Event details

Join us online for worship on Sunday, January 31, 2021 with Rev. Dr. Theresa S. Thames, Associate Dean of Religious Life and the Chapel at Princeton University. The service will have magnificent music provided by Penna Rose, Director of Chapel Music and Eric Plutz, University Organist.

The recorded service is available Sunday at 8am here Chapel Service . This service will remain archived after the premiere (along with concerts and other amazing programs), and we encourage you to return to them whenever you might find that to be helpful.

This is a fully virtual event. The bulletin for this service is below.

Bulletin for Sunday, January 31, 2021 – Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Invitatory: Prelude on “Rhosymedre” by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

Welcome and Announcements: Dean Boden

Call to Worship

Reading: Psalm 111

Praise God! I will give thanks to God with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Great are the works of God, studied by all who delight in them. Full of honor and majesty is God’s work, and God’s righteousness endures forever. God has gained renown by God’s wonderful deeds; God is gracious and merciful. God provides food for those who fear God; and is ever mindful of God’s covenant. God has shown God’s people the power of God’s works, in giving them the heritage of the nations. The works of God’s hands are faithful and just; all of God’s precepts are trustworthy. They are established forever and ever, to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness. God sent redemption to God’s people; and has commanded God’s covenant forever. Holy and awesome is God’s name. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding. God’s praise endures forever.

Anthem: Gloria from Mass in C minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Reading: 1 Corinthians 8

Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by God. Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “no idol in the world really exists,” and that “there is no God but one.” Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— yet for us there is one God, the Creator, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one God, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. “Food will not bring us close to God.” We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed. But when you thus sin against members of your family, and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them to fall.

Sermon: “From Knowledge to Action” by Dean Thames

Hymn: Christian, Rise and Act Your Creed (Innocents)

Christian, rise and act your creed; let your prayer be in your deed; seek the right, perform the true, raise your work and life anew.

Hearts around you sink with care; you can help their load to bear; you can bring inspiring light, strengthen them to do the right.

Offer others hope and joy, and God’s worship your employ; giving thanks in humble zeal, learning all God’s will to feel.

Pastoral Prayer: Alexandra Miller-Knaack

Lord’s Prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Prayer for Princeton: O Eternal God, the source of life and light for all peoples, we pray you would endow this University with your grace and wisdom: give inspiration and understanding to those who teach and to those who learn; grant vision to its trustees and administrators; to all who work here and to all who bear her name give your guiding Spirit of sacrificial courage and loving service. Amen.

Anthem: Prayer of Cardinal Newman by James Whitbourn (b. 1963)

Benediction

Voluntary: Cortège Académique by Ernest MacMillan (1893-1973)

University Chapel Staff: The Rev. Alison L. Boden, Ph.D., Dean of Religious Life and of the Chapel; The Rev. Dr. Theresa S. Thames, Associate Dean of Religious Life and of the Chapel; Penna Rose, Director of Chapel Music; Eric Plutz, University Organist; Elizabeth Powers, Chapel Administrator; Alexandra Miller-Knaack, Seminarian Intern; Edgar Gomez, Sexton; Lisa McGurr, Sexton

The University Chapel is a welcoming community of faith. We gather to sing God's praises, to hear God's living Word, to seek justice, and to proclaim God's love for all people.

Calendar: Sunday, February 7, 2021, University Chapel Worship Service. The preacher will be Dean Boden

For additional information, please visit chapel.princeton.edu or call 609-258-3047.