Welcome & Announcements

Prelude

Introduction:
The angel said to the shepherds, “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 Christ, the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

As we gather we hear again the good news the angels proclaimed: God has come for all people through the birth of the one named Jesus. Through Bethlehem’s manger God comes into the chaos, messiness, and vulnerability of the world. In all things and at all times, we rejoice that God comes to save us and reigns us in love. We come to adore Jesus who is Savior, Christ, and Lord.

Confession and Forgiveness:
Amid the troubles and fears of this world, let us confess our sin and welcome God’s forgiveness, grace, and love.

Silence is kept for reflection.

Mary accepted your call to be the mother of Jesus.
Forgive our lack of faith and trust.

Your Son was born in the poverty of a stable.
Forgive our neglect of the poor.

The shepherds left their flocks and went to Bethlehem.
Forgive our selfishness and complacency.

With great joy the angels proclaimed, “Do not fear. For I bring you good news of great joy. Today is born a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” In + Jesus who is Savior, Christ, and Lord, our sins are forgiven. May you know the peace which the angels sang from the heavens. Indeed, God’s forgiveness is good news of great joy!
Amen.

Gathering Carol: ELW 275 “Angels, from the Realms of Glory”
Angels, from the realms of glory, wing your flight o’er all the earth;
once you sang creation’s story, now proclaim Messiah’s birth:

Refrain:
Come and worship, come and worship, worship Christ, the new-born king.

Shepherds, in the fields abiding, watching o’er your flocks by night,
God with us is now residing, yonder shines the infant light. [Refrain]

Sages, leave your contemplations, brighter visions beam afar;
seek the great Desire of nations, you have seen his natal star. [Refrain]

All creation, join in praising God, the Father, Spirit, Son,
evermore your voices raising to the eternal Three in One. [Refrain]

Apostolic Greeting:
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.

Canticle of Praise: ELW 292 “Love has Come”
Love has come–a light in the darkness! Love explodes in the Bethlehem skies.
See, all heaven has come to proclaim it; Hear how their song of joy arises:
Love! Love! Born unto you, a Savior! Love! Love! Glory to God on high.

Love is born! Come share in the wonder; Love is God now asleep in the hay.
See the glow in the eyes of His mother; What is the name her heart is saying?
Love! Love! Love is the name she whispers; Love! Love! Jesus, Immanuel.

Love has come and never will leave us! Love is life everlasting and free.
Love is Jesus within and among us; Love is the peace our hearts are seeking.
Love! Love! Love is the gift of Christmas; Love! Love! Praise to You, God on high!

Prayer of the Day:
Let us pray.
Eternal Father, you gave your incarnate Son the holy name of Jesus to be a sign of our salvation. Plant in every heart the love of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.

Special Music

Lessons and Carols

“For unto you is born a Savior, who is Christ the Lord”

Lesson: Isaiah 12:2-6
²Surely 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. ³With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

⁴And 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. ⁵Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be known in all the earth. ⁶Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Response: ELW 283 “O Come All Ye Faithful” v. 1
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant!
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;
come and behold him, born the king of angels:

O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!

Lesson: Matthew 1:18-24
¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. ²⁰But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” ²²All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ²³“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” ²⁴When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife,

Carol: ELW 296 “What Child is This?”
What child is this, who, laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet while shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the king, whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
haste, haste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary!

Why lies he in such mean estate where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christian, fear; for sinners here the silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear shall pierce him through, the cross be borne for me, for you;
hail, hail the Word made flesh, the babe, the son of Mary!

So bring him incense, gold, and myrrh; come, peasant king, to own him.
The King of kings salvation brings; let loving hearts enthrone him.
Raise, raise the song on high, the virgin sings her lullaby;
joy, joy, for Christ is born, the babe, the son of Mary!

“For unto you is born a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord”

Lesson: Isaiah 61:1-3, 11
¹The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; ²to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; ³to provide for those who mourn in Zion— to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory. ¹¹For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

Response: ELW 283 “O Come All Ye Faithful” v. 2
The highest, most holy, light of light eternal,
born of a virgin, a mortal he comes;
Son of the Father now in flesh appearing! 

O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!

Lesson: John 1:19-23, 29-34
¹⁹This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” ²¹And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.” ²²Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” ²³He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’” as the prophet Isaiah said.

²⁹The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ³¹I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” ³²And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. ³³I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.”

Carol: ELW 288 “Good Christian Friends, Rejoice”
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 ye 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 the everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save! Christ was born to save!

“For unto you is born a Savior, who is Christ the Lord”

Lesson: Isaiah 6:1-8
¹In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. ²Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. ³And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” ⁴The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke.

⁵And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” ⁶Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. ⁷The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” ⁸Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”

Response: ELW 283 “O Come All Ye Faithful” v.4
Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning;
Jesus, to thee be all glory giv’n!
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing,

O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!

Lesson: Luke 1:26-35
²⁶In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” ²⁹But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³²He 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. ³³He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” ³⁴Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” ³⁵The 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.

Carol: ELW 269 “Once in Royal David’s City”
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.

And our eyes at last shall see him, through his own redeeming love;
for that child so dear and gentle is our Lord in heav’n above;
and he leads his children on to the place where he is gone.

Not in that poor lowly stable, with the oxen standing by,
we shall see him; but in heaven, set at God’s right hand on high;
there his children gather round, bright like stars, with glory crowned.

Apostle’s Creed:
Let us confess our faith using the Apostle’s Creed:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.*
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Prayers of Intercession:
With wonder and thanksgiving for Christ’s coming into the world, we pray for the church, the life of the earth, and the whole human family.

Prayers continue with each petition ending:

God of grace,
hear our prayer.

Pondering the mystery of eternal love made flesh in Christ Jesus, we commend all for whom we pray to the mercy of God.
Amen.

Dialogue: John 1:1-14
¹The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them light has shined.
We have beheld Christ’s glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

To us a child is born, to us a Son is given.
In the Word was life, and the life was the light of all people.

Sharing of the Peace:
May the light and peace of the Lord be with you always.
And also with you.

Offering:
https://tithe.ly/give_new/www/#/tithely/give-one-time/468062

Offering Carol: ELW 283 O Come All Ye Faithful v. 3
Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation,
sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!
Glory to God in the highest.

O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!

Offering Prayer:
Let us pray. Generous God,
You have given us life, this community, and these gifts of the earth that become the meal of your grace. Move in our hearts, that we might use your gifts to bring hope and blessing wherever we go, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Great Thanksgiving:
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is indeed right, our duty and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God, through our Savior Jesus Christ. In the wonder and mystery of the Word made flesh you have opened the eyes of faith to a new and radiant vision of your glory, that, beholding the God made visible, we may be drawn to love the God whom we cannot see. And so, with all the choirs of angels, with the church on earth and the hosts of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy, holy, holy Lord, Lord God of pow’r and might,
heav’n 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.

We give you thanks, Father, through Jesus Christ, your beloved Son, whom you sent in this end of the ages to save and redeem us and to proclaim to us your will.

He is your Word, inseparable from you, through whom you created all things, and in whom you take delight. He is your Word, sent from heaven to a virgin’s womb. He there took on our nature and our lot and was shown forth as your Son, born of the Holy Spirit and of the virgin Mary.

He, our Lord Jesus, fulfilled all your will and won for you a holy people; he stretched out his hands in suffering in order to free from suffering those who trust you.

He is the one who, handed over to a death he freely accepted, in order to destroy death, to break the bonds of the evil one, to crush hell underfoot, to give light to the righteous, to establish his covenant, and to show forth the resurrection, taking bread and giving thanks to you, said:

Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.

In the same way he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.

Remembering, then, his death and resurrection, we take this bread and cup, giving you thanks that you have made us worthy to stand before you and to serve you as your priestly people.

Send your Spirit upon these gifts of your church; gather into one all who share this bread and wine; fill us with your Holy Spirit to establish our faith in truth, that we may praise and glorify you through your Son Jesus Christ; through whom all glory and honor are yours, almighty Father, with the Holy Spirit, in your holy church, both now and forever.
Amen.

Lord’s Prayer:
Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray as Jesus taught us saying:
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.

Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world; grant us peace, grant us peace.

Communion

Table Blessing:
The body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you in his grace.
Amen.

Post-Communion Canticle: ELW 267 “Joy to the World” vv. 1 & 4
Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her king;
let ev’ry heart prepare him room and heav’n and nature sing,
and heav’n and nature sing, and heav’n, and heav’n and nature sing.

He rules the world with truth and grace and makes the nations prove
the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love,
and wonders of his love, and wonders, wonders of his love.

Post-Communion Prayer:
Let us pray.
Emmanuel, God with us, you grace us with life and breath and give us bread for the journey. Send us out in service to this world that you love, telling the amazing news of your coming to be Savior and Lord of all.
Amen.

Benediction:
May you be filled with the wonder of Mary, the obedience of Joseph, the joy of the angels, the eagerness of the shepherds, and the everlasting peace of Jesus who is Savior, Christ, and Lord.

Almighty God, Father, + Son, and Holy Spirit, bless you now and forever.
Amen.

Sending Hymn: ELW 290 “Go Tell it on the Mountain”
Refrain:
Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and ev’rywhere;
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 lonely manger the humble Christ was born;
and God sent us salvation that blessed Christmas morn. [Refrain]

Dismissal:
Go in peace. Serve our Savior, Christ, and Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Postlude

 

Prayer Requests:
Annette Baker, family and friends of Jean Pfirman, Betsy Thomas, Dale Strassner, Alec Brock, Dave Wall, Liz Smith and Baby Grace, family and friends of Matt Rosamilia, family and friends of Michael McCollum, Mark Rabuck, Ryan Hunter, Rusty, Shirley Russell, Russ Wynn, Viv Marsh, Gladys Fawcett,  Alice Snyder, Marie Tanner, Peg Swinehart, Martha Ketchem, Bob Keifer.

 

Portions reprinted from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, copyright 2006.  Used by permission of Augsburg Fortress, license #SBL09796L.  Music reprinted from the ELW, by permission of OneLicense, license #A712349.  Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.   Used by permission.