Crandall United Methodist Church

Worship Guide

December 15, 2024

Third Sunday of Advent

Creating Disciples of Jesus who Transform the World

ENTRANCE WITH PRAISE

Greetings:

Minister: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!

People: And also with you!

Lighting the Advent Candle: Joy

No matter what troubles overwhelm us today, Isaiah reminds us that in all of our preparation and passionate pursuit of God’s coming kin-dom, we must not forget that God’s salvation has come and is coming. “With joy you will draw water from the wells of    salvation”. With joy you will remember that God’s salvation is already present among us.

Faced with the troubles and the suffering of the world, we choose to live in joyful presence to God and one another. We will not turn away from the pain and the hurt in our world, and we will not stop rejoicing in God, whose salvation fills us to overflowing that God’s love might flow through us and flood our troubled world with hope, peace, and joy.

We light this candle of joy as a sign of our commitment to be present to ourselves, our friends, our families, and our neighbors that in sharing our vulnerable lives we might share in the glorious joy of God’s salvation together.

Special Music: Meagan

Centering Words:

Rejoice and be glad! God is at work while we wait and hope and pray for God’s peace to come upon the earth.

*Call to Worship:

Leader:    Rejoice, for God is here!

People:   God is our strength and our light.

Leader:    Let us give thanks to God.

People:   We will sing praises for all the earth to hear!

Leader:    Let us pray.

ALL: God of love and joy, thank you for your presence in our lives. During this time of worship, draw us closer to you and to one another. May we grow in our love for you and for our neighbor. May we lay aside our worries, trusting that you hear what lies in our hearts. May we dwell in your peace and be guided by the one who is to come, your son, Jesus Christ. In your holy name, we pray. Amen.

Hymn: “Open My Eyes, That I May See”

Open my eyes, that I may see

glimpses of truth thou hast for me;

place in my hands the wonderful key

that shall unclasp and set me free.

Silently now I wait for thee,

ready my God, thy will to see.

Open my eyes, illumine me,

Spirit divine!

Open my ears, that I may hear

voices of truth thou sendest clear;

and while the wave notes fall on my ear,

everything false will disappear.

Silently now I wait for thee,

ready my God, thy will to see.

Open my ears, illumine me,

Spirit divine!

Open my mouth, and let me bear,

gladly the warm truth everywhere;

open my heart and let me prepare

love with thy children thus to share.

Silently now I wait for thee,

ready my God, thy will to see.

Open my heart, illumine me,

Spirit divine!

PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD

Words of Assurance

God hears our prayers and offers us forgiveness.

In the name of Christ, you are forgiven.

Thanks be to God! Amen

*Old Testament Reading: Isaiah 12:2-6

²      Surely God is my salvation;

I will trust, and will not be afraid,

for the Lord God is my strength and my might;

he has become my salvation.

³ With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. ⁴ And you will say in that day:

Give thanks to the Lord,

call on his name;

make known his deeds among the nations;

proclaim that his name is exalted.

⁵      Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;

let this be known in all the earth.

⁶      Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion,

for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Leader:    This is the Word of God for the people of God

People:   Thanks be to God.

WORD AND RESPONSE

Time with Young Friends: “Jesus Loves Me”

Children’s Message: “Heart”

Hymn: “In the Bleak Midwinter”  

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,

earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;

snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,

in the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him, nor earth sustain;

heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.

In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed

the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,

cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;

but his mother only, in her maiden bliss,

worshipped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;

yet what I can I give him: give my heart.

Sermon: “Presence”  Luke 3:7-18

⁷ John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. ⁹ Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” ¹¹ In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” ¹² Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” ¹³ He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” ¹⁴ Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

¹⁵ As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, ¹⁶ John answered all of them by   saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat   into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸ So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

RESPONSE TO THE WORD 

Prayers of the People: Joys and concerns

Silent Prayer, Pastoral Prayer     

THE SACRAMENTS OF HOLY COMMUNION

Invitation, Prayer of Confession and Pardon:

 Christ our Lord invites to his table

       all who love him,

who earnestly repent of their sin

and seek to live in peace with one another.

Therefore, let us confess our sin before God

and one another.

Merciful God,

we confess that we have not loved you

with our whole hearts.

We have failed to be an obedient church.

We have not done your will,

we have broken your law,

we have rebelled against your love,

we have not loved our neighbors,

and we have not heard the

cry of the needy.

Forgive us, we pray.

Free us for joyful obedience,

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Hear the good news:

Christ died for us while we were yet sinners;

that proves God's love toward us.

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!

In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.

Glory to God. Amen

The Great Thanksgiving

The Lord be with you

And also with you. 

Lift up your hearts

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing,

always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life.

When we turned away, and our love failed,

your love remained steadfast. You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God, and spoke to us through your prophets, who looked for that day when justice shall roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

And so,

with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord,

God of power and might,

heaven and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is he who comes

in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Holy are you, and blessed is your Son

Jesus Christ whom you sent in the fullness of time to be a light to the nations.

You scatter the proud in the imagination of their hearts and have mercy on those who fear you from generation to generation.

You put down the mighty from their thrones and exalt those of low degree.

You fill the hungry with good things, and the rich you send empty away.

Your own Son came among us as a servant, to be Emmanuel, your presence with us.

He humbled himself in obedience to your will and freely accepted death on a cross.

By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection, you gave birth to your church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit. 

On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:

"Take, eat; this my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."

When the supper was over, he took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:

"Drink from this all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Do this, as often as you drink it in remembrance of me."

And so,

in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we proclaim the mystery of faith 

Christ has died;

Christ is risen;

Christ will come again.

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine.

Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father, now and forever.   Amen

And now with the confidence of children of God, let us pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

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.

Amen

Sharing of the Cup and Loaf

Moment of Prayer and Meditation

Prayer of Thanks 

Eternal God, we give you thanks

for this holy mystery

in which you have given yourself to us. 

Grant that we may go into the world

in the strength of your Spirit,

to give ourselves to others,

in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Amen

SENDING FORTH

Hymn: “Angels from the Realms of Glory”

Angels from the realms of glory,

wing your flight o’er all the earth;

ye who sang creation’s story

now proclaim Messiah’s birth.

Come and worship, come and worship,

worship Christ, the newborn King.

Shepherds, in the field abiding,

watching o’er your flocks by night,

God with us is now residing;

yonder shines the infant light:

Come and worship, come and worship,

worship Christ, the newborn King.

Sages, leave your contemplations,

brighter visions beam afar;

seek the great Desire of nations;

ye have seen His natal star.

Come and worship, come and worship,

worship Christ, the newborn King.

Saints, before the altar bending,

watching long in hope and fear;

suddenly the Lord, descending,

in his temple shall appear.

Come and worship, come and worship,

worship Christ, the newborn King.

Benediction

Hymn: “Until Jesus Comes” 

Until Jesus comes,

Until Jesus comes,

I’ll be watching and waiting

Until Jesus comes.

Until Jesus comes,

Until Jesus comes,

I’ll be watching and waiting

Until Jesus comes.