Prelude: In the bleak mid-winter Holst/arr. Mack Wilberg
Jenny Anne Flory, mezzo-soprano
Call to Worship
Invocation
Hymn 224: Go, Tell It on the Mountain Go Tell It
Hymn 215: While by the Sheep We Watched at Night Jungst
Prayer of Confession
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, we have sinned against you and against other people, in thought and word and deed, through negligence, through weakness, through our own deliberate fault. We are truly sorry and repent of all our sins. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who died for us, forgive us all that is past; and grant that we may serve you in newness of life to the glory of your name. Amen.
The Gospel’s Assurance of Pardon: Luke 1:68–70
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.
Doxology 732 Tallis' Canon
Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heav’nly host: praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Prayer of Illumination
Scripture Reading: 2 Peter 1:5–11 (pew Bible p. 995)
Hymn 228: Saw You Never, in the Twilight Chartres
Confession of Faith: Westminster Shorter Catechism, question 82
Question: Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?
Answer: No mere man, since the fall, is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God, but does daily break them in thought, word, and deed.
Offering Prayer
(Give online at tenth.org/give or mail checks to: 1701 Delancey Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103)
Offertory: I Wonder as I Wander John Jacob Niles
Jenny Anne Flory, mezzo-soprano
Sermon: The Good Life Rev. Josiah Vanderveen
Hymn 229: Gentle Mary Laid Her Child Tempus Adest Floridum
Benediction
Postlude: Postlude on Mendelssohn arr. David Willcocks
Serving this evening:
Platform: Collin Gibboney, Andrew Fletcher
Organist: Rev. Colin Howland