The service in PDF format is at: 12-31-2019 – New Years Eve
AS WE GATHER… The movement from one year to the next provides an opportunity for us to reflect on the year past and look forward to the year coming. As we reflect on the past, many of us will remember particular joys or sorrows. Most of us will have had many ordinary days as well. There have been times we have forgiven others and times we have been forgiven ourselves. In the midst of it all was God’s enduring love for us in Jesus. As we look forward to the coming year, we face unknowns. As one familiar prayer expresses, we face this new year “not knowing where we go but only that Your hand is leading us and Your love supporting us.” In the coming year too, God’s enduring love will be present with us no matter what. For nothing “in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” With God’s enduring love behind us and ahead of us, we enter the new year as people called to love one another and our neighbors in ways that reflect the enduring love of God for us in Jesus.
Leader: Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Women: Oh sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things.
Men: His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him.
Leader: The Lord has made known His salvation;
Women: He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.
Men: He has remembered His steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel.
Leader: All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
ALL: Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
Leader: As we turn to a New Year, let us do so by asking God to guide us, enlighten us, and strengthen us for what lies ahead. Let us pray.
Leader: Lord God, You have done marvelous things in the sight of all people. Most marvelous of all is Your Son, Jesus, in whom You have made salvation known. As we reflect the year past, help us to forgive others, to learn from our errors, and to now dwell on our past sins. As we look forward to the coming year, keep us in Your steadfast love and faithfulness, so that our lives show forth Your goodness to the ends of the earth.
Moment of Silence
Leader: Creator God, your faithfulness endures from generation to generation. Forgive us for the ways our hearts have been drawn away from You during the past year. Draw our hearts ever nearer to You in the coming year, and strengthen us when our faith falters.
Moment of Silence
Leader: Lord God, You lift up the lowly and bring down the arrogant. For the times You have lifted us up when we were down, we give You thanks. For the times when we have been arrogant, and You have chastised us, we also give You thanks. As we enter another year of grace, fill us with Your Holy Spirit, that our words and deeds declare Your praise through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit.
ALL: Amen.
CHOIR ANTHEM: “How Far is it to Bethlehem” By: Mark Hayes
MESSAGE “The Numbering of Our Days”
Leader: God who supplies our every need has given us this meal to share.
ALL: Lord, we thank You for the bread of eternal life.
Leader: We come to the table, knowing that we need the strength that comes from the body and blood of Jesus.
ALL: Lord, we thank You for the bread of eternal life.
THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION
THE LORD’S PRAYER
CLOSING HYMN: “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” LBW 320