BETHANY SERVICE December 7, 2025 10:30 AM
WELCOME AND GREETINGS
PRELUDE “People, Look East” Matilda Phillippy
*CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Beloved, we gather to remember who we are, not who the world tells us to be.
People: We tell the story together of the day for which all the earth awaits.
Leader: We recall the story of God’s people, how God has called us to live in
peace and righteousness in a world full of conflict and twisted morality.
People: We tell the story together of the day for which all the earth awaits.
Leader: We recount the story of our journey with God, the moments of God’s
provision, God’s prodding, and God’s prophetic guidance.
People: We tell the story together of the day for which all the earth awaits.
Leader: We gather to repent and return anew to God’s story that guides our
lives to work for peace and flourishing for all God’s creation.
People: We gather to tell the story of the day for which all the earth awaits.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
INVOCATION
*HYMN “People, Look East” #202
LIGHTING THE ADVENT CANDLE Larry & Joan Strait
Reader: Advent reminds us that we are people who share a story, the story of
Jesus, who enacts peace by judging in favor of the poor and deciding with
equity for the meek of the earth. We long for the day when “the wolf shall
live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion will feed together, and a little child shall lead them” (Isaiah 11:6).
All: Today, we choose to live the story of peace, believing that true
peace comes when we seek the flourishing of all God’s creation.
Reader: We light this candle of peace as a sign of our commitment to bring Light
to the places the world seeks to hide until that day when all creation
lives together in harmony and abundance.
PASTORAL PRAYER
PRESENTING OUR GIFTS TO THE LORD
DOXOLOGY
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
*HYMN “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” #218
BLESSING THE READING AND HEARING OF THE WORD
FIRST TESTAMENT READING Isaiah 11:1-9 Barbara Laria
EPISTLE READING Romans 15:7-13 Barbara Laria
Liturgist: This is the word of the Lord
People: Thanks be to God
SERMON “The Promise of Peace” Pastor Dave
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
When our faith is rooted deeply in you, O God, our lives reflect your kingdom
values of justice and righteousness, but sometimes our lives become so
entangled with the values of the world, that your values take second place.
Forgive us, O God, and reconnect us to the Holy Spirit, source of power and
life. Merciful God, strip our hearts and minds of all that prevents our lives
being firmly rooted in you. May our lives bear fruit worthy of our faith in you,
as we watch and wait for your breaking into our world once more, in the
person of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
Amen.
(A time of Silent Confession)
WORDS OF GRACE AND FORGIVENESS
THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY COMMUNION
THE LORD’S PRAYER
*HYMN “Let There Be Peace on Earth #431
*BENEDICTION
POSTLUDE “From Thy Throne So High” Matilda Phillippy