St. Paul Lutheran Church and School Bonduel, Wisconsin December 22/23, 2018

Transcription

1 St. Paul Lutheran Church and School Bonduel, Wisconsin December 22/23, 2018 The Fourth Sunday in Advent Welcome to the House of the Lord In the 8 th century, God s people had a special Advent custom. The seven nights leading up to Christmas Eve, they prayed one of seven prayers. With each prayer God s people cried out to Jesus by addressing Him with an Old Testament name or title. The prayer described Jesus according to the title s meaning, and then petitioned Him to come in keeping with the purpose associated with the title. In the 12 th century, the special prayers were adapted to become the stanzas of a favorite Advent hymn, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel! Today s title, Dayspring from on High relates to John the Baptist. We will learn why the title was chosen for one of the seven 8 th century prayers. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel! December 9 O Come, O Come, Emmanuel December 16 O Come, Thou Key of David, Come December 23 O Come, Thou Dayspring from on High T T T Opening Hymn 341 Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates Confession and Absolution page 184 Introit 1 Samuel 2:1b, 2, 5b 7; Luke 1:46b 47 My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.

2 There is none holy like the LORD; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Salutation and Prayer of the Day The Lord be with you. And with your spirit. Let us pray. Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come and help us by Your might, that the sins which weigh us down may be quickly lifted by Your grace and mercy; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Old Testament Reading Micah 5:2 5a 2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. 3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. 4 And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. 5 And he shall be their peace. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

3 Hymn 361 O Little Town of Bethlehem All O little town of Bethlehem, How still we see thee lie! Above thy deep and dreamless sleep The silent stars go by; Yet in thy dark streets shineth The everlasting light. The hopes and fears of all the years Are met in thee tonight. Women Men All For Christ is born of Mary, And, gathered all above While mortals sleep, the angels keep Their watch of wond ring love. O morning stars, together Proclaim the holy birth, And praises sing to God the king And peace to all the earth! How silently, how silently The wondrous gift is giv n! So God imparts to human hearts The blessings of His heav n. No ear may hear His coming; But in this world of sin, Where meek souls will receive Him, still The dear Christ enters in. O holy Child of Bethlehem, Descend to us, we pray; Cast out our sin, and enter in, Be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels The great glad tidings tell; O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Immanuel!

4 Epistle Reading Hebrews 10: Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. 8 When he said above, You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, Behold, I have come to do your will. He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Hymn 334 O Lord, How Shall I Meet You (4 6) The Holy Gospel Luke 1:57 67; The Gospel according to St. Luke, the first chapter. Glory be to Thee, O Lord. 57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, No; he shall be called John. 61 And they said to her, None of your relatives is called by this name. 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, His name is John. And they all wondered. 64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, 66 and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, What then will this child be? For the hand of the Lord was with him. 67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

5 76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, 78 because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise be to Thee, O Christ. Apostles Creed page 192 or back inside cover of hymnal Hymn 357 O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (1, 5 7) Sermon O Come, Thou Dayspring from on High Offertory Create in Me page 192 Offering (Who Is This Tiny Child) Advent Prayer O Come, O Come, Emmanuel! O Dayspring, make me like John the Baptist Lead me to bring to others a new day of Your joy and forgiveness. Teach me to trust that on the new Day of Your return, the clouds of gloom and death will disappear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel, shall come to thee, O Israel! Prayer of the Church

6 Benediction Closing Hymn 339 Lift Up Your Heads, You Everlasting Doors T T T Acknowledgments: Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Created by Lutheran Service Builder 2006 Concordia Publishing House. Let Us Ever Walk with Jesus: Text (sts. 1 4): 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship Used by permission: LSB Hymn License.NET, number Created by Lutheran Service Builder 2006 Concordia Publishing House. Serving the Lord in Worship Liturgy Rev. Mark R. Palmer Sermon Rev. Timothy J. Shoup Organists Saturday Rhoda Lehrke Sunday Louise Reisler Vocalists Sunday Amy Rottier and Maureen Zernicke Acolytes Nicole Marquette Race Anvelink Reegan Kocherer Prayers In Need of Healing... Shirley Kieckhafer, Gregory Kopitske, Jr., Alicia Kroening, Robert Luepke, Audrey Moede, Jerry Schoepke, Brittany Slack, and Roger Wood. Baptisms... Brooklynn Edith May Welch, born December 23, 2012, and Walter Jacob Blajeski, born August 1, 2015, children of Jeremiah Blajeski and Brittany Welch, were baptized at a 9:00am service this Thursday. Their sponsors are Kim Krause, and Steven Welch. Announcements Contribution Envelopes... for 2019 may be picked up in the fellowship hall. Contact the church office at with questions. Do not use 2018 envelopes next year. Unused offering envelopes are recycled and used for chapel offerings. Please drop off your unused envelopes in the box provided in the narthex or the church office.

7 Christmas Services Please join us as we proclaim the joy of Jesus' birth through His Word and song this Christmas season! The services will be held as follows: Christmas Eve, Monday, December 24 2:30pm, 4:30pm, and 7:30pm Christmas Day Holy Communion, Tuesday, December 25 9:00am Effective 1/15/ we will no longer be using Pushpay for our financial system for our online church donations. St. Paul church will move to a system called VANCO which works alongside our church financial system making it more efficient and cost effective for our church. You can begin using VANCO immediately by downloading the mobile app GivePlus+ or through our church website. Step-by-step directions on how to use the system will be shared at a future date. Attended/Communed December 1 & 2, 2018 Saturday 12/15 7:00pm 127/ 85 Sunday 12/16 8:00am 228/175 Sunday 12/16 10:15am 152/130 Total 507/390 The Lutheran Hour... "A Long Good-Bye" (Luke 2:27 32) Guest Speaker: Dr. Dean Nadasdy shares this message As the year come to a close, we likely have regrets and guilt. We can beat ourselves up over work left undone, but Jesus Christ has assured us that He is your hope. His grace is more than sufficient to take us into another year and give us peace. Tune in next Sunday at 7:30am on WTCH/960 AM, at 10:00am on WRVM/102.7 FM, or at lutheranhour.org.

8 A Quick Financial Resources Update Friends in Christ, our General Fund debt has increased to $169,000. Our General Fund covers all the day to day operations of our church and school, salaries, utilities, office equipment, internet, etc. For many years we have carried over from one year to the next an operating debt ranging from $80K to $120K. We will need to look carefully at this in the New Year. Our three-year Hope in Him pledged offering of over $1,000,000 is going beautifully. The school is enjoying a new furnace system. Thousands more we ve given for our church/school mortgage. Our missionaries and WRLHS are benefitting too. Given the rise in our operating debt, please consider giving a special Christmas offering. Let s work together to reduce it by $75,000. Every $10 or $10K Christmas offering will help take care of it. Copies of latest Wycliffe newsletter... from Bryan and Joan Wussow may be picked up from the table in the narthex Men s Retreat... The LCMS North WI District has shared information about a men s retreat that takes place March 1 3, 2019 in Manitowoc. Brochures may be found on the table in the narthex. Meadow View Estates... has a room available. Contact them at LCMS North Wisconsin District... a New Lay Leader Training session to be held at Trinity Wausau in January. Register at.org. The NWD LCEF Vice-President-Business Manager position will remain open through December. Those interested should also visit.org. LCMS Youth Gathering Volunteers Needed... The 2019 Youth Gathering that will be held in Minneapolis is in need of hundreds of volunteers to help before, during and after the Gathering in the following areas: office help, audio/visual, traffic safety, hospitality, supplies, equipment, and much more. The volunteer registration form may be found at.com/gathering-volunteers through April 2019.

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11 EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES THIS WEEK Sunday 12/23 8:00am Worship 9:15am Bible Study 10:15am Worship SCRIP Collected Monday 12/24 Christmas Eve Services 7:30am Strong Bones 2:30pm Worship 4:30pm Worship 7:30pm Worship Tuesday 12/25 Christmas Day Service 9:00am Worship HC Wednesday 12/26 No Choir Thursday 12/27 2:00pm Women s Bible Study Friday 12/28 7:30am Strong Bones Saturday 12/29 7:00pm Worship SCRIP Collected Sunday 12/30 8:00am Worship 9:15am Bible Study 10:15am Worship SCRIP Collected

12 Acolyte Schedule Next Week December 24 Mary Shepard Brylee Wojcik Kaitlyn Kroening December 25 Elena Schultz December 29 Jeffrey Jagodzinski December 25 Cameron Schroeder Ethan Schauder SCRIP Schedule Next Week December 29 Patti Herrmann December 30 Louise Reisler Peggy Buchholz Camp Luther News... Create Your Own Retreat Camp Luther is your destination for year-round retreats, conferences, and gatherings. In the midst of God s beautiful creation, your group will be treated to comfortable accommodations, wonderful meals and a helpful staff. Join us soon and you ll come to know why thousands of people return to Camp Luther year after year. Go to our website to get all of the details at.com/adultfamily/other/create-your-own-retreat Rev. Timothy J. Shoup, Administrative Pastor Rev. Mark R. Palmer, Associate Pastor Mr. Gerald R. Schmidt, Principal Mrs. Lorraine Doell, Music Director Mrs. Donna Niles, Preschool/4K Director Mrs. Robin Reep, Youth Director Church Office School Office E. Green Bay Street, Bonduel, Wisconsin Website: st.paul@stpaulbonduel.com One of over 6,000 congregations of The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS),.lcms.org