12 days after Christmas to commemorate the Magi’s visit to see Jesus.
Epiphany comes from a Greek word that means “to shine upon.”
It describes the moment when light falls in such a way that something hidden becomes visible.
A recognition.
A realization.
The sense that something is being revealed.
For the early church, Epiphany was not just about the magi, It was an extended celebration where all the stories of Advent, Christmas, and all the stories after, a slow telling of the stories where people begin to realize who this child is.
I love to imagine these stories told together… because it helps us realize that the story of Jesus does not burst onto the scene all at once.
It is a slow unveiling… a story that unfolds slowly.
Relationally.
From one encounter to the next.
First, the light shines on a few people, just one family at the margins of society, Elizabeth, Zechariah, Mary, Joseph.
Ordinary people, entrusted with something extraordinary.
God shines upon them, and they begin to recognize what God is up to, Then the story widens.
On Christmas Eve, the light shines in the world for the first time, and this family is the first to meet him.
Then the shepherds, the light shines on them next, they are the next to meet him, the next invited to come and see.
And then, to go and tell the story,
And then finally, Epiphany.
Where Outsiders, Foreign mystics are invited.
People who are not a part of their faith, or their country, or language, or culture, or skin color.
People who are reading the stars instead of the scriptures.
The light shines on them next and it leads them to the stable. And they travel a long way to meet Jesus.
What this tells us is something important.
Meeting Jesus has never been limited to one type of person.
It has never followed one predictable path.
It has always been relational, unfolding, and surprising.
Which brings us to the Gospel reading today.
John does not tell the story of people meeting Jesus as a lightning strike.
He tells it as a series of small encounters.
Someone points.
Someone follows.
Someone invites someone else.
Someone is skeptical.
Someone is seen.
“Come and see,” Jesus says to all of them.
Not “understand.”
Not “decide.”
Not “believe everything right now.”
Come and see.
In other words, step into relationship.
What Epiphany reminds us is that we stand in a long line of people who have met Jesus in their own way.
Not all at once.
Not with full clarity.
Often without realizing what was happening at the time.
And every year, the light shines again.
It shines upon us
and Jesus invites us once more
to come and see this great mystery for ourselves
To encounter Christ in word and sacrament.
In prayer and community.
In bread broken and cup shared.
And then, like those before us,
we are invited to bear witness.
Not because we have everything figured out.
But because we have met him.
We are part of the slow revelation of what God is up to in the world.
Part of the long witness of people whose lives have been quietly changed.
And perhaps one day, looking back,
we will realize that this encounter with Jesus, too, changed our lives forever…
Amen.
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE “Prelude for Epiphany” arr. Ronald A. Nelson
INTROIT “We Three Kings of Orient Are” John Henry Hopkins
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
One: This is the day that the Lord has made
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
*CALL TO WORSHIP
One: On Epiphany, we gather not because we have everything figured out,
Many: but because something has drawn us here.
One: A nudge. A question. A quiet invitation to come closer.
Many: We come carrying our curiosity, our doubts, our hope that God might still surprise us.
All: We come to see. We come to listen. We come trusting that God is already at
work in the meetings, the moments, and the mysteries of our lives.
One: Come and see what God is doing among us.
All: Let us worship God together.
*HYMN 152 “What Star Is This, with Beams So Bright” PUER NOBIS NASCITUR
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION Karen Crockett
God of light and revelation, you meet us in ordinary encounters and unexpected relationships. And yet we confess that we often miss you. We are slow to notice the ways your Spirit is moving around us. We resist interruptions. We dismiss people too quickly. We cling to certainty when you are inviting trust. We confess that we judge what cannot possibly be good, that we doubt what comes from unfamiliar places, that we close ourselves off from being changed.
Forgive us for the ways we guard our hearts when you are inviting us into connection. Open our eyes to see one another as you see us. Open our lives to the holy coincidences you place before us. Teach us again how to follow curiosity, how to say yes to invitation, how to believe that meeting one another is one of the ways we meet you.
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON Rev. Trip Porch
*RESPONSE OF PARDON 583 “Gloria, Gloria” 2 times GLORIA (TAIZE)
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
ANTHEM "Bright Star, Where Are You Leading?” French Carol
Text: Chris Shelton
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE Jeremy Carroll
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
SCRIPTURE John 1:35-51 CEB
“The next day John was standing again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus walking along he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard what he said, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and saw them following, he asked, “What are you looking for?” They said, “Rabbi (which is translated Teacher), where are you staying?” He replied, “Come and see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two disciples who heard what John said and followed Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Christ ). He led him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter). The next day Jesus wanted to go into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law and the Prophets: Jesus, Joseph’s son, from Nazareth.” Nathanael responded, “Can anything from Nazareth be good?” Philip said, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here is a genuine Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are God’s Son. You are the king of Israel.” Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these! I assure you that you will see heaven open and God’s angels going up to heaven and down to earth on the Human One.””
One: Holy wisdom, Holy Word,
All: Thanks be to God
SERMON Rev. Trip Porch
WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD
*HYMN 721 “Lord, You Have Come to the Lakeshore” PESCADOR DE HOMBRES
TIME OF OFFERING Receiving Tithes and Estimates of Giving
online giving is available at www.indianolapres.org/give
OFFERTORY “Star of the East” arr. Janice Joy Nelson
COMMUNION
INVITATION TO THE TABLE
GREAT PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
SHARING OF BREAD AND CUP #523 “You Satisfy the Hungry Heart” BICENTENNIAL
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
*HYMN 726 “Will You Come and Follow Me” KELVINGROVE
TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING
CHARGE & BENEDICTION
CHORAL RESPONSE “Lord, Bid Your Servant Go in Peace” American Folk Melody
POSTLUDE “We Three Kings of Orient Are” arr. Craig Curry
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452