NEW YEAR S EVE December 31, 2018-5:15 p.m. Emanuel Lutheran Church New London, Wisconsin
Welcome to Worship! While people all over the world celebrate New Year s, not many realize it s also a celebration for Christians. We conclude the past year by remembering God s great mercy in spite of all our failures. We begin a New Year in the name of Jesus, the one who saves, not only the one whom we call on but also the one whom we make known. Visitors: Take a moment to sign a Friendship Register located at the end of each pew. Your info helps us get to know you and allows us to stay in touch with you. Restrooms are located at the east end of the entryway, past the Coffee Nook. Parents with Young Children: Helping little ones learn to praise God is a messy project! Feel free to choose a place where kids can engage with the sights and sounds of worship. Make use of our busy bags from the rack in the entryway. A closed-circuit TV is also located in the parent room to watch and listen to the service. An usher can assist you in locating this room, also called the Gathering Place. Limited Mobility? For your convenience, there are two areas set aside to accommodate those with wheelchairs, walkers, or other special space needs. Ushers are available to assist you. Hard of Hearing? A hearing loop system in place. Adjust your hearing aids to T coil. For the best reception, sit on the pulpit side of church, excluding the back four rows. Special receiver packs with earbuds are also available if needed. Holy Communion: The Lord s Supper serves as one of the high points of today s service. In this special meal, we celebrate two special connections: the communion we have with a forgiving God (1 Cor 10:16) and the communion we share with our fellow members (1 Cor 10:17). We ask that only members of our congregation and synod partake of the Sacrament (close communion). LARGE PRINT: A large print copy of the worship service, including hymns, psalms and service wording, is available in the back of church on the main floor. You may also ask an usher for a copy. 2
Opening Hymn The Old Year Now Has Passed Away Hymn #71:1-4 The old year now has passed away; We thank you, O our God, today That you have kept us through the year When danger and distress were near. We pray you, O eternal Son, Who with the Father reigns as one, To guard and rule your Christendom Through all the ages yet to come. Take not your saving Word away, Which lights and cheers our souls each day. Abide with us and keep us free From error and hypocrisy. Oh, help us to forsake all sin, A new and holier life begin! Forgive the old year s sins, and bless The new year with true happiness, Invocation Stand. M: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. C: Amen. M: Wherever two or three come together in my name, C: there am I with them, says the Lord. M: For the sake of his great name, the LORD will not reject his people. C: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Confession of Sins M: We have come into the presence of God, and this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. (1 John 3:23) But we have disobeyed him and deserve only his wrath and punishment. Therefore, let us confess our sins to him and plead for his mercy. 3
C: Holy God, gracious Father, I am sinful by nature and have sinned against you in my thoughts, words, and actions. I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved others as I should. I deserve your punishment both now and forever. M: When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. C: You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. M: You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. C: Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. M: Jesus gave his life as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Hear the word of Jesus through his called servant: I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. C: Amen. M: Through Jesus let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise the fruit of lips that confess his name! Glory Be to God All Glory Be to God on High Tune: Hymn #71 All glory be to God on high! Your name, O Lord, we glorify; We praise you for your peace and grace, Your favor toward our fallen race. Our grateful thanks to you we bring, For your great glory, heav nly King, For all, O Father, you have done Through Jesus Christ, your only Son. 4
You, Christ, are holy Lord alone; The Father s glory you made known. We by your Spirit sing again: All glory be to God! Amen. Prayer of the Day The Word M: Let us pray. Eternal God, we commit to your mercy and forgiveness the year now ending and commend to your blessing and love the times yet to come. In the new year, send us your Holy Spirit that we may always trust in the saving name of tour Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. C: Amen. Reading When times change, we look to the mercy of God Isaiah 51:1-6 Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness and who seek the Lord: Look to the rock from which you were cut and to the quarry from which you were hewn; look to Abraham, your father, and to Sarah, who gave you birth. When I called him he was only one man, and I blessed him and made him many. The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing. Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: Instruction will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations. 5
My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail. Psalm 90 O God, Our Help in Ages Past Hymn #441:1-2,4,6 O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home, Under the shadow of your throne Your saints have dwelt secure; Sufficient is your arm alone, And our defense is sure. A thousand ages in your sight Are like an evening gone, Short as the watch that ends the night Before the rising sun. O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Still be our guard while troubles last And our eternal home! Reading Even though times change, God s Word is eternal 1 Peter 1:22-25 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word that was preached to you. 6
Stand Gospel Each passing year is a gift of God s grace Luke 13:6-9 [Jesus] told this parable: A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, For three years now I ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil? Sir, the man replied, leave it alone for one more year, and I ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down. M: This is the Gospel of the Lord! Be seated. Hymn of the Day Across the Sky in Shades of Night Tune: Hymn #207 Across the sky the shades of night This New Year s Eve are fleeting. We deck your altar, Lord, with light, In solemn worship meeting, And, as the year s last hours go by, We raise to you our earnest cry, Once more your love entreating. We gather up in this brief hour The mem ry of your mercies. Your wondrous goodness, love, and pow r Our grateful song rehearses, For you have been our strength and stay In many a dark and dreary day Of sorrow and reverses. Before the cross, subdued, we bow, To you our prayers addressing, Recounting all your mercies now And all our sins confessing. We ask you, Lord, this coming year To keep us in your faith and fear And crown us with your blessing. 7
And while we pray, we lift our eyes To dear ones gone before us, Safe home with you in Paradise, Where Jesus will reign o er us, And ask of you, when life is past, To reunite us all at last With those who ve gone before us. Then, gracious God, in years to come, Whatever may betide us, Right onward through our journey home, Oh, stay at hand to guide us, Nor leave us till, at close of life, Safe from all peril, toil, and strife, Heav n shall enfold and hide us. Sermon Stand Nicene Creed We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and became fully human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate. He suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who in unity with the Father and the Son is worshipped and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. We believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come. Amen. 8
Be Seated Offering Stand Prayer of the Church Lord s Prayer Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen. Preface M: The Lord be with you. C: (Spoken) And also with you. M: Lift up your hearts. C: We lift them up unto the Lord. THE SACRAMENT M: Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God. C: It is good and right so to do. M: It is truly good and right that we should at all times and in all places give you thanks, O Lord, holy Father, almighty and everlasting God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who by his wondrous birth became our Brother, taking on human flesh to live in righteousness before God and to become obedient even to death on a cross. Therefore, with all the saints on earth and hosts of heaven, we praise your holy name and join their glorious song: 9
O Holy, Holy, Holy - Sanctus Tune: Hymn #18 O holy, holy, holy Lord God of pow r and might, Your glory, earth and heaven In countless ways recite. Hosanna! Come and save us, Lord God of hosts on high, And in your grace and mercy Receive our fervent cry. Hosanna in the highest! How truly blest is he Who in God s name is coming To set his people free! He comes to bring salvation And with his blood outpoured, Deliver us from bondage Hosanna, mighty Lord! Words of Institution M: Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night he was betrayed, took bread; and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take and eat; this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink from it, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me. The peace of the Lord be with you always. C: Amen. 10
O Lamb of God, Most Holy - Agnus Dei O Lamb of God, Most Holy For mercy now we call O Lamb of God, Most Holy Have mercy on us all. For all the world you suffered From sin you give release O Lamb of God, Most Holy Grant us your promised peace. Be Seated Distribution Thanksgiving Stand. M: Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. C: (Spoken) His mercy endures forever. M: Whenever we eat this bread and drink this cup, C: we proclaim the Lord s death until he comes. M: We give thanks, almighty God, that you have refreshed us with this saving gift. We pray that through it you will strengthen our faith in you and increase our love for one another. Help us to enter the new year trusting in the name of your Son and walking in his peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. C: (Spoken) Amen. Blessing M: The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with favor and (+) give you peace. C: (spoken) Amen. 11
Remain standing. Closing Hymn Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow Hymn #334 Praise God, from whom all blessings flow! Praise him, all creatures here below! Praise him, above ye heav nly host! Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost! Be seated. Serving in Worship: Presiding Minister and Preacher: Accompanist: Soundbooth: Mark Tiefel Heather Sulzle Laurie Eidenberger The New Year s Eve radio broadcast, on WJMQ 92.3 FM, was sponsored by the Emanuel Ladies Evening Circle members. Emanuel Office Holiday Hours: Dec 31/Jan 1 - closed; Jan 2 - Office hours resume 12