Advent/Christmas worship
To long-time Lutherans, Christians from every tradition, and people new to the faith.
We welcome you
To all who have no church home, want to follow Christ, have doubts or do not believe.
We welcome you
To people of every age and size, color and culture, gender identity, sexual orientation, and marital status, ability, disability, and challenge.
We welcome you
To believers, non-believers, questioners, and questioning believers.
This is a place where you are welcome to: celebrate and struggle, rejoice and recover.
AMEN
We acknowledge that the land on which we gather is the traditional territory of the Sana and Tonkawa peoples. It is also important to acknowledge that we are here today due to the exclusion and erasure of many indigenous people from their native land, including the land on which we stand today. We honor with gratitude the land itself and its original people.
Advent 1
November ends. December begins.
We find our beginning and our ending in God.
Month after month, our God attends us and supports us.
For God’s company, we offer thanks and praise.
Let us worship the God who gives us Jesus Christ:
God who is the Alpha and the Omega,
the beginning and the end,
the Living One and our Redeemer, now and forever.
Reading: Jeremiah 33:14-21
14 The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will fulfill my gracious promise with the people of Israel and Judah. 15 In those days and at that time, I will raise up a righteous branch from David’s line, who will do what is just and right in the land. 16 In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is what he will be called: The Lord Is Our Righteousness. 17 The Lord proclaims: David will always have one of his descendants sit on the throne of the house of Israel. 18 And the levitical priests will always have someone in my presence to make entirely burned offerings and grain offerings, and to present sacrifices.
19 Then the Lord’s word came to Jeremiah: 20 This is what the Lord says: If one could break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night so that they wouldn’t come at their proper time, 21 only then could my covenant with my servant David and my covenant with the levitical priests who minister before me be broken; only then would David no longer have a descendant to rule on his throne.
Advent 2
The day of the Lord brings grace and blessing.
We come to this day with hearts prepared for praising.
The day of the Lord brings judgment and pardon.
We come to this day with souls set on praying.
The day of the Lord brings wisdom and light.
We come to this day with minds eager to listen for God’s will.
In our praising, praying, listening, and responding,
we come to worship God.
Reading: Philippians 1:3-11
3 I thank my God every time I mention you in my prayers. 4 I’m thankful for all of you every time I pray, and it’s always a prayer full of joy. 5 I’m glad because of the way you have been my partners in the ministry of the gospel from the time you first believed it until now. 6 I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus. 7 I have good reason to think this way about all of you because I keep you in my heart. You are all my partners in God’s grace, both during my time in prison and in the defense and support of the gospel. 8 God is my witness that I feel affection for all of you with the compassion of Christ Jesus. 9 This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich with knowledge and all kinds of insight. 10 I pray this so that you will be able to decide what really matters and so you will be sincere and blameless on the day of Christ. 11 I pray that you will then be filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes from Jesus Christ, in order to give glory and praise to God.
Advent 3 (based on Isaiah 12:5–6)
Sing praises to God on high, for glorious are God’s works.
Sing praises to the ends of the earth.
Shout and sing for joy, O people of God,
for great is the Holy One in our midst,
blessed is the One who comes to dwell among us.
Reading: Luke 3:1-18
In the fifteenth year of the rule of the emperor Tiberius—when Pontius Pilate was governor over Judea and Herod was ruler over Galilee, his brother Philip was ruler over Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was ruler over Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas—God’s word came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 John went throughout the region of the Jordan River, calling for people to be baptized to show that they were changing their hearts and lives and wanted God to forgive their sins. 4 This is just as it was written in the scroll of the words of Isaiah the prophet, A voice crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight. 5 Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be leveled. The crooked will be made straight and the rough places made smooth. 6 All humanity will see God’s salvation.” 7 Then John said to the crowds who came to be baptized by him, “You children of snakes! Who warned you to escape from the angry judgment that is coming soon? 8 Produce fruit that shows you have changed your hearts and lives. And don’t even think about saying to yourselves, Abraham is our father. I tell you that God is able to raise up Abraham’s children from these stones. 9 The ax is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be chopped down and tossed into the fire.” 10 The crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” 11 He answered, “Whoever has two shirts must share with the one who has none, and whoever has food must do the same.” 12 Even tax collectors came to be baptized. They said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 He replied, “Collect no more than you are authorized to collect.” 14 Soldiers asked, “What about us? What should we do?” He answered, “Don’t cheat or harass anyone, and be satisfied with your pay.” 15 The people were filled with expectation, and everyone wondered whether John might be the Christ. 16 John replied to them all, “I baptize you with water, but the one who is more powerful than me is coming. I’m not worthy to loosen the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 The shovel he uses to sift the wheat from the husks is in his hands. He will clean out his threshing area and bring the wheat into his barn. But he will burn the husks with a fire that can’t be put out.” 18 With many other words John appealed to them, proclaiming good news to the people.
Advent 4
Seasons come and seasons go,
but our God endures forever.
Our faith exhibits ebb and flow,
but our God endures forever.
Our lives may freeze up or may grow,
but our God endures forever.
So let our souls magnify the Lord our God this day.
Reading: Luke 1:39-55
39 Mary got up and hurried to a city in the Judean highlands. 40 She entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 With a loud voice she blurted out, “God has blessed you above all women, and he has blessed the child you carry. 43 Why do I have this honor, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 Happy is she who believed that the Lord would fulfill the promises he made to her.”
46 Mary said,
“With all my heart I glorify the Lord!
47 In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.
48 He has looked with favor on the low status of his servant.
Look! From now on, everyone will consider me highly favored
49 because the mighty one has done great things for me.
Holy is his name.
50 He shows mercy to everyone,
from one generation to the next,
who honors him as God.
51 He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations.
52 He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones
and lifted up the lowly.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
and sent the rich away empty-handed.
54 He has come to the aid of his servant Israel,
remembering his mercy,
55 just as he promised to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants forever.”
A CHRISTMAS CONFESSION
The peace of the Lord be with you.
And also with you.
I believe in Jesus Christ and in the grace of the gospel begun in Bethlehem.
I believe in the one whose spirit glorified a little town; and whose spirit still brings music to persons all over the world in towns both large and small.
I believe in the one for whom the crowded inn could find no room, and I confess that my heart still sometimes wants to exclude Christ from my life today.
I believe in the one who the rulers of the earth ignored and the proud could never understand; whose life was among common people, whose welcome came from persons of hungry hearts.
I believe in the one who proclaimed the love of God to be invincible:
I believe in the one who looked at persons and made them see what God’s love saw in them, who by love brought sinners back to purity, and lifted human weakness up to meet the strength of God.
I confess our everlasting need of God:
The need of forgiveness for our selfishness and greed, the need of new life for empty souls, the need of love for hearts grown cold.
I believe in God who gives us the best of himself.
I believe in Jesus, the son of the living God, born in Bethlehem this night, for me and for the world.
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
We give you thanks for all the gifts that you give and have given us through Jesus. We praise you for his birth, for how he lived his life as the servant of your most holy will – and for how he gave himself over to death for our sakes – thereby opening to all people the gates of heaven and the way to eternal life. O God we do as he commanded us to do on the night he was betrayed. We remember how he took bread, and gave you thanks for it – as even now we give you thanks O God for our daily bread – and how he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, “take, eat, this is my body, broken for you.”. W recall, how when the meal was done, Jesus took the cup, and after giving thanks, offered it to his disciples saying, “take, drink, this is my blood, the blood of the new covenant for the forgiveness of sins as often as you do this, do it in remembrance of me.”
Bless O God, this bread and this wine that it may be for us communion in the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Send your spirit upon these elements and upon us and grant that we may obtain maturity of faith and live in him and through him – faithful and righteous all our days. We ask through Christ our Lord, as we pray the prayer he taught us…
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 trespasses as we forgive those who trespass 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 and ever. Amen.
RECEIVING COMMUNION
All present are welcome to come forward to receive the bread and wine, signs of Christ’s giving himself for us.
THE CANTICLE OF SIMEON
Having received the gift of Jesus, let us pray using the words of Simeon, a righteous and devote man who looked forward to God’s rescue of his people:
Lord, now I can go in peace!
As you promised me, I have seen the Savior you have given to all people.
He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel.
Flame is passed from one candle to another. Do not tip a lighted candle, but hold it vertical while the candle receiving the flame is held horizontal.
Christmas
God is telling a story in our lives.
It’s quite a story-full of the promises God makes
and our struggles to trust;
full of mystery and angels
with surprising news;
full of hard endings
and unexpected new beginnings.
Come, hear the story
pay attention to the angels’ message
in your heart
in this place and time.
Then join all creation
in worshipping the God
who tells it
full of grace and truth;
who comes in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
and makes our story holy.
BLESSING
May Christ, born into time to bring endless peace,
guide your days and years in righteousness from this time onward and forevermore.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord’s face shine on you with grace and mercy.
The Lord look upon you with favor and + give you peace. Amen
