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December 24, 2020 - 11:00 PM

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Candlelight Service - And on Earth, Peace

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Merry Christmas Merry Christmas it was just over 18 months ago the person I didn't even know called me and asked me if I would be interested in a call to Zion Lutheran Church and a year ago this month I accepted that, my name is Patrick Gallagher or Pastor Gallagher and I'm an associate pastor here to our Senior Pastor Jonathan ripke who will bring us the message tonight and it was a year ago Christmas Day when I preached my first message here and you may not remember that but I can remember my knees shaking and hands trembling and my voice quavering and things not going as well as I had hoped we're praying for different tonight we're praying for better tonight but at the end of a season that we've come through together to be able to sit in the house of worship where warm and it's comfortable with friends and family around us there is a joy in that as we celebrate the birth of our Lord couple of things that are going on in the next couple of days it would be helpful for you to know tomorrow is Saturday and Saturday at 5 p.m. we have a regular worship service but our regular worship service this Saturday will be online only at 5 tomorrow Sunday morning will have a 9 a.m. service and worship right here in the house and then Monday night at 6:30 or normal time we will have online worship only this Monday next week we'll start back into a regular schedule and there's a serious it's coming up that we love to tell you more about in just a little while but with all that being said it would be great for us to begin our time of worship together as we hear special music Dora and Friends please rise beginning in the name of father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit let us pray heavenly father with joy we enter into the contemplation of the Holy mystery of your son's Incarnation for us North Salvation open our minds to understand our hearts to believe and our miles to proclaim the glory of him who took our human flesh and blood to the Blessed Virgin in order to suffer and die in our place prepare our hearts to be sitting manges to cradle your son that he made dwelling us and we in him today and throughout all eternity through Jesus Christ Our Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit one God now and forever man let us confess our sins to God our Father merciful father we admitted we have done the evil you for me and have not done desire really sorry for the saracens have mercy on us who prayed for our sin with his own we have broken the bond of that you established with us to Jesus forgive us for our past and grant us your holy spirit that we may serve you and Holiness and righteousness From This Moment On set our feet upon the way of Christ that we do not depart from it but be found faithful and living lies of Peace when he comes again in his glory upon this your confession I by virtue of my office as a called and ordained servant of the announce the grace of God on to you all and then just add in by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all of your sins in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit the Peace of the Lord the child is born in Bethlehem both man and almighty God the Peace of the Lord be with you always and also with you you may be seated As we sing Our Hymn of the phrase Chef V stars in lingerie the Lord be with you let us pray oh God we give you thanks for the Treasure of your grace and the gift of your son to be our savior Our Redeemer and Artis help us so that we may rejoice in the birth of Jesus recognized the great Riches of your grace and peace and his birth believe in him and trust in him for our Salvation through Jesus Star-Lord who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit one God now and forever receive the reading of God's word the Old Testament reading is from Micah chapter 5 verses 2 through 5 but you will Bethlehem ephrathah who are you who are too little to be among the clans of Judah from you shall come forth from me who is the ruler in Israel from ancient days therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given further than the rest of the of his brother when do the people of Israel and he shall stand and Shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord in the Majesty of the name of the Lord is God and they shall dwell secure for now if you shall be great the ends of the Earth be their peace when they Syrian comes into you our land and Treads in our palaces the word of the Lord keep the pistol reading is from Ephesians chapter 2 verse 13 through 18 now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and his broken down in his Flash dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of Commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the 2018 peace am I reconcile to God in one body through the cross there by killing the hostility and he came and preached peace to you who were Farah and peace to those who are near for through him we both have six access in one Spirit to the father this is the word of the Lord price diesel Fry's Tucson Tuesday prophesied prices on Tuesday at Fry's please rise for the reading of the Gospel the holy Gospel According to Saint Luke in the second chapter Glory you oh Lord in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered this was the first registration in 1 Corinthians was governor of Syria and all went to be registered each year downtown and Joseph also went up From Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary his betrothed who was the child while they were there the time came for her to give birth and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a Manger because there was no place for them in the end and in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night and an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord Shone around them and they were filled with great fear and the angel said to them fear not for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people for unto you is Born This Day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the lord and this will be a sign for you find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace among those with whom he is pleased when the angels went away from them into heaven the shepherd said to one another let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us play what was Hastings how did Mary and Joseph in the babe lying in a manger and when they saw it they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child and all who heard it wondered at what the Shepherds told them but Mary treasured up all these things pondering them in her heart are the Shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them this is the gospel of the Lord praise to you o Christ you may be seated As we sing Our Hymn of the day from you're a happy world cargo holder grace mercy and peace be yours the Snipes from God our fathers who are newborn Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Luke Chapter 2 verses 13 and 14 once again and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace among those with whom he is pleased and on Earth peace peace among those with whom he is pleased I wonder if you take a look inside tonight I just inside this building but deep down inside right inside here I wonder if find someone deep down inside yourself with whom God is pleased pleased enough to give you his precious and wonderful and everlasting gifts peace a good working definition of Peace would be there is a state of Tranquility or quiet or freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions or Harmony and personal relation I think those are good definitions for peace don't you now don't think for a moment that I made those definitions up myself I opened up the dictionary and that's where I looked them up three different definitions under the word peace but they're good definitions of peace I think state of Tranquility or quiet freedom from disquieting or passive thoughts or emotions or Harmony and personal relations those are good definitions of peace and the angels of God are glad to bring peace among those with whom God is pleased they're glad to share that message of peace and shower that upon the world and so if God is willing to share peace those among whom he is pleased I wonder again if you take a look tonight deep down inside yourself I wonder if you will find someone there with whom God is pleased or if I could pose the question in this a different way tonight ascott bestows peace on those with whom he is pleased do you have peace do you have peace and I think that might be a difficult question to answer because if you have peace and how you feel about that deep down inside might depend on the day or the minute or the hour I asked you so I might ask you right now is this a moment of Peace for you can you might say I am in church on Christmas Eve at 11 in the service is going to end at midnight and that's going to be wonderful I am at peace but what if I come to you at about so I don't know 5:30 tomorrow morning when the kids pick up your pizza maybe next week when you go back to work or sometime after that will that be a moment of Peace for you I'm not sure exactly what kind of states have peace or not I may find you in a state of Tranquility or quiet or something else and so let us pause for just a moment and ask instead of the people in the story that we have heard about the people in that story of the first Christmas what's ask them do you have peace what is asked Joseph for instance who uprooted house and home to part is wife and unborn son to Bethlehem only to have to search for a place to stay when they came bumping into town so that the child could be born somewhere instead of out under the Open Sky is this piece let's go ahead and ask Caesar Augustus who lives way off in Imperial Rome he doesn't even know about Mary and Joseph but he's just ordered the census that has uprooted Mary and Joseph slice give us a life of luxury is an emperor and yet at the sea time he knows that he has to count the number of people in his Empire so that he can be sure just how many dollars in taxes will be coming in so that he can intern pay the thousands of soldiers that he employs to stand around the boundaries of his Empire keep so-called Barbarian peoples at Bay is this piece or maybe we could ask Mary whose life was upended by the appearance of one angel named Gabriel 9 months ago now who told this as yet unwed mother that she would become well not just to unwed but also a mother at the same time and that the child to be born to her was going to be the Son of God all these things in an instant and soaked in but a few moments time she goes from the Carefree happy person planning her dream wedding to a woman who is pregnant and worried and wondering what happens next is this piece or we could ask King Herod oops this is up and down in this Castle halls and he has servants who are at his beck and call they respect the very sight of his shadow but he knows also that in his shadow or his sons who are plotting his doom and he knows that the throne is only his as long as his Audi cars can grasp onto it is this piece let's go ahead and ask the Shepherds who are keeping watch over their flocks by night it was the wonderful Simple Life turn on the Hills outside of Bethlehem they eat granola they're fit as a fiddle cuz they walk everywhere of course without the available livestock vaccines and health insurance and Social Security known to Modern Man they know that in an instant there can be a sharp drop in the livestock market or a new virus to invade the flock or a small cut from a barbed wire fence to give them an infection that might kill them an incident could all go down in flames is this piece it's been a strange here this one that we've lived through right in some ways I been a little bit surprised his Christmas is crept up on us it's now almost here right at the end of the service and 31 minutes It'll be 12:25 20 right I haven't prepared in a lot of the usual ways this year the usual Pace singing mile markers haven't buy and sell Christmas Is Almost Here it's almost time and I didn't notice it and I don't think I'd be out of line to say that in this year not many of us have always been and ourselves at Peet's do maybe we're not a Joseph or a Mary or a shepherd I certainly hope maybe not Caesar Augustus and definitely not a King Herod but we haven't had a lot of peace on the whole skip forward to finding peace in our lives as a state of Tranquility or quiets or freedom from disquieting thoughts or emotions or Harmony in personal relations not a lot of pee is there perhaps our hearts and minds and thoughts could turn to National or International concerns when it comes to thinking about that kind of peace and how it slipped away but don't go as far as that stay low stay-at-home huh look around at your closest Circle and then look again deep down inside maybe there's not a lot of Peace there if we're honest with ourselves human beings by and large are not usually peacemakers and if we are peacemakers it's usually peace on our terms come on over to my side that's peace that's how it is with human being has been that way for a long time you know since the days of Mary and Joseph and all the rest to be sure but also since the day on which Adam and Eve succumb to sin and falling away from the good of Godspeed fruit and then they sell further and further away in the moments just thereafter from perfect peace they pointed the fingers and said he said no she made me and back and forth they went and so it goes on glory to God in the highest Angels Sing and on Earth peace among those with whom he is pleased if God were right here today and he is you're sitting right there in the center of our all Terraria looking out would he be pleased with us with you with me I wonder the good news about God our Heavenly father's that he doesn't wait for us to answer that question on our own terms is there peace in our lives how do we get it Yo Gotti answers that question on his terms in his way in his time in his Providence he provides his peace his face comes right into that toxic messages for country Palestine of the Roman Empire he places himself into the narrative as a father a good father Our Father is it that bubbling pot of social life that is anything but peaceful are blessed Heavenly Father punks down his one and only son born of the Virgin Mary a humble bit of skin and bone wrapped up in strips of cloth and place there in the manger various a baby those are God's terms of peace with us there is a baby who is Christ the Messiah the Messiah Christ the lord himself come down to dwell with us to be our savior Our Shepherd and our King this is God's peace I came for us not much familiar with King's Ann Arbor call today not in our country for sure George Washington famously rejected such an opinion even the monarchs of modern-day Europe barely have the authority to sign their own names much less make laws or decay is there any sort of a person to step forward today into our midst and called himself or herself the king I don't know that there would be many people out there who would accept that and that God puts forth his Kennedy says this is your king those are his terms for peace his son our Lord our King he's a good King is the best King he's the kind of King who would lay down his own life and love for his people he's the kind of Tang who would die and rise again so that our sin might be removed and we might have life Everlasting that's good he's also a king a king who holds power and authority to judge the living and the Dead and Lost to judge you and me do the terms of God's peace in Jesus and for those who follows a king there is indeed peace for those who follow the king there is peace upon those upon whom his River Rats those are the kind of terms that don't leave a lot of room for a wiggle its Jesus or nothing else Danielle Cohn houses that for those who believe for those who believe there will be a state of Tranquility of freedom from oppressive thoughts or emotions of Harmony and personal relations that's not just for a day or an hour for all eternity so where is peace in this world praise the lord it's right here with us tonight in a Manger and God knows all he knows how human hearts will not speak that piece for themselves how we won't seek out peace on God's terms we seek it out on our since so rather than wait for us to come to him God goes and he seeks and he finds any call funny guy said he welcomes and he forgives and forgives and forgives he goes out he finds Joseph Joseph's contemplating walking away from the woman he loves and God's angel says Joseph don't be afraid take Mary home as your wife God makes peace for Joseph peace with God Peace by God guy goes out new finds the shepherd their flocks in the fields by 9th there's more for you to stay in the city of David a savior who is Christ the lord us stay at the Lord through his Angelic Messenger to lowly Shepherds God goes out makes peace Shoppers at peace with God peace made by God the combination of ancient scriptures on the Stars got Halls Eastern Mystics to set aside even now they're horoscopes and we'll go on a little journey to little Bethlehem pulling there when they get there to offer child their most precious Gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh does out knee makes peace peace with God peace spy God and they're in that tiny wriggling mass of a little baby gone calls through his son Jesus to you he I'll see you tonight and he says come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest give you peace for your soul Saint Jesus God is reaching out he's met peace with you peace by God peace with God he calls to you by the grace of Jesus Christ and by him alone you are one upon whom God's grace and favor rests so tonight I just because it's late but because you have a savior Jesus Passat and found you rest in him and then return rest and return like the Shepherds who the quiet Streets of Bethlehem back to their flocks praising God voices for all that he has done drive out of here tonight honking your horn rest and return like the wise men through the back roads going back to their homes to share the story of a remarkable journey and which they discovered King of the Jews who's also their King as well dinars Preston return return to wherever God has placed you in this life in this year and this time filled with t with a peace and praise of the King on your lips with the grace a new life that he brings to fill your heart each and every day and when you're far from his peace when you find yourself in those moments far from peace returned to him return to her and receive his grace again and again he pours it out for you the grace and love and peace that are newborn king makes and has and offers and giving his All For You that you may have indeed peace and life Everlasting in the name of Jesus Christ Our Messiah and King I meant play biting out Rises confess our faith in our newborn Lord and King Jesus Christ in the words of the Apostles Creed we say I believe in God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and Earth and in G Christ his 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 into  the third day he rose again from the dead he has sent it into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty from thence he will come to judge the living and the dead I believe in the Holy Spirit the holy Christian Church the communion of saints the Forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life Everlasting man song and Men of Faith would come down the aisles and collect the offerings this year we've done things differently with this covid-19 has and in the narthex there was a box for offerings you may also make your offerings online if your watch online on our website there's a button called giving online that you can give and you can also feel free to mail your offerings into the church office as well during this time invite you to sit and we will hear a birthday song for our savior please rise as we go before the Lord of the church with the prayers of his people father God we give you thanks and praise for the gift of your son Jesus born in the manger this day give you something that you sent him to be the king of kings and Lord of lords but mostly tonight we give you thanks that you sent him to be our Prince of Peace oh Jesus Christ forgive you sang for the X in the places in which we find ourselves at Rest In Your Arms we give you thanks and praise for the times when we find ourselves having wandered away trusting and knowing that we can wander back how did you will still be there with us and for us to restore to us that peace that passes all understanding we give you thanks for the joy that you placed in our hearts of salvation I give you thanks for the blood shed on the cross that frees us from our sins we give you thanks for being raised from the tomb by which we have the hope of eternal life with you forever in heaven help each one of us this day and all the days that follow look to you as our Prince of Peace the one who is with us always in the one to whom we may always return when we find ourselves having wandered away oh Jesus when you were with us and walked Among Us with your disciples you brought healing too many who were sick or ill or injured there are those Among Us who are suffering afflictions of kinds of what are in need of your healing there are those Among Us who know other individuals that we know and love where I need of healing as well we asked you wouldn't find your ear from your throne in heaven and here as we lift up their name do you in the Silence of our hearts alongside these few that we name out loud we pray for healing for Eugene and for Pat's and for Diane and all those we naming our hearts we ask that you would bring them healing according to your will and your way and then the time that stretches between then and now we pray that you would give to them your peace the God in heaven the babe that you've given us to celebrate in the manger this Christmas morn send alongside other babes that you've given to us as gifts and families in our congregation in our community and we lift up prayers and Praises for the family of Elijah Gabriel Flores was born earlier this week and Jackson James Harrison Henning board Also earlier this week we give you thanks and praise for these babies up born healthy and strong and we pray that you would continue to grow them up to be healthy and strong in your kingdom we pray for their parents if you would give them all they need to raise them up in the face the teaching to train them in ways of your lord your son there is Lord Jesus Christ we look forward with eager anticipation to the times when they'll be brought before the water and the word of baptism and welcomed into the family of faith pray that you would bless and keep these families go to tell us also that we should mourn with those who mourn together we mourn with the family of the other Schultz tell me if cancer Wallace who are taken by you to be with you in the weeks have passed we celebrate the victory one for them at the cross and the gift of faith if you placed in their hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit and yet we pray for their how much does They Mourn their loss and adjust to life it will be different without them we pray that you would remind these families of the joyous reunions that will come in the resurrection when Jesus returns with all these prayers additions before your throne of grace in Jesus name amen the Peace of the Lord be with you always and also with you lift up your hearts we listen to the Lord let us give thanks to the Lord Our God it is right to give him thanks and praise it is truly good right and salutary that we should at all times and all places give thanks to you holy Lord Almighty father everlasting God for the mystery of the word made flesh you have given us a new revelation of your glory that seeing you in the person of your son we may be drawn to the love of those things which are not seen therefore with Angels and Archangels and with all the company of Heaven reload and magnify your glorious name as we pray together in the words that are Prince of Peace has given us to pray Our Father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name I 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 Tatian but Deliver Us from Evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever amen please take your communion kits if you will if you did not receive one of these on your way in please wave a hand in our Usher will bring one to you go ahead and peel back the foil on the bread side and take a piece of bread out of just hold it in your hand for Mama hold it up our Lord Jesus Christ on the night he was betrayed took bread and we need to give him thanks he broke it and he gave it to his disciples and said Take and Eat This is my body given for you do this in remembrance Take and Eat the body of Christ go back to foil on the wine side and hold that up a few the same way also after supper he took the cup and what are you giving thanks he gave it to his disciples and said to them take a drink of it all of you this is the cup of my blood the blood of the new and Everlasting Covenant given and shut Youth and the forgiveness of sin do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me and May the peace of Our Lord be with you always take and drink the blood of Christ anime just very body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ took to strengthen and preserve you steadfast and the true Faith to life Everlasting to Pardon his peace We Gather tonight to celebrate the true that the Light of Christ has come into the world one way that we do that is by lighting candles together from the Christ Candle remain standing hold your candles out until it'll come to you with the Light of Christ from the Advent wreath starting to snow do the good news Jesus Christ is the light of the world light no Darkness can overcome I start saying your response silent night holy night love your love the almighty and merciful God the Father the son the Holy Spirit bless you now and forever glory to God and his people on earth sweet sweet please song price of thank you for your message tonight a message on peace seems like a very timely message for this Christmas at the end of the year that we just come through yeah and you know it Pastor a piece of something that people are always looking for both in Jesus time I mean going all the way back to the beginning of time Adam and Eve's fall that piece that we've been looking for and that piece can only be fulfilled through God hymn Prince Ali son sus is Prince of Peace this night through Jesus we might have peace as I can truly last a lifetime in last even to life has Everlasting as well it was something that you said that had me thinking about words I've read on a bottle of shampoo lather rinse repeat if you guys see that he gives us and then going out and taking a listen to the world where we are okay I said where you going to him when we needed to to re-establish that are we gain that if we lost it exactly yeah and that's a little bit like you know the shepherd's give us a good template for that you know they they come to receive that piece and they get that at the major they go out and share that wherever they're going on the way back through Bethlehem and you have to imagine that they're at their carefully listing for news of that same baby in the manger as he grows and to know more yeah I to be strengthened by that knowledge in the years to come regular worship times Begin Again next weekend when there's something coming with those yeah so where you guys were thinking about Jesus our Prince of Peace high in relation to him we might say well well who am I right side and that's a good that's a good question in the world right now I dead play who am I where am I going those sort of things as we go into the season following Christmas we're going to look at Jesus expanding Ministry and how he answers that question in eight different ways over those weeks in January and starting into so I invite each and every person here to be a part of that whether that's here in the house or online or on the radio not to be apart of those ways that Jesus explores who we are and answers those questions for us if you can if you haven't already done it there are tendons cards in the pews in front of you if you could take one of those at the great time to update your cell phone in your email information fill that out if you will and drop it in the offering box in the narthex on your way out and if you're worried Sing With Us online please hit the like button or leave us a comment or share the video so they will know that you've been with us as well we get special thanks to miss Keating and her crew for bring you a special music tonight and for every weekend when she brings special music and it should we meet again may God continue to bless you all and keep you and Merry Christmas Christmas

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December 24, 2020 - 11:00 PM

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