Walkerville Uniting Church Sunday Sermons
Religion & Spirituality
A Service of Lessons and Carols
Introduction
Welcome to our service of “Lessons and Carols”.
In it we will hear the story of Christmas story through various Biblical passages and then sing songs or carols that correlate with the passages read to us. I hope the Christmas story will come alive for you today.
Prayer: Minister
Guila solo: The Lord’s Prayer (Mallotte)
Narrator: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Everything was good, but it wasn’t complete until God placed his own image in Eden as an icon of his glory—Adam and Eve—and then God called the creation very good. Adam and Eve were given royal authority to rule over the creation and to care for it in the name of God. But Adam and Eve brought corruption into the creation as they deliberately disconnected from God in a mistaken attempt to become autonomous. In reaching to become more than human, Adam and Eve fell, and become less. Adam and Eve lost their place in Eden and the whole of creation was implicated in their fall. However, even here, at the very beginning, God had a plan to restore Adam and Eve and to renew the creation.
Reader - Gen 3:10 – 15 Carolyn Andrew
Sing – Come thou long expected Jesus
Narrator: God chose Abraham, and his family, to represent all humanity and to be the human family through which a great king would arise who would reverse the curse of the fall. Thus, began the miraculous journey of redemption. The first two generations to be born to Abraham and Sarah were miraculously conceived, setting the template for all those who would be called children of Abraham. Through this family all the families on earth would be blessed.
Reader - Gen 12: 1-4, Gen 21: 1-7 – Rob Smedley
Sing – The God of Abraham praise
Narrator: Isaiah was a prophet who spoke the Word of God to the people of God in a time of great distress and exile. He looked forward to a time when all that was lost would be restored, when Israel would receive a king who would fulfil all that the prophets had foretold. He would be a king like no other and his kingdom would last forever and be for all nations.
Reader - Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6-7. - Carolyn Andrew
Sing – Unto us a baby is born TIS 293
Narrator: At every significant moment in the history of Israel, angels were agents of the news. For the Jewish people, the announcement of divine purpose was put beyond question when it came through the agency of angels and the Advent story is abounding with angels. When the angel of the Lord visited Mary, he told her that she would be the virgin who would carry the Messiah in her womb.
Reader - Luke 1:26-38 – Rob Smedley
Solo - O Holy Night – Guila Tiver
Narrator: Before time, God the Father dwelt with the Son and the Holy Spirit in an eternal communion of profound connection. God wanted to share that dwelling and connection with humanity and in the age of the Old Testament, God dwelt with this people in tent and temple. But now, in Jesus Christ, God dwells with us, as one of us. Jesus is Emmanuel – God with us.
Reader - Matthew 1:18-23 - Carolyn Andrew
Sing - Joy to the World TIS 268
Narrator: The King of kings, the Lord of Glory entered humanity humbly; he became two cells in the womb of the Virgin Mary and was born in a shed at the back of a village pub and laid in a food trough. He truly was one of us.
Reader - Luke 2:1-7 – Rob Smedley
Sing - O Little Town of Bethlehem TIS 316
Narrator: The grand announcement of the greatest event was not made in a palace or a temple. Instead it was declared in the most unlikely place and to the least of men—sheep herders in a lonely field. This was good news for the ordinary people, living ordinary lives in ordinary places all over the world.
Reader - Luke 2:8-15 – Carolyn Andrew
Sing - While shepherds watched TIS 299
Narrator: The Good News is bad news for the kingdoms of this world. Kings and kingdoms will all pass away but this king and his kingdom, and his power and his glory will last forever and ever.
Reader - Matthew 2:1-2, Matthew 2:7-11 – Rob Smedley
Sing – Come all ye faithful
Narrator: Throughout history humanity has been waiting and hoping for the perfect political leader or a dependable and ethical government to arise. But every king falls and every kingdom crumbles. But there is one King who is just, generous and stronger than death, and his kingdom will last for ever and ever, and it will be for all people. This is the good news and the best news you’ll ever hear.
Reader – Psalm 72: 1-8 – Carolyn Andrew
Sing - Hark the herald angels sing
Offering
Message
Benediction
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