PRELUDE:

Overture (Messiah), G.F. Handel
Greensleeves, arr. Richard Purvis

WELCOME
* CELEBRATION OF FRIENDSHIP
* SANCTUS (pew card)

* CALL TO WORSHIP AND SALUTATION, Jeanne and Steve Sarran

Leader: Show us you unfailing love, O God, our Savior,
People: And grant us your salvation.
Leader: Listen to what our Lord God says:
People: He promises peace to his people, who are his beloved saints.
Leader: The Lord will indeed give what is good.
People: Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.
Leader: May the Lord make his holy face to shine upon us in this time of Advent worship.
People: May we see God's face and so know peace.
Leader: Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

-- based on Psalm 85: 7-13

* HYMN No. 161: Once in Royal David's City

* PRAYER OF CONFESSION (unison)

Dear Lord, we confess our willingness to be loved but also our reluctance to love. We confess our readiness to accept your forgiving love, but also our refusal to forgive. We confess our eagerness to grasp your offer of redeeming love, but also our resistance to follow you without question. In this time of Advent, forgive our failure to respond as we should. We pray that you come to us anew, and by your grace assist us to receive with joy, as the shepherds; with gratitude as Simeon, with obedience, as Mary, with love as you have loved us. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Amen

* KYRIE (pew card)
* ASSURANCE OF PARDON
* SUMMARY OF THE LAW
* Gloria Patri (pew card)

ANTHEM: Come to My Heart, arr. Tom Fettke

Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown when Thou camest to earth for me; but in Bethlehem's home there was found no room for Thy holy nativity: O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee.
Heaven's arches rang when the angels sang, proclaiming Thy royal decree; but in lowly birth Thou didst come to earth, and in great humility: O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, there is room in my heart for Thee.
When the heavens shall ring and the angels sing at Thy coming to victory, let Thy voice call me home, saying, "Yet there is room, there is room at My side for thee." My heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus, when Thou comest and callest for me.

LIGHTING OF THE ADVENT WREATH, Jeanne and Steve Sarran

JUNIOR SERMON

ANTHEM: The Yearning, Craig Courtney

The Chamber Choir

There is a yearning in hearts weighed down by ancient grief and centuries of sorrow. There is a yearning in hearts that in the darkness hide and in the shades of death abide, a yearning for tomorrow. There is a yearning, a yearning for the promised One, the Firstborn of creation. There is a yearning for the Lord who visited His own, and by His death for sin atoned, to bring to us salvation. Emmanuel, Emmanuel, within our hearts, the yearning. There is a yearning that fills the hearts of those who wait the day of His appearing. There is a yearning when all our sorrows are erased and we shall see the One who placed within our hearts the yearning. Emmanuel, Emmanuel, within our hearts, the yearning.

MORNING PRAYER AND LORD’S PRAYER
Lord’s Prayer (pew card)
Prayer response, Johann Wolfgang Franck

O Jesus, with Thy advent quiet my restless soul and anxious mind. In true humility I welcome Thee, Jesus Christ, my Joy divine. My thought, desires, and all my longings I dedicate, O Christ, to Thee. O come,Thou precious Sun most radiant, Thy beams illumine my heart and soul.

* HYMN No. 145: Of the Father's Love Begotten

SCRIPTURE LESSONS

Isaiah 7: 10-16, Pew Bible, page 554

Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.

Romans 1:1-7, Pew Bible, page 913

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 1:18-25, Pew Bible, page 783

Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

The Word of God for the people of God. Let the people of God say - AMEN!

THE SERMON: Even So, Come Lord Jesus, Norman Haight

WORSHIP OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS
Offering
Offertory: Dearest Lord Jesus, Dietrich Buxtehude

The Chancel Choir; Dorien Day, soprano

Dearest Lord Jesus, How long Thou abidest so far from me? Come Thou to me, for my soul is weary. Come Thou, and take me into Thy keeping; far from the burden of the world. It is enough, Lord, come now to deliver; come to deliver my soul from affliction. Weak are my senses and foolish my fears, faint is my spirit and spent are my tears. Come now, Lord Jesus, how long Thou abidest. Come to deliver my soul from affliction.

* The Doxology (pew card)
* Prayer of Dedication

* AFFIRMATION OF FAITH, Apostles’ Creed (pew card)

* HYMN No. 151: Go, Tell It on the Mountain

* BENEDICTION
Response: Alleluia, Amen!, Charles Villers Stanford

POSTLUDE: Carillon de Westminster, Louis Vierne

ANNOUNCEMENTS

COOKIES NEEDED FOR WASSAIL HOUR - Will you give the church a box of home-baked cookies for the Wassail Hour after the Candlelight Service on Christmas Eve? Mark the box Christmas Eve Cookies and bring it to the kitchen on Christmas Eve before the service or to the Church Office during the week.

OUR APPRECIATION FOR TODAY’S VOLUNTEERS:

Van Drivers: Gary LiBert (AM), Simon Walsh (PM)
Coffee Hour Hosts: Rhoda Jabbour
Greeters: Joan Pearson and Joan Werbel
Ushers: Krystal and Debra Rossi, Adriene and Bill Toy
Children and Worship: Sharon Rivilli and Nancy Gessner
Childcare: Marie Mark

PRAYER REQUESTS: Ruth Bailey, Letty Delgado, Ed Diercks, Dombrowski Family, Edythe Durney, Alfred Gessner, Lisa Gessner, Jenny Hampton, Robert Keller, Hope Kingman, Fritz Kunisch, Ann Martin, John Molino, Josephine Rivera, Janice Serra