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Third Sunday Of Advent

Worship
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28
Third Sunday of Advent - B
James R. Wilson
Lectionary Worship Aids
Cycle B, Series IV
First Lesson: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Theme: The Lord will return to lift up the poor and wounded.

Call To Worship
Leader: Come, let all who love the Lord enter God's house for worship!
People: But many are poor and wounded and do not know of Christ's Love.
Leader: Then we must proclaim for all to hear the news of Jesus the Christ.
People: And what shall we tell the poor and wounded in the world?
Leader: Christ died so ALL might have life and is coming again to lift them up.
All: Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Collect

God, in Your wonderful and gracious way You sent Christ to call us to a oneness with You which we could not earn on our own. Reach into our hearts and help us celebrate Your love which knows no boundaries. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Prayer Of Confession

O God, too often we have tried to believe Your love was like ours, marked by conditions and limitations as we judge who is good enough or worthy to hear Your Gospel. Forgive us, Lord, for You have warned us that as we reject even the least of Your children we reject You. Open our hearts, Lord, that we might openly seek out and welcome any and all who are lost. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Hymns

"Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates"

"Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light"

"Blessed Be The God Of Israel"




Third Sunday In Advent

Second Lesson: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
Theme: Christ our Savior will return.

Call To Worship
Leader: On the day the Lord returns we will gather together saying,
People: Hallelujah, this is the Lord our God, in whom is our salvation!
Leader: For the Lord is near to all whose hearts rest in God's loving care.
People: O God, let all the world hear that You are indeed the keeper of our souls.
Leader: And let the whole world hear our joyful praise to Almighty God!
All: Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Collect

O God, Almighty Creator and Redeemer, in Your wonderful and merciful way You sent the Christ to redeem and cleanse us even while we were yet mired in the ways of our sins. We thank You, Lord. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Prayer Of Confession

Lord, in so many ways You have tried to reach us with Your message of love and salvation, yet we have been too busy with the world around us to hear. You even sent Your son to show us Your love, and still we would not see. Forgive us, Lord, and as our hearts are opened to Your Good News, help us to spread the word to all the world around us. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Hymns

"Word Of God, Come Down On Earth"

"Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus"

"I Want To Walk As A Child Of The Light"




Third Sunday In Advent

Gospel: John 1:6-8, 19-28
Theme: John the Baptist proclaims the Christ is come.

Call To Worship
Leader: Wait upon the Lord; remain true and let your hearts be bold!
People: We do wait upon the Lord, and we seek God's healing power today.
Leader: Hold fast to your faith; be firm and let your hearts take courage!
People: Our faith remains strong; yet we seek the promised one to come.
Leader: Praise be to the Lord, for God has heard and honored our prayers!
All: Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Collect

All-wise and all-powerful God, for reasons only You can fathom You have honored us by calling Your prophets from among Your people to proclaim the Good News to the world. We praise You, Lord! In Christ we pray. Amen.

Prayer Of Confession

Lord, as we continue to move through Advent, we are so aware there is much in the world that would distract and harden our hearts to the message of love You gave us in the birth of Christ. Lord, forgive us for all of those times when we have willingly chosen the distractions and turned away from You. Call us once more to the true joy in Christmas. In Christ we pray. Amen.

Hymns

"Hail To The Lord's Anointed"

"My Soul Gives Glory To My God"

"Word Of God, Come Down On Earth"


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New & Featured This Week

The Immediate Word

Dean Feldmeyer
Christopher Keating
Thomas Willadsen
Katy Stenta
Mary Austin
George Reed
Nazish Naseem
For February 1, 2026:
  • What the Lord Requires by Dean Feldmeyer. The world’s requirements are often complex and difficult. God’s requirements are simple and easy. Kinda.
  • Second Thoughts: Resisting The Storms of Winter by Chris Keating. Jesus does not offer a cheery optimism to those enduring the cold blasts of injustice. More than an insulating blanket of hope, the Beatitudes create communities of resistance.

The Village Shepherd

Janice B. Scott
Call to Worship:
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told the people how they could be blessed by God and experience God's kingdom. In our worship today let us explore the Sermon on the Mount.

Invitation to Confession:
Jesus, sometimes I'm full of pride instead of being poor in spirit.
Lord, have mercy.
Jesus, sometimes I'm overbearing and pushy, instead of being meek.
Christ, have mercy.
Jesus, sometimes I'm not exactly pure in heart.
Lord, have mercy.

Reading:

StoryShare

John E. Sumwalt And Jo Perry-sumwalt
Contents
What's Up This Week
Stories to Live By: "You Fool"/ "Us Who Are Being Saved"
Shining Moments: "A Comforting Dream" by Harold Klug
Good Stories: "Mercy, Mercy" by John Sumwalt
Scrap Pile: "The Souper Bowl of Caring" by Jo Perry-Sumwalt


What's Up This Week
by John Sumwalt

Sandra Herrmann
John Jamison
Contents
"Child Sacrifice" by Sandra Herrmann (Micah 6:1-8)
"Ka-Chang" by John B. Jamison (Matthew 5:1-12)


* * * * * * * *


Child Sacrifice
Sandra Herrmann
Micah 6:1-8

SermonStudio

Stephen P. McCutchan
For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles....
-- 1 Corinthians 1:23-24

Russell F. Anderson
BRIEF COMMENTARY ON THE LESSONS

Lesson 1: Micah 6:1--8 (C, E, L)
John N. Brittain
The other day I stumbled onto a Discovery Channel show about underwater archaeology (not basket weaving). The archaeologist described the process of identifying the probable location of an underwater wreck site, the grueling work involved in beginning the process, and the same kind of methodical work that characterizes all scientific archaeology. But then her eyes twinkled as she described the joy of uncovering the first artifact, or recognizing a significant discovery. And that of course is what it is all about, the final product of discovery.
Tony S. Everett
Late one night, Pastor Bill was driving home after spending the past 23 hours in the hospital with his wife, celebrating the birth of their son. It had been a glorious day. His wife was peacefully resting. His extended family was ecstatic. His son was healthy. Surely God was in heaven and all was right with the world.

Linda Schiphorst Mccoy
When I'm teaching a class, and want to get a discussion going, I often begin with something that's called a sentence stem. I start a sentence and let the participants complete it. This morning, if I were to ask you to complete this sentence, what would you say? "Happy are those who...." What would you use to complete the thought?
Dallas A. Brauninger
E-mail
From: KDM
To: God
Subject: Demands On God
Message: All these demands don't make sense, God. Lauds, KDM
R. Glen Miles
What does God want from us? The answer is simple, but it is not easy to put into practice. What God wants is you. What God wants is me. God wants our whole selves. The prophet Micah makes it fairly clear that ultimately God does not care too much about religion and the things that come with it. Religion isn't a bad enterprise. It is okay as a way of reminding us about what God wants, but in the long run being good at religion is not what God desires. What God requires is us. It is simple to understand but not necessarily the thing we would offer to God first.
John B. Jamison
It was a strange sound. Some said it was a kind of "clanging" sound, while others said it was more of a "ka-ching," or more accurately, a "ka-chang!" It sounded like the result of metal hitting metal, which is exactly what it was.

In the valley off to the west from the hillside is a steep cliff rising up the face of Mount Arbel. The face of the cliff is covered with hundreds of caves, with no good way to get to them without climbing straight up the cliff. That's why the Zealots liked them. They were safe.
Amy C. Schifrin
Martha Shonkwiler
Prayer Of Dedication/Gathering
P: Our Lord Jesus calls each of us to a life of justice, kindness, and humility. We pray that in this hour before us our defenses would fall and your love would be set free within us.
Father, Son, + and Holy Spirit, your mercy knows no end.
C: Amen.

Intercessory Prayers

Emphasis Preaching Journal

David Kalas
We have a prejudice in favor of things complex. Not that we necessarily desire complexity, but somehow we trust it more. We figure that complexity is the prevailing reality in our world, and so we feel obliged to be in touch with it. We would love to hear that this thing or that is really quite simple, but doctors, politicians, futurists, ethicists, economists -- and even some preachers -- keep discouraging us. It's actually quite complicated, we are told, and there is no simple answer.
People tend to say in times of personal or community disaster, "God works in mysterious ways." The point they are making is that when we can't figure out any logical answer to a situation, it must be the work of God. It is one way of making sense out of an inexplicable event.
Schuyler Rhodes
In 1993 brothers Tom and David Gardner began a financial information service they named The Motley Fool. Dressed in their trademark court jester hats, the motley fools can be seen and heard offering their advice and warnings concerning the stock market on a variety of talk shows and financial news channels.

CSSPlus

Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have spent time around babies? (let them answer) Babies are so cute when they are happy but hard to please when they are upset. Babies can't talk, can they? (let them answer) So when they don't get what they want they cry. When they are hungry they cry. When they are sleepy they cry. When a stranger tries to hold them they cry. How do we know if babies are sick, hungry, or tired? (let them answer) Most of the time a baby's mom can figure out what's wrong even when we can't.
Teachers or Parents: Have the children sit on the floor and pretend that they are on a mountaintop and learning at Jesus' feet. Ask: "How is this classroom different from classrooms you have seen?" "How is it like them?" Read various portions of the "Sermon on the Mount" (Matthew 5-7) that they might understand (such as Matthew 7:7-11 -- prayer; 7:12 -- the Golden Rule; 7:15 -- being true). Be careful -- many parts of the Sermon on the Mount are difficult for children to understand and may lead to great misunderstanding and perhaps fear.

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