9:55 a.m. December 15, 2019Watch
Welcome to worship! As you settle in for worship, please feel free to light a candle of prayer in the chapel area (right side of sanctuary). The children will be with us until after the passing of the peace, then may be excused for pageant rehearsal. There is nursery care available throughout the service, and a crying room for those who become inconsolable.
RINGING OF THE CHIMES Sylvia Berry, Organist
GREETING & ANNOUNCEMENTS Barry Shelley, Moderator
*HYMN ‘Christians All, Your Lord is Coming’ No. 136
GATHERING PRAYER
INTROIT ‘O Come to Set Us Free’ Mary McDonald
LIGHTING OF THE ADVENT CANDLE: JoyWatch
Reader One: On this third Sunday of Advent, as we think about the coming of Jesus Christ, we light the candle of joy.
Reader Two: When Christ comes into our lives, He brings the fullness of joy. He anoints our hearts with the oil of gladness.
Reader One: When Jesus was born, the angels said that His coming was good news of great joy for all people.
Reader Two: Because Christ has come to us,
we can live every day in the joy of the Lord.
Praise to His name!
*Asterisk indicates all who are able may stand
Bold print indicates congregational response
YOUTH CHOIRWatch
*RECEIVING AND SHARING GOD’S LOVE
(by handshake or embrace or with hands clasped or folded)
The peace of Christ be with you.
And also with you.
(during the passing of the Peace, the children may be excused to pageant rehearsal)
*GLORIA ‘Angels We Have Heard On High’ refrain No. 155
Gloria in excelsis Deo! Gloria in excelsis Deo!
MORNING PRAYERS
THE 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 sins, as we forgive those who sin 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. Amen.
HYMN ‘Emmanuel, Emmanuel’ No. 134Watch
Emmanuel, Emmanuel, his name is called Emmanuel.
God with us, revealed in us, his name is called Emmanuel.
A SEQUENCE OF LESSONS AND CAROLS
BIDDING PRAYER (Original Bidding Prayer (1880))
Let us begin our sequence of lessons and carols with the original bidding prayer, starting with those on the pulpit side:
Pulpit Side: Beloved in Christ, at this Christmas-tide let it be our care and delight to hear again the message of the angels, and in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, and the Babe lying in the manger.
Eagle Side: Therefore let us read and mark in Holy Scripture the tale of the loving purposes of God from the first days of our disobedience unto the glorious redemption brought us by this Holy Child.
Pulpit Side: But first, let us pray for the needs of the whole world; for peace on earth and goodwill among all God’s people.
Eagle Side: And because this would rejoice God’s heart, let us remember, in God’s name, the poor and helpless, the cold, the hungry, and the oppressed; the sick and them that mourn, the lonely and the unloved, the aged and the little children.
Pulpit Side: Lastly, let us remember before God all those who rejoice with us, but upon another shore, and in a greater light, that multitude which no one can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom in the Lord Jesus we are one for evermore.
All: These prayers and praises let us humbly offer up to the Throne of Heaven.
THE FIRST READINGWatch
Isaiah 35:1-10 Bob Cutting
*HYMN ‘Awake! Awake, and Greet the New Morn’ No. 138
THE SECOND READING
Psalm 146:5-10 Sharon Quesnel
*HYMN ‘People, Look East’ No. 142
THE THIRD READING
Luke 1:46b-55 Rev. Katrina Clinton
HYMN (remain seated) ‘It Came Upon the Midnight Clear’ No. 153
THE FOURTH READING
James 5:7-10 Adam Mitchell
HYMN (remain seated) ‘Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming’ No. 160
THE FIFTH READING
Matthew 11:2-11 Rev. Patricia Hayes
ANTHEM ‘Carol for Advent’ Don Besig (ASCAP)Watch
Amid the winter’s cold embrace, clothed in a shroud of white, an anxious world in silence waits through the dark of night. As the lonely song of a dove echoes across the sky above, we can feel the moment is near; soon the Child of Peace will appear. What child is this the world awaits with quiet expectation? When will He come, the promised one, to bring us peace and salvation? Raise, raise your prayers on high, prepare His way, the time is nigh. Come, come, Emmanuel, O Child of Love and Peace. The air grows colder, the light grows dim, dark’ning the sky above. But soon the chill of the winter wind will warm with God’s gift of love. And a star will brighten the sky; songs of joy will echo on high! We will know the moment is here; the Child of Love and Peace will appear.
HOMILY Ann-Marie IllsleyWatch
OFFERINGS OF THE PEOPLE OF GODWatch
OFFERTORY ‘O Come, O Come Emmanuel‘
Words found in hymn No. 119 15th Century French Melody, arr. Thomas Helmore
*DOXOLOGY ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’
What can I offer, poor as I am If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb If I were a wise one, I would do my part, But what I can, I offer – all my heart.
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
*HYMN ‘Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence’ No. 124
*COMMISSIONING AND BENEDICTIONWatch
(please be seated for the closing music)
CLOSING MUSIC
Serving Today:
Rev. Patricia Hayes, Senior Minister
Ann-Marie Illsley, Acting Associate Minister
Murray Kidd, Music Director
Sylvia Berry, Organist
David Wilcox, Sign Language
Loren Stott, Sign Language
David Wilcox, Hospitality Team Leader
