Organ Prelude
Lighting of Advent Candle
Opening Hymn – O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (LSB 357)
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear. Refrain
Refrain: Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!
O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who ord’rest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go. Refrain
O come, O come, Thou Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times didst give the Law
In cloud and majesty and awe. Refrain
O come, Thou Branch of Jesse’s tree,
Free them from Satan’s tyranny
That trust Thy mighty pow’r to save,
And give them vict’ry o’er the grave. Refrain
O come, Thou Key of David, come,
And open wide our heav’nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery. Refrain
O come, Thou Dayspring from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight. Refrain
O come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease,
And be Thyself our King of Peace. Refrain
Opening Sentences
P: Jesus Christ is the Light of the world,
C: the light no darkness can overcome.
P: Stay with us, Lord, for it is evening,
C: and the day is almost over.
P: Let Your light scatter the darkness
C: and illumine Your Church.
Collect
P: Blessed are You, O Lord our God, king of the universe, who led Your people Israel by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Enlighten our darkness by the light of Your Christ; may His Word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path; for You are merciful, and You love Your whole creation and we, Your creatures, glorify You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
C: Amen.
Reading – Matthew 9:36; Isaiah 63:9; Hebrews 5:7
P: God’s Word speaks answers to our questions. We see throughout Jesus’ earthly life the care He had for the people He came to save.
P: When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless,
C: like sheep without a shepherd.
P: In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them;
C: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
P: In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears,
C: to Him who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.
Psalm – Psalm 42:1–6a, 8–11
P: As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for You, O God.
C: My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
P: When shall I come and appear before God?
C: My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
P: These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?
C: Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God.
P: By day the Lord commands His steadfast love, and at night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: “Why have You forgotten me?
C: Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
P: As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me continually,
C: “Where is your God?” Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?
P: Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him,
C: my salvation and my God.
Prayer
P: Let us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, we implore You to hear our prayers and to lighten the darkness of our hearts by Your gracious visitation; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C: Amen.
Reading – 2 Peter 3:1-18
This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles,
[Know] this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
P: O Lord, have mercy on us.
C: Thanks be to God.
P: In many and various ways, God spoke to His people of old by the prophets.
C: But now in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son.
Hymn – Hark the Glad Sound (LSB 349)
Hark the glad sound! The Savior comes,
The Savior promised long;
Let ev’ry heart prepare a throne
And ev’ry voice a song.
He comes the pris’ners to release,
In Satan’s bondage held.
The gates of brass before Him burst,
The iron fetters yield.
He comes the broken heart to bind,
The bleeding soul to cure,
And with the treasures of His grace
To enrich the humble poor.
Our glad hosannas, Prince of Peace,
Thy welcome shall proclaim,
And heav’n’s eternal arches ring
With Thy belovèd name.
Sermon
