12-13-2020 Order of Service and Announcements

 

Order of Service

Opening Hymn                                                                                 Page 346

Divine Service 1 (page 151)   Psalm 85

Sermon hymn                                                                                   Page 345

Sermon                                                                                Matt 11:2-10 (11)

“Jesus comes to heal and preach the Gospel.  He is the “least one” in the kingdom, and thus greater than John”

Communion hymns                                                           Page 365, 366, 386

Closing hymn                                                                                    Page 849

ANNOUNCEMENTS

INTIMATE SACRAMENT:  We continue to celebrate the Lord’s Supper every week for those who have not been able to commune in some time, in the glad confidence and confession, that our Lord, as He says, gives not only bread and wine, but His very body and blood to eat and drink for the forgiveness of sin.  In these pandemic times, we have instituted as much as possible the physical distancing and sanitation practices to assure your physical safety, while still providing Christ for your physical/spiritual/emotional/psychological safety against sin, death, and the devil. If you do not share in this confession of our congregation and LC-Missouri Synod, or are not yet instructed, or have doubts – please speak to the pastor first. Or, you are invited to come to the rail for a blessing and meditate on God’s Word during the distribution, praying for the day when divisions will have ceased.

 IN YOUR PRAYERS: Please pray for those members in area facilities: Salem-Mennonite Home, Melton, Wyona, Norbert, Marlene, Sharon, Darlene, Bob, & Eldora. Oakview Terrace, Lavonne, Orville, Millie, Bernice, Alice, Ruth, Lorna. and those Low Mobility at home: Susan, Harvey, Dianne, Connie, Berneita, Lonnie and those Additional Requested Prayers:  Kahlen, John (JJ)* Cheryl, Bryan. 

ADVENT MIDWEEK SERIES, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 16 @ 7:00PM. Ever wonder why Jesus is called the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, (1 Timothy 15:b)? It is because Jesus Christ reigns supreme over the heavens and the earth. From the beginning of time, people have awaited the coming Messiah, the Word of God incarnate. Christians, being justified into Him by grace through faith, enjoy the fulfillment of Christ’s reign in the same heavenly calling, but in three separate orders in our earthly callings. God still reigns in them, but perhaps differently in each of our many and various vocations of life. God has not left these vocations to chaos however but has also redeemed these earthly vocations in the life of a Christian into a heavenly order until He returns on the Last Day. Come hear how God orders our lives in this world of chaos.

FOR MEMORIAL POINSETTIAS please contact Dawn Walz at 660-0264 or 925-4200 by December 18th. The poinsettias will be displayed in the church December 20 thru December 27 at which time they may be picked up. 

ADVENT IS SOMETIMES CALLED A MINI-LENT. Before it changed to blue, the color of the season was purple, the same as Lent. Some still do. Yet Advent is not Christmas. Advent is the time that we - like the Israelites who waited for the Messiah and who was finally born -wait on the other side of history where we wait for His return on the Last Day. This is why the Christmas trees are dark. We could wait like the early church used to before we put them up, but we don't do that, we simply wait to light them. This is why we light one candle a week on the Advent wreath leading up to His Nativity.in growing anticipation of the light who is coming into the world. And yet like Lent (where we still sing Alleluias during the Sacrament and Sundays are not counted in the forty days of Lent) in the season of Advent, the trees are lit during the Sacrament of the Altar and we do sing Christmas songs. Because He "advents" to us in the Sacrament. - Pastor

Please call the pastor to set up an appointment for Him to bring the Altar of the Lord to you in your home if you cannot come - or Covid prevents you from coming - to the regular congregation of the church.

OFFERING ENVELOPES are located on the table in the fellowship hall. Please pick them up at your convenience, Remember, St. Paul Lutheran has been set up to accept secure bank transfers as a new option to writing checks or cash for offering donations.  Click the link on stpaulfreemanblogspot.com or contact one of the Finance Officers:  Penny Saarie 351-7848., Vicky Huber, Joni Knittel, or Treasure Sharon Pfeiffer

ARE YOU WILLING TO HELP with Altar flowers for next year? Instead of making phone calls to individuals we have posted a monthly schedule on the bulletin board in the fellowship hall, you can sign your name for a certain month if you are interested in helping. Thanks.

MAIN STREET LIVING:  This is the Life at 10:00 a.m. and Worship Service at 10:30 a.m.  See BlogSpot for monthly schedule