“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”  Isaiah 9:2

Christmas Eve, Saturday 12/24

4pm Family Service.  A special service for families with young children.

Download a copy of this year’s 4PM Family Service bulletin here.

7pm Service of Lessons and Carols.  A cycle of Scripture readings and hymns led by a jazz quintet for all ages. We will celebrate the Lord’s Supper as a part of this service. No nurseries provided for Christmas Eve Services. Children of all ages welcome.

Download a copy of this year’s 7PM Lessons & Carols Service bulletin here.

At both Christmas Eve Service, an offering will be taken for the Deacon’s Mercy Fund to provide financial assistance for the needy in our church and community and for ministries approved by the WEPC Diaconate.  At the 4PM service, children may make an offering of non-perishable food for the WEPC Food Pantry.

Christmas Day, Sunday 12/25

On Sunday, December 25, we will gather for a 10:30am worship service. There will be no nursery, Sunday School, or Children’s Worship. As always, children are welcomed and encouraged to worship with their families.

Download a copy of this year’s Christmas Day Service bulletin here.

::  Download the 2.22.2015 Worship Study Guide and Sermon Notes
::  Download the 2.22.2015 Bulletin
:: Download the 2.22.2015 Sermon Audio

image :: Etching: Poems of W.B. Yeats, Richard Diebenkorn (1990)

Preparation for Worship :: Follow

“Just as character can only be truly rendered in narrative form, so the answer to the question ‘Who am I?’ can only be given if we ask ‘What’s my story?’ and that can only be answered if there is an answer to the further question, ‘What is the whole story of which my story is a part?’” (Lesslie Newbigin)

Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for February 22 include ::

::  Praise to the Lord the Almighty (Joachim Neander, 1680) CHART [bandcamp track=2701349241 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
::  Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) CHART [bandcamp track=2257784892 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
::  Jesus, I my Cross Have Taken (Henry Lyte, 1825) CHART [bandcamp track=1380076138 bgcol=FFFFFF linkcol=4285BB size=short]
::  All The Way My Savior Leads Me (Fanny Crosby, 1875) CHART //  audio

Call to Worship :: Psalm 9:1-2,11

I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of Your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High. Sing praises to the LORD, who sits enthroned in Zion!  Tell among the peoples His deeds!

Gospel Reading  ::  Luke 9:57-62

As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Sermon  ::  I Kings 19:19-21

¹⁹ So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. ²⁰ And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” ²¹ And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him.

Prayer of Confession

Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” (Mark 1:14-15)

Merciful God, we have sinned in what we have thought and said, in the wrong we have done, and in the good we have not done.  You proclaimed the Gospel of God, but we have been slow to repent; forgive our cold hearts.  You said the Kingdom was at hand, but we have been slow to trust; forgive our unbelief.  You called us to follow You, but we are given to our own way; forgive our rebel lusts.  Forgive us, for our Savior Christ’s sake, and renew our lives to the glory of Your name.  Amen.

Words of Encouragement :: II Corinthians 5:21

God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

::  Download the 11.17.2013 Worship Study Guide & Sermon Notes

::  Download the 11.17.2013 Bulletin

::  Listen to the 11.17.2013 Sermon Audio

image :: Kabe (Wall), Kiyoshi Saito (20th century, Japan)

Preparation for Worship  ::  Brought Near

“When Christ saves a man he not only saves him from his sin, he saves him from his solitude.” (Frank Colquhoun)

“Forgiveness flounders because I exclude the enemy from the community of humans and myself from the community of sinners.” (Miroslav Volf)

“In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you’.”  (Zechariah 9:23)

:: Come and Welcome (Thomas Haweis, 1792) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=3165625088 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=1]

::  Every Ditch, Every Valley (Peter La Grand, 2008) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2929548631 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=3]

:: The Church’s One Foundation (Samuel J. Stone, 1866) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2284543217 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=14]

:: In Christ Alone (Getty & Townend, 2001) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=1060200358 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=12]

:: Father Long Before Creation  (Chinese Hymn, c.1951) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=2817376614 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=1]

:: Doxology (Thomas Ken, 1709) [bandcamp width=100% height=42 album=1406506152 size=small bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 t=7]

Call to Worship  ::  Psalm 47:1-5

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make His face to shine upon us. That Your way may be known on earth, Your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for You judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise You, O God; let all the peoples praise You!

Old Testament Reading  ::  Isaiah 40:3-6,8

A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

A voice says, “Cry out.”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”

“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”

Sermon  ::  Ephesians 2:8-13

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. ¹¹ Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— ¹² remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

We Confess Our Sin Together

Gracious Lord, we confess that we have dishonored You in our words, thoughts and deeds. We have lived as a people without a God. Depending on our strength, we stumble in our pride. Glorying in our own righteousness, we reject You in our unbelief. Turning our faces from You, we worship created things in our rebellion. We pray for You to forgive us our sin against You; Lead us to rejoice that we been brought near by the blood of Christ. Amen.

Words of Encouragement  ::  I Peter 2:9-10

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may de­clare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Benediction