Announcements 12/29/2024

ANNOUNCEMENTS

ELDER ELECTION: We will be having a quick congregational meeting before the conclusion of service on 1/12/25 to reelect and elect the following members:

Cameron Mayfield

Sue Crawford

Cindy Freudenthal

Our Ordination and Installation will take place on 1/19/25. Please make sure to mark your calendar.

PSL MEET AND GREET: There will be a Presbytery meeting in January at St. Charles Presbyterian Church for all churches thinking about merging or partnering with another church. It’s on January 14 at 5:30 p.m., and they will provide dinner.

Christian ED: Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, the Kings, you.  What do these people have in common?  They all have a place at the Manger.  This Advent, Rev. Jan Condren will lead us in a study of the people in the manger scene, and help us to use them as a guide to find our own place at the manger. Lessons can be obtained from Briana, or at the first class.  See you there!!

January 5:            Wise Men and the Wisdom of Seeking                                                                                                    

CALENDAR:

12/29 Worship Service 10:30a

12/31-1/1 Church Office is CLOSED

1/2 PW Council Meeting 10a



Order of Worship 12/29/2024

SERVICE FOR THE LORD’S DAY

1st Sunday of Christmas

December 29th, 2024 Ten Thirty in the morning

Minister: Reverend Jan Condren        

Liturgist: Sandy Cranfill

Organist: Ernestine “Ernie” Price 
 

Please silence all cell phones. 

Bold face indicates congregational participation.

✝ Please stand, in body or spirit

THE PEOPLE ARE GATHERED IN

PRELUDE Lutheran Carol      by James Spillman

✝PROCESSIONAL HYMN [*Blue #23][GTG#119] Hark, the Herald Angels Sing

1 Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn king.

Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!”

Joyful, all ye nations, rise; join the triumph of the skies;

with the angelic host proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Refrain:

Hark! The herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn king!”

2 Christ, by highest heaven adored, Christ, the everlasting Lord,

late in time behold him come, offspring of the virgin’s womb.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail the incarnate deity,

pleased in flesh with us to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel. [Refrain]

3 Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the sun of righteousness!

Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings.

Mild he lays his glory by, born that we no more may die,

born to raise us from the earth, born to give us second birth. [Refrain]
 

WORDS OF WELCOME

ANNOUNCEMENTS  

 

CALL TO WORSHIP

ONE: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.              John 1:14

MANY: We have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.                                              

PRAYER OF THE DAY

In this season, gracious Lord, you come to us as Word, as Light, in flesh. Pour out your Holy Spirit on your church, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the Magi. Amen. 
 

✝HYMN [*Blue #38][GTG#123] It Came Upon The Midnight Clear

1 It came upon the midnight clear, that glorious song of old,

from angels bending near the earth, to touch their harps of gold:

“Peace on the earth, good will to all, from heaven’s all-gracious King”:

the world in solemn stillness lay, to hear the angels sing.

2 Still through the cloven skies they come, with peaceful wings unfurled,

and still their heavenly music floats o’er all the weary world:

above its sad and lowly plains they bend on hovering wing,

and ever o’er its Babel sounds the blessed angels sing.

3 Yet with the woes of sin and strife the world has suffered long;

beneath the heavenly hymn have rolled two thousand years of wrong;

and we at war on earth hear not the tidings that they bring;

O, hush the noise and cease the strife to hear the angels sing!

4 And you, beneath life’s crushing load, whose forms are bending low,

who toil along the climbing way with painful steps and slow,

look now, for glad and golden hours come swiftly on the wing:

O, rest beside the weary road, and hear the angels sing.

5 For lo, the days are hastening on, by prophets seen of old,

when with the ever-circling years shall come the time foretold,

when peace shall over all the earth its ancient splendors fling,

and the whole world give back the song which now the angels sing.

REPENTANCE

CALL TO CONFESSION                                                                  

SILENT CONFESSION

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

God of love, all year long we pursue money and power, yet you come in weakness. All season long, we covet great material gifts, when you alone offer what is lasting. Through the work of your Son Jesus, who comes among us full of grace and truth, forgive us, heal us, correct us. Then, we pray, open our lips, that we may sing our praise with the angels, and remake our lives that we may witness to you transforming love. Through Christ we pray. Amen.  

ASSURANCE OF PARDON                     

✝GLORIA PATRI [Blue#579[ [GTG#581]     

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end. Amen. Amen.

1st SCRIPTURE                                                      Isaiah 52:7-10  

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices, together they sing for joy; for in plain sight they see the return of the Lord to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

SCRIPTURE                                                         John 1:1-18                           

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.

(John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.

ONE: The Word of the Lord

MANY: Thanks be to God

SERMON   “He Came Down”  Rev. Jan Condren

 RESPONSE     

✝AFFIRMATION OF FAITH 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 Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. 

RECEIVING OF TITHES AND OFFERINGS

OFFERTORY “Some Children See Him”  by Alfred Burt

✝ DOXOLOGY [GTG#606]

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise God, all creatures here below.

Praise God above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen  

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE 

 THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

✝HYMN [*Blue #29][GTG#136]  Joy to the World, vv. 1-3

1 Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her king;

let every heart prepare him room, and heaven and nature sing,

and heaven and nature sing, and heaven, and heaven and nature sing.

2 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.

3 No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground;

he comes to make his blessings flow far as the curse is found,

far as the curse is found, far as, far as the curse is found.

✝PARTING PRAYER  

As we leave worship this day, Holy God, teach us to know this world as a place blessed by Christ’s birth. Help us to be strong witnesses to your glorious reign of peace and love. 

✝CHARGE AND BENEDICTION

RESPONSE [*Blue #29][GTG#134] Joy to the World, v. 4

4 He rules the world with truth and grace,

and makes the nations prove

the glories of his righteousness

and wonders of his love,

and wonders of his love,

and wonders, wonders of his love.

POSTLUDE    “Go Tell It on the Mountain”                            

**Note: the hymn lyrics in the bulletin and on the projection screen are from the Glory To God Hymnal (© 2013 Westminster John Knox Press), which we are transitioning to. Words in the “Blue” Presbyterian Hymnal (© 1990) in your pew may differ slightly. The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved. ThePrayer of Confession is reprinted by permission from The Worship Sourcebook, copyright 2004, Faith Alive Christian Resources.”

STAFF

Church Office 504.888.1375

Playschool Office 504.888.1378

Briana Mayfield – Church Office  Assistant 

Lauren Oufnac – Playschool Director

Stephanie Galliano – Playschool Admin. Asst.

For more information, visit our website at www.JohnCalvinChurch.org

 or find us @JohnCalvinMetairie on Facebook and Instagram.




ANNOUNCEMENTS


Announcements 12/29/2024

ANNOUNCEMENTS

ELDER ELECTION: We will be having a quick congregational meeting before the conclusion of service on 1/12/25 to reelect and elect the following members:

Cameron Mayfield

Sue Crawford

Cindy Freudenthal

Our Ordination and Installation will take place on 1/19/25. Please make sure to mark your calendar.

PSL MEET AND GREET: There will be a Presbytery meeting in January at St. Charles Presbyterian Church for all churches thinking about merging or partnering with another church. It’s on January 14 at 5:30 p.m., and they will provide dinner.

Christian ED: Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, the Kings, you.  What do these people have in common?  They all have a place at the Manger.  This Advent, Rev. Jan Condren will lead us in a study of the people in the manger scene, and help us to use them as a guide to find our own place at the manger. Lessons can be obtained from Briana, or at the first class.  See you there!!

January 5:            Wise Men and the Wisdom of Seeking                                                                                                    

CALENDAR:

12/29 Worship Service 10:30a

12/31-1/1 Church Office is CLOSED

1/2 PW Council Meeting 10a