Order of Worship Service, December 27, 2020 11:00 am (printable PDF)
First Sunday After Christmas
(Video will be posted on the church’s FB page at 11am. Video will be cross-posted here just after it’s posted there)
PRELUDE: While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks— Thomas Keesecker
A CALL TO BE PRESENT AT THE MANGER
(Video will be posted LIVE on the church’s FB page at 11am. Livestream will be cross-posted here ASAP once the livestream starts)
Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, the flying cloud, the frosty light;
Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let it go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true!
Ring out the grief that saps the mind, for those that here we see no more,
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all humankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause, and ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life, with sweeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out the want, the care, the sin, the faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right, Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease, Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant one and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.
—adapted from a Christmas poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson
HYMN: Good Christian Friends, Rejoice (#132)
CONFESSION AND COMMITMENT
Led by a star, a golden star
The youngest star, an olden star
Here the kings and the shepherds are, a kneeling on the ground.
What did they come to the inn to see?
God in the Highest, and this is He.
A baby asleep on His mother’s knee
and with her kisses crowned.
Now is the earth a dreary place, a troubled place, a weary place.
Peace has hidden her lovely face and turned in tears away.
Yet the sun, through the war cloud,
sees babies asleep on their mothers‘ knees,
while there are love and home and these,
there shall be Christmas day.
–Alfred Joyce Kilmer
SUNG RESPONSE: While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks (#118)
SCRIPTURE: Luke 2:21-38 John 1:1-9
SUNG RESPONSE: Infant Holy, Infant Lowly (#128)
SERMON: Light Worth Waiting For!
CHORAL ANTHEM: Christmas Joy; Text- Howard Thurman; music, Mark Schweizer
WELCOME
INTERCESSORY PRAYER:— with comments by people on FB (You can also email prayer requests to info@westportpresbyterian.org during office hours)
the Lord’s Prayer
SUNG RESPONSE: Still, Still, Still #124
OFFERTORY SOLO: The Stars Looked Down; sung by Emma WitbolsFeugen, soprano
Offering link
Prayer of Dedication
We come believing in our emptiness,
believing that we will never have enough.
We come fearful of sharing,
fearful of losing our tenuous grip on security,
fearful of touching and knowing the pain of others.
We come overwhelmed by the pandemic,
overwhelmed by the suffering of people near and far,
overwhelmed by the endless tales of senseless violence, racism greed, and death.
We come aching from the weight of the responsibility,
aching from the chilling challenge of knowing our abundance,
aching from the gnawing awareness that we have much to share.
We come clinging to our meager money;
bless it, and us; break it and us; share it, and us. Amen.
HYMN: Angels We Have Heard on high (#113)
BLESSING
SUNG BENEDICTION RESPONSE: Gentle Mary Laid Her Child (#146)
POSTLUDE: In the Bleak Midwinter— Gustav Holst, arr. John Purifoy
Participants:
Pastor- Scott Myers
Piano- Emily Davidson
Choir- Josh Stark, Neil Long, Jennifer Weiman, Em WitbolsFeugen
Camera/Facebook/Prayer requests: Deanna Capps
Webpage- Martine Roesel
0 Comments