Sunday Morning Service December 8, 2024
December 8 PRELUDE: Danna Hearn LIGHTING OF THE PEACE CANDLE: Ruth Clayton and Sallie Pittman O God, we light the second candle of Advent. We seek your comfort. Both mighty and tender, you come. Prepare our hearts to be transformed by you. We have sought such a God, both mighty and tender. Isaiah announced God’s coming to a people exiled in a broken and parched wilderness. He declared that God’s redemption would make a highway in the desert and change the rough places into plain. God would come as a shepherd—feeding, leading, and cradling the weary flock. This Advent, we seek such a God. Saving God, look upon your world and heal your land and your people. Prepare us to be changed. This Advent, teach us to be tender and just, as you are. Amen. AN ADVENT PRAYER: Shine on us, O God of justice; Guide our path through gloom of night; Bear within us Wisdom’s glory; Come to us, O Christ the Light. WELCOME and ANNOUCEMENTS: Gloria Eby, WORSHIP LEADER INTROIT: Danna Hearn CALL TO WORSHIP: A voice cries in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord. OPENING PRAYER: Merciful God, you sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way of our salvation. Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our redeemer, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. *OPENING HYMN: Thou Almighty King 2 *CALL TO CONFESSION: The writer James asks, “Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your craving that are at war within you?” Let us offer to God the unrest within us as we make our confession. *PRAYER OF CONFESSION: Holy God, you sent your Son Jesus to be our peace, and yet we know so much strife and war, in the world, in our communities, in our churches, and within ourselves. Untie the knots of envy and disappointment that dwell in our hearts. Loosen our grasp on worldly things, that we might open our hands to holy things. Turn us around to you, and make us whole, we pray. Amen. *SILENT CONFESSION: *ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Siblings in Christ, the mercies of God are from everlasting to everlasting. Let us proclaim the Good News: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Thanks be to God! *PASSING OF THE PEACE: Since God has forgiven us in Christ, let us forgive one another. The peace of Christ be with you. And also with you. GLORIA PATRI PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION: Gracious God, as we turn to your Word for us, may the Spirit of God rest upon us. Help us to be steadfast in our hearing, in our speaking, in our believing, and in our living. Amen. SCRIPTURE READINGS: Philippians 4:4-7 and Isaiah 12:2-6 SERMON: A Canticle of Rejoicing Rev. Dr. Ron Gilmer *HYMN: Blest Be the God of Israel 109 *AFFIRMATION OF FAITH: from the Confession of 1967 God has created human beings in a personal relation with God's self that we may respond to the love of the Creator. God has created male and female and given us a life which proceeds from birth to death in a succession of generations and in a wide complex of social relations. God has endowed men and women with capacities to make the world serve God's needs and to enjoy its good things. Life is a gift to be received with gratitude and a task to be pursued with courage. We are free to seek our lives within the purpose of God: to develop and protect the resources of nature for the common welfare, to work for justice and peace in society, and in other ways to use his creative powers for the fulfillment of human life. JOYS AND CONCERNS: God in your mercy Hear our prayers. PRAYER OF THE PEOPLE/THE LORD’S PRAYER: MISSION STATEMENT: Our mission is to proclaim and demonstrate the inclusiveness of God’s love to the people of the Ozarks and the needy of the world. INVITATION TO SHARE: OFFERTORY/ANTHEM: Norm Royster *DOXOLOGY: *OFFERTORY PRAYER: For work to do and strength to do it, we praise you, O God, for making our lives meaningful. As we present this offering of our life and labor, we pray that we will feel a keen sense of your presence, in the name and for the sake of Christ we pray. Amen. *HYMN: Angels we Have Heard on High 113 *CHARGE AND BENEDICTION: May our hearts sing of love pouring out upon a tree. May our hearts sing of peace that can calm an angry sea. May our hearts sing of joy in forgiveness, grace, and mercy. May our hearts sing of faith in a God who sets us free. May our hearts sing of life lived well and abundantly. May our hearts sing, always. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Alleluia! Amen. *TRIPLE “AMEN”: *POSTLUDE: Danna Hearn
