Friday, December 6, 2024

Worship Service - December 8, 2024

                                          Elkton United Methodist Church
                                                 Second Sunday of Advent
                                                Sunday, December 8, 2024
                                                                10:00 a.m.

GREETING AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

PRELUDE................................... “LO, HOW A ROSE E’ER BLOOMING”1........... ARR. BY MARK HAYES

INTROIT.................................................. “UNTIL JESUS COMES”1................................ CHANCEL CHOIR

OPENING

TIME OF CENTERING PRAYER

RESPONSE #3049 (W&S)......................................................................................... “WAIT FOR THE LORD”

Wait for the Lord, whose day is near.  Wait for the Lord:  keep watch, take heart.


**CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader:       Children of God, prepare the way! The Word of God is coming!

People:       We come to listen and receive God’s Word among us.

Leader:       Friends of Jesus, the prophets call to us now and from generations past,

                   urging us to prepare and refine our hearts for the coming of the Word of

                   God.  Are you listening?

People:       We come to listen and prepare to receive God’s Word among us.
Leader:       Siblings in Christ, this is the mark of our preparation: that passion for God’s
Word would burn within us, cleansing us and renewing us to reflect God’s
love throughout the world.

All:             May God ignite our passion for God’s Word that has come among us as

                   we listen, prepare, and receive all that God has for us today.  AMEN.

**HYMN #3047 (W&S)....................................................................... “GOD ALMIGHTY, WE ARE WAITING”

LIGHTING OF THE ADVENT WREATH

CALL TO CONFESSION

We bring our flawed lives to God, not so much to be made perfect, but to be whole.  Let us

confess our sins to God, trusting the One who builds joy from our despair…


PRAYER OF CONFESSION (IN UNISON)

God of Grace, you breathed life into each of us, you have formed us in your image. 

And yet we acknowledge that sometimes we are not who you would have us be. You

challenge us to embrace the refining fire of your love, to meet you on the threshing 

floor of life, to be washed as with fuller's soap. But in our heart of hearts we would 

rather keep those things that would be removed in such an encounter. Through your 

Grace, life-giving God, accept us as we are, unrefined, unwashed, the chaff mixed in 

with the grain, and help us to move toward your way of being. AMEN.

SILENT PRAYERS OF CONFESSION

WORDS OF PARDON AND ASSURANCE

Leader:      Listen!  For this is Good News!  God's Grace is wider than our wildest

                  imaginings.  God's Grace embraces us as we are and where we are and

                  draws us out to be the people we were created to be.

People:     Thanks be to God!  By God’s grace we are forgiven!  AMEN.


NEW TESTAMENT LESSON, PHILIPPIANS 1:3-11 (PAGE 196)
Leader:   This is the Word of God for the people of God!
People:  Thanks be to God!

MUSICAL OFFERING....................... “JOY OF LONGING HEARTS”1........................... CHANCEL CHOIR

**GOSPEL LESSON, LUKE 3:1-6 (PAGE 60)
Leader:   This is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ!
People:  Thanks be to God!

**RESPONSE #204 (UMH)................................................................................... “EMMANUEL, EMMANUEL”

Emmanuel, Emmanuel, his name is called Emmanuel.  God with us, revealed in us, 

his name is called Emmanuel.

SERMON...................................................... “PHASE SHIFT”...................................... REV. ERIC WARNER

**RESPONSE #209 (UMH)..................................................................... “BLESSED BE THE GOD OF ISRAEL”

PRAYER CONCERNS/PASTORAL PRAYER

THE LORD'S PRAYER (IN UNISON)

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.  AMEN.


RESPONSE #2215 (TFWS)................................................................................................. “CARES CHORUS”

I cast all my cares upon you, I lay all of my burdens down at your feet, and anytime 

that I don't know what to do, I will cast all my cares upon you.

CALL TO OFFERING

OFFERTORY

**DOXOLOGY #95 (UMH)..................................... “PRAISE GOD, FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW”

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.

Amen.

**OFFERTORY PRAYER

**HYMN #220 (UMH)................................................................. “ANGELS FROM THE REALMS OF GLORY”

**CHORAL BENEDICTION...... “LORD, DISMISS US WITH THY BLESSING”1............. CHANCEL CHOIR

**CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSE

Bind us together, Lord, bind us together with cords that cannot be broken.

Bind us together, Lord, bind us together, bind us together in love. 

POSTLUDE................................... “GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN”1............. ARR. BY MARK HAYES

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               Flowers on the altar are given in memory of Jack Loomis by Ruth Loomis and family
 
                                       Flowers on the organ are given in memory of Vickie Cebula
                                                              on her birthday by her family

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**Indicates the congregation should stand if able

UMH: United Methodist Hymnal (red cover)
TFWS: The Faith We Sing (black cover)
W&S:  Worship & Song (green cover)

1Public Music performance provided for and reported to CCLI Licensing
Copyright License:  #1824650/Recording License:  CSPL148932 

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