This morning we will share a Service of Lessons and Carols, telling the story of salvation beginning with and culminating with the birth of Christ.
Join us for worship in our beautiful sanctuary, or right here online. Worship videos are available here or on Youtube following the service. You are invited!
A Service of Lessons and Carols
Advent 4
December 24, 2023
Liturgist: Joan Kellam
Readers: Mary, Laura Keibel, Joan Kellam, Kevin Kelley, Jim Mica, Doug Moore,
Cindy Surrena, Peggy Williams
WELCOME Joan Kellam
ANNOUNCEMENTS
* CALL TO WORSHIP/ LIGHTING OF THE FOURTH ADVENT CANDLE
Sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Sing to the Lord and bless God’s name;
tell the good news of salvation from day to day.
Declare God’s glory among the nations,
God’s marvelous works among all the peoples.
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised.
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice.
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world, and those who live in it.
Let the whole creation sing for joy
at the presence of God, who is coming.
God is coming indeed, to judge the earth with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity and truth. Praise the Lord!
* OPENING HYMN #183 W & R
“Once in Royal David’s City”
(Public Domain)
Once in royal David's city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for his bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little child.
He came down to earth from heaven
Who is God and Lord of all,
And his shelter was a stable,
And his cradle was a stall:
With the poor and meek and lowly
Lived on earth, our Savior holy.
Jesus is our childhood's pattern,
Day by day like us he grew;
He was little, weak, and helpless,
Tears and smiles like us he knew:
And he feels for all our sadness,
And he shares in all our gladness.
And our eyes at last shall see him,
Through his own redeeming love;
For that child, so dear and gentle,
Is our Lord in heaven above:
And he leads his children on
To the place where he has gone.
FIRST LESSON Genesis 3:8-15; 17-19 (GNT) Joan Kellam
Adam and Eve disobey God’s command
and disrupt the order and goodness of creation.
That evening they heard the Lord God walking in the garden, and they hid from him among the trees. But the Lord God called out to the man, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden; I was afraid and hid from you, because I was naked.”
“Who told you that you were naked?” God asked. “Did you eat the fruit that I told you not to eat?”
The man answered, “The woman you put here with me gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
The Lord God asked the woman, “Why did you do this?”
She replied, “The snake tricked me into eating it.”
Then the Lord God said to the snake, “You will be punished for this; you alone of all the animals must bear this curse: From now on you will crawl on your belly, and you will have to eat dust as long as you live. I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel.”
And he said to the man, “You listened to your wife and ate the fruit which I told you not to eat. Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you.
It will produce weeds and thorns, and you will have to eat wild plants. You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from soil, and you will become soil again.”
CAROL #180 W & R
“O Little Town of Bethlehem”
(Public Domain)
O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.
For Christ is born of Mary,
And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love,
O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth,
And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to all on earth.
How silently, how silently
The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of his heaven.
No ear may hear his coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive him still
The dear Christ enters in.
O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in;
Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel.
SECOND LESSON Genesis 22:15-18 Peggy Williams
God promises that, through Abraham,
all the peoples of the world will be blessed.
The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, says the Lord: Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.”
CAROL #154 W & R
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
(Public Domain)
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here,
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel!
O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer
Our spirits by thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel!
O come, thou Wisdom from on high,
And order all things, far and nigh;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And cause us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel!
O come, Desire of nations, bind
All peoples in one heart and mind;
Bid envy, strife and quarrels cease;
Fill the whole world with heaven's peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
shall come to thee, O Israel!
THIRD LESSON Isaiah 9:2, 6-7 Mary
The people who walk in darkness
receive the promise of the Messiah.
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.
For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Great will be his authority,
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
* CAROL #38 PH
“It Came Upon the Midnight Clear”
(Public Domain)
It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold;
"Peace on the earth, good will to all,
From heaven's all gracious King":
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.
Still through the cloven skies they come,
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
O'er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever o'er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.
And ye, beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing;
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing.
For lo, the days are hastening on,
By prophet bards foretold,
When with the ever circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.
FOURTH LESSON Isaiah 11:1-4a, 6-9 Cindy Surrena
The Messiah will come from the root of Jesse
to restore the peace of creation.
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see
or decide by what his ears hear,
but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor
and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth…
The wolf shall live with the lamb;
the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
CAROL #48 PH
“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,
By faithful prophets 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 for us a Savior,
When half spent was the night.
FIFTH LESSON Luke 1:26-35; 38 Joan Kellam
An angel appears to Mary and announces
that she will bear a holy child.
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God… Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
CAROL #169 W & R
“The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came,” John Wickham
©1983, E.H. Freeman.
Used by Permission. CCLI License #CSPL068847
The angel Gabriel from heaven came,
His wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame,
“All hail," said he, "O lowly maiden Mary,"
Most highly favored Mary, gloria!
“For know a blessed mother you shall be,
All generations praise continually,
Your Son shall be Emmanuel, by seers foretold,"
Most highly favored Mary, gloria!
Then gentle Mary meekly bowed her head.
“To me be as it pleases God,” she said.
“My soul shall laud and magnify God's holy name.”
Most highly favored Mary, gloria!
Of her, Emmanuel, the Christ, was born
In Bethlehem, all on a Christmas morn,
And Christian folk throughout the world will ever say:
Most highly favored Mary, gloria!
SIXTH LESSON Luke 2:1, 3-7 Kevin Kelley
Joseph and Mary travel to Bethlehem,
where Mary gives birth to her child.
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered… All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place in the guest room.
CAROL #203 W & R
“Away in a Manger, No Crib for a Bed”
(Public Domain)
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head;
The stars in the sky looked down where he lay,
The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay.
The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes.
I love thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
And stay by my side until morning is nigh.
Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray.
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,
And fit us for heaven, to live with thee there.
SEVENTH LESSON Luke 2:8-16 Laura Keibel
Angels appear to shepherds in the fields
and announce the birth of the Messiah.
Now in that same region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”
When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger.
* CAROL #188 W & R
“Angels We Have Heard on High”
(Public Domain)
Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o'er the plains,
And the mountains in reply
Echo back their joyous strains.
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
Say, what may the tidings be
Which inspire your heavenly song?
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Come to Bethlehem, and see
Him whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee
Christ the Lord, the newborn King.
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
EIGHTH LESSON Matthew 2:1-11 Jim Mica
Magi from the East come seeking the Messiah
and offer gifts to the baby Jesus.
In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star in the east and have come to pay him homage.” When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him, and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:
‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd my people Israel.’ ”
Then Herod secretly called for the magi and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” When they had heard the king, they set out, and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen in the east, until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
CAROL #233 W & R
“We Three Kings of Orient Are”
(Public Domain)
We three kings of Orient are,
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.
O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.
Born a king on Bethlehem’s plain,
Gold I bring to crown him again,
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to reign.
O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.
Frankincense to offer have I,
Incense owns a deity nigh;
Prayer and praising, voices raising,
Worshipping God on high.
O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.
Myrrh is mine; its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom:
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb.
O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.
Glorious now behold him arise,
King and God and Sacrifice;
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Sounds through the earth and skies.
O star of wonder, star of night,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.
NINTH LESSON John 1:1-14 Doug Moore
The Word of God becomes flesh
and lives among us, full of grace and truth.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
* CAROL #226 W & R
“God’s Love Made Visible,” Iola Brubeck, Dave Brubeck
©1985, Shawnee Press, All rights reserved.
Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.
License #A-728112. All rights reserved.
God’s love made visible! Incomprehensible!
He is invincible! His love shall reign!
From love so bountiful, blessings uncountable
Make death surmountable! His love shall reign!
Joyfully pray for peace and good will!
All of our yearning he will fulfill.
Live in a loving way! Praise him for every day!
Open your hearts and pray! His love shall reign!
God gave his Son to us to dwell as one of us,
His blessing unto us! His love shall reign!
To him all honor bring, heaven and earth will sing,
Praising our Lord and King! His love shall reign!
Open all doors this day of his birth,
All of good will inherit the earth.
His star will always be guiding humanity
Throughout eternity! His love shall reign!
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE Joan Kellam
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 debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
* CAROL #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 Joan Kellam
POSTLUDE
“Angels We Have Heard On High,” Chris Rice.
©2001, Clumsy Fly Music.
Used by permission, CCLI license #CSPL068847