Third Advent Midweek Service Preview

Waiting with Joy

Service of Light

Hymn ~ “The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns”

Hymn ~ “Ah, Dearest Jesus”

       Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,

       Prepare a bed, soft, undefiled,

       A quiet chamber set apart

       For You to dwell within my heart.

Psalm 26

Old, Testament Reading                               Isaiah 61:1–4, 8–11

      ¹The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,

        because the Lord has anointed me

      to bring good news to the poor;

        he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

      to proclaim liberty to the captives,

        and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

        ²to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor,

        and the day of vengeance of our God;

        to comfort all who mourn;

        ³to grant to those who mourn in Zion—

        to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

      the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

        the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

      that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

        the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.

        ⁴They shall build up the ancient ruins;

        they shall raise up the former devastations;

      they shall repair the ruined cities,

        the devastations of many generations. . . .

        ⁸For I the Lord love justice;

        I hate robbery and wrong;

      I will faithfully give them their recompense,

        and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

        ⁹Their offspring shall be known among the nations,

        and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;

      all who see them shall acknowledge them,

        that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.

        ¹⁰I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;

        my soul shall exult in my God,

      for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;

        he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

      as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,

        and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

        ¹¹For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,

        and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,

      so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise

        to sprout up before all the nations.

Epistle Lesson                                          Philippians 4:4–7

⁴Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ⁵Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; ⁶do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Holy Gospel                                                    Luke 1:5–17

⁵In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. ⁷But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.

⁸Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, ⁹according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. ¹¹And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. ¹²And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. ¹³But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. ¹⁴And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, ¹⁵for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, ¹⁷and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

Hymn ~ “Let the Earth Now Praise the Lord”.................... LSB 352

Magnificat...................................................................................................... Page 248

Hymn ~ “Hark The Glad Song”....................................................... LSB 349

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.