December 27, 2020
Thank you for worshipping with us at Calvary Moravian Church. To support our ministries, you can mail the office a check (948 N. 21st St. Allentown 18104). An online giving portal is at: https://mmfa.info/calvary-moravian-church-pa-donation-form/.
10:45 a.m. : Worship with us via ZOOM or on our Calvary Moravian Church Allentown Youtube Channel.
https://zoom.us/j/673028163, Meeting ID: 673 028 163
You can call this number and listen to the service on any telephone as well:
(929) 205-6099 (enter 673028163#).
Bulletins are available from Friday onward in the Little Library on Livingston St.
Sunday school gathering/check-in time at 10 a.m. (same Zoom)
Worship will start at 10:45 a.m. via Zoom or on our Calvary Youtube Channel.
Want to share our Christmas Eve worship or Christmas pageant?
– All our worship services are on our Youtube Channel, simply tell your friends or family to go to www.youtube.com and search for Calvary Moravian Church Allentown to find the worship services.
Helping our Neighbors at Esperanza Moravian Church!
Esperanza Moravian Church, a bilingual church and ministry outreach to the neighborhood of South Bethlehem, is collecting food to help hungry kids in the neighborhood. We will continue to collect microwaveable Mac and Cheese cups (just the cups not the boxes) to donate as part of this effort or funds to purchase these. Please call us to arrange a drop-off.
Daily Texts
Moravian Daily Texts for 2021 are available, contact the church office. The cost is $11.00 for regular print, $13.00 for large print.
2021 Offering Envelopes are available for pick-up, please contact the office to make arrangements
Sunday, Jan. 3: Zoom/Youtube Worship, 10:45 a.m. Epiphany Worship, Holy Communion
(Watchwords will be mailed to your home with your year-end giving statements in the first weeks of January).
Please bring bread and something to drink that we might consecrate the elements in our virtual Holy Communion.
What’s Happening in January?
– Our Joint Board will be meeting in early January to reevaluate worship, we do not anticipate changes to the current format (Zoom/Youtube) for the month of January.
- Stay tuned to a potential ZOOM book study group on Wednesdays in January
- Our Bible Study continues on Zoom on Tuesday mornings at 10 a.m. – All welcome.
Welcome and Announcements
Introit “Gesu Bambino” (P. Yon). performed by Anne Ettinger
Call to Worship
Here on the heels of Christmas,
We speak of love.
We speak of joy and the candles’ light.
We speak of dreams being fulfilled.
We speak of “glorias” and angel choruses.
We speak the words, “Do not be afraid.”
Here on the heels of Christmas,
We are called to speak, for the world needs a light.
A light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.
Amen.
Close your eyes. What is your dream?
Lighting of the Advent Candle “Light . . . We will not keep silent”
We light the candles of hope, peace, joy and love. Not for just one season, but for all the seasons of our lives.
We light the Christ candle, the Light in the darkness.
May the hope, peace, joy and love of the coming of Christ enter into our hearts and into our world.
As we remember the words of the Moravian hymn, “Christian hearts in Love United,”
“May our light break forth with brightness, from thy light reflected shine;
thus the world will bear us witness that we, Lord, are truly thine”.
Liturgy for Christmas pg. 59
Reprinted or adapted from the 1995 Moravian Book of Worship with the permission of the Interprovincial Board of Communication, Moravian Church in America. © 1995 IBOC. www.moravian.org; e-mail: pubs@mcnp.org. All rights reserved
TUNE: ANTIOCH
Joy to the world! the Lord is come; let earth receive her King;
let every heart prepare him room,
and heav’n and nature sing, and heav’n and nature sing,
and heav’n, and heav’n and nature sing.
Joy to the earth, the Savior reigns; let all their songs employ;
while fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy,
repeat, repeat the sounding joy.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
For he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them.
By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high has broken upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.
For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given.
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
Thanks be to God for this gift beyond words!
My eyes have seen your salvation,
Which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples.
TUNE: IN DULCI JUBILO
Dear Christian friends, rejoice, with heart, and soul, and voice;
hear the news that John did cry: “God to us is drawing nigh;
turn away from fear and sin, to let the Savior enter in.”
God is drawing nigh! God is drawing nigh!
TEXT: © W. Thomas Stapleton
Saving God, we confess to you our sinfulness. We are consumed with greed and with self, instead of loving you as we ought. Too often we are indifferent to those for whom this season is not a time of joy. You call us to the simple life, but we engage in extravagance, which directs our hearts away from you and from those in need.
Forgive us, and renew us, gracious Savior. Amen.
With Mary we exalt you, God our Redeemer:
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and his descendants forever.
TUNE: ADESTE FIDELES (39 F)
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!
Come and behold him, born the King of angels!
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord!
O sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation!
O sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above!
Glory to God, all glory in the highest!
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord!
Glory be to you, Lord our God; you have chosen us in Jesus Christ, our Lord, before the founding of the world.
You have given us such love, Father, that we should be called the children of God!
You have blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
You have rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of your beloved Son.
You have redeemed us through Jesus Christ, your Incarnate Son.
For the sake of the great love with which you love us, make us alive in Christ, our Lord.
Holy Child of Mary, Savior of the world,
Reveal yourself to us.
By your holy incarnation,
By your human birth,
By your pure and blameless childhood,
By your obedience and diligence,
By your humility, meekness, and patience,
By your extreme poverty,
By your griefs and sorrows,
By your prayers and tears,
By your having been despised and rejected,
By your cross and suffering,
By your death and burial,
By your triumphant resurrection and ascension,
Help us and save us.
For the poor, the abused, and the sick,
For prisoners and the homeless,
For victims of natural disaster and war,
For those who are in danger, misery, or distress,
For those who minister to human need in your name,
For all who share your good news,
For your whole church on earth,
We pray for your blessing, strength, and encouragement.
God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
May we all be transformed into the image of Christ from one degree of glory to another.
TUNE: CHRIST THE LORD
Christ the Lord, the Lord most glorious, now is born; O shout aloud!
We by him are made victorious; praise the Savior, hail our God!
Praise the Lord, God, our salvation, praise him who retrieved our loss;
sing, with awe and love’s sensation, hallelujah! God with us!
Scripture Isaiah 61:10-62:3, Luke 2:22-40
Sermon
Special Music Favorite English Carols Performed by Anne Ettinger.
Benediction.
Postlude.
Calvary Moravian Church 