Fourth Sunday of Advent & Carol Sing

Westport Presbyterian Church   1835 – present
Fourth Sunday of Advent
December 24, 2023­­ 11 am

(Video will be posted LIVE on the church’s FB page at 11am and then cross-posted here afterward.  If the video doesn’t load properly here, you should be able to click on the Watch on Facebook link and watch as a guest, even if you don’t have Facebook)

PRELUDE:   O Sing a Song of Bethlehem (KINGSFOLD)                                                John Purifoy
OPENING HYMN:   Once in Royal David’s City  GTG#140 
ADVENT SCRIPTURE READING:   Luke 2:1-7
LIGHTING OF THE 4^TH CANDLE OF ADVENT:           Jeanne Reiss, Janet Sears & Bobbie Testa

Leader(s):  This morning as we light all four candles on our Advent Wreath, we are lighting the fourth candle in honor of the innkeeper who, though there was no room upstairs in the Inn, finally welcomes Mary & Joseph to stay in the stable beneath the Inn where the animals are sheltered, providing warmth for Mary & Joseph, so that Mary, in the fullness of time, can give birth to her baby, Jesus, wrapping him in swaddling clothes and laying him in a manger.
Today we are going to act out a custom from Central America and the American southwest. This is the custom of Las Posadas – the search for a resting place for Joseph and the very pregnant Mary, which is found in the well-known gospel narrative, which recalls there was “no-room in the Inn.”
This is dramatized as people proceed through the streets the last few days before Christmas, carrying figures of Mary and Joseph from door to door in streets lit by candles called luminarias, asking: “Is there any room? It is very late. We need some shelter. My wife is weary. She says she can go no farther. Is there any room at the Inn?”
They are turned away at the first few houses, until, on Christmas Eve, the last house welcomes them in.
Today we remember all the people everywhere seeking safe shelter, and those who have shelter to share as we light our advent candles.

LIGHT ALL FOUR CANDLES

Our Advent Candle lighters will now carry figures of Mary and Joseph beginning at the Advent Wreath, down our “street” where 4 luminarias mark the houses where the travelers pause as our prayer litany is spoken: 

1^st Traveler:        After a long and hard journey, we stand at your doorstep, seeking for the love of God, a place to rest for the night.     Congregation:   The night is dark, cold and terrifying, and even more, it’s no time to travel on.
2^nd Traveler:       Pilgrims we are who come to your door, seeking for the love of God, a place to lay our heads.
Congregation:   Here there’s no space, continue on pilgrims! Who knows where you came from? Who knows who you are?
3^rd Traveler:        At each and every home where lodging we sought, the response has been the same: cruel indifference!
Congregation:   Who are you, exiled mendicants? Tell us your names. Perhaps we are friends?
4^th Traveler:        It is Joseph and Mary who cry out to you; we have just arrived from faraway Nazareth. Mary has just been chosen by God to bear God’s Son.
Congregation:  Pardon, good Joseph, for we did not know you. Our house is honored by you and the Holy Presence. Great is my joy, if you choose to rest here. Enter, I beg you, and bless this humble home, bringing it happiness.
ALL:                    Enter, sweet Mary, for we now have found lodging. Here is an innkeeper who opens home and heart to us and to the Divine Child who will be born through you for all the world. Birth Divine Love into the world.

SUNG RESPONSE:     Joy to the World  GTG#134
CALL FOR THE OFFERING
OFFERTORY:   I wonder as I wander;   John Jacob Niles;  Joshua Stark, baritone
                 Offering link
PRAYER OF DEDICATION, MORNING PRAYER, LORD’S PRAYER
CLOSING HYMN:   Away in a Manger  GTG#114
POSTLUDE:  Hymn/Carol Sing!
Christmas Songbook PDF

A WESTPORT WARM WELCOMING! 

• WELCOME! MEMBERS! NEWCOMERS! FRIENDS! We are so glad you could join us for worship today! VISITORS, please take a moment to let us know you were here by picking up an attendance card (in the pews) and filling out whatever information you would like to share with us.
•  Our Annual CONGREGATIONAL MEETING has been called by the session for Sunday, Jan. 7 after worship. We will receive reports from committee chairs and review the church budget for 2024.
• CHRISTMAS EVE AT WESTPORT PRES:  Join us tonight at 7 p.m. for a special CANDLELIGHT CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE.
• The church office will be closed on CHRISTMAS DAY and NEW YEAR’S DAY and will be open very limited hours during the week of Christmas to give our office manager some time off to spend with her family. If you need pastoral care, please call or email Pastor Susan. 

MISSION & OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES:

• Bread, Buns, Fruit, Water, Meat, Peanut Butter, Cheese are always needed for our INTERRUPT HUNGER work. WESTPORT SHOWERS happens on Sundays & Thursday nights. Men’s boxer brief underwear needed. Men’s and Women’s shoes. Backpacks! Jackets, Sweatshirts, Warm Clothes for this cold weather!
• WESTPORT SHOWERS will be taking a break from our weekday Lunch Bag program and Thursday Night Showers the week of Christmas and on New Year’s Day (Mon. Dec 25-Mon. Jan 1). Sunday morning showers and breakfast will still be open on Dec. 24 & Dec. 31.