Our Christmas season moves quickly now, ahead twelve years. Jesus and his parents have joined in with other pilgrims to visit Jerusalem for the Passover. But on the trip home, he is discovered to be missing, His frantic parents retrace their steps. Where is he? Their child! Who could imagine the home Jesus has chosen for himself.
Join the UPC community for Christmas Season worship today as we explore ways in which God draws us closer and closer to home. Worship with us in our sanctuary at 10:30 AM, or online (here!) if you are at home or on the road. You are invited!
Union Presbyterian Church
December 26, 2021
Sharing the Light of Christ, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Liturgist: Cathie Makowka Preacher: Rev. Jeff Kellam
Prelude Joan Kellam, recorder
"It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” (Richard Willis)
“What Child Is This?” (English folk song)
(Public Domain)
Welcome Rev. Jeff Kellam
Call to Worship Cathie Makowka
Christ is born! And the next thing you know…
He’s walking. And then talking.
And going to school. And suddenly a ‘Tween.
And worrying his parents.
Jesus will say,
“This is my Father’s house.”
So come into this space
just as you are.
Come into this space
speaking your truth.
Come into this space
with your authentic self.
This is God’s home.
This is our home.
Let us worship God.
Hymn #198 W & R
“Good Christian Friends, Rejoice”
(Public Domain)
Good Christian friends, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice;
Give ye heed to what we say:
Jesus Christ is born today;
Ox and ass before him bow,
And he is in the manger now.
Christ is born today! Christ is born today!
Good Christian friends, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice;
Now we hear of endless bliss;
Jesus Christ was born for this;
He has opened heaven’s door,
And we are blest forevermore.
Christ was born for this! Christ was born for this!
Good Christian friends, rejoice
With heart and soul and voice;
Now ye need not fear the grave;
Jesus Christ was born to save;
Calls you one and calls you all
To gain his everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save! Christ was born to save!
Call to New Life Cathie Makowka
Research shows that on average, humans make about 35,000 choices in a day. In the prayer of confession, we acknowledge the moments when our choices do not reflect God’s love, and we ask for grace. So let us pray together, trusting that God is with us in each of those 35,000 moments, Emmanuel, guiding us home. Let us pray:
Prayer for Wholeness and Peace (unison)
We could offer welcome, but we often choose judgment.
We could choose action, but we often choose silence.
We could choose advocacy, but we often choose comfort.
We could choose truth, but we often choose ignorance.
We could choose you, loving God, but we often choose ourselves.
Forgive us, gracious God, for the moments when we chose poorly.
Open our hearts to choose you, to choose community, to choose love. Gratefully we pray.
Assurance of God’s Love (responsive) Cathie Makowka
Family of faith, no matter how we choose, we cannot lose God’s love. It is undeserved, overwhelming, ever-present, and always with us. So may we accept God’s grace, and use it as fuel for better days.
Hear and believe the good news of the Gospel:
No matter how many times we walk away, God always welcomes us home. We are loved. We are forgiven. Thanks be to God.
Sharing of the Peace
May the peace of God be with you.
And also with you.
Let us offer one another a sign of God’s peace.
Epistle Reading Colossians 3:12-17 Cathie Makowka
As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Children’s Message “The Carpenter’s Gift” Rev. Jeff Kellam
Gospel Reading Luke 2:41-52
Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.
Response Holy Wisdom, Holy Word:
Thanks be to God!
Meditation “Celebrate Me Home” Rev. Jeff Kellam
Anthem Carol The Kellam/Franzese Singers
“Go, Tell It on the Mountain”
(Public Domain)
Refrain
Go, tell it on the mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, tell it on the mountain
That Jesus Christ is born.
While shepherds kept their watching
O’er silent flocks by night,
Behold, throughout the heavens
There shone a holy light.
(Refrain)
The shepherds feared and trembled
When, lo! above the earth
Rang out the angel chorus
That hailed our Savior’s birth.
(Refrain)
Down in a lowly manger
The humble Christ was born,
And God sent us salvation
That blessed Christmas morn.
(Refrain)
Prayers of the People
The Lord’s Prayer (Contemporary version)
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name; your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen.
Prayer Response #190 W & R
"Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming”
(Public Domain)
Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming
From tender stem hath sprung,
Of Jesse’s lineage coming
As saints of old have sung.
It came, a floweret bright,
Amid the cold of winter,
When half-spent was the night.
Isaiah ‘twas foretold it,
The Rose I have in mind;
With Mary we behold it,
The virgin mother kind.
To show God’s love aright
She bore to us a Savior,
When half-spent was the night.
This flower, whose fragrance tender
With sweetness fills the air,
Dispels with glorious splendor
The darkness everywhere.
True man yet very God,
From sin and death he saves us
And lightens every load.
Call for Offering
Doxology #228 W & R (verse 6)
"While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks”
(Public Domain)
“All glory be to God on high,
And to the earth be peace;
Good will henceforth from heaven to all
Begin and never cease,
Begin and never cease!”
Prayer of Dedication
Hymn #185 W & R
“Hark! the Herald Angels Sing”
(Public Domain)
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King:
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th’angelic host proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”
Christ, by highest heaven adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord,
Late in time behold him come,
Offspring of the Virgin’s womb:
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
Born that we no more may die,
Born to raise us from the earth,
Born to give us second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”
Benediction
Postlude Colin DeLap
“Rise Up, Shepherds, and Follow”
(Public Domain)