Welcoming and Announcements – Pastor Ross

Prelude – Veni, Emmanuel ‐ Arr. Ellsasser

Meditation:

This Advent let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that the Lord has made known to us. In the midst of shopping sprees let’s ponder in our hearts the Gift of Gifts. Through the tinsel let’s look for the gold of the Christmas Star. In the excitement and confusion, in the merry chaos, let’s listen for the brush of angel’s wings. This Advent, let’s go to Bethlehem and find our kneeling places. ~Ann Weems

Silent Prayer – Pastor Linda

Prayer Song – Away in a Manger ‐ Hymnal #217

Pastoral Prayer, Lord’s Prayer

Lighting of the Advent Candles – Jeff Nelson and Penny Cross

Special Music – Infant Holy, Infant Lowly ‐ Composer – Juan Hernandez

Offering – Pastor Ross

Scripture Reading – Matthew 1:18‐21 – Joe Gosha

Message – Angels We Have Heard ‐ Paster Dave

Matthew 1:18-21 – New Revised Standard Version

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit.

¹⁹ Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly.

²⁰ But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

²¹ She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

The word of God for the people of God.

The story of Joseph’s visitation by angel. A look at experience of people of faith and angels, announcing God’s decisive action.  Angels appear throughout the Christmas story and invite people to be part of the birth of the messiah. God’s request of Joseph is a great act of faith for him and for us.

In the Bible, angels have a lot to do with sex, death and dangerous journeys. They are not mild-mannered Sunday School stuff. Angels provide a steady backdrop in the universe of praise & worship. They are a shorthand description of everything that’s just around the corner of our perception & understanding in the universe. Angels in Christmas story are a way God invites Mary, Joseph and us to live in this story. Angels share an invitation to participate in the birth and life of Christ.

We’re all hungry for and long for the transcendent in our lives. Angels tell how God always breaks through our lives and our world. God infiltrates the barriers & inertia of our lives and the brokenness of our world.  We long to know God can move through the layers of human pain and across the borders of our aloneness. Christmas about how God breaks through the barriers of the world: power of culture that conforms us to hatred, greed, violence, prejudice, fear.