Sunday, December 29, 2024

Theme

‘Twas the fifth day of Christmas and my true love gave to me, a casual worship service celebrating the incarnation. We will hear from the gospels of John, Luke, and Matthew, and sing Christmas Hymns.

We will also hear a story of Jesus’ early life where he is blessed by two saints at the Temple, and consider the beauty of multi generational communities.

Questions

– How have you been blessed by those who have come before you?

– How have you seen God’s salvation through others?

– How have you been a blessing to others, how can you be?

Reflections:

First Sunday of Christmas

As we make our way to the main scripture reading for this Sunday, we are changing up the flow of the service a bit, reading scriptures and singing hymns through the Christmas story.

Introit: As the Introit, I will be singing “Welcome to Our World” by Chris Rice.

Opening Hymn: After reading about the ‘Birth of Jesus’, we will sing, as our Opening Hymn, the first two verses of “Once in Royal David’s City”.

Hymn: ‘Shepherds and Angels’; we respond with “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks”.

Hymn: ‘Christ Child in the Manger’; “Still, Still, Still”

Hymn: As our hymn during the time of reconciliation in our worship, we sing “Who Would Think That What Was Needed”. The hymn, with gentle humor, points out the great gap between human expectation and God’s actual plan for salvation.

Responsive Hymn: As a response to our main scripture, which is about Joseph and Mary present Jesus at the temple, we sing “Mary and Joseph Came to the Temple”, a retelling of that story.

Hymn: ‘The Visit of the Magi’; “We Three Kings of Orient Are”.

Sending Hymn: Beginning with the birth in verse one, “O Sing a Song of Bethlehem” sketches out, with names of places and sensory images, the events of Christ’s life.

Benediction: “Lord, Bid Your Servant Go in Peace” is a rephrase of the ‘Song of Simeon’ from our main scripture. We will sing the first verse as our benediction.