The View from the Middle: Service Outline for Sunday, January 2, 2022

Welcome to worship at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church!

PRELUDE Divinum Mysterium Burkhardt

* CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS

Blessed be the holy Trinity, + one God, who sends the word with angels, who is made flesh among all peoples, and who breathes peace on all the earth.

Amen.

In Christ, we are bold to name our sin and cry out for peace.

Silence is kept for reflection.

Holy God,

we confess our sin before you.

We replace compassion with competition.

We seek what is mighty while ignoring the meek.

We are quick to anger but slow to forgive.

We have not put on love in harmony with you.

Wrap us in the grace of your powerful Word.

Swaddle our hearts with your peace,

that all we do, in word or deed,

may reflect your love born among us.

Amen.

I bring you good news of great joy for all people: God has come among us in the child born of Mary, Christ the Lord. + In Christ your sins are forgiven and you are clothed in peace.

Amen.

HYMN Hark! The Herald Angels Sing #270 v. 1,3

GREETING

The grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the love of God, and communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

And also with you.

KYRIE

HYMN OF PRAISE Angels We Have Heard on High #289

PRAYER OF THE DAY

Children's message

FIRST READING: Jeremiah 31:7-14

⁷For thus says the LORD: Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, "Save, O LORD, your people, the remnant of Israel." ⁸See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here. ⁹With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble; for I have become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. ¹⁰Hear the word of the LORD, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away; say, "He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd a flock." ¹¹For the LORD has ransomed Jacob, and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him. ¹²They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall become like a watered garden, and they shall never languish again. ¹³Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. ¹⁴I will give the priests their fill of fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty, says the LORD.

PSALM: Psalm 147:12-20

¹²Worship the LORD, ^| O Jerusalem; praise your ^| God, O Zion,

¹³who has strengthened the bars ^| of your gates and has blessed your chil- ^| dren within you.

¹⁴God has established peace ^| on your borders and satisfies you with the ^| finest wheat.

¹⁵God sends out a command ^| to the earth, a word that runs ^| very swiftly.

¹⁶God gives ^| snow like wool, scattering ^| frost like ashes.

¹⁷God scatters ^| hail like bread crumbs. Who can stand a- ^| gainst God's cold?

¹⁸The LORD sends forth the ^| word and melts them; the wind blows, and the ^| waters flow.

¹⁹God declares the ^| word to Jacob, statutes and judg- ^| ments to Israel.

²⁰The LORD has not done so to any ^| other nation; they do not know God's judgments. ^| Hallelujah!

SECOND READING: Ephesians 1:3-14

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. ⁵He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight ⁹he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, ¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ¹¹In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, ¹²so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. ¹³In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; ¹⁴this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

GOSPEL: John 1:[1-9] 10-18

[¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being ⁴in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. ⁶There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.] ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. ¹¹He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. ¹²But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵(John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.'") ¹⁶From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

SERMON

HYMN Cold December Flies Away #299 v. 1,3

APOSTLES CREED

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen

PRAYERS AND PEACE

OFFERING

COMMUNION PRAYER

LORD'S PRAYER

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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen

DISTRIBUTION OF COMMUNION

HYMN What Child is This #296