Sunday Prayers: Advent 4

Approaching God

Welcome & Announcement

Prelude & Gathering
Call to Light the Advent Wreath

Family: The season of Advent continues. Today we shall be lighting the candle of love.

Congregation: No other word so completely describes what we know of our God. For God so loved the world that a child was given....God's love in human form.

Family: We wait in hope and peace, and with joy.

The two purple candles and the pink candle are lit

Family: We light the candle of love to proclaim that God's love is revealed in the Child born in Bethlehem.
Congregation: We are challenged to proclaim and reveal that same love as we live out our faith here in ….

The purple candle is lit

Family: We give thanks for a love that passes our human understanding.

Congregation: We await once more the birth of God's enduring love this Christmas. In Christ’s Sacred Name, we hope, wait, love, and pray. Amen

Hymn:

Confessional Prayer
Guide: Lord of Love and Life, we come before You as Your people, hoping to please You with our praises and seeking to delight You with our worship.
People: Almighty God, in whom our lives are lived, and by whom our days are sustained, we place our faith, hope, and love in You alone.

Guide: Gracious Father, we know that we have allowed temptation and sin to over rule our spirits. We have succumbed to our selfish desires and made poor choices.
People: Benevolent Majesty, forgive us for taking Your grace for granted and for setting You aside. Pardon us for disrespecting Your ways and disavowing Your words with our sinful actions. Hear us now as we inwardly confess our sins.

- SILENCE -

Guide: Merciful God, only Your Son Jesus Christ can save us from our sins. Only He can bridge the gap that we have created through our sinful deeds and wicked ways.
People: We place our lives and souls into Christ’s hands. We ask for redemption and restoration through His precious blood. In His Holy words, we now pray, saying, “Our Father, etc.

Promise of the Gospel
Guide: When Jesus came into our world, He brought God’s everlasting grace with Him. By living a life of true obedience, He has enabled us to be given an eternal hope from God. We are no longer cast away from God. We are restored to His throne and returned to His Kingdom through Jesus Christ, our Savior, Redeemer, and Lord. Amen.

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.

Family Sermon (parents and all children, including Elementary school students come forward)

Anthem

Encountering God

Prayers for Health and Healing

Pastor: O Lord, in this holy sanctuary, our souls yearn for Your Favor, and our hearts cry out for healing.
People: Bless us, Living God, for we have set our hopes in You, and trust You with all our strength.
Pastor: Hear our prayers, O LORD God Almighty; listen to us, O God of Jacob.
People: Look upon Your people, O God, gathered here in Your Name. Look upon us with mercy and compassion.
Pastor: For You, O LORD, fill us with faith, and You help us through each day.
People: Gracious God, do not withhold Your power from us. Heal us and all our loved ones from sickness and pain, anxiety and depression, illness and injury.

Silent Prayers for ourselves and others. A candle is lit

Pastor: O LORD Almighty, blessed are those who trust in You. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.
(Healing Prayer based on words & phrases from Psalm 84)

Prayer for Illumination:
Reader: Holy Spirit, teach us God’s plan for our lives through the reading and receiving of these sacred words. Challenge and change our ways, so that we may become true witnesses of Christ’s Gospel. In His Name, we pray. Amen.

Scripture Readings & Sermon & The Apostles’ Creed

Serving God
Offering & Offertory:

Dedication: Lord Jesus, we bring before You an offering made up of our tithes and gifts, resources and wealth. We pray that it may honor and glorify You. We humbly ask that You bless this offering for the spreading of the Gospel, the mission of the Church, and the praising of God’s Name, both now and always. Amen.

Hymn:

Benediction (unison): May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in Him, so that we may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; One God forevermore. Amen.

Doxology & Postlude