Order of Worship 

Prelude    
“Comfort, Comfort Ye My People”    
Psalter


Welcome and Greeting    
Rev. Dan Schumacher


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Lighting of the Christ Candle     
Tim & Malia Gross


Gathering Praise        
“Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus”    
FBC Praise Team             
The Worship Initiative
    
Call to Worship               
“Blessing of Hope”   by Jan Richardson                
Lydia Martinez
                                  
So may we know the hope that is not just for someday
    but for this day— here, now, in this moment that opens to us:
hope not made of wishes but of substance,
    hope made of sinew and muscle and bone,
hope that has breath and a beating heart,
    hope that will not keep quiet and be polite,
hope that knows how to holler when it is called for,
    hope that knows how to sing when there seems little cause,
hope that raises us from the dead--
    not someday but this day, every day,
again and again and again. Amen.


Congregational Hymn #95    
“Prepare the Royal Highway”    
BEREDEN VAG FOR HERRAN


Invocation and Lord’s Prayer             
Rev. Dan Schumacher
   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 debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Musical Offering              
 “Every Valley”                          
Helmore 
David Orozco, tenor  


Scripture Reading                
Luke 3:1-6 (NRSV)             
Rev. Dan Schumacher

  In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”


Sermon                     
“Prepare the Way”         
Rev. Dan Schumacher


Moment of Reflection


Invitation to The Table, The Bread, and The Cup     
Rev. Dan Schumacher and Rev. Bill Wolfe


Benediction Hymn #267    
​“Blest Be the Tie That Binds”                     
DENNIS
Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.


Postlude    
“My Soul Proclaims with Wonder”    
Moyer



WORSHIP NOTES: ADVENT
The four weeks before Christmas are a preparation time for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus. The color purple symbolizes Jesus’ royalty.  This is a season of anticipation as we wait for the Christ child to be born. We also use this time to remember that Christ will come again. The first Sunday of Advent marks the first day of the Christian calendar. This season is most known for the lighting of the candles on the Advent wreath. Each candle is named for the theme of that Sunday, and are Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. The Christ Candle is not lit until Christmas Eve, but stays lit each Sunday for the rest of the year (with the exception of Good Friday when it is extinguished to signify Jesus’ crucifixion).