7th Day Before Christmas: Saturday 18 Dec 2021
[Revised Common Lectionary Year C]

+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening:

Gracious God, your people look forward in hope
to the festival of our Savior’s birth.
Give us the strength to reach that happy day of salvation
and to celebrate it with hearts full of joy.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.

“Rejoice with Jerusalem!
Be glad with her, all you who love her
and all you who mourn for her.”
(Isaiah 66:10)

__________

Psalms: Psalm 80: Lord Make Us Turn To You – by Bill Monaghan

__________

OT Reading: Isaiah 66:7-11 (NLT)

66:7 “Before the birth pains even begin,
Jerusalem gives birth to a son.
8 Who has ever seen anything as strange as this?
Who ever heard of such a thing?
Has a nation ever been born in a single day?
Has a country ever come forth in a mere moment?
But by the time Jerusalem’s birth pains begin,
her children will be born.
9 Would I ever bring this nation to the point of birth
and then not deliver it?” asks the Lord.
“No! I would never keep this nation from being born,”
says your God.

10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem!
Be glad with her, all you who love her
and all you who mourn for her.
11 Drink deeply of her glory
even as an infant drinks at its mother’s comforting breasts.”

__________

The First Song of Isaiah – SCC Children’s Choir along with the Sanctuary Choir.
[Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas]

__________

NT Reading: Luke 13:31-35 (NLT)

Jesus Grieves over Jerusalem

13:31 At that time some Pharisees said to him, “Get away from here if you want to live! Herod Antipas wants to kill you!”

32 Jesus replied, “Go tell that fox that I will keep on casting out demons and healing people today and tomorrow; and the third day I will accomplish my purpose. 33 Yes, today, tomorrow, and the next day I must proceed on my way. For it wouldn’t do for a prophet of God to be killed except in Jerusalem!

34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. 35 And now, look, your house is abandoned. And you will never see me again until you say, ‘Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

__________

Blessed Is He Who Comes – FOREVER GOOD – Paul Wilbur

__________

Prayer: 

An Encouraging Prayer for Christians in the Here and Not Yet

Father,

We live stuck in between two realms . . . the world we live in and the eternity we look forward to in heaven. In the middle chaos abounds, and less makes sense or aligns with the truth of Your Word or Your intention for creation. But through it all, You reign. Jesus sits on Your right-hand side, and death has already been defeated.

In Your great mercy, You are waiting for every ear to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, leaving opportunity for all to come to You and live in the presence of Your love. We pray today that you bless our lives to honor You in everything we do. Every conversation, idle moment, and seemingly everyday task—let all we do be for Your glory.

In this life between here and the not yet, give us courage and bravery to operate in Your Truth even when we are afraid. As they strip Your name from everything and everywhere, let us proclaim it louder and longer . . . and everywhere we go. Jesus Christ has defeated death. In Him, we are victorious, and He will come again. Be our strength when it’s hard to be Christians in this world. Embrace us with Your encouragement and fortify us with Your perfect love.

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen.

__________

Benediction: -Romans 15:5-6

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of the mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

__________

+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.