Elizabeth Chapel Bulletin

December 9, 2018                                                Second Sunday of Advent

Please be our guest and join us for coffee, juice and good stuff after the Worship service. Just follow the crowd through the double doors to the Fellowship hall. Restrooms are located in the Fellowship Hall and downstairs across from the kitchen.

Greeting & Announcements

Lighting of the Advent Candles                         Cameron & Kacie Reed

+Call to Worship 

Leader: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.

People: He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David,

Leader: as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.

People: Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant,

Leader: the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear,

People: in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

Leader: And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

People: to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.

Leader: By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

ALL: to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Heavenly Father, creator and preserver of all, we gather before you in humility and gratitude. We praise you without ceasing, for you have forgiven our sin and made us your children, joint heirs with Christ. In this Advent season, we pray that you would prepare us anew and afresh for Christ’s arrival. Too often we have allowed our attention to be turned away, our priorities to be disrupted; we have focused our energies on that which is secondary and temporary. Draw us again, O Lord, to Bethlehem; bring us anew, O Lord, to Calvary. Create within us a spirit of expectancy and openness to the Christ child; give us hearts of commitment and faithfulness toward the risen Christ. Prepare us to meet our Savior with new vitality, new courage, and new obedience. And even as you prepare our hearts to host Christ, prepare us to be dynamic witnesses to his good news, for we ask it in his name. Amen.

Sharing God's Peace

Offering                     (Giving of Ourselves and Our Gifts to God)                                                                               

+Doxology        “Praise God, from whom all Blessings Flow”   #95 UMH

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer                                                                     #895 UMH

+Gospel Reading                      Luke 3:1-6                                   NT, p. 60

The Message                                                         Pastor Dave Stilgenbauer

(The altar is always open. Please feel free at any time to come forward for prayer.)

+Closing Hymn        “O Little Town of Bethlehem”               #230 UMH

Requesting prayer for: