The worship service will be available at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. The order of worship is below.

Announcements - Marge Higgins, Lay Leader

Call to Worship - Bill Butz, Lay Reader

From the dust of the earth, the Holy One breathed us into life. Through the breath of God we are all connected. Shaped in her image, God formed us with a purpose: To create. To serve. To tend. To protect. To love. That life may flourish in all its forms, May the Spirit of the Living God be manifest in us! 

Voluntary, Prelude on Wade in the Water by Adolphus Hailstork - Marvin Mills, Organist

Opening Prayer - Bill Butz, Lay Reader

God of holy chaos, you don’t protect us from getting swept up into relationships and systems and experiences that are messy, but you do promise us that you will be found in the midst of them. Help us to remember that when the world was aching, you drew nearer, putting on flesh. It was through that enfleshed reality of love, that you transformed our world. Relationship with you is not an escape - it is the hope and courage we need to dive right into the mess of things. You, O God, are enfleshed in our beautiful but aching earth, in our work for a just society, and in our efforts to love and be loved. May our prayer life be invitations into that life with you. Thanks be. 

Scripture - Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 - Travis Stalcup, Lay Reader

¹⁵As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, ¹⁶John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

²¹Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, ²²and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

UM Hymnal The Faith We Sing #2248 - Baptized in Water

Verse 1: Baptized in water, sealed by the Spirit, cleansed by the blood of Christ, our King; heirs of salvation, trusting his promise, faithfully now God's praises we sing.

Verse 2: Baptized in water, sealed by the Spirit, dead in the tomb with Christ, our King; one with his rising, freed and forgiven, thankfully now God's praises we sing.

Verse 3: Baptized in water, sealed by the Spirit, marked with the sign of Christ, our King; born of one Father, we are his children, joyfully now God's praises we sing. 

Reaffirmation of Baptismal Vows - Rev. Kate Mackereth Fulton, Associate Pastor

UM Hymnal The Faith We Sing #2107 - Wade in the Water

Refrain: Wade in the water, wade in the water, children, wade in the water, God's a-gonna trouble the water.

Verse 1: See that host all dressed in white. God's gonna trouble the water. The leader looks like the Israelite. God's a-gonna trouble the water. (refrain)

Verse 2: See that band all dressed in red. God's a-gonna trouble the water. Looks like the band that Moses led. God's a-gonna trouble the water. (refrain)

Verse 3: Look over yonder, what do I see? God's a-gonna trouble the water. THe Holy Ghost a-coming on me. God's a-gonna trouble the water. (refrain)

Verse 4: If you don't believe I've been redeemed. God's a-gonna trouble the water. Just follow me down to Jordan's stream. God's a-gonna trouble the water. (refrain)

Sermon - "Living with Joy: Baptized in Love" - Rev. Dr. Pat Allen, Senior Pastor

Pastoral Prayer and Dedication - Rev. Kate Mackereth Fulton

Consecration of New Leaders

Benediction - Rev. Dr. Pat Allen

Music - I Believe by Mark Miller - James Wood, St. Paul's Worship Band Leader

Click here for this week's announcements.

Click here to submit a prayer request.

Click here to make an offering or pledge.

Wade in the Water by Adolphus Hailstork, copyright 2003, Concordia Publishing House. Permission to stream this music obtained from ONE LICENSE, License #735990-A. All rights reserved. 

Opening Prayer by Rev. M Barclay, https://enfleshed.com/pages/miscellaneous-prayers; used by permission.

Hymn: Baptized in Water. Words: Michael Saward. Music: Trad. Gaelic melody. Copyright 1982 Jubilate Hymns, admin. by Hope Publishing Co. Permission to stream this music obtained from ONE LICENSE, License #735990-A. All rights reserved. 

Hymn: Wade in the Water. Words and tune: African-American spiritual. Public domain.

I Believe by Mark A. Miller, copyright 2012 by Choristers Guild. Permission to stream this music obtained from ONE LICENSE, License #735990-A. All rights reserved. 

Bible readings: New Revised Standard Version Bible (NRSV), copyright 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The worship service will be available at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. The order of worship is below.

Announcements - Marge Higgins, Lay Leader

Welcome - Rev. Dr. Patricia Allen, Senior Pastor

Prelude - Caravan of the Three Kings by Richard Purvis - Marvin Mills, Organist

Call to Worship

In our search for deliverance from all that destroys life, God draws us into the heart of Love. Guiding us through lands unknown, God companions us on the journey. With the Holy as our guide, we will encounter Christ enfleshed. 

UM Hymnal #251 - Go, Tell It on the Mountain

Opening Prayer

Mysterious One, throughout the ages you have been revealing yourself in new ways, drawing us more deeply into relationship with you. In Christ, you took on flesh that we might recognize your presence with us - weeping with us, eating with us, struggling and dreaming with us. Keep us open, O God, to the ways you continue to reveal your love in our midst today. Amen.

Scripture Reading - Meg Baker, Director of Christian Education

Matthew 2:1-12 (NRSV)

¹In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, ²asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” ³When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:

⁶‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for from you shall come a ruler

who is to shepherd my people Israel.’”

⁷Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. ⁸Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” ⁹When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. ¹¹On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.

UM Hymnal #254 - We Three Kings

Sermon - Pastor Pat

Pastoral Prayer and Dedication

Love Feast

Distribution of Star Words

http://www.wordoftheyear.me

Benediction

With the Holy as our guide, let us go in search of that which will set us free. Christ has taken on flesh. Hope lives and moves among us. Love is calling us together. May it be so among us. Go in peace. Amen. 

Postlude - Prelude on Go Tell It on the Mountain by D. Byron Arneson

Click here for this week's announcements.

Click here to submit a prayer request.

Click here to make an offering or pledge.

Caravan of the Three Kings (We Three Kings) by Richard Purvis, copyright 2006 H.T. FitzSimons Company. Permission to stream this music obtained from ONE LICENSE, License #735990-A. All rights reserved. 

Hymn: Go, Tell It on the Mountain, Words: John W. Work, Jr. (1907); Music: African-American Spiritual, adapt. & arr. by William Farley Smith (1986). Copyright 1989, United Methodist Publishing House/Abingdon Press. Streamed by permission under CCLI license #24106074. All rights reserved.

Hymn: We Three Kings, Words & Music: John H. Hopkins, Jr. (1857). Public domain.

Prelude on Go, Tell It on the Mountain, by D. Byron Arneson, copyright 1986 Augsburg Publishers. Permission to stream this music obtained from ONE LICENSE, License #735990-A. All rights reserved.

Bible readings: New Revised Standard Version Bible (NRSV), copyright 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Please enjoy this service put together by the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church and our Bishop LaTrelle Easterling, as our staff take a much needed rest. Click on the video below to view the service!

This Christmas Eve, the clergy, staff, and members of our music ministry bring you a special Service of Lessons and Carols. This worship time anticipates and welcomes the birth of Christ with music, scripture, prayer, and candlelight. The video will be available on December 24. Please click the image below.

Lessons and Carols

Organ Prelude - In dulci jubilo (Bach, Mills, Dupré)

Processional Hymn - Once in Royal David’s City

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

Carol – In the Bleak Midwinter

I. Genesis 3: 8-15, 17-19 (God speaks to Adam & Eve)

Carol – A Stable Lamp Is Lighted/Chalice 141

II. Genesis 22: 15-18 (God’s promise to Abraham)

Hymn – Angels We Have Heard on High

UM Hymnal #238

III. Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7 (The prophet foretells the coming of the Savior)

Hymn – It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

UM Hymnal #218

IV. Isaiah 11: 1-4a, 6-9 (The peace that Christ will bring is foreshown)

Spiritual – Sweet Little Jesus Boy – Marlissa Hudson

V. Luke 1:26-35, 38 (Gabriel salutes Mary)

Carol – To a Maid

VI. Luke 2: 1-7 (Luke tells of the birth of Jesus)

HYMN – Silent Night

Carol – El Nacimiento

VII. Luke 2: 8-16 (The shepherds go to the manger)

HYMN – Away in a Manger

VIII. Matthew 2: 1-12 (The Wise Men are led by the star to Jesus)

HYMN – The First Noel

IX. John 1: 1-14 (John unfolds the mystery of the Incarnation)

Hymn – O Come, All Ye Faithful

Blessing

Hymn – Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Postlude – Toccata on Good King Wenceslas by Marvin Mills

Click here for worship at 11:00 a.m. Sunday morning. The order of worship for this service is below.

Please join us again on December 24 for the Christmas Eve Service of Lessons and Carols, available starting at 5:00 p.m.

Announcements

Prelude - Meine Seele erhebt den Herren, BWV 648 (My Soul Magnifies the Lord) by J. S. Bach

Call to Worship:

Leader: In holy wonder, with divine expectation, we echo the mother of God reciting her poetry of freedom:

People: “God’s mercy extends from generation to generation.

L: God scatters the proud and lifts high the humble.

P: God’s promises to the hungry, the captive, and the weary will be fulfilled.”

L: A testimony to persistent hope, we join the whole world in waiting.

P: Our spirits rejoice! The time is nearly here.

UM Hymnal #250 – Once In Royal David’s City

Verse 1: Once in royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed, where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed; Mary, loving mother mild, Jesus Christ, her little child.

Verse 2: He came down to earth from heaven who is God and Lord of all, and his shelter was a stable, and his cradle was a stall. With the poor, the scorned, the lowly, lived on earth our Savior holy.

Verse 3: Jesus is our childhood's pattern; day by day like us he grew; he was little, weak, and helpless, tears and smiles like us he knew; and he feeleth for our sadness, and he shareth in our gladness.

Verse 4: And our eyes at last shall see him, through his own redeeming love; for that child so dear and gentle is our Lord in heaven above; and he leads his children on to the place where he is gone.

Opening Prayer: Come, Faithful One, and make us prophets of your nearness. While the world groans wearily with loss and grief, we eagerly anticipate your birth among us. We prepare through repentance for wrong actions. We prepare with acts of care and mutual aid. We prepare with offerings of imagination, readying ourselves for changes to come. Make us like midwives of your long-awaited presence. Amen.

Lighting of the Advent Candle - The Mollenauer Family

Pastoral Prayer - Rev. Dr. Pat Allen

UM Hymnal #198 – My Soul Gives Glory To My God

Verse 1: My soul gives glory to my God. My heart pours out its praise. God lifted up my lowliness in many marvelous ways.

Verse 2: My God has done great things for me: yes, holy is this name. All people will declare me blessed, and blessing they shall claim.

Verse 3: From age to age, to all who fear, such mercy love imparts, dispensing justice far and near, dismissing selfish hearts.

Verse 4: Love casts the mighty from their thrones, promotes the insecure, leaves hungry spirits satisfied, the rich seem suddenly poor.

Verse 5: Praise God, whose loving covenant supports those in distress, remembering past promises with present faithfulness.

Advent Scripture Acclamation

Scripture Readings: Luke 1:39-55

³⁹In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, ⁴⁰where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit ⁴²and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. ⁴³And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? ⁴⁴For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

⁴⁶And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

⁴⁸for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.

Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

⁴⁹for the Mighty One has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

⁵⁰His mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

⁵¹He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

⁵²He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly;

⁵³he has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away empty.

⁵⁴He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

⁵⁵according to the promise he made to our ancestors,

to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

Advent Scripture Response

Sermon - Rev. Kate Mackereth Fulton

Prayer of Dedication - Rev. Dr. Pat Allen

The Faith We Sing UM Hymnal #2151 – I’m So Glad Jesus Lifted Me

Verse 1: I'm so glad Jesus lifted me, I'm so glad Jesus lifted me; I'm so glad Jesus lifted me, Jesus lifted me, singing Glory, Hallelujah, Jesus lifted me!

Verse 2: Satan had me bound, Jesus lifted me; Satan had me bound, Jesus lifted me; Satan had me bound, Jesus lifted me, singing Glory, Hallelujah, Jesus lifted me!

Verse 3: When I was in trouble, Jesus lifted me; when I was in trouble, Jesus lifted me; when I was in trouble, Jesus lifted me, singing Glory, Hallelujah, Jesus lifted me!

Benediction: May we be so bold as Mary: mothering God into being in dangerous ways and places, in practices of radical solidarity, in hopes of liberation made flesh. Let us go, rejoicing together with songs of freedom about the day when salvation comes.

Postlude - Magnificat Fugue, Tone V, No. 4 by Johann Pachelbel

Click here for this week's announcements.

Click here to submit a prayer request.

Click here to make an offering, holiday giving donation, or pledge.

Call to Worship and Opening Prayer adapted from "Liturgy that Matters: December 20, 2020" at enfleshed.com

Once in Royal David's City. Words: Cecil Frances Alexander (1848); Music: Henry J. Gauntlett (1849). Public domain.

My Soul Gives Glory to My God. Words: Miriam Therese Winter (1987); Music: Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second (1813); harmony by Charles H. Webb (1988). Copyright 1978, 1987 Medical Mission Sisters; harmonization copyright 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House. Permission to stream this music obtained from ONE LICENSE, License #735990-A. All rights reserved.

I'm So Glad Jesus Lifted Me, African-American Traditional. Public domain.

Bible readings: New Revised Standard Version Bible (NRSV), copyright 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.