THIS IS GOD'S HOUSE - ALL ARE WELCOME

 “Meeting people at their point of need, Inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ”

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“I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.”   Psalm 122, vs 1

Lizzie Meden, Liturgist

Prelude Music                                                   

Carol Settings

John Purifoy

 Processional Hymn    

Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!  Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee.
Holy, Holy, Holy!  Merciful and mighty!  God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

GATHERING AROUND THE WORD

Call to Worship

Leader: Let us go, in heart and mind, to see what has come to pass. Let us go with the shepherds: 

People: Let us go to find the Savior! 

Leader: Let us go with the wise ones: 

People: Let us go to find God's promise, born for us! 

Leader: Let us go with the poor and humble: 

People: Let us go to find our King, born in a lowly manger. 

Leader: Let us go with all the world, with all the peoples of the nations. 

People: Come, let us worship; come, let us adore him: Christ the Lord! 

- from “The Gift of Joy: Isaiah 12” posted on the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship 

Hymn                                                                 

 Angels, from the Realms of Glory 

 REGENT SQUARE 

Invocation and Lord's Prayer (Unison)

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.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen. 

CONFESSION OF SIN & ASSURANCE OF PARDON

Call to Confession (Unison)

Leader:      O God, you search us out and know us, and all that we are is open to you. We confess that we have sinned.

People:       In your mercy, Lord, forgive us and heal us.

Leader:      When we make no room for Christ, and fail to welcome him into our lives,

People:       In In your mercy, Lord, forgive us and heal us.

Leader:      When we seek to cut down those who might rise above us,

People:       In In your mercy, Lord, forgive us and heal us.

Leader:      When we sanitize your birth place and erase from memory the poor and displaced,

People:       In In your mercy, Lord, forgive us and heal us.

Leader:      When we sing sweet sentiments over Christ's birth, and fail to rejoice over his everyday presence,

People:       In In your mercy, Lord, forgive us and heal us.

Leader:      We turn to you, O Christ, perfect union of Spirit and flesh;

People:       In We renounce evil; We claim your love; We choose to be made whole.

~ written by Nathan Nettleton, and posted on his Laughingbird

Silent Confession and Assurance of Pardon     

Response:   Thanks be to God!

 Gloria Patri



 Affirmation of Faith, Apostles' Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell*; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic** Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.  Amen.

  * ”hell” refers to the Hebrew word “Sheol,” a place of the dead, rather than the Hell of the final judgment.
** “catholic” is Latin for “universal,” implying the Christian unity that exists beyond all denominations.

Anthem                                   

“Of the Father’s Love Begotten”

Of the Father’s love begotten, ere the worlds began to be.  He is Alpha and Omega,

He the source, the ending, He. Of the things that are, that have been,

and that future years shall see, evermore and evermore!

 O ye heights of heaven adore Him, angel hosts, His praises sing: Powers, dominions, bow before Him,

And extol our God & King; Let no tongue on earth be silent,

every voice in concert ring, evermore and evermore! 

Christ, to Thee with God the Father, and O Holy Ghost, to Thee 

hymn and chant and high thanksgiving and unwearied praises be:

Honor, glory and dominion, and eternal victory, evermore and evermore!

Divinum Mysterium

Pastoral Prayer of the People

Scripture Reading

Isaiah 52: 7

Sermon

Not a Moment Too Soon

Rev. Cress Darwin

Closing Hymn                                  

Go, Tell It On the Mountain!

Refrain:
Go, tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere;
go, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born!

While shepherds kept their watching o’er silent flocks by night,
behold, throughout the heavens there shone a holy light.   [Refrain]

The shepherds feared and trembled when lo! above the earth
rang out the angel chorus that hailed our Savior’s birth.   [Refrain]

Down in a lowly manger the humble Christ was born,
and God sent us salvation that blessed Christmas morn.   [Refrain 2X]

GO TELL IT

Benediction and Choral Response                      

Rejoice!
Veni Emmanuel

Postlude                                                                

Carol of the Bells
arr.  Dan Coates

2nd Presbyterian CCLI Lic. #2046860

INFORMATION & ANNOUNCEMENTS

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