| Prelude Greeting and Welcome Lighting of the Candles Hymn of Invocation – The Advent of Our King (LSB 331, rise on verse 6) The advent of our King Our prayers must now employ, And we must hymns of welcome sing In strains of holy joy. The everlasting Son Incarnate deigns to be, Himself a servant’s form puts on To set His servants free. O Zion’s daughter, rise To meet your lowly King, Nor let your faithless heart despise The peace He comes to bring. As judge, on clouds of light, He soon will come again And His true members all unite With Him in heav’n to reign. Before the dawning day Let sin’s dark deeds be gone, The sinful self be put away, The new self now put on. All glory to the Son, Who comes to set us free, With Father, Spirit, ever one Through all eternity.
+ Preparation + Invocation P: In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. C: Amen. Introit P: Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation. C: Save us, we pray, O Lord! O LORD, we pray, give us success! P: Blessèd is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord. C: The Lord is God, and he has made his light to shine upon us. Bind the festal sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar! P: You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. All: Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen P: Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation. Confession and Absolution P: Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid, cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love You and worthily magnify Your holy name, through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. C: Amen. P: Confident of receiving God’s great mercy, let us confess together that we by nature are sinful and that through our thoughts, words, and deeds we have sinned against our God and deserve His punishment now and eternally. C: Almighty God, we repent of our sins and ask for Your forgiving grace in our lives. Be merciful to us and for the sake of Jesus grant us remission of our sins so that, as Your redeemed people, we may greet you in Advent hope and with trusting hearts serve You in time and in eternity. P: In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. C: Amen.
+ Word + Salutation and Prayer of the Day P: The Lord be with you. C: And also with you. P: Let us pray. Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come among us to bring the joy of Your salvation. Bid all shadows and darkness in our lives be gone that we may walk in the light of the Lord. Keep us faithful to the work that You have given us while it is day as we share the hope and the joy that we have within us as people of Your kingdom. This we ask in the name of Jesus, our bright and Morning Star. C: Amen. First Reading – Isaiah 2:1–5 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord. P: This is the Word of the Lord. C: Thanks be to God. Epistle – Romans 13:11–14 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. P: This is the Word of the Lord. C: Thanks be to God.
Holy Gospel – Matthew 24:36-44 P: The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the twenty-fourth chapter. C: Glory to You, O Lord. “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. P: This is the Gospel of the Lord. C: Praise to You, O Christ. Apostles' Creed I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus 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 hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended 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. Amen. Hymn of the Day – Once He Came in Blessing (LSB 333) Once He came in blessing, All our sins redressing; Came in likeness lowly, Son of God most holy; Bore the cross to save us; Hope and freedom gave us.
Now He gently leads us; With Himself He feeds us Precious food from heaven, Pledge of peace here given, Manna that will nourish Souls that they may flourish. Soon will come that hour When with mighty power Christ will come in splendor And will judgment render, With the faithful sharing Joy beyond comparing. Come, then, O Lord Jesus, From our sins release us. Keep our hearts believing, That we, grace receiving, Ever may confess You Till in heav’n we bless You. Sermon – “One Can Only Be Ready” | 
