Worship Resources for December 27th
Sunday at Year end
Gathering
Greeting
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Our help is in the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord, Revelation 1:8
“who was and is, and is to come, the Almighty.”
Alleluia!
Grace, mercy, and peace to you,
from God the Father, from our Lord Jesus Christ,
and from the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Song
Confession & Assurance
Call to Confession Psalm 75: 1-7
We give thanks to you, O God;
we give thanks; your name is near.
People tell of your wondrous deeds.
At the set time that I appoint
I will judge with equity.
When the earth totters, with all its inhabitants,
it is I who keep its pillars steady.
I say to the boastful, “Do not boast,”
and to the wicked, “Do not lift up your horn;
do not lift up your horn on high,
or speak with insolent neck.”
For not from the east or from the west
and not from the wilderness comes lifting up;
but it is God who executes judgment,
putting down one and lifting up another.
Prayer of Confession
Our Faithful Father,
forgive us for thinking small thoughts of you
and for ignoring your immensity and greatness.
Lord Jesus, forgive us when we forget
that you rule the nations and our small lives.
Holy Spirit, we offend you
in minimizing your power and squandering your gifts.
We confess that our blindness to your glory, O Triune God,
has resulted in shallow confession,
tepid conviction, and only mild repentance.
Have mercy on us.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon Romans 5:1-8
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.
The Peace
The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
And also with you.
Song
Celebrating God’s Faithfulness
Scripture Reading: Psalm 16
Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble,
in whom is all my delight.
Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names upon my lips.
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
I have a goodly heritage.
I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
For you do not give me up to Sheol,
or let your faithful one see the Pit.
You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
The Year 2020
As we come to the end of this unusual year, you are invited to take a few moments to pause and remember the significant events in your life and God's faithfulness in the joys and challenges of this year.
Prayers of the People
Today’s prayer is led by one of our elders, Phil DeVries
Lord God,
We come before you this morning, your people who worship with 14th St CRC, filled with gratitude and filled with worry; filled with hope, and filled with despair; filled with love, and filled with fear. In Advent and Christmas, we have felt the tension between our urgent need for the coming of your kingdom, and your presence with us already. This is our prayer this morning; gratitude that we experience your presence, and pleading that we see your work in our world.
We are grateful that despite the raging pandemic, we have been able to worship together, and that our congregation has not suffered unduly from the illness. We are thankful that we benefit from technology that our parents did not have, and from health care which can ease our suffering, and can often cure. We are grateful that we have an industry that creates and delivers vaccines, and pray that the covid vaccine may effectively end the pandemic. But Lord, we, your world, are tired -- tired of being isolated by our masks and our "social distancing"; tired of our "virtual" worship services and zoom meetings; and tired of the cloud of fear for our health, our mental health, and our livelihoods. So we pray, Lord, for physical healing for our world.
Lord we are grateful for our church community; for those who lead it, for those who serve it, and for all of us who participate in our fellowship in you. This year we have seen growth; children born, children baptized, young people professing their faith in the Lord, new marriages, and new members. In all of these we rejoice and praise you. But we sorrow also, for the deaths of long time members of our church, and for the untimely death of our youngest member. We believe dying is passing from this life into the next life with you, but that is not enough to lessen our grief. Wives, husbands, parents, and friends of those who die have a hole in their lives; a hole that never seems to be filled, only learned to live with. We pray with those who grieve for your comfort, and that we may together support those whose loved ones are no longer with us. We also thank you for new church homes for some of our members. Even though we miss their fellowship here, we are grateful that we are part of the larger, church universal, and that we can entrust with confidence these members to their new church homes.
We are grateful that we are part of a church family, the Christian Reformed Church, that is serious about being faithful to you and your word. We are grateful that we have scholars of integrity, teachers who faithfully teach your word, and members who seek truth in following you. And we are grateful that we are part of the broader church in the world, sharing in the work of sharing your gospel. But we pray for your church and our denomination as well. We are prone to distension, division, and schism. For our denomination we pray that as we consider matters of sexual ethics at our summer Synod, that we consider well, seek truth, display compassion, and maintain unity in you.
We are grateful that in this year of political turmoil here and abroad, we enjoyed a peaceful election in our country. We are grateful for those who made it so. But we are distressed by the turmoil, incivility, and lack of integrity that characterize our politics. We are distressed that our political divisions travel right through the heart of your church, and that even in the church we deny our unity in you and divide into factions for or against this or that politician or political idea. We repent of placing the kingdom of this world over above your kingdom, putting our hopes and trust in princes; we pray that we may better live as citizens of your kingdom, following your Way, to be witnesses to the good news of Jesus Christ, and bearers of his love and compassion to a broken and hurting world.
This is our plea Lord: that your kingdom come, and that your will be done, by your hand, and by and through our lives. That we may see this kingdom, as so described by the psalmist:
- there are no oppressed people; for there is justice for the oppressed
- there are no hungry people; for the hungry are fed
- there are no captives; for the captives are set free
- there is no illness; for the blind see
- no one is bowed down; for all those bowed down are lifted up
- there are no strangers in the land; for the strangers are cared for
- there is no hardship in being a widow or orphan; for the widows and the orphans are watched over
- evil is defeated; for the ways of the wicked are brought to ruin
Amen, Amen. Maranatha. Come Lord Jesus.
Song
Word
Prayer of Illumination
Sovereign God,
when confronted by would-be messiahs promising prosperity and peace
grant us your wisdom and discernment.
Help us to place our confidence in no one but you
and to live in that sure confidence that you,
our only Savior and Lord, give us.
Amen.
Scripture Reading
Psalm 146
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
4 When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.
5 Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
6 who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith forever;
7 who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
8 the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
9 The Lord watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
10 The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord!
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Sermon: Put No Confidence in Princes
Our sermon is from Pastor Marv Hofman.
Response
Song
Offering
In addition to our various funds (General, Building, Mission, Benevolence, Christian Education), online giving is also now available for today’s special offerings (Good Samaritan Center & Church Support Services) through the Give button below.
Parting into the New Year
God’s Parting Words
Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, Jude 24-25
and to make you stand without blemish
in the presence of his glory with rejoicing,
to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord,
be glory, majesty, power, and authority,
before all time and now and forever.
The Lord bless you and keep you; Numbers 6:24-26
the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Amen.
Postlude
Lord, I will lift mine eyes to the hills,
knowing my help is coming from you.
Your peace you give me in time of the storm.
You are the source of my strength.
You are the strength of my life.
I lift my hands in total praise to you.
Amen, amen. Amen.