Second Midweek Service in Advent Preview

Service of Light

Hymn ~ “Joyful, Joyful We Adore You”

Hymn ~ “Ah, Dearest Jesus”

C     Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,

       Prepare a bed, soft, undefiled,

       A quiet chamber set apart

       For You to dwell within my heart.

Old Testament Lesson                                   Isaiah 40:1–11

        ¹Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

        ²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

        and cry to her

      that her warfare is ended,

        that her iniquity is pardoned,

      that she has received from the Lord’s hand

        double for all her sins.

        ³A voice cries:

      “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;

        make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

        ⁴Every valley shall be lifted up,

        and every mountain and hill be made low;

      the uneven ground shall become level,

        and the rough places a plain.

        ⁵And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,

        and all flesh shall see it together,

        for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

        ⁶A voice says, “Cry!”

        And I said, “What shall I cry?”

      All flesh is grass,

        and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

        ⁷The grass withers, the flower fades

        when the breath of the Lord blows on it;

        surely the people are grass.

        ⁸The grass withers, the flower fades,

        but the word of our God will stand forever.

       ^[9Get you up to a high mountain,

        O Zion, herald of good news;

      lift up your voice with strength,

        O Jerusalem, herald of good news;

        lift it up, fear not;

      say to the cities of Judah,

        “Behold your God!”

        ¹⁰Behold, the Lord God comes with might,

        and his arm rules for him;

      behold, his reward is with him,

        and his recompense before him.

        ¹¹He will tend his flock like a shepherd;

        he will gather the lambs in his arms;

      he will carry them in his bosom,

        and gently lead those that are with young.

Epistle Lesson                                       2 Corinthians 1:3–7

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. ⁶If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. ⁷Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

Holy Gospel                                                   Luke 1:67–80

⁶⁷And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

⁶⁸“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

for he has visited and redeemed his people

⁶⁹and has raised up a horn of salvation for us

in the house of his servant David,

⁷⁰as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

⁷¹that we should be saved from our enemies

and from the hand of all who hate us;

⁷²to show the mercy promised to our fathers

and to remember his holy covenant,

⁷³the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us

⁷⁴that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

might serve him without fear,

⁷⁵in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

⁷⁶And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;

for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

⁷⁷to give knowledge of salvation to his people

in the forgiveness of their sins,

⁷⁸because of the tender mercy of our God,

whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high

⁷⁹to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

⁸⁰And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

Hymn ~ “Comfort, Comfort Ye My People”......................... LSB 347

Sermon

Waiting with Comfort

Isaiah 40:1–11

Canticle

Magnificat ~ “My Soul Rejoices”.................................................. LSB 933

Hymn ~ “The Advent of Our King”............................................. LSB 331

+ Silent Prayer +

Acknowledgments

All scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.