Worship
Service for December 26, 2021
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Prelude
Announcements:
·
You can join us for in-person worship at Olivet
Presbyterian Church in West Elizabeth, PA at 9:45 or at Bethesda United Presbyterian
Church in Elizabeth, PA at 11:15.
Call to Worship
L: Arise, shine, for your light has come!
P: The glory of the Lord has risen upon us!
L: Like sages from afar, come and behold your
Christ!
P: Let us fall on our knees in His
honor! Let us lift up our voices in
praise of His name!
Opening Hymn – Angels From the Realms of Glory #22 Blue Hymnal
Prayer of Confession
All-glorious
God, we have faith in Jesus Christ, and love towards Your people, yet we are
not without blemish in Your sight, not full of love, wisdom, and other
spiritual blessings You still have available for us. Our love is not as inclusive as Yours, and
there is still much we need to learn.
Give us clearer vision of all that we are meant to be, so that by
becoming fulfilled, we may increase the glory that is properly revealed in
Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son. (Silent
prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: Friends, hear the Good News! Christ has come to set us free. He has come to show us the hope, joy, peace,
and love of God.
P: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven. Thanks be to God. AMEN.
Gloria Patri
Affirmation of Faith/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 Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the
third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge
the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the
resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN
Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s
Prayer
We give thanks this
morning, O God, for Your faithfulness through the many generations that have
walked this earth – for You were the God of Job in his suffering. You were the God of Jeremiah in the exile. You were the God of David in his wealth,
power, and rule. You were the God of Ruth
as she sought to find a place and a people to call home. You were the God Anna in her old age and in
her eagerness to see Your promises fulfilled.
You were the God of Luke, who sought to understand You as Savior and Lord. You were the God and Mary and Joseph who put
their trust in You. You were the God of the
shepherds who stood in amazement at the voices of the angels. You were the God of the wisemen who sought
truth in the signs and portents of their day.
You were the God of Mary Magdalene who found forgiveness and strength in
You. And You are our God, who seek
guidance, wisdom, comfort and mercy in Your compassionate love.
We give thanks that
Your people have found ways to worship You in various places of prayer with
Cathedral Ceilings and beautiful stained glass windows, with dirt floors and
tin roofs, with icons of saints or the cooing of doves. We have sung Your praise in quiet circles
under the stars or with the heavenly voices of trained choirs. Along our vast pilgrim way through the eons,
You have provided the sustenance and refreshment for both body and soul. We are most blessed when we put our trust in
You. We ask that you continue to provide
for us in our generation, be with us Lord and bless us with Your favor.
We pray for our loved
ones…
In this moment of
silence, hear the voices of our hearts…
And now with one voice,
we pray…
Our Father who art in
heaven, Hallowed by Thy name. Thy
kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. 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.
Hymn – Gentle
Mary Laid Her Child #27 Blue Hymnal
Scripture Reading(s):
OT – Psalm 148
NT – Luke 2:41-52
Sermon – Searching for Jesus!
Have you ever lost sight of your children? A friend of mine tells this story: He remembers his mother taking him shopping
during the Christmas Season. All he
wanted to do was look at toys. His
mother was not interested in looking at toys.
She was interested in looking at shoes and clothes. Needless to say he was bored to death. To alleviate his boredom he wandered off on
his own to find the toy department. He
didn’t bother to tell his mother that he was going to the toy department. He just assumed she would know where he was.
Of course, his mother panicked as she began looking all
over the store for him once she turned around and couldn’t find him. After a frantic search she went to the
information desk and asked someone to announce over the intercom for her son to
come to the front of the store. Hearing
his name broadcast for the entire store to hear was bad enough, but at this
point he wasn’t exactly sure where the front of the store was. As he worked his way through one department
and the next, hopefully towards the front of the store, his mother caught sight
of him. Immediately, the look of fear on
her face turned into relief. But then
one second later, her relief turned into anger, and the lecture began: “Where
have you been? Do you know I’ve been
searching all over this store for you?
Do you know what you’ve put me through?
Don’t you ever leave my sight again!”
He tried to defend himself as best he could, but to no avail and he got
disciplined when they got home.
If you’ve ever lost sight of a child, I’m sure you can
relate to Mary and Joseph in today’s Scripture passage, as well. Our scripture begins with the family of Mary,
Joseph, and Jesus travelling to Jerusalem from Nazareth to celebrate
Passover. The celebration of Passover
required a pilgrimage once a year to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer
sacrifices. This was about a 3-day
journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem. Luke
tells us that Jesus was 12 years old at the time of this particular journey. This is the age that a Jewish male moves from
boyhood to manhood. He and his family
would celebrate this passage to adulthood in a ceremony we now call Bar
Mitzvah, which means Son of the Law or Subject to the Law. Being a Son of the Law meant that Jesus would
be expected to know the difference between right and wrong. And Jesus is eager to share his understanding
of the Law with the teachers of the Law so he stays at the Temple without
informing his parents, perhaps like my friend and his mother, assuming they’d
know where he would be.
Jesus astounds the religious leaders and scholars with his
questions and knowledge of scripture. In
the meantime, Mary and Joseph had already packed up and begun the journey back
to Nazareth. At some point during their
journey home they suddenly notice that Jesus is missing! Think of what any mother might have felt. He’s not just missing in a department store,
he’s been missing on a traveling journey out of Jerusalem. He could be anywhere. Mary and Joseph immediately turn around and
rush back to Jerusalem searching for Jesus along the way.
Notice that when they find him, they are astonished, but
Mary nonetheless addresses him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching
for you in great anxiety.” Notice also
in Jesus’s response that he did not consider himself lost. “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my
Father’s house.” Mary and Joseph thought
Jesus was lost and searched for him.
They were looking for a child instead of a man. They searched the travelling caravan and all
the places in between instead of the Temple.
They were looking in the wrong places.
They were surprised, in the end, to find Jesus in the Temple. Perhaps, we too, are looking for God in all
the wrong places?
Parents often teach children this prayer, “Now I lay me
down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul
to keep. The angels watch me through the
night until I wake in morning light, Amen.”
Do you remember that prayer?
Maybe you have taught it to your children. It’s a great prayer for kids, but as we grow
into adulthood, our prayer requests and our needs change, become a bit more
mature. If you’re still looking for the
Jesus from your childhood that is self-centered and self-serving like in the
childhood prayer, maybe it’s time to consider a more mature relationship with
God.
In our scripture reading today, I think it is significant
that Luke tells us that Jesus is 12 years old, the time in Christ’s day when a
child becomes a man. I think it is also
significant that Mary addresses him still as, “Child.” Jesus was no longer a child. He has moved on from childish things and is
maturing into adulthood. We need to do
the same in our own faith, as well.
1 Corinthians 13:11 says, “When I was a child, I spoke like
a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an
adult, I put an end to childish ways.”
The Lord’s Prayer is a very different prayer from our prayers as
children. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer
we put God first. We pray for God’s will
not ours. We pray for bread not just for
us but for others. We pray for
forgiveness not just for us but for others.
We pray to God, for the ability to be like God, so we can forgive
others. The Lord’s Prayer takes us on a
spiritual journey with God, by forming us, and shaping us to be mature disciples
of Christ.
As our faith grows and matures our ability to see God and
hear God grows. During our journey we
use our eyes and ears of faith to witness the many signs and wonders of
God. These can be found in keeping our
eyes and ears open to the stories of others surrounding us, through serving
others, by putting our lives in proper perspective. Only then can we truly find God. We are no longer children, but should be maturing
in our faith.
Mary and Joseph thought Jesus was lost, but he wasn’t. He was right where he was supposed to
be. They were the ones who needed to
turn around. They were the ones who
needed to re-direct their journey. They
were the ones who needed to search for Jesus—not because he was lost, but
because they were lost without him.
Becoming a disciple of Christ is our most important journey
on earth. It’s a journey we take each
day towards and closer to God. It’s a
spiritual journey and it starts right here in church. But it doesn’t start and stop there. Some of us get stuck here as it becomes just
a ritual, a place to be on Sunday morning.
Jesus didn’t stay in the Temple.
He went out. He took the lessons
he’d learned, the ways of faith into maturity and he lived them, bringing
everyday life, everyday circumstances, everyday parables into teaching a
spiritual truth. Some of us, leave the
Temple or Church and never find our way back, thinking that we’ve left behind
our childish ways. But Jesus also didn’t
leave the Temple or Church altogether.
It was central to his entire ministry.
He worshipped there and taught there.
He was often called “Rabbi/Teacher.”
Today’s story is a reminder that our faith begins in
childlike ways but should mature and grow.
It’s also a reminder that we are not to lose sight of Jesus along the
way, although we might find ourselves going in the wrong direction, there is
always a path back to God.
AMEN
Offertory – Bethesda’s Choir “Come, See”
Doxology
Prayer of Dedication
Heavenly Lord, we know that the gifts of our
hands are no substitute for the loyalty of our lives. In giving back these blessings, we pledge
ourselves to Your service. In Christ’s
name, AMEN.
Closing Hymn – It Came Upon a Midnight Clear #38 Blue Hymnal
Benediction
Just as people of faith from
past generations sought to honor and obey God, seeking moments of truth and
clarity for their own destiny, God invites you into the story as well. Go, find your own path, and serve the Lord.
Postlude
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