Order of Service / Second after Christmas / January 4, 2026

 *Gathering Hymn Arise, Your Light is Come (#79 VU)

Welcome & Land Acknowledgement

Lighting the Christ Candle

Call to Worship

One: The light shines in the darkness.

  All: And the darkness has not overcome it.

One: In Christ, God gives grace upon grace.

  All: We open our hearts to the gift of God.

One: God gathers the scattered and strengthens the weary.

All: God restores our souls and renews our hope.

One: Come, let us worship the God who has come near.

  All: We worship with wonder, gratitude, and praise.

Opening Prayer

*Opening Hymn Come Touch Our Hearts (#12 MV | vs. 1,2,4)

Prayer of Confessional and Renewal (Unison)

Holy One, your love reaches through every generation, a steady light of hope and promise for all. Yet we confess that we have not always lived in that light. We have hurt others with our words, stayed silent when we should have acted, and turned away from what we knew was right. Forgive us, and soften what has grown hard within us. Help us let go of what we carry in fear or pride. Hold us close in your peace, and lead us into this new year with courage and compassion. In silence now, we offer our personal prayers of confession. (a time of silent confession) Amen.

Words of Assurance

One: When we come with honest hearts, God does not push us away.

All: We are welcomed, and we can breathe again.

One: In Jesus Christ, God calls us by name and claims us as beloved.

  All: We are not alone. We are held by mercy.

One: We are freed to begin again, to live with courage, and to love with compassion.

  All: Thanks be to God. We will walk forward in peace.

Announcements and Minute for Mission

Time for God’s Children

Prayer for Illumination

Proclaiming the Scriptures

Jeremiah 31:7-14 I will turn mourning into joy.

Psalm 147:12-20 (VU p. 868-869, P 2) God sends God’s word to earth.

John 1:10-18 The Word became flesh; we have seen his glory.

This is the Good News from the Bible.

  Thanks be to God.

Anthem

Sermon

*Hymn A Light Is Gleaming (#82 VU)

*Offering

*Offertory Hymn As with Gladness Men of Old (v.3 | #81 VU)

As they offered gifts most rare at that manger rude and bare,

so may we with holy joy, pure and free from sin's alloy,

all our costliest treasures bring, Christ, to you, our heavenly King.

*Offertory Prayer (Unison)
Loving God, all that we have and all that we are come from you. As your Word became flesh and lived among us, let your love take flesh through what we offer today. Bless both the giver and the gift, and use them for your purposes of grace and truth. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, the Light of the world. Amen.

Prayers of the People and Lord’s Prayer

*Closing Hymn O Christian Love (#594 VU)

*Commissioning

One: As we go out into the world,

  All: May we remember all the wisdom that God, the Creator, and Jesus, the Christ, have taught us.

One: May we use those teachings daily, as we interact with others.

All: May we spread kindness and love everywhere we go, in Christ’s loving name. Amen.

* Stephen Ernst. Gathering ACE 2022/2023. Page 50.

*Commissioning Song I Am Walking a Path of Peace (#221 MV)

I am walking a path with light, I am walking a path with light

I am walking a path with light, lead me home, lead me home.

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