Description
Luke 3:1-6(7-20)
This week, we light the candle of Preparation. When we prepare for a houseguest we make every effort to have our homes ready for their arrival so that we can spend our time with our guest rather than doing housework. The same is true of our hearts. We must prepare in our hearts to hear and respond to God daily that we might be sensitive to the movement of the spirit as we reflect His love to the world. We each have valleys and mountains in our heart that can hinder us from seeing the work of God in and through our lives. Jesus comes and makes his home in our hearts, forming us into his embassies of light to a dark and broken world. Let us prepare for his coming through our worship today.
We Lift Our Hearts in Worship
[Preservice options include videos (countdowns, worship music, welcomes), worship music CD, or live music by worship band.]
Call to Worship: Luke 1:68-79 Zechariah’s Song (read responsively)
68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them.
69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David
70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),
71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—
72 to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven
79 to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”
Invocation
Pastor In the name the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
ALL Amen
Opening Prayer
Pastor Faithful God, You have sent the prophets to teach us and to prepare our hearts for Your Son. We come before You on this second Sunday of Advent grateful for the work You have done, and continue to do in our own hearts. Be with us as we worship, molding us to reflect Your love and character. In Jesus’ name.
ALL Amen!
Time of Praise and Worship
Beautiful One
Tim Hughes, ©2002 Thankyou Music
God Is Able
Ben Fielding and Reuben Morgan, ©2010 Hillsong Publishing (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing)
Nothing is Impossible
Jonathan Hunt, ©2008 Planet Shakers Ministries Int. Music Services, Inc and Integrity Music, Inc.
[Traditional Options]
On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry
EH 65; ELW 249; LBW 36; LSB 344; LW 14; NCH 115; PH 10; RS 490; WC 136; WAR 156
Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding
EH 59; ELW 246; LBW 37; LSB 345; LW 18
Time of Greeting
Lighting of the Advent Candle
[Optional: Children’s Message and/or Dismissal to Children’s Church]
We Hear God’s Word
[Read aloud both the introduction and Scripture]
First Reading Malachi 3:1-
Malachi Prophecies about the Day of the Lord and the messenger that will come before him.
1“I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.
