VERDUGO COMMUNITY CHURCH WORSHIP SERVICE JANUARY 12, 2025

We begin our service with Pastor Gail Linstrom welcoming all to worship and to participate in the life of our church family. Dale Reynolds calls us to worship with a reading from Psalm 36. Pastor Gail then lights the Christ Candle in celebration of Jesus’s arrival. Michael Blanco opens us in prayer. Nick Baltazar and Ed Manacop lead us in our praise singing. Albert Ramseyer takes up the praises and concerns of the church and our world in the Prayers of the People.

 

In her sermon, “Wise Ones Worship,” Pastor Gail uses Matthew 2: 1 – 12 to look at the prophecies concerning where Jesus will be born and at who came to worship him at Bethlehem. We have a series of journeys: Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the journey by the ordinary shepherds who heard the angels and left their flocks to see and worship the newborn Jesus, and the long journey by the wealthy wise ones from the East who saw and followed a star to find the new born king of the Jews, fulfilling the prophecy found in Isaiah 60. The meaning of Christmas is that God entered our world to have a relationship with all kinds of people, including ordinary people living ordinary lives in harsh times. It is up to us to accept this relationship and journey with God through our own lives, trusting him to guide us.

 

Verdugo makes its Sunday sermons and select worship services available to you on Facebook at https://facebook.com/verdugochurch 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 song titles, lyrics, and music are used with permission. CCLI license # 2486815.

 

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 2025 by Verdugo Community Church. Sermon copyright 2025 by Gail Whitcome Linstrom and Verdugo Community Church.