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Preparing Our Hearts Prelude ** Call to Worship SERVICE of WORSHIP

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Preparing Our Hearts Prelude ** Call to Worship SERVICE of WORSHIP SERVICE OF WORSHIP | CPC ADVENT | The season of Advent, a season of waiting, is designed to cultivate our awareness of God’s actions – past, present, and future. In Advent we hear the prophecies of the Messiah’s coming as addressed to us – people who wait for the second coming. In Advent we heighten our anticipation for the ultimate fulfillment of all Old Testament promises, when the wolf will lie down with the lamb, death will be swallowed up, and every tear will be wiped away. prelude PAT DOLAN As the music plays, please quietly prepare your heart and mind for worship, lifting your thoughts up from the cares of this world. Now Comes the Gentiles’ Savior (BWV 659) – J.S. Bach Savior of the Nations, Come – 16th ce. German tune /C. Moklebust Savior of the nations, come, Virgin’s Son, make here Thy home! Marvel now, O heaven and earth, That the Lord chose such a birth. preparing our hearts The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. – Exodus 15:2 ESV ** call to worship Leader: O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, All: For you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. Leader: He has swallowed up death forever. He has wiped away every tear. All: Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. – Based on Isaiah 25 & Luke 2:14 ESV Leader: They will call his name Immanuel. All: Come, let us adore him. ** Please stand if you are able 3 ** hymn Come, Thou Almighty King Come, thou Almighty King, help us thy name to sing, Help us to praise: Father, all glorious, o’er all victorious, Come, and reign over us, Ancient of days. Come, thou Incarnate Word, gird on thy mighty sword, Our prayer attend: Come and thy people bless, and give thy Word success; Spirit of holiness, on us descend. Come, Holy Comforter, thy sacred witness bear In this glad hour: Thou who almighty art, now rule in every heart, And ne’er from us depart, Spirit of power. To the great One in Three, eternal praises be, Hence evermore. His sovereign majesty may we in glory see, And to eternity love and adore. Words: Anonymous, Music: Giardani Felice. Public Domain. **prayer of invocation Leader: Send out your light and your truth; let them lead us; let them bring us to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then we will go to the altar of God, to God our exceeding joy, and we will praise you, O God, my God. This we pray by the light of your Son, Jesus Christ, whom you sent as the Light of the World. Amen. – Based on Psalm 43:3–4 4 advent reading & candle lighting KEVIN AND DEBBE TANNER The candle color for the first week of Advent is purple, symbolizing repentance. This week’s candle is called the Candle of Hope. It is the light that burned within the Prophets who longed for God’s Messiah. The Readings | Isaiah 7:14 and Revelation 21:1-5 ESV Leader: This is the word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God. ** hymn of praise What Wondrous Love is this What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul! What wondrous love is this, O my soul! What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul; to bear the dreadful curse for my soul. When I was sinking down, sinking down, sinking down, When I was sinking down, sinking down, When I was sinking down beneath God’s righteous frown, Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul. Christ laid aside his crown for my soul. To God and to the Lamb, I will sing, I will sing; To God and to the Lamb I will sing. To God and to the Lamb who is the great I Am; While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing. While millions join the theme, I will sing. And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on. And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on. And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be And through eternity, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on. And through eternity, I’ll sing on. Words: Folk Hymn, Music: American Folk Tune. Public Domain. 5 renewing our hearts CORPORATE CONFESSION OF SIN Leader: I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. – Psalm 32:5b-6a ESV Let us confess our sins to the Lord. All: Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, And put on the armor of light. We confess our sins to you and hide our lives in Christ, Who visited us in great humility, to redeem us from our sin and shame, That in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty, To judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; Through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen. Please reflect and silently confess your sins. o Come, O Come, Emmanuel ** All: O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. Latin hymn. Translated by John Mason Neale, Music: Thomas Helmore. Public Domain. ASSURANCE OF GRACE ** Leader: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. – Romans 8:1 ESV All: Thanks be to God! 6 ** hymn of gratitude IT IS Well With My Soul When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, you have taught me to say, “It is well, it is well with my soul.” * * Chorus: It is well (it is well) with my soul (with my soul); It is well, it is well with my soul. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blessed assurance control: That Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed his own blood for my soul. * My sin (oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!) – my sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to his cross and I bear it no more! Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! * And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll; The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend! Even so, it is well with my soul. * Words: Horatio Spafford; Music: Philip Bliss. Public Domain. scripture reading Leader: Isaiah 40:3-5 This is the Word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God! prayer An officer of the church prays for the world, nation, community, and church. Leader: All these mercies we ask in the name of Jesus, who prayed saying, All: Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name; Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors, Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil, For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever, Amen. 7 the ordination and installation of officers Presiding Minister: Whit Anderson Candidates: Introduction Questions to the Candidates 1. Do you believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as originally given, to be the inerrant Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice? 2. Do you sincerely receive and adopt the Confession of Faith and the Catechisms of this Church, as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Holy Scriptures; and do you further promise that if at any time you find yourself out of accord with any of the fundamentals of this system of doctrine, you will, on your own initiative, make known to your Session the change which has taken place in your views since the assumption of this ordination vow? 3. Do you approve of the form of government and discipline of the Presbyterian Church in America, in conformity with the general principles of biblical polity? 4. Do you accept the office of elder or deacon in this church, and promise faithfully to perform all the duties thereof, and to endeavor by the grace of God to adorn the profession of the Gospel in your life, and to set a worthy example before the Church of which God has made you an officer? 5. Do you promise subjection to your brethren in the Lord? 6. Do you promise to strive for the purity, peace, unity, and edification of the Church? Question to the Congregation Do you, the members of this church, acknowledge and receive these brothers as elders and deacons, and do you promise to yield them all that honor, encouragement and obedience in the Lord to which these offices, according to the Word of God and the Constitution of this Church, entitle them? The Laying On of Hands and Prayer Pronouncement & Charge: Minister: I now pronounce and declare that (names removed) have been regularly elected, ordained and installed elders or deacons in this church, agreeable to the Word of God, and according to the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church in America; and that as such they are entitled to all encouragement, honor and obedience in the Lord: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
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