PRELUDE
GATHERING
GREETING & WELCOME
L: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and Communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
All: And also with you.
Welcome & Intro
OPENING MUSIC--“As the Dark Awaits the Dawn,” ELW #261
GATHERING
GREETING & WELCOME
L: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and Communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
All: And also with you.
Welcome & Intro
OPENING MUSIC--“As the Dark Awaits the Dawn,” ELW #261
CALL TO WORSHIP
L: I knew joy, but when I heard the laugh of my child,
All: Suddenly, joy was overflowing.
L: I knew love, but when you held my hand,
All: Suddenly, love was overflowing.
L: I knew God, but when you showed me grace,
when you forgave me,
when you loved me,
when you raised me,
All: Suddenly, God was overflowing.
L: So, let us worship Holy God together
As a reminder that God is here and we are never alone.
All: This is community.
L: This is the body of Christ.
All: Welcome home.
LIGHTING OF ADVENT CANDLE
A: I dream of music that makes my heart swell.
B: I dream of trees that take my breath away.
A: I dream of sunrises that wrap me in light.
B: I dream of family dinners that feel like home.
A: I dream of church services that give me hope.
B: I dream of love as the default.
A: So today, as we draw near to Christmas day, we light the candle of love.
B: May this light burn bright as a reminder that God is here and God is love.
A: We are not alone. Thanks be to God for a love like that. Amen.
Candle is lit as we sing:
“Creator of the Stars of Night,” ELW #245, vs. 4
L: I knew joy, but when I heard the laugh of my child,
All: Suddenly, joy was overflowing.
L: I knew love, but when you held my hand,
All: Suddenly, love was overflowing.
L: I knew God, but when you showed me grace,
when you forgave me,
when you loved me,
when you raised me,
All: Suddenly, God was overflowing.
L: So, let us worship Holy God together
As a reminder that God is here and we are never alone.
All: This is community.
L: This is the body of Christ.
All: Welcome home.
LIGHTING OF ADVENT CANDLE
A: I dream of music that makes my heart swell.
B: I dream of trees that take my breath away.
A: I dream of sunrises that wrap me in light.
B: I dream of family dinners that feel like home.
A: I dream of church services that give me hope.
B: I dream of love as the default.
A: So today, as we draw near to Christmas day, we light the candle of love.
B: May this light burn bright as a reminder that God is here and God is love.
A: We are not alone. Thanks be to God for a love like that. Amen.
Candle is lit as we sing:
“Creator of the Stars of Night,” ELW #245, vs. 4
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
L: Let us confess our sins before God and one another. God of Good News,
All: You say to me, “You are highly favored,” but I struggle to see how that could be. You say to me, “Do not be afraid,” but I am afraid all the time. You say to me, “Even the impossible is possible, just look at Elizabeth!” But hope slips through my hands like water. The impossible still feels impossible. So today I pray. Today we pray: Teach us to sing like Mary. Teach us to laugh like Elizabeth. Teach us to trust like the angels. Forgive us when we can only do one at a time, or none at all. Amen.
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
L: Holy God,
Before you could speak, you were speaking—leaping in wombs, kicking, stretching, jumping for joy. You have always found a way to show up in our midst, particularly on our fearful or lonely days. So today, as we crack open our Bibles, fluttering through these old beloved pages, we ask that you would move again. Stir in us. Speak to us. Fill us with the Holy Spirit. And if we are not able to hear your Word clearly, then give us Elizabeths who will point out your presence in delight and joy. Before you could speak, you were speaking, so here and now, Creator God, we are listening. Amen.
WORD
SCRIPTURE
2 Samuel 7:1-11
Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.”
But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.
Word of God; Word of Life.
Thanks be to God.
Luke 1:26-45
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
In 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 Spirit and 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.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE
HYMN OF THE DAY “In a Lowly Manger Born,” ELW #718,
L: Let us confess our sins before God and one another. God of Good News,
All: You say to me, “You are highly favored,” but I struggle to see how that could be. You say to me, “Do not be afraid,” but I am afraid all the time. You say to me, “Even the impossible is possible, just look at Elizabeth!” But hope slips through my hands like water. The impossible still feels impossible. So today I pray. Today we pray: Teach us to sing like Mary. Teach us to laugh like Elizabeth. Teach us to trust like the angels. Forgive us when we can only do one at a time, or none at all. Amen.
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
L: Holy God,
Before you could speak, you were speaking—leaping in wombs, kicking, stretching, jumping for joy. You have always found a way to show up in our midst, particularly on our fearful or lonely days. So today, as we crack open our Bibles, fluttering through these old beloved pages, we ask that you would move again. Stir in us. Speak to us. Fill us with the Holy Spirit. And if we are not able to hear your Word clearly, then give us Elizabeths who will point out your presence in delight and joy. Before you could speak, you were speaking, so here and now, Creator God, we are listening. Amen.
WORD
SCRIPTURE
2 Samuel 7:1-11
Now when the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.”
But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.
Word of God; Word of Life.
Thanks be to God.
Luke 1:26-45
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
In 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 Spirit and 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.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
MESSAGE
HYMN OF THE DAY “In a Lowly Manger Born,” ELW #718,
AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
L: Let us confess our faith together:
All: We believe that God has come to us;
That this God gave us breath and purpose and dreamed us into existence;
That we have been blessed to be a blessing to others,
That we have fallen short of God’s dream and struggle to wake up to God’s promise and purpose for us.
We believe that God is coming to us;
That God will not abandon us in our sin;
That God will come in flesh and bone to prepare the way for our restoration and wholeness
That God’s path will show us the extent of God’s love.
We believe that God will come to us;
That God will have the final word, and that Word will be good;
That in the coming, God’s dreams for us will be renewed;
That with God’s help, we are sent out to sow joy in the world,
To dream of what could be,
And to proclaim the good news of what already is.
Amen.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
PASSING THE PEACE
L: The peace of Christ be with you always.
All: And also with you.
PRAYER OF OFFERING DEDICATION
L: God of our wildest dreams, you have given us the imagination and inspiration to dream of a world that is so much better than what it is today. With the offerings we make, give us the courage and strength to work toward these dreams, placing our trust in one who began as a dream in a mother’s eye, the Word that spoke in the beginning, the hope of future resurrection and restoration, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
LORD’S PRAYER
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;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.
BENEDICTION
L: The Creator of the stars bless your Advent waiting,
the long-expected Savior fill you with love,
the unexpected Spirit guide your journey,
☩ now and forever.
All: Amen.
SENDING
SENDING MUSIC “Love Has Come,” ELW #292
L: Let us confess our faith together:
All: We believe that God has come to us;
That this God gave us breath and purpose and dreamed us into existence;
That we have been blessed to be a blessing to others,
That we have fallen short of God’s dream and struggle to wake up to God’s promise and purpose for us.
We believe that God is coming to us;
That God will not abandon us in our sin;
That God will come in flesh and bone to prepare the way for our restoration and wholeness
That God’s path will show us the extent of God’s love.
We believe that God will come to us;
That God will have the final word, and that Word will be good;
That in the coming, God’s dreams for us will be renewed;
That with God’s help, we are sent out to sow joy in the world,
To dream of what could be,
And to proclaim the good news of what already is.
Amen.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
PASSING THE PEACE
L: The peace of Christ be with you always.
All: And also with you.
PRAYER OF OFFERING DEDICATION
L: God of our wildest dreams, you have given us the imagination and inspiration to dream of a world that is so much better than what it is today. With the offerings we make, give us the courage and strength to work toward these dreams, placing our trust in one who began as a dream in a mother’s eye, the Word that spoke in the beginning, the hope of future resurrection and restoration, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
LORD’S PRAYER
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;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.
BENEDICTION
L: The Creator of the stars bless your Advent waiting,
the long-expected Savior fill you with love,
the unexpected Spirit guide your journey,
☩ now and forever.
All: Amen.
SENDING
SENDING MUSIC “Love Has Come,” ELW #292
DISMISSAL
L: Go in peace. Prepare the way of the Lord.
All: Thanks be to God.
L: Go in peace. Prepare the way of the Lord.
All: Thanks be to God.
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