Service for the Third Sunday of Advent
December 16, 1007: 10:30 a.m.
GATHER IN GOD’S NAME
PRELUDE
Sleepers
Wake! A Voice Is Calling J. S. Bach
WELCOME, REGISTRATION & ANNOUNCEMENTS
Minute for
Christmas Joy Offering Karen Freudenreich, Chair of
CHIMES & LIGHTING THE CANDLES ON THE WREATH
Congregation & choir sing Verses 1,
2, 3 “Light One Candle”
*CALL TO WORSHIP on Isaiah 35:3-4 (The Message)
Energize the limp hands, strengthen the rubbery knees.
Tell fearful souls:
“Courage!
Take heart! God is here, right
here,
on the way to put things right and redress
all wrongs.
God’s on the way!
God will save you!
God has come, God is here, God is coming
still!”
*PROCESSIONAL HYMN # 20 Watchman, Tell Us of the Night
*AFFIRMATION OF
FAITH: Isaiah 35:5-10 (The
Message)
God is on the
way! Blind eyes will be opened, deaf
ears unstopped,
Lame
men and women will leap like deer, the voiceless break into song,
Springs
of water will burst out in the wilderness, streams flow in the desert.
Hot
sands will become a cool oasis, thirsty ground a splashing fountain.
Even
lowly jackals will have water to drink,
and barren grasslands flourish richly.
There will be a highway called the
No one rude or rebellious is permitted
on this road.
It’s for God’s people
exclusively—impossible to get lost on this road.
Not even fools can get lost on it.
No lions on this road, no dangerous wild
animals—
Nothing and no one dangerous or
threatening.
Only the redeemed will walk on it.
The people God has ransomed will come
back on this road.
They’ll sing as they make their way home
to
Unfading halos of joy encircling their heads,
Welcomed home with gifts of joy and gladness
as all sorrows and sighs scurry into the night.
*THE PEACE
The
peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Peace be with you.
(worshipers extend Christ’s peace by
word and gesture)
PROCLAIM GOD’S WORD
FIRST LESSON FROM THE GOSPEL
Luke 1:47-55
HYMN # 600 Song of Mary Congregation
will sing as follows:
Verse 1: Solo - Verse 2: Women - Verse 3: All - Verse
4: Men - Verse 5: All
ANTHEM This Child C.
Courtney
WORD WITH CHILDREN
SECOND LESSON FROM THE GOSPEL Matthew
11:2-11 (NRSV)
SERMON “Endorsed,
Endeared”
RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD
OFFERING OURSELVES TO GOD’S PURPOSES
Call
to Respond
OFFERTORY
Christmas Song D. Williams
*Prayer
of Dedication
GO IN GOD’S NAME
*HYMN # 28
Good Christian Friends, Rejoice
*CHARGE & BLESSING
CHORAL RESPONSE
POSTLUDE Carillon on “Sleepers, Wake!” D. Paxton
Next Week’s Scriptures:
Isaiah 7: 10-16; Psalm 80: 1-7; Romans 1: 1-7;
Matthew 1: 18-25
|
Liturgist |
Rev. Jonathan C. Siehl |
|
Sermon/Word
with Children |
Rev. William R. Leety |
|
Musical
Leadership |
Chancel Choir Sarah Shaffer, Choirmaster Nancy W. Deeth, Organist |