VERDUGO COMMUNITY CHURCH WORSHIP SERVICE DECEMBER 17, 2023

We begin our service with song. Pastor Gail Linstrom welcomes all to worship and to participate in the life of our church family. She lights the Advent Candles with readings from Isaiah 6 and Luke 1. Luisa Fernandez opens us in prayer. Nick Baltazar and Ed Manacop lead us in our praise singing. Greg Hart takes up the praises and concerns of the church and our world in the Prayers of the People.

 

In her sermon, “The Unexpected Power of God’s Plan,” Pastor Gail continues our Advent studies by looking at the promises of God set out in Isaiah 9 and John 1 and the praises of Mary in Luke 2. She notes that Christmas is more than a time of celebration of a birth. It is a reminder that God sent Jesus to comfort those who are in mourning and who wait in the darkness for release. If we encounter problems at Christmas we are in good company. The main characters in the Christmas story are ordinary people with problems – Elizabeth, an older woman with the shame of barrenness, married to the minor priest Zachariah; Mary, an unwed pregnant teenager, and Joseph, a carpenter; and a group of dirty and probably smelly shepherds, outcasts from polite society. After Joseph and Mary traveled for days to get to Bethlehem, Mary gives birth in a stable. Angels joyously proclaim the good news to shepherds, who rush to Bethlehem and barge into the stable to satisfy their curiosity. How can all this be part of God’s plan? Yet Mary sees beyond these difficulties and treasures all these things up in her heart. Our experience of Christmas is to find love and solace in God’s presence, and to carry that love and concern to others.

 

Pastor Gail then leads us in the sacrament of communion, and you are invited to participate as well.

 

Verdugo makes its Sunday sermons available to you on Facebook and posts audio copies of the service and sermon at https://verdugochurch.podbean.com.

 

Prayers of the People have been edited to respect the privacy and confidentiality of those participating or mentioned. All CCLI songs are performed under Verdugo Community Church’s license with CCLI.

 

Verdugo Community Church is a Free Methodist congregation serving the Glassell Park, Eagle Rock, and Glendale areas in Los Angeles. It is located at 4300 Verdugo Road, Los Angeles, CA 90065. Our email address is verdugofmc@gmail.com. Contact Pastor Gail at (323) 500-3343.

 

Worship service copyright 2023 by Verdugo Community Church. Sermon copyright 2023 by Gail Whitcome Linstrom and Verdugo Community Church.