Approaching God
Welcome & Announcements
Prelude & Gathering
Call to Light the Advent Wreath
Family: Today - the second Sunday in Advent - we hear about Isaiah's
vision of a new and transformed world.
Congregation: A world where all creatures live together in harmony and peace.
Family: We wait with hope for this vision to become reality.
Congregation: The God of hope fills us with joy and peace in believing. We light the candle of hope.
(The first purple candle is relit)
Family: We proclaim our belief in God's faithfulness in keeping promises, as we light the candle of peace.
( A second purple candle is lit)
Family: God of all faithfulness - Isaiah's vision paints a picture of a world shaped in accordance with Your will and Your design.
Congregation: He tells of One so enlightened by your Spirit that he would open eyes and ears and hearts to a new understanding of your will and your design for the world. Isaiah described the one for whom the people waited - the Messiah .
Family: We wait also, but we wait in the joyful knowledge that the Messiah has come in the form of your beloved Son.
Congregation: We wait in faith, praying that through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus - Prince of Peace - will be born anew in our hearts and in our lives. Amen
Hymn:
Confessional Prayer
Guide: Eternal Majesty, whose riches and resources are unlimited; whose power is absolute and abounding with holiness; we gather before You in this place of praise, peace and prayer. You have set apart this time in our lives to worship and adore You. We have responded to Your call and we continue to bless Your Holy Name.
People: Everlasting Lord, whose deeds of deliverance and almighty acts have been declared and announced by countless generations, we seek to serve You with our lives and love You with our souls. We want to devote ourselves to following Your ways and fulfilling Your Will.
Guide: Precious Father, we confess our sins to You. We have stored up bitterness in our hearts. We have allowed pride to damage our souls. We have hurt other people with our words and disappointed You with our deceptions. We have fulfilled our own desires and cast aside Your commandments.
People: Holy God, we have tampered with our faith by falling into temptation. We have neglected our devotion to Your Son by satisfying our dreams and needs. Forgive us, Gracious God, for we repent of our reckless ways and diminished faith. Hear us now as we personally seek Your pardon.
- SILENCE -
Guide: Compassionate Creator, who permits us to call upon Your Son for help, healing and wholeness, we praise You for the promises of salvation through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus. Without His obedience to You, without His agonizing death on the Cross, we would be unforgiven and forever doomed to be eternally cast out from Your Sacred Presence and Everlasting Love.
People: In the abundant grace of Jesus and through His own precious words , we now pray, saying, “Our Father, etc.”(Isaiah 23v18)
Promise of the Gospel:
Guide: Jesus is the King of Creation and the Lord of our lives. We did not give this honor to Him. Through His complete devotion and perfect obedience, God bestowed upon Jesus all authority on earth and in heaven to forgive our sins, to restore us to God’s favor and to be welcomed into His Eternal Kingdom. So let us rejoice and be truly thankful, for Jesus is our One, True and Only Savior, both now and always. Amen.
(John 6v14)
Gloria Patri : Glory be to 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.
Children’s Sermon
Encountering God
Anthem
Prayers for Health and Healing
Leader: Your healing love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.
People: Your strength is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep.
Leader: O LORD, we pray that you will preserve our lives and loved ones. How precious is your unfailing love and mercy to us!
People: May our families and friends find refuge in Your presence and healing from all that harms them.
Leader May we all regain our health and strength from the abundance of Your power; may You grant us our petitions and delight us with Your grace.
People: For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light; through Your peace, we are released from pain; by Your love we are set free from our fears. Hear us now as we pray.
Silent Prayers for ourselves and others. A candle is lit
Leader: Living and Gracious Lord, continue Your love to those who need You, Your healing to the most cherished of our hearts. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.
(Healing Prayer based on words & phrases from Psalm 36)
Prayer for Illumination :
Reader : Holy Spirit, challenge and change us through the truths that these sacred scriptures reveal. Move our hearts and show us how to fulfill Christ’s message in our daily lives. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen. (Acts 2:37)
Scripture Readings :
Sermon
The Apostles’ Creed
Serving God
Offering & Offertory:
Dedication : Lord Jesus, You know us completely and perfectly understand everything about our lives. We often fail to fulfill our service and devotion to You, and yet You still allow us to receive the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation. With humble and sincere thanks, we offer You our time, talents and money. Take these tokens of our gratitude and bless them for the continuing life, work and ministry of Your Church in this community, across this nation and throughout the world. In Your Precious Name, we pray. Amen.
( 1 Cor 11v28)
Hymn :
Benediction: May Christ protect us from our sinful nature and keep us on His Holy path; may the Father continually cultivate our faith through His Love and Grace; and may the Holy Spirit enable us to branch out into the world to effectively witness to God’s kingdom, glory and power. Both now and forever. Amen. ( Romans 11v24)
Doxology
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; praise Him all creatures here below;
Praise Him above ye heavenly host; praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost!
Postlude
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