VERDUGO COMMUNITY CHURCH WORSHIP SERVICE DECEMBER 18, 2022

Pastor Gail Linstrom welcomes all to worship and to participate in the life of our church family. Dale Reynolds calls us to worship with a reading of Psalm 98. We light the fourth Advent Candle signifying Love and sing a carol. Mike Minasyan opens our service with prayer. Nick Baltazar, Jessica Jimenez, and Mike Minasyan lead us in praise and worship music. Andrew Mumm takes up the concerns of the church and our world in the Prayers of the People.

 

In her sermon, “Celebrating His Presence,” Pastor Gail looks to Isaiah 40:1 – 11 to remind us that God is a caring and loving God who treated his people, exiled because of their sin, as already being forgiven, and comforted them in the midst of their pain and loss. This is the same God who has shown us grace and mercy during the last three years of chaos and loss, and other traumatic times in our lives. We need to love and treat others the same way just as the Lord has loved us. The Lord wants us to live in the present and do what we can now for others, rather than focusing on a distant reward in heaven.

 

Pastor Gail then leads us in Communion, so you are invited to have bread or crackers and a beverage ready to participate in this sacrament.

 

Verdugo is again meeting in person but 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 has been edited to respect the privacy and confidentiality of individual prayer requests. 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.

 

Verdugo is online at www.facebook.com/verdugochurch and www.verdugochurch.org.

Sermon copyright 2022 by Gail Whitcome Linstrom and Verdugo Community Church.