(Image: Stushie Art)
©Order of Worship for Sunday December 22, 2024
Fourth Sunday of Advent
For the Avent Ferry UMC Worship Video Click Here (Link opens in a new window)
The worship video will be available live at 11:00 am
Prelude:………… “Good King Wenceslas”…………Greg D.
Traditional Carol
Coming of the Light:……………………………………….
Greetings………………………..………..…Pastor Steven
Announcements:………………………………………….Lorri B.
Call to Worship:…………………………………..Pastor Steven
Children of God, the arrival of the Promised One is almost here!
We wait as people of God’s promise.
The message of the prophets and the expectation residing in Mary’s womb call to us today.
We listen as people of God’s promise.
Mary’s “yes” and Elizabeth’s faithfulness guide our path, showing us that we too have a role to play in bearing God’s good news into the world.
We follow as people of God’s promise.
This is the promise Mary, Elizabeth, and the prophets bore that we continue to carry even today—God is with us!
God is with us! We are not alone. Thanks be to God!
Opening Prayer: …………………………………Lusi R.
God of the impossible and unlikely,
God of pregnant old women and virgins,
you turn our conventional world upside down,
where the hungry are fed,
and arrogant rich are turned away.
Instill in us unthinkable marvels.
Make us pregnant with wonder
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever. Amen
Lighting of the Advent Candles:………….Bennett Family
Reader One: When the people were looking for deliverance, the prophet Micah declared, “But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah…from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient day.” (Micah 5:2). But what if Micah is also talking to us, proclaiming, “But you, O Avent Ferry, from you shall come forth for me…” What? What might God be calling forth from us?
Congregation: God invites us to receive the promise of God’s salvation and the sustenance of God’s mercy and grace, enabling us to live the promise as God-bearers to the world. As Christ was born in Bethlehem, so too we answer God’s invitation to have Christ born among us today and every day.
Reader Two: We light this candle of love as a sign of our commitment to live as people of God’s promise, a promise of salvation and flourishing for all people that springs forth from God’s love for all creation.
Light the fourth candle of the Advent wreath.
Opening Hymns:…“O Come, All Ye Faithful” #234 UMH
Words & music by John F. Wade circa 1743
1. O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold him, born the King of angels;
O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.
2. True God of true God, Light from Light Eternal,
lo, he shuns not the Virgin’s womb;
Son of the Father, begotten, not created;
O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.
3. Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation;
O sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!
Glory to God, all glory in the highest;
O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.
4. See how the shepherds, summoned to his cradle,
leaving their flocks, draw nigh to gaze;
we too will thither bend our joyful footsteps;
O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.
“O Little Town of Bethlehem” #230 UMH
Words by Phillips Brooks, circa 1868
Music by Lewis H. Redner, 1868
1. O little town of Bethlehem,
how still we see thee lie;
above thy deep and dreamless sleep
the silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
the everlasting light;
the hopes and fears of all the years
are met in thee tonight.
2. For Christ is born of Mary,
and gathered all above,
while mortals sleep, the angels keep
their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars together,
proclaim the holy birth,
and praises sing to God the King,
and peace to all on earth!
3. How silently, how silently,
the wondrous gift is given;
so God imparts to human hearts
the blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming,
but in this world of sin,
where meek souls will receive him, still
the dear Christ enters in.
4. O holy Child of Bethlehem,
descend to us, we pray;
cast out our sin, and enter in,
be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
the great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
our Lord Emmanuel!”
Passing of the Peace:……………………………Pastor Steven
Let us show signs of reconciliation and peace to one another.
Gloria Patri: “Glory Be to the Father” #70 UMH
Words: Lesser Doxology, 3rd-4th cent.
Music: Charles Meineke, 1844
Glory be the the Father and to the Son and to the
Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now,
and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen.
Old Testament Lesson: ……Micah 5:2-5a………………Lusi R.
From Bethlehem comes a ruler
But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel.
And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth,
and he shall be the one of peace.
Giving of our tithes and offerings ………………..Pastor Steven
AFUMC Online Giving Link
Offertory: ……“Rise Up Shepherds and Follow”……..Greg D.
American Spiritual
Offertory Response: “The Doxology” #94 UMH
Words: Thomas Ken, 1674 Music: Geistliche Kirchengesänge, 1623;
Adapt. © 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise God,
all creatures here below: Alleluia! Alleluia! Praise God the
source of all our gifts! Praise Jesus Christ, whose power up-lifts! Praise the Spirit, Holy Spirit! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Prayer After Receiving:………………………Pastor Steven
Prayers of the People: ………………………Pastor Steven
Anthem:
Gospel Lesson:…..…Luke 1:39-45, (46-55)………Elizabeth B.Blessed are you among womenIn those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country,where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spiritand exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.
Canticle of Mary (Magnificat) #199 UMH(R) The glory of the Lord shall be revealed;
all flesh shall see it together.
“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,My spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
who has looked with favor on me, a lowly servant.
From this day all generations shall call me blessed:
The Almighty has done great things for me
and holy is the name of the Lord,
whose mercy is on those who fear God
from generation to generation.
The arm of the Lord is strong,
and has scattered the proud in their conceit.
God has cast down the mighty from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly.
God has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich empty away.
God has come to the aid of Israel, the chosen servant,
remembering the promise of mercy,
the promise made to our forebears,
to Abraham and his children for ever.”
(R) The glory of the Lord shall be revealed;
all flesh shall see it together.
Hymn of Preparation:“View the Present Through the Promise” #3048 W&S
Words: Thomas H. Troeger © 1994 Oxford University Press Inc Music: Traditional Welsh melody, harmony by Luther Orlando Emerson
1. View the present through the promise, Christ will come again.
Trust despite the deepening darkness, Christ will come again.
Lift the world above its grieving through your watching and believing in the hope past hope’s conceiving:
Christ will come again.
2. Probe the present with the promise, Christ will come again.
Let your daily actions witness, Christ will come again.
Let your loving and your giving and your justice and forgiving
be a sign to all the living: Christ will come again.
3. Match the present to the promise, Christ will come again.
Make this hope your guiding premise, Christ will come again.
Pattern all your calculating and the world you are creating
to the advent you are waiting: Christ will come again.”
Sermon:….“From the Least Shall Come the Greatest”
Closing Hymn:….“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” #240 UMH
Words: Charles Wesley, 1734 Music: Felix Mendelsohn 1840
1. Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King;
peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the skies;
with th’angelic host proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King!”
2. Christ, by highest heaven adored; Christ, the everlasting Lord;
late in time behold him come, offspring a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail th’incarnate Deity,
pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King!”
3. Hail the heaven-born Price of Peace! Hail the Sun of righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by, born that we no more may die,
born to raise us from the earth, born to give us second birth.
Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King!”
Dismissal with Blessing:………………………………Pastor Steven
Postlude:……………………..………………………………….Greg D.
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AFUMC Christmas Eve Service: Tuesday December 24th at 5:30 pm: Christmas Eve Candle Lighting Service
Sunday December 22nd Worship Service