Together at Christmas A Children s Christmas Service December 24, 2017 IMMANUEL LUTHERAN CHAPEL Telling, Teaching, & Transforming Through Jesus Christ 11100 Old Halls Ferry Road, St. Louis, Missouri 63136 www.immanuellutheranchapel.net Phone: 314-741-4700 Rev. Jim Kirschenmann, Pastor PastorJim@StPaulsCollegeHill.org 314-884-0828 Those Serving in Worship Today: Pianist: Mary Koetting, Greeter: Vernida Summers, Reader: Victor Kamanda, Usher Captain: Edem Ekpo The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod
As We Gather R Look around. Those gathered today have various backgrounds, different traditions and assorted things on their Christmas to-do lists. Yet we have one thing in common. As Christians, we are part of one family with one mission: To be Jesus witnesses in the world. Pray for the family today, that together this Christmas, we will find opportunities to connect others to Jesus. Processional Hymn: 379 O Come, All Ye Faithful Public domain Please stand as you are able Invocation The sign of the cross may be made by all in remembrance of their Baptism. P In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit. C Amen. 2
P If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. C But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. P C P C P C Call to Worship (from Psalm 148) Praise the Lord! Praise him all his angels; praise him all his hosts! Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! Young men and maidens together, old men and children! Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted. Together at Christmas, let all the people praise the name of Jesus! Amen! Prayer of the Day P Holy Father, thank you for sending us your Son Jesus to redeem us and claim us as children of God. Bless the children here this day who give glory to Jesus through their message, and may all who hear it take it to heart. Amen. P A Meditation What are your favorite Christmas traditions? Exchanging gifts or family gatherings; decorating the house or going to parties; children s Christmas services, perhaps? Whatever they may be, your favorite traditions are probably not done in isolation, but experienced together with family or friends. We value being together in community. It s something God values too. In Jesus, we have been brought together as children of God, created to work, serve and worship together. Certainly, Christmas is a great time for us to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the One who reconciled us to God. But, what about some of those seemingly frivolous traditions we enjoy? Don t they distract us from the true meaning of Christmas? Shouldn t we give them up? Now before you take down those Christmas lights or return 3
any presents to the store, consider this: Colossians 3:17 says, Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus. As God s family, we have traits that look a lot like Jesus. So, no matter what activities we engage in, at Christmas or any time, we can find ways to demonstrate his character. We can take another step, from buying presents to being present ; from sending cards to extending the peace of Christ; from sharing cookies to sharing our joy in the Lord; from wrapping presents to wrapping someone in love. After this hymn of rejoicing, listen as the children share with us ways to leverage our traditions to be witnesses for Jesus together at Christmas. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen God rest ye merry, gentlemen, let nothing you dismay, Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day; To save us all from Satan s pow r when we were gone astray. O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, O tidings of comfort and joy. In Bethlehem, in Israel, this blesséd babe was born, And laid within a manger upon this blesséd morn; The which his mother Mary did nothing take in scorn. O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, O tidings of comfort and joy. Now to the Lord sing praises, all you within this place, And with true love and brotherhood each other now embrace; This holy tide of Christmas all others doth deface. O tidings of comfort and joy, comfort and joy, O tidings of comfort and joy. 4
R From Sending Cards to Sending Peace (A few children gather around a table filled with Christmas cards.) 27. (licking an envelope) Ugh. My tongue hurts. I can t lick another envelope. 28. Why do we have to send so many cards? There are people on our list that I don t even know! 29. Yeah, like this one: Debbie Brown. Who s that? 30. Isn t she our neighbor down the street? I heard Mom say Ms. Brown has been going through a rough time. 31. (Parent, entering room) Are the cards ready to be mailed, kids? 32. (licking an envelope) Yes. This is the last one. It s for Ms. Brown. 33. (Parent) Oh, yes. Debbie will appreciate our card. (sighing) But what she really needs right now is some peace. 34. Then we gave her the perfect card! It says Wishing you joy and peace this Christmas. 35. I think it s going to take more than a card to bring her real peace. 36. (Parent) That s right, and the prophet Isaiah told us exactly how God would bring true peace to our world. Do you remember? For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6) 37. Yes! The child Isaiah talked about is Jesus. He s the Prince of Peace! 38. (Parent) And much like our world today, Jesus was born in a time and a town where there was not much peace. (Mary and Joseph may walk down center aisle as Scripture is read, stopping at a manger scene set offside of the family table.) 5
R R In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor or Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. (Luke 2:1-7) 364 Away in a Manger Public domain 6
39. Wow. God s people had waited so long for a Savior, but they didn t even have room for him when he finally came. 40. (Parent) Yes, but remember, God was about to tell some shepherds where to find Jesus. They became the first messengers of Jesus birth. 41. That gives me an idea! Since we know Jesus is our Savior and our Prince of Peace, we can be messengers in our own town! 42. Yeah. I wonder if Ms. Brown knows Jesus. We can visit her and tell her all about him. 43. Even if she does know Jesus, we can pray with her and remind her of his promises. 44. (Parent) What a wonderful idea. Come on, kids. We can go to her house together and share the peace of Jesus. (check off Send Cards on To-Do List and add Send Peace ) 361 O Little Town of Bethlehem Public domain 7
From Sharing Cookies to Sharing Joy (A few children gather around a table with mixing bowls and cookie tins.) 45. Well, the last batch of Christmas cookies is in the oven. 46. Of all our Christian traditions, baking cookies together is my favorite. 47. Which ones are we going to take to the Community Cookie Exchange this year? 48. It has to be the peppermint snowballs. They re the best! 49. (Parent, entering room) Good choice. It s our family s specialty. The recipe has been passed down for generations. 50. My friend s grandma makes peppermint snowballs, but ours are so much better. 51. It s our secret ingredient that makes the difference. 52. I like that we can share our best cookies with so many people. 53. The Cookie Exchange rules say we have to share the recipe too. I wish we could keep our secret ingredient a secret. 54. Why? Don t you want to share the joy? 55. (Parent) That reminds me we have more than cookies to share this Christmas. We know the secret to true and lasting joy. It s Jesus. 56. Right! And God doesn t want us to keep Jesus a secret. R Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 12:5-6) 57. God didn t keep Jesus birth a secret. He shared the joy that night! (Shepherds enter, offside of the family table. Angels enter as Scripture is read) R There were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ 8
the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased! 368 Angels We Have Heard on High Public domain 58. (Parent) When the shepherds heard the news, they couldn t wait to find the baby. And, they couldn t wait to share their joy with everyone in town. R When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. (Angels exit. Shepherds go to manger area.) 9
R And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. (Luke 2:8-19) (Shepherds exit.) 59. (Parent) God first got a small batch of shepherds together to share the joy of Jesus. Now, he has mixed together a whole family of believers to share the message. 60. The Community Cookie Exchange will be filled with people. What a great place to share the joy of Jesus. 61. We can start conversations asking people what their families like to do together at Christmas. 62. Yeah, then we can share our own traditions, like going to church and reading the Christmas story from the Bible. 63. Like creating cookie recipes, we can be creative in how we share the good news. 64. (holding up a cookie tin) The cookies are in the containers, but we can t contain our joy in Jesus. Let s go share! (check off Share Cookies on To- Do List and add Share Joy ) I ve Got the Joy I ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, Down in my heart, down in my heart. I ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Down in my heart to stay. I ve got the love of Jesus, love of Jesus, down in my heart. Down in my heart, down in my heart. I ve got the love of Jesus, love of Jesus down in my heart, Down in my heart to stay. 10
I ve got the peace that passes understanding down in my heart, Down in my heart, down in my heart. I ve got the peace that passes understanding down in my heart, Down in my heart to stay. I ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, Down in my heart, down in my heart. I ve got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, Down in my heart to stay! From Wrapping Presents to Wrapping Someone in Love (A few children gather around a table filled with wrapping paper and gift boxes, wrapped and unwrapped.) 65. Look at all these presents we have to wrap. It s going to take all day. 66. It won t take that long if we all work together. 67. I like using lots of tape so it takes longer to get to the present! 68. I like wrapping small presents in big boxes so nobody can guess what s really inside. 69. Remember how Mom and Dad wrapped our present last year? 70. Oh yeah. It was a tiny box, wrapped in red and gold paper. 71. They said it was a gift for all of us. We sure didn t think it would be much of a gift since the box was so small. 72. (Parent, joining the conversation) But it wasn t so small, was it? 73. (laughing) It was really big! 74. Season tickets to St. Louis Cardinals baseball (or team of choice) for the whole family! 75. We never would have guessed it. (to parent) It was the best gift ever! 76. (Parent) Well, not quite. I know of a much better gift. It s one we ve all received, and it came with some interesting wrapping too. 77. You re talking about Jesus, right? He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger. 11
78. He was God s gift of love big enough to embrace the whole world! 79. Better than season tickets to a sporting event, Jesus came so that we can have a place with him in heaven for eternity. 80. After Jesus died on the cross, he rose from the dead and promised to come back. 81. That s when he ll raise all the dead, and all who believe in him will live forever. Now that s love! 82. (Parent, picking up a gift box) You know, it s not just these presents we have to wrap. The Bible tells us to wrap people in love in the name of Jesus. R Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:11) 83. (picking up a gift box) This gift is for a classmate. I drew his name in the gift exchange. But a better gift would be standing up for him when he is being bullied. 84. (picking up a gift box) This is a gift for the toy drive. But we can do more, like visit a shelter and read kids Christmas books that tell them about Jesus love. 85. (Parent) Imagine the impact we could make if, together at Christmas, the whole family of God shared the love of Jesus with someone. 86. The family would grow! And more people would be blessed by the big gift that came in such a small package. (check off Wrap Gifts on To-Do List and add Wrap Someone in Love ) R I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named... that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have the strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19) 12
363 Silent Night, Holy Night Public domain Offering After each petition P Lord, in your mercy, C hear our prayer. Prayer of the Church We remember in our prayers at St. Paul s Lutheran Church College Hill: Gerri Mueller, Emma Jones, Dominic LaFiore, Joe Robnett, Aida Robnett, Sophia Curry, Tina Adams, Jay Schneider, Peggy Sterns, Audrey Hopkins, James Crenshaw, Dave, Avis Gregory, Frances Johnson, We remember in our prayers at Immanuel Lutheran Chapel: Our members Gerry Bumb, Aulderay Fields, & Patricia Gabel Family and friends Roosevelt Ford, Jr., Katie, Tobias, Erica & Isabella Those celebrating anniversaries James & Yenyea Hallowanger (12/26) Those serving our country Brandon Johnson, Matthew Kinder, Michael Niethe & Corey Smith 13
Lord's Prayer P As taught by our Lord, we are bold to pray... C 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. Closing Prayer P Father in heaven, thank you for the gift of your Son, Jesus, who saved us from our sin and made us a family. Help us to reflect the character of Jesus, that many people will meet him by our witness and testimony, this Christmas and every day. Amen. Benediction P Now may the presence of Jesus keep you in his peace, send you forth in joy, wrap you in his love and unite you as the family of God, that together, you may share his good gifts and make his name known throughout the world. Amen. 14
387 Joy to the World Public domain Announcements Acknowledgments By Jeff Shanks. 2017 Creative Communications for the Parish, a division of Bayard, Inc., 1564 Fencorp Dr., Fenton, MO 63026. 800-325-9414. www.creativecommunications.com. All rights reserved. 15
WELCOME TO OUR VISITORS AND GUESTS We are glad that you could join us today. If today is your first time worshiping with us, we look forward to getting to know you better. We have several opportunities for worship and Bible study listed below. If you have any questions, please see an usher or a member of the ministry team. Have a blessed Christmas! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Sunday Order of Worship at St. Paul s Lutheran Church College Hill (SPCH) Divine Worship Service..... 9:00am Sunday Order of Worship at Immanuel Lutheran Chapel (ILC) Children s Sunday School/Adult Bible Study...9:00am Fellowship of Disciples..10:00am Divine Worship Service.... 10:45am Weekly Worship & Bible Study Opportunities ILC The 9 O Clock Prayer Watch, Sunday through Saturday...9:00pm (605-468-8029; Code 637161) SPCH Tuesday Instruction/St. Paul s Youth (I/SPY) & Confirmation Class (6 th -8 th grade)... 5:30pm ILC Thursday Connected to Christ Bible Study......7:00pm ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Servers for next Sunday at SPCH, 12/31 Reader: LaFonda Mathis Servers for next Sunday at ILC, 12/31 Greeters: Joyce Beckman & Clara Hampton Reader: Randy Littlejohn Usher captain: Randy Littlejohn ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ NEWS AND EVENTS CHRISTMAS EVE SPCH will have a candlelight worship service tonight at 7 p.m. St. Paul s Lutheran Church College Hill is located at 2137 E. John Ave., St. Louis, MO 63107. CHRISTMAS POINSETTIAS Thank you to all who purchased poinsettias to help decorate our chancel for the Christmas season. HYMN SELECTION COMMITTEE MEETING AT ILC next Sunday, 12/31, following the worship service. WOMEN S SMALL GROUP BIBLE STUDY, which meets on Saturday mornings, will resume in January. JOIN OUR FAITH COMMUNITY TODAY at https://www.pray.com/ilcspch. Available on ios & Android. Sign up with your cell number to join our combined prayer community. PLEASE SIGN UP FOR CHURCH UPDATES, a weekly digest that includes: news, pray serve, give. Register at https://immanuelchapelstl.churchupdates.org or https://stpaulscollegehill.churchupdates.org. THE LUTHERAN HOPE CENTER is looking for volunteers to help with their afterschool tutoring program Readers to Leaders beginning in January. See the bulletin board for details. 16