Order of Worship

Opening Voluntary

Welcome/Greetings

Choral Introit

*Opening Hymn #64 – “Holy! Holy! Holy! Lord God Almighty”           NICAEA

*Call to Worship

L:  In this holy season of Christmas,

P:  Christ comes to us again.

L: In this quiet after the harried days of December,

P:  God invites us to pause and reflect.

L:  Our journey has led us here.

P:  The Spirit is with us now.

L:  Let us bow down as sages of old,

P:  and worship Christ our King.

*Opening Prayer

Christ of power and justice, help us embrace the power that comes from love, and guide us to seek the justice that love reveals.  Open our hearts and minds, that we may hear your wisdom in this time of worship.  Open our lives in the year ahead to the power and strength of your loving Spirit.  In your holy name, we pray.  Amen.

Scriptures

Old Testament – Psalm 147:12-20

¹² Extol the Lord, Jerusalem; praise your God, Zion.  ¹³ He strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you.  ¹⁴ He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.  ¹⁵ He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.  ¹⁶ He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes.  ¹⁷ He hurls down his hail like pebbles.  Who can withstand his icy blast?  ¹⁸ He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.  ¹⁹ He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel.  ²⁰ He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws.

L:  The Word of God, For the People of God.  P:  Thanks be to God.

Gospel – John 1:1-18

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  ² He was with God in the beginning.  ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.  ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.  ⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John.  ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.  ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.  ⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.  ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.  ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.  ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.  ¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.  ¹⁵ (John testified concerning him.  He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”)  ¹⁶ Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.  ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

L:  The Word of God, For the People of God.  P:  Thanks be to God.

*Hymn before Sermon #2151 – “I’m So Glad Jesus Lifted Me”

Faith We Sing Hymnal            I’M SO GLAD

Sermon – “The Word Became Flesh”         Rev. Eumin Kim

Pastoral Prayer

Invitation

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.

Prayer of Confession

Light of the world, we yearn to walk in the light, but the shadows are all around and oh-so-familiar.  Pull us from the darkness of fear of gloom—familiar places where we hide from you, from ourselves, and from others.  Shine upon us with your grace, and pull us forward with your love.  For we yearn for the courage of sages of old who left hearth and home to draw closer to you.  Give us the passion to stand up for justice, to share our gifts and talents generously, and to offer our love unconditionally.  For we long to build your realm upon this earth.  Amen.

Words of Assurance

Arise!  Shine!  Christ the light has come, and this light will guide us well.

Passing of the Peace of Christ

May peace prosper in our world and in this place.  And may we foster the abundance of peace by sharing signs of peace and love with one another.

Invitation to Tithes and Offering

As the kings brought their gifts, so now we are invited to share our gifts.  Whether giving online, in the offering plate, through the mail, or with our lives, our gifts are another way we give Christ our worship and we give God the glory.  May the Spirit flow through us and through our giving in this time of offering and in the year ahead.

*Hymn No. 95 – Presentation of the Offering

*Prayer of Dedication

Gracious God, bless these gifts, that they may be as impactful as the gold, frankincense, and myrrh given to the Christ child by kings long ago.  May our treasures bring honor to your name and support justice in your world.  May our worship bring humility to our hearts, and may our time and talents bring love to life in all that we say and in all that we do.  Amen.

Thanksgiving and Communion

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 (Almighty God), creator of heaven and earth.  Before the mountains were brought forth, or you had formed the earth, from everlasting to everlasting, you alone are God.  You created light out of darkness and brought forth life on the earth.  You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life.  When we turned away, and our loved failed, your love remained steadfast.  You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God, and spoke to us through your prophets. 

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 the one who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest.

 Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ, in whom you have revealed yourself, our light and our salvation.

You sent a star to guide wise men to where the Christ was born; and in your signs and witnesses, in every age and through all the world, you have led your people from far places to his light.

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 the disciples, and said:  “Take, eat; this is 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. 

THE LORD’S PRAYER

BREAKING THE BREAD

GIVING THE BREAD AND CUP

PRAYER AFTER RECEIVING COMMUNION

We give thanks, almighty God, that you have refreshed us at your table by granting us the presence of Jesus Christ.  Strengthen our faith, increase our love for one another, and send us forth into the world in courage and peace, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ our Savior.  Amen.

*Closing Hymn #509 – “Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me”          PILOT

*Dismissal with Blessing

Closing Voluntary