PRELUDE: An Advent Meditation by David Lasky
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
CALL TO WORSHIP, WITH LIGHTING OF ADVENT WREATH by the Carolyn Welch Family
Advent Candle Blessing – Barbara Wallace
The second Advent candle is the candle born of Hope. Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. He bears them up on beauty’s wings, our hope of salvation He brings. The first Advent candle is the candle of Love the second our Hope from above. [Alice Carpenter]
PRAYER OF INVOCATION
HYMN: It Came Upon the Midnight Clear [Carol]
PRAYER OF PRAISE
INTROIT: Prepare the Way by Brad Croushom; Mark Waters, tenor solo
Prepare the way of the Lord. Make haste, get ready, don’t delay. Prepare the way of the Lord. A voice cried out in the wilderness; prepare the way of the Lord. You better straighten those roadways and level those hills. Prepare the way of the Lord. Clear out the hatred, petty jealousy and lies, prepare the way of the Lord. Make room for the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Prepare the way of the Lord. Keep your lamps trimmed and burning; keep your oil filled up high. Prepare the way of the Lord. [based on Isaiah 40:3-4, Matthew 3:3 and Luke 12:35]
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS
SONG OF GRATITUDE: Good Christian Friends, Rejoice [In Dulci Jubilo]
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
SCRIPTURE LESSON: Matthew 3:4-10
HYMN: Wild and Lone the Prophet’s Voice [Aberystwyth]
SERMON: “Fulfilling our Repentance”
ANTHEM: Wild and Lone the Prophet’s Voice by Michael Larkin
Wild and lone the prophet’s voice echoes through the desert still, calling us to make a choice, biding us to do God’s will: “Turn from sin and be baptized; cleanse your heart and mind and soul. Quitting all the sins you prized, yield your life to God’s control. Bear the fruit repentance sows: lives of justice, truth, and love. Trust no other claim than these; set your heart on things above. Soon the Lord will come in power, burning clean the threshing floor: then will flames of chaff devour; wheat alone shall fill God’s store.” With such preaching, stark and bold, John proclaimed salvation near, and his timeless warnings hold words of hope to all who hear. So we dare to journey on, led by faith through ways untrod, till we come at last like John to behold the Lamb of God. [Carl P. Daw, Jr.]
CELEBRATION OF HOLY COMMUNION
INVITATION AND WORDS OF INSTITUTION
PRAYER
PARTAKING OF THE FEAST
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
HYMN: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing [Mendelssohn]
BENEDICTION
CHORAL RESPONSE: Come, Lord Jesus by Anna Laura Page
Come, Lord Jesus. Come and save us. Bring Your light into our world of darkness. Amen.
POSTLUDE: Winchester New (“On Jordan’s Banks the Baptist’s Cry) arr. by Malcolm Archer
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