Blue Christmas

December 20, 2022
 
Prelude                       
Stephanie Shorden
 
Greeting    
                 
Opening Prayer

Lighting of the Christ Candle          
 
Gathering Song         
Be Still My Soul         
UMH #534
WORDS: Katharine von Schlegel, 1752; trans. by Jane Borthwick, 1855 (Ps. 46:10)
 
1. Be still, my soul: the Lord is on your side. Bear patiently the cross of grief and pain; leave to your God to order and provide; in every change God faithful will remain. Be still, my soul: your best, your heavenly friend through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
 
2. Be still, my soul: your God will undertake to guide the future, as in ages past. Your hope,
your confidence let nothing shake; all now mysterious shall be bright at last. Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know the Christ who ruled them while he dwelt below.
 
3. Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on when we shall be forever with the Lord, when disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored. Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past, all safe and blessed we shall meet at last.
 
Scripture Reading      
Isaiah 40:1, 25-31        
 
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
To whom, then, will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One.  Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted, but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

First Candle
Leader - This candle represents our suffering and the suffering of the world. In the light of God’s love, we claim God’s gift of truth. There is no need to hide or deny. God welcomes us as we are.
All: Incline your ear, O Lord, and answer me, for I am poor and needy. ~Psalm 86:1

Hymn of Response    
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel         
vs. 1 UMH #211
 
1. O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lowly exile here until the Son of God appear. 
 
Refrain
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
 
Second Candle
Leader: This candle represents our suffering and the suffering of the world. In the light of God’s love, we claim God’s gift of lament. We recognize our wounds and cry out to God.
We accept God’s invitation to express every feeling and question.
 
All: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest. ~ Psalm 22:1-2
 
Hymn of Response    
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel         
vs. 2 UMH #211
 
2. O come, thou wisdom from on high, and order all things far and nigh; to us the path of knowledge show and cause us in her ways to go.
 
Refrain
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
 
Third Candle
Leader: This candle represents our suffering and the suffering of the world. In the light of God’s love, we claim God’s gift of courage. Courage to be honest, to seek help, to comfort one another. Courage to dare to love and dream again.
 
All: The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts; so I am helped, and my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him. ~ Psalm 28:7
 
Hymn of Response    
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel         
vs. 3 UMH #211
 
3. O come, O come, great Lord of might, who to thy tribes on Sinai’s height in ancient  times once gave the law in cloud and majesty and awe.
 
Refrain
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
 
Fourth Candle
Leader: This candle represents our suffering and the suffering of the world.
In the light of God’s love, we claim God’s gift of hope.
God is good. God is strong. God is near, leading us to a day without tears and pain, without sin and death. Healing and deliverance are coming; if not now, then on that day.
 
All voices: By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. ~Psalm 65:5
 
Hymn of Response    
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel         
vs. 4 UMH #211
 
4. O come, thou Root of Jesse’s tree, an ensign of thy people be; before thee rulers silent fall; all peoples on thy mercy call.
 
Refrain
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
 
During the showing of Cry out to Jesus by Third Day you are encouraged to write your burdens and sorrows on the blue strips of paper and then come down the center isle and place them in the manger by the blue candles. If you can’t come down to front, let one of the ushers know and they will bring take your blue strip of paper down for you. Afterward, you can light one of the prayer candles on the table.
CLM Twinkle Gordon will be available on the choir side of the sanctuary to pray with you and anoint you if you.
Please take an evergreen clipping with you as you return to your seat as a reminder of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness
 
Video 
Cry Out to Jesus  
Third Day
 
Prayer            
 
The Lord’s Prayer      
            
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 to trespass against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power and the Glory forever.
            
Scripture Reading     
Psalm 121    
   
I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.

Message of Hope                
Pastor Donnie Sturgill

Communion  
The Great Thanksgiving      
UMH p. 13

Special Music
Amazing Grace  
Dominick Nors ~ Soloist
Stephanie Shorden ~ Pianist

*Affirmation of Faith for Christmas          
Adapted from the poem First Coming by Madeleine L’Engle.
Leader: Christians, what do you believe?
All: Voices: God did not wait till the world was ready, till nations were at peace.
God came when the Heavens were unsteady and prisoners cried out for release.
God did not wait for the perfect time. God came when the need was deep and great.
God dined with sinners in all their grime, turned water into wine.
God did not wait till hearts were pure. In joy God came to a tarnished world of sin and doubt. To a world like ours, of anguished shame, God came and God’s Light would not go out. God came to a world which did not mesh; to heal its tangles, shield its scorn.
In the mystery of the Word made Flesh, the Maker of the stars was born. We cannot wait till the world is sane to raise our songs with joyful voice, For to share our grief, to touch our pain, God came with Love: Rejoice! Rejoice!

*Sending Hymn      
Silent Night                           
vs. 1, 3 UMH #239
WORDS: Joseph Mohr, 1818, alt.; sts. 1, 2, 3 trans. by John F. Young;  st. 4  trans, anon. (Lk. 2:6-20)
 
1. Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright round yon virgin mother and child. Holy infant, so tender and mild, sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.
 
3. Silent night, holy night, Son of God, love’s pure light; radiant beams from thy holy face with the dawn of redeeming grace, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth, Jesus, Lord, at thy birth.
 
Announcements        
 
Benediction  
             
Postlude
Stephanie Shorden