Prelude: How Brightly Beams the Morning Star by Roger C. Wilson…Tune: “Wie schön leuchtet,” by Philipp Nicolai, 1599
Call to Worship / Invocation / Lord’s Prayer
Hymn: “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” Words: Edmund H. Sears, 1849; Music: CAROL by Richard S. Willis, 1850
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 men,
From Heaven’s all gracious king.
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.
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 blessèd angels sing.
And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look up! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!
For lo, the days are hastening on,
By prophet bards foretold,
When with the ever circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.
Scripture: Isaiah 40:1-5; John 12:20-36
Sermon: WHAT ARE YOU EXPECTING FOR CHRISTMAS? Rev. Martha Dominy
Prayer
Hymn: “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” Words: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1864; Music: WALTHAM by John B. Calkin, 1872
I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
And in despair I bowed my head
There is no peace on earth, I said,
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”
Benediction
Postlude: Petite Noel by Carl Simone…based on a traditional French carol
Organist/Pianist: Ms. Marilyn Glover
Special Christmas Presentation: The Annual Festival of Carols 2019
Note: This is the 76th Annual Festival of Carols presented on December 8, 2019 in First Baptist Church, Malden.