In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and local recommendations, we are continuing to post our digital services for the time being for those who feel more comfortable worshiping at home. Socially-distanced in-person worship is now resuming each Sunday at 12pm. Please click the audio bar below to listen to today’s special Christmas Day service. Scroll down to follow along with the service text.
Hymn “Let All Together Praise Our God” LSB # 389
1 Let all together praise our God Before His glorious throne;
Today He opens heav’n again To give us His own Son, To give us His own Son.
2 He leaves His heav’nly Father’s throne, Is born an infant small,
And in a manger, poor and lone, Lies in a humble stall, Lies in a humble stall.
3 Within an earth-born form He hides His all creating light;
To serve us all He humbly cloaks The splendor of His might, The splendor of His might.
4 He undertakes a great exchange, Puts on our human frame,
And in return gives us His realm, His glory, and His name, His glory, and His name.
5 He is a servant, I a lord: How great a mystery!
How strong the tender Christ Child’s love! No truer friend than He, No truer friend than He.
6 He is the key and He the door To blessed paradise;
The angel bars the way no more. To God our praises rise, To God our praise rise.
7 Your grace in lowliness revealed, Lord Jesus, we adore
And praise to God the Father yield And Spirit evermore; We praise You evermore.
Innvocation
P: In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
CONFESSION & ABSOLUTION
P: Beloved in the Lord! Let us draw near with a true heart and confess our sins unto God our Father, beseeching Him in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to grant us forgiveness. Our help is in the name of the Lord,
C: who made heaven and earth.
P: I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord,
C: and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.
We reflect on God’s Word and examine ourselves.
P: O almighty God, merciful Father,
C: I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended You, and justly deserved Your temporal and eternal punishment. But I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them, and I pray You of Your boundless mercy and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being.
P: In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for His sake God forgives us all our sins. To those who believe in Jesus Christ He gives the power to become the children of God and bestows on them the Holy Spirit. May the Lord, who has begun this good work in us, bring it to completion in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
C: Amen.
Collect of the Day
P: Let us pray. O God, our Maker and Redeemer, You wonderfully created us and in the incarnation of Your Son yet more wondrously restored our human nature. Grant that we may ever be alive in Him who made Himself to be like us; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.
Scripture Readings
Old Testament (Isaiah 61:10-62:3)
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.
62 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet,
until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
and her salvation as a burning torch.
2 The nations shall see your righteousness,
and all the kings your glory,
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will give.
3 You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Epistle Reading (Galatians 4:4-7)
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
P: This is the Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Gospel Reading (Luke 2:22-40)
C: (sung) Alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.
P: The holy Gospel according to St. Luke the 2nd chapter.
C: (sung) Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
22 When the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”
33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, 37 and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
39 And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.
P: This is the Gospel of the Lord.
C: (sung) Praise be to Thee, O Christ.
CONFESSION OF FAITH: THE APOSTLES’ CREED
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day He rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy Christian Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life + everlasting. Amen.
Hymn of the Day “O Savior of Our Fallen Race” LSB # 403
1 O Savior of our fallen race, O Brightness of the Father’s face,
O Son who shared the Father’s might Before the world knew day or night Alleluia!
2 O Jesus, very Light of Light, Our constant star in sin’s deep night:
Now hear the prayers Your people pray Throughout the world this holy day. Alleluia!
3 Remember, Lord of life and grace, How once, to save our fallen race,
You put our human vesture on And come to us as Mary’s son. Alleluia!
4 Today, as year by year its light Bathes all the world in radiance bright,
One precious truth outshines the sun: Salvation comes from You alone. Alleluia!
5 For from the Father’s throne You came, His banished children to reclaim;
And earth and sea and sky revere The love of Him who sent You here. Alleluia!
6 And we are jubilant today, For You have washed our guilt away.
O hear the glad new song we sing On this, the birthday of our King! Alleluia!
7 O Christ, Redeemer virgin-born, Let songs of praise Your name adorn,
Whom with the Father we adore And Holy Spirit evermore. Alleluia!
Sermon
Prayer of the Church
P: Lord, in your mercy,
C: Receive our 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
who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom
and the power and the glory
forever and ever. Amen.
BENEDICTION
P: The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favor and + give you peace.
C: Amen.
Closing Hymn “By All Your Saints in Warfare” LSB # 518 (vv.1, 15, 24, 3)
1 O sing of Christ, whose birth made known The kindness of the Lord,
Eternal Word made flesh and bone So we could be restored.
Upon our frail humanity God’s finger chose to trace
The fullness of His deity, The icon of His grace.
15 What Adam lost, none could reclaim, And Paradise was barred
Until the second Adam came To mend what sin had marred.
For when the time was full and right God sent His only Son;
He came to us as life and light And our redemption won.
24 He came to that which was His own, But He was not received;
Yet still through Him God’s glory shone, And some His name believed.
To these He gave the right to be The heirs of heav’n above,
Born not of human ancestry But born of God in love.
3 Lord Jesus Christ, you deigned to dwell Among us here on earth
As God with us, Emmanuel, To bring this holy birth.
Though rich, you willingly became One with our poverty,
That we might share your wealth and name For all eternity.